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Le Matin. In Switzerland, this ski season has been disappointing, particularly if you have school aged children. During the Vaud school holiday this season, the fourth week of February, there was limited snow. Even at high resorts like Verbier, snow conditions were fairly average across the week. The week before there was good snow. But then everyone was still at school. A two-week school holiday in February would increase the chances of striking good snow. © Daniel Barton | Dreamstime.com...

Digital Gold On The Blockchain - For Now Caveat Emptor - Bitcoin surpasses gold price - a psychological and arbitrary headline  - Royal Mint blockchain gold asks you to trust in the UK government - Royal Canadian Mint and GoldMoney blockchain product asks you to trust in government and the technology, servers, websites etc of the providers - Invest in a gold mine using cryptocurrency - but wait until 2022 for your gold and trust the miners that it is there - Blockchain and gold will...

The diplomatic scandal between Turkey and the Netherlands deteriorated overnight, when Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned on Sunday that Turkey would retaliate in the "harshest ways" after Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, leading to a major protest in front of the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, while the Dutch embassy in Istanbul was closed off due to "safety concerns." "This situation has been protested in the strongest manner by our side, and it has been...

According to an article in Tribune de Genève, some cigarette vendors are desperately searching for supplies of the drug to meet demand. © Perry Toone | Dreamstime.com Recently kiosques in Geneva started selling low strength cannabis like they sell cigarettes. Some kiosque owners are over the moon, while others desperately search for a supplier. One vendor told Tribune de Genève: “I don’t have any. For three days people have been asking for it…” Another the newspaper spoke to had sold 50 pots...

According to the European Patents Office (EPO), once again Switzerland topped the per capita patents ranking in 2016, with 892 applications per million inhabitants. Second and third places went to the Netherlands (405) and Sweden (360), followed by Denmark (334) and Finland (331). The first non-European country was Japan in ninth place (166), well above the EU average of 122. © Tomnex | Dreamstime.com The EPO published 96 000 granted patents in 2016, 40% more than in 2015, and the highest in...

Gold Investing 101 - Beware Unallocated Gold Accounts With Indebted Bullion Banks and Mints (Part II) Investors looking to gold again but gold buyers need to exert caution Royal Mint - a royally expensive way to help the government Unallocated gold - unsecured creditor of a bank? If you cannot hold it, you do not own it Own gold bullion coins as insurance, to reduce counter party risk and to preserve wealth Conclusion - Reduce counter parties, Don’t over complicate Yesterday we...

In a new ranking by US News, Switzerland is described as a nation with cultural contributions disproportionate to its small size. Swiss citizens have won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than any other nation. © Janos Gaspar | Dreamstime.com Switzerland takes first place by being a solid all rounder. Out of the 80 countries included, Switzerland ranks between 3rd and 30th across nine different groups of measures, with an average ranking of 13 across the nine groups....

The Economist magazine placed Switzerland first in a recent ranking of currency manipulators. According to the analysis, China, commonly thought of as the world’s champion at keeping its currency’s value artificially low, appears to be doing the opposite: actively trying to push the value of its currency up. On the other hand, Switzerland that has been working hardest to artificially devalue its money. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com Every six months America’s Treasury looks at a country’s...

The Economist magazine placed Switzerland first in a recent ranking of currency manipulators. According to the analysis, China, commonly thought of as the world’s champion at keeping its currency’s value artificially low, appears to be doing the opposite: actively trying to push the value of its currency up. On the other hand, Switzerland that has been working hardest to artificially devalue its money. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com Every six months America’s Treasury looks at a country’s...

24 Heures. According to the bank Raiffeisen, if rents had followed the path prescribed in the Swiss Code of Obligations, they would be much lower. © Elxeneize | Dreamstime.com Their figures show that changes in interest rates have not flowed through to renters. If rents had fallen in step with mortgage interest rates they would be 40% lower than they are currently. The bank’s report stated that while rents have been going up landlords’ costs have gone down significantly. A representative from...