The number of people living with HIV in Geneva has remained stable this year, according to new statistics released by the Department of Health. One in 100 people in Geneva are living with the virus – more than 4,000 people – and during the first 10 months of this year, 46 people were diagnosed. However, […]
Fighting cat and dog eaters
Swiss animal rights activists recently handed a petition to members of parliament demanding a ban on eating cats and dogs, a custom still practised by hundreds of thousands of Swiss people. According to the activist group, up to three per cent of Swiss secretly eat the animals, especially in the regions of Lucerne, Appenzell, Jura […]
Half your beauty products are being rendered worthless
The problem with jars and why the beauty industry insists on using them Take a look in your bathroom cabinet. How many of your beauty products come in a jar? And how many in a pump bottle or tube? I am guessing that at least half of your creams are packaged in a jar. And […]
Meet the new President
Switzerland’s parliament has re-elected Social Democrat, Simonetta Sommaruga (54) to the Federal Council to become the new President of Switzerland. She received 181 votes (well over 80%) in Wednesday’s parliamentary vote in Bern. She replaces Didier Burkhalter, the Foreign Minister. Sommaruga was first elected to the seven-strong cabinet in 2010 where she took over the […]
Fine festive wines. Cheers!
The seasonal festivities are the perfect way to ring out the old year and ring in the new with family and friends. For many they also represent an opportunity to hit the pause button and take a well-deserved time-out. Good food and wine assume greater importance at this traditional time of year and add a […]
Switzerland’s initiatives: Too much democracy?
Взять онлайн займ на карту. The overwhelming vote on 30 November against even more limited immigration (Ecopop); an end to special tax rates for wealthy foreigners and minimal gold reserves enabled the Federal Council in Bern, which had opposed all three initiatives, to sigh with relief. What the government did not need were more obstacles […]
Win the war against winter by super-boosting your diet
With temperatures dropping and winter around the corner, warm boots, fluffy sweaters and big woolly scarfs are slowly re-emerging from the back recesses of our closets. But we need more than warm clothes to protect us from the harsh claws of winter. By making sure that our bodies are getting the right vitamins and minerals, […]
1 hour faster to Milan
The Gotthard Base Tunnel running under the Swiss Alps is one step closer to completion: all 290 km of track for the new flat rail link are now laid. The 57-km tunnel, which is the central component of the CHF 9.74 billion project, will surpass the current world record for the longest tunnel held by […]
Switzerland’s Anne Frank Legacy: Beyond frontiers and religions
Several weeks ago, I travelled to Basel with my wife and 14-year-old son to see an old family friend, Buddy Elias, now 88 and the last living relative of Anne Frank. The first cousin of Anne, Buddy had emigrated to Switzerland in 1931 with his family from Frankfurt, two years prior to the Nazi takeover. […]
Fight against impunity
On 17 September this year, Martina Johnson a former Liberian rebel commander, was arrested in Belgium. She is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges have been brought thanks to the determination of a Geneva Lawyer, Alain Werner, who specializes in documenting crimes committed during the civil wars in western Africa. For […]
