Dozens of people gathered last week at Geneva’s Impact Hub to celebrate the launch of one of Switzerland’s newest non-profit organizations: Cause Direct, an online platform that serves to connect certified NGOs worldwide with interested funders and investors. The concept behind the site isn’t a novelty. Thousands of people around the globe use websites such […]
Editorial comment: Can you be a good Swiss?
In an article highlighted last week by SwissInfo, a Swiss government-funded information service, a new survey on what is a Swiss has been issued by a group of artists, historians and sociologists fifty years after a controversially censored ‘Gulliver’ questionnaire was carried out during the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne in 1964. Basically, the landmark […]
Social assistance higher in Suisse romande
BERN The number of people on welfare in Swiss cities is generally higher in Suisse romande than in German-speaking cities, according to a study by Bern University and the Cities Initiative for Social Policy. Lausanne and Bienne/Biel have the greatest percentage of people on welfare among 13 cities surveyed, with increases in five other cities, […]
Swiss recycling: not at the top – European rankings
Recently released EU figures show that Switzerland is the fourth best re-cycler in Europe after Germany (64%), Austria (59%) and Belgium (57%). Swiss municipalities recycle 50% of all waste collected. Europe’s three other large economies, the UK, France and Italy recycle 46%, 39% and 38% respectively. Malta, at the bottom of the table, recycles a […]
Swiss referendum aims to change health insurance
Many of those in favour of the Swiss health insurance changes proposed for the 28 September 2014 referendum believe they will deliver cost savings and reduce average compulsory insurance premiums. Swiss health care costs were the second highest in the world after the US and 66 percent higher than in the UK, according to a recent analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Often […]
Swiss jihadists – foreign fighters recruited by extremists over the internet
Are Swiss Jihadists a danger? The silence of Switzerland’s moderate Muslims was broken last week following the arrest in Kosovo of two imams who had travelled to Switzerland to recruit for Syria and Iraq. Four days later, the Albanian Islamic Centre of Lausanne denounced what it called “the brain washers” whose actions “daily shock the […]
Solving Switzerland’s bike theft problem
According to Le Matin Dimanche in 2013 over 40,000 bicycles were stolen in Switzerland of which fewer than 500 were recovered. The costs are enormous. Insurers pay out around CHF 60 million in claims a year, a cost that is ultimately borne by policy holders via premiums. In Geneva, Bern and Zurich, Le Matin Dimanche put GPS trackable chips […]
Apple’s U2 iTunes stunt has polarised opinion
Le News went to Swiss iTunes and found U2’s new album “Songs of Innocence” there for free. Yes free! This is Apple’s latest marketing stunt. Millions of U2 fans were happy to find it. Macrumours.com reported that the album had been downloaded over 2 million times by users just three days after being made available. Many others however have […]
Exploring tomorrow’s terrain
Planning for the future? Of course you are. We all are. But a solid plan needs to be based on a vision of how the future might change. How solid is your vision? Most organizations rely on projections or forecasts to try and get a handle on the way things will develop in the future. […]
Blatter to stand for fifth Fifa term – England not supportive
Sepp Blatter (78) has confirmed he will stand as Fifa president for a fifth term next year despite repeatedly denying that he would do so. Blatter claims that the support expressed by most national associations at Fifa’s congress in São Paulo made him reconsider. Several Fifa members, including England, state that they will not support […]
