Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

20 Minutes. Some United Nations consultants haven’t paid taxes on their income, thinking it was exempt. When the tax authorities catch up with them they’ll risk paying back taxes and fines. Photo: Phillip Judd As a general rule, foreign UN functionaries are not required to pay local taxes on their income. On the other hand UN consultants must. Over the weekend, Swiss broadcaster RTS, explain the details of a system misunderstood by some. The programme showed an IT consultant, who convinced no...

In 2015, 21.7% of Switzerland’s population was unable to cover an unexpected expense of CHF 2,500 within a month, says a report from the Swiss Federal Statistics Office. ©-Alex-Hinds-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge Single parent families were the least able to cope with 46.1% of them falling into this camp. Single parent families were followed by single people under 65 (27.1%) and two-parent families (24.0%)....

In 2015, 21.7% of Switzerland’s population was unable to cover an unexpected expense of CHF 2,500 within a month, says a report from the Swiss Federal Statistics Office. © Alex Hinds | Dreamstime.com Single parent families were the least able to cope with 46.1% of them falling into this camp. Single parent families were followed by single people under 65 (27.1%) and two-parent families (24.0%). Among couples with no children only 12.2% would struggle to cover an unplanned payment of 2,500...

24 Heures. In Switzerland, a 16-pack of 500mg Dafalgan Odis (Paracetamol) costs CHF 8.60. A comparable French product, Doliprane, costs 1.12 euros for a box of 12 tablets the same size. 12 tablets of 500 mg of Algifor (Ibuprofen) costs CHF 9.90 compared to 2.50 euros for a similar box of Advil in France. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com Another product, Nivea Baby Serum physiologique (24 x 5 ml), an eye and nose cleanser for babies, costs CHF 9.50 ordered from the Swiss online retailer Zur...

24 Heures. On Monday the franc went as low as 1.0825 to the euro, the lowest since early December last year. © Yulan | Dreamstime.com According to some experts, the weaker franc can be partly explained by the market activities of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The cantonal bank of Thurgau said that the SNB appeared to be targeting a weaker franc ahead of the Dutch elections on Wednesday. Adding that they think an exchange rate of around 1.085 against the euro is possible. At the same time,...

20 Minutes. Swiss post has said it will deliver the first packages by air this summer. The first deliveries will be made between two medical laboratories on the southern side of the Alps. Swiss Post drone Test flights were conducted in the canton of Bern last year. Now Swiss Post is ready to make commercial deliveries starting in Lugano. The two medical labs, one kilometre apart, belong to the Ospedale Italiano and the Ospedale Civico. The goal is to transport medical test samples as fast as...

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...

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...

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....