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The River Aare at a weir just before flowing into Lake Biel on Friday. Lake Biel is threatening to reach a record level. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott Lakes and rivers in central Swiss cantons such as Bern and Lucerne have reached dangerous levels, and more rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday authorities in canton Bern said water levels on Lake Thun, Lake Biel and in the city of Bern would significantly exceed flood limits in the coming days....

Conservatives and progressives are at it again. They are attacking each other big time over whether Critical Race Theory should be taught in secondary schools and colleges and universities. The fundraising appeals are flying, as each side exhorts people to send in their donations to support whichever side is sending out the fundraising appeal. Yawn!  The controversy is no different in principle from one that entails, say, whether students should wear uniforms in...

Normally, those who borrow must pay out more money than they are lent in the form of interest and repayments. Currently, for the Swiss government it is the other way around. Lenders are paying the Swiss federal government to give it money. © Valeriya Luzina | Dreamstime.com On 14 July 2021, the Swiss Confederation announced the success of its latest issue of government bonds. The government recently issued bonds with a face value of CHF 934 million in return for CHF...

Picasso’s ‘Fillette au béret’ before being auctioned in Sweden in 2016 TT News Agency via AFP / Pontus Lundahl Fans of Pablo Picasso will soon be able to own a share in one of his paintings for less than $6,000 (CHF5,500) – although that won’t actually buy them the right to see the work, which will be stored under lock and key in Switzerland. Fillette au béret (Young girl with a beret) is being sold – or “tokenised” – via the blockchain in what Sygnum, the digital...

This second part of the series about the Principles of Economics treats Menger’s exposition of the economy. In continuation of the first part, which covered the general concept of goods, the part on the economy treats the role of economic goods in relation to human wants. Based on the original version in German, published in 1871 as Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre, the following exposition tries to capture the spirit of the work, with all direct quotes in the...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.10% to 1.085 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The markets head into the weekend with little fanfare. Most large equity markets in the Asia Pacific region slipped earlier today. Hong Kong, which will be exempt from the need to secure mainland’s cybersecurity approval for foreign IPOs, and Australia were notable exceptions. European...

Das neue Kommunikationsnetzwerk soll den zugelassenen Teilnehmern des Finanzplatzes Schweiz ermöglichen, untereinander und mit den Finanzmarktinfrastrukturen sicher zu kommunizieren. (Bild: Shutterstock.com/Deepadesigns) Cyberresilienz ist für den Schweizer Finanzsektor angesichts der weltweit steigenden Bedrohungen durch Cyberrisiken ein zentrales Thema. Auch die Kommunikation zwischen den Teilnehmern des Finanzplatzes und den Finanzmarktinfrastrukturen ist davon...

Vaccination has pushed the percentage of residents in Geneva with antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus up to 67%, according to a recent study by Geneva’s HUG hospital. © Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com To some extent, Geneva has been at the forefront of Switzerland’s experience with Covid-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the canton has recorded Switzerland’s highest rate of infection, 54% above the Swiss average. Geneva has also been a leader on...

On 9 July 2021, the Swiss price comparison website Comparis revealed that it had been the victim of a ransomeware cyber attack on Wednesday, 7 July 2021. © Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.com According to Comparis, the attack occurred in the morning. Comparis took down several of its sites as a security measure. The attackers demanded money in exchange for decrypting data. Comparis said that based on the information available most of their databases containing customer...

Great swaths of the American workforce are already on strike or slipping away from the dead-end treadmill. America’s labor shortage is complex and doesn’t lend itself to the simplistic expectations favored by media talking heads. The Wall Street cheerleaders extol the virtues of “getting America back to work” which is Wall-Street-speak for getting back to exploiting workers to maximize corporate profits. Long-term demographics have combined with cultural changes and...