The Local Switzerland

Geneva advises teachers on religion in school

Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:03:37 +0200

As children start the new school year, the secular canton of Geneva has issued guidelines for teachers on how to deal with religious issues in the classroom.

Treed tower set to rise west of Lausanne

Tue, 03 Nov 2015 22:57:26 +0100

A design for a “forested” 35-storey apartment and office tower covered with trees and shrubbery on terraces at every level has been selected for a suburb west of Lausanne, following a competition.

'Terrorist name' bars Swiss passenger from US

Fri, 25 Apr 2014 14:34:00 +0200

A French woman was left stunned this week when she was barred from boarding a Swiss airlines flight to New York from Geneva airport after being told she was blacklisted. The reason, she says, is the name on her passport, Alic Aïda, which when pronounced (wrongly) can sound like Al Qaeda.

Activist jailed for six years in Vasella case

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 17:48:00 +0200

A British animal rights activist was jailed for six years on Thursday for her part in a Europe-wide campaign of intimidation targeting Huntington Life Sciences, an animal testing company linked to Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

Geneva airport reopens after hijacking drama

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 10:54:00 +0100

Geneva airport reopened on Monday morning after a co-pilot hijacked an Ethiopian Airlines plane with 202 passengers and crew bound for Rome from Addis Ababa and forced it to land on the Swiss runway at 6am, closing the airport for more than an hour.

Swiss hospital germs cause ‘scores of deaths’

Mon, 28 Oct 2013 22:36:00 +0100

Every year 600 deaths and 15,000 infections could be avoided in Swiss hospital operating rooms through better hygiene standards, says Swissnoso, an organization dedicated to reducing hospital-borne disease.

Court upholds seizure of Duvalier's Swiss assets

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 11:22:00 +0200

A Swiss court confirmed on Wednesday the confiscation of millions of dollars in frozen bank accounts belonging to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, clearing the way for the money to be returned to Haiti.

Hollywood stars model watches in Geneva

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0100

Hollywood actors Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor and Matthew Fox were among the lineup of stars for a Tuesday night soiree in Geneva for IWC, the Schaffhausen watchmaker.

Index points to Swiss property bubble risk

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:22:00 +0100

For the first time since the early 1990s, there is a risk of a real estate bubble in Switzerland, an indicator developed by Swiss banking giant UBS shows.

Migros to label goods from Israeli settlements

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:47:00 +0200

Swiss supermarket chain Migros has announced that it will begin adding special labels to any products that come from "Occupied Palestinian Territories".