The tragic events in Paris tug at our hearts and pose questions to our heads. Our deepest sympathies go to the families and friends of the victims. While we mourn the deaths of the cartoonists and police and are revolted by people being gunned down in premeditated murder, we are led to reflect on what […]
Palestine Geneva summit: Once again to the breach
GENEVA Over the past several years, Geneva has been re-asserting itself as a neutral mediation centre, either formal or informal, for conflicts such as Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear issue. Back in 2003, it also hosted an Israeli-Palestinian peace effort known as the Geneva Initiative, which outlined possible venues for genuine reconciliation. The […]
Climate change in Switzerland; plus newspapers for young people.
Following this week’s compromise Lima Climate Change agreement, which basically keeps the global initiative on track with governments promising to bring forward their commitments until next year’s pivotal Paris conference, the question now is whether this will finally mean real action. It’s taken a long time for politicians and select business interests to acknowledge that […]
Only the young can master a new language: myth or truth?
Popular wisdom has long held it that the younger you are the easier it is to learn a foreign language. Whether expat or immigrant, parents of small children have long noticed, often to their own chagrin, how quickly their offspring become bilingual. It’s a phenomenon the Swiss have long exploited in order to preserve the […]
Swiss democracy and xenophobia: Need for more open debate
Last week’s Le News editorial questioning whether the over use of Switzerland’s referendum system was actually undermining democracy through too much democracy received considerable reaction, much of it irate. Clearly, we had touched on a sacred cow, even if not of the Swiss Brown or Simmental variety. How dare one criticize Swiss democracy? It has […]
Will Uber bring the same tragedy and drama to Basel?
LAUSANNE Uber, the quasi-taxi company, is back in the news, again for all the wrong reasons. The company has just launched its service in Basel despite condemnation by local taxi firms, but also public authorities and lawmakers elsewhere. For such critics, the city would do well to heed the advice of those who have experience […]
Switzerland continues nuclear power cutback
World-wide, the use of nuclear energy, including new investment, is falling back. The Italians already made the decision in 1987 following the Chernobyl crisis to close nuclear power stations. In Germany, eight stations have been shut since 2011 leaving nine others to continue producing 16 percent of the country’s needs. Over the next decade, Berlin […]
Drink smart this season
The holiday season with its flood of party invitations to celebrate is upon us. Think good cheer and parties with those we like and want to catch up with. But parties mean alcohol! And of course who does not enjoy a drink in good company! Often we are not aware of just how much our […]
Gurlitt’s Nazi art legacy accepted by Bern
Switzerland’s oldest art museum, the Kunstmuseum in Bern, will be accepting a collection of modernist artworks bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer. The masterpieces, among them paintings and drawings by Picasso, Chagall and Monet, were discovered in Gurlitt’s home a couple of years ago, according to The Guardian. Following an […]
Swiss pulls out of Basel: Airline to move operations to Zurich
National carrier, Swiss International Air Lines is to stop its operations at Basel’s EuroAirport at the end of May 2015. The decision comes as no surprise (Le News passim) with the airline blaming a difficult political environment that offers little prospect carriers such as SWISS being able to operate profitably. Indeed, Swiss’ operations in Basel […]
