This week Renu Chahil-Graf goes for a walk in the park with Afghanistan’s UN Ambassador in Geneva Dr. Suraya Dalil, and learns about her journey to the top, and of the men who helped her succeed in a place where only 5% of girls finish school. It started out as a normal school day in Kabul in 1978, […]
Swiss eat ever more cheese and favour homegrown extra-hard ones
According to the Swiss farmers union, 2015 was a bumper year for cheese consumption in Switzerland. The Swiss ate 21.49 kgs each, 260 grams more than in 2014. In total, 180,746 tonnes of cheese were eaten in 2015, 4,314 tonnes more than in 2014. Consumption of fromage frais, soft white cheeses like mozzarella and quark, a cheese […]
Switzerland ranked less happy in 2016. Does it matter?
The quest for happiness has been in the news a bit lately. Earlier this month Switzerland’s president recommended laughter in a televised speech to commemorate the Swiss day of the sick. On Sunday 20 March 2016, happiness is back on the agenda. This time in Rome where UN world happiness day celebrations will take place. Ahead of […]
Swiss army rocks to the music of Queen
Freddie Mercury, front man for the British rock band Queen, spent much of his final years in Switzerland. Mercury recorded his last music in 1991 in Mountain Studios, a recording studio in Montreux the band bought in 1978. David Bowie’s life in Switzerland (Le News) The band continues, but with only two of its original members: […]
What would you do if you found 144,000 francs?
One week ago, a couple left CHF 144,000 in a bag on a tram in Basel. The bag was found and handed to the police by a public transport employee. The couple were on their way to visit their daughter when they left a bag containing 144,000 francs in a tram. Once returned to the […]
Around 60 frozen skiers rescued by helicopter from a Verbier lift
While enjoying a warm drink in Verbier’s Carlsberg restaurant, which sits at 2,500 metres, a group of us noticed that one of the chair lifts across from the restaurant wasn’t moving, and that most of the chairs had people on them. Two of our group had been turned away from this lift, that connects La Ruinette with La Chaux, when […]
How football and a piano transformed the life of an Afghan family in Geneva
Award winning Swiss-based Afghan poet and author Bashir Sakhawarz describes how football and a grand piano changed his family’s life. Our children were very young when we first arrived in Geneva, not as refugees but because of our careers. They were exposed to the French language in kindergarten and then in the local Swiss primary […]
Freelance working on the rise in Switzerland
According to a new study by Deloitte, one in four people in Switzerland works as a freelancer and another 25% would like to next year. Technology and the internet are the main drivers behind the trend. The shift to knowledge intensive careers is allowing greater mobility. 28% already work at least half a day a […]
The military weapons left on Swiss public transport
24 Heures. A recent ASMZ article in the Swiss military officers’ magazine revealed the number of military firearms left on Swiss public transport. In the first nine months of last year 18 firearms were recovered by public transport staff, noted the interim commander of the military police Christophe Schalbetter in his annual report. Chantal Galladé, a […]
The diet and beliefs that disqualified one man from Swiss military service
20 Minutes. For some, exclusion from compulsory military service would be great news. For one 19-year-old from Valais in Switzerland it came as a huge disappointment. He sees Military service as something that brings valuable experience. Unfortunately for him he was declared unfit for service. Why? Because he is a vegan and won’t eat meat […]
