Switzerland

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Check Out the World's Longest Passenger Train

1.2-mile-long train run by Switzerland's Rhaetian Railway took 8 months to prep

(Newser) - A Swiss railway company claimed the record for the world's longest passenger train over the weekend with a trip on one of the most spectacular tracks through the Alps. The Rhaetian Railway company ran the 1.2-mile-long train composed of 100 coaches along the Albula/Bernina route from Preda to...

Swiss Alps Are Melting Faster Than Ever: Study

Ice volume has decreased 6% in 2022, experts say

(Newser) - Switzerland's glaciers are melting like never before, an academic study released Wednesday found, with their ice volume declining by 6% this year, which included a summer heat wave that swept across Europe. The Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that the shrinkage of ice in the country's glaciers topped...

Lawyer: Director Died by Assisted Suicide

Jean-Luc Godard decided to say, 'Now, it’s enough,' lawyer says

(Newser) - Moviemaking legend Jean-Luc Godard died Tuesday —and it was his decision to do so, lawyer Patrick Jeanneret says. Jeanneret says the 91-year-old French-Swiss director died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, where he had lived for decades, the Guardian reports. The lawyer told AFP Godard "had recourse to legal...

A Genius of Film Is Dead
A Genius of
Film Is Dead
OBITUARY

A Genius of Film Is Dead

French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard dies at 91

(Newser) - Jean-Luc Godard, the ingenious "enfant terrible" of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his debut feature Breathless and stood for years as one of the world's most vital and provocative directors, has died, French media reported, per the AP . He was 91. Godard...

Melting Swiss Glaciers Reveal Bodies, Crashed Plane

Hikers may have found body of missing billionaire

(Newser) - Switzerland's melting glaciers have been giving up grim secrets amid Europe's heat wave. Two bodies have been found in recent weeks, along with the remains of a plane that crashed in 1968, the Guardian reports. A police spokesman said Monday that climbers scaling the Chessjen glacier found the...

No One Knows for Sure What Country This Is
No One Knows for Sure
What Country This Is
in case you missed it

No One Knows for Sure What Country This Is

Melting glacier leaves Alps lodge at center of border dispute between Italy and Switzerland

(Newser) - In 1984, a lodge was built high up in the Pennine Alps in what was then Italy. Now most of it is technically part of Switzerland, though its manager—at the center of an international border dispute—will refute that. The alpine border between the two countries has been traditionally...

This 'Zero-Star Hotel' Will Really Make You Think

That's the goal, anyway, of art installation by twin brothers erected next to Swiss gas station

(Newser) - Some people think best in the shower. Others may find they do their best ruminating while lying in bed in the middle of the street next to a gas station. The latter is what Frank and Patrik Riklin are banking on, anyway, with a concept they hope will spur people...

25 Hurt in Hot Coal 'Team-Building' Walk

13 were hospitalized after Swiss event

(Newser) - A company team-building exercise in Switzerland apparently didn't go the way the firm intended it to—although participants will have a shared experience of extreme pain and injured feet to bond over. Authorities say 25 people were treated for burns after they walked across hot coals at a private...

Switzerland Makes a Move to Shrink Organ Transplant List

Organ donation will become opt-out instead of opt-in

(Newser) - Switzerland has just taken a big step in its quest to shrink its organ transplant waiting list backlogs. Under its new model, all residents will be considered potential donors after death unless they have opted out, a reverse from the current set-up, in which people opt-in while still alive. The...

This Ex-Bank CEO's Expense Report Was Eyebrow-Raising

Former Raiffeisen chief Pierin Vincenz gets nearly 4 years in prison after $214K in strip club bills

(Newser) - A former "banker of the year" in Switzerland used his company credit card to pay for a Tinder date, a trip to Australia, and $214,000 in bills from strip clubs, according to testimony heard in a Zurich court before Pierin Vincenz was sentenced Wednesday to nearly four years...

Family Members 'Removed From Society' Jumped From Building

Swiss police had tried to summon the father shortly before

(Newser) - Update: Four members of a French family who fell to their deaths from an apartment building in Switzerland last week jumped "one after the other," according to police. A 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister, and the couple's 8-year-old daughter died. The couple's 15-year-old...

Neutral Switzerland Not So Neutral on Russia

Nation freezes assets of Putin and Russian oligarchs

(Newser) - Switzerland is traditionally, famously, neutral in international conflicts, but not this one. The nation said Monday that it would freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin, other top Russian officials, and nearly 400 individuals, reports the New York Times . In following the European Union's lead on the penalties, Switzerland condemned...

Whistleblower Reveals 18K Secret Swiss Bank Accounts

Credit Suisse did business with some nefarious characters

(Newser) - The idea of not-so-upright characters stashing money in a Swiss bank account is a staple of Hollywood—and a large leak of account holders with the giant Credit Suisse suggests it's right on the money:
  • The leak: A whistleblower gave the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung data on more than
...

Bank Leader Resigns Over COVID Breach
Bank Leader Resigns
Over COVID Breach

Bank Leader Resigns Over COVID Breach

Credit Suisse Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio reportedly traveled despite quarantine rules

(Newser) - Credit Suisse said Monday that its chairman has resigned following an internal investigation that reportedly found he violated quarantine rules intended to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, per the AP . The resignation of Antonio Horta-Osorio, a British-Portuguese national who took the job barely eight months ago, was announced shortly after midnight...

Suicide Capsule Can Be Used in Switzerland
Suicide Pod Can Be
Used in Switzerland
in case you missed it

Suicide Pod Can Be Used in Switzerland

The Sarco is cleared for use

(Newser) - An assisted suicide pod first introduced three and a half years ago has now been cleared for use in Switzerland. The Sarco, invented by Dr. Philip Nitschke of the Exit International nonprofit, has passed a legal review and can be operated in the country, SwissInfo reports. Assisted suicide was already...

Facebook: Scientist Behind Misinformation Doesn't Exist

Account claimed US was pushing its scientists to blame virus on China

(Newser) - A disinformation network with ties to China used hundreds of fake social media accounts— including one belonging to a fictitious Swiss biologist—to spread an unfounded claim that the US pressured scientists to blame China for the coronavirus, Facebook said Wednesday. The company based in Menlo Park, California, did not...

During Pandemic, This Nation's Economy Takes Top Billing

Switzerland is No. 1 on WIPO's Global Innovation Index for 132 economies around the world

(Newser) - To get through something like a pandemic, countries have had to innovate—especially when it comes to keeping their economies humming. And there are "reasons to be optimistic" on that front, according to one of the editors of the World Intellectual Property Organization's annual Global Innovation Index , which...

Same-Sex Marriage Wins Overwhelming Support

Switzerland approves referendum backed by government and all parties but one

(Newser) - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved same-sex marriage on Sunday, endorsing a measure that carried all 26 of the nation's cantons. The referendum was on track to receive the support of 64% of voters, the BBC reports. Supporters expressed relief, and Amnesty International called the decision a "milestone for equality,...

Protest Precedes Vote on Same-Sex Marriage
Thousands Demand
Same-Sex Marriage

Thousands Demand Same-Sex Marriage

Only civil unions are legal in Switzerland now

(Newser) - Tens of thousands protested in Switzerland on Saturday for the legalization of same-sex marriage in the Alpine country. The protests came ahead of a national referendum Sept. 26 on the legalization of gay marriage, which has already been introduced in European countries including Germany, Austria, France , and the Netherlands, the...

This Is the Most Livable City in the World

Auckland, NZ, takes top spot in Economist's rankings, though Kiwis give honor the side-eye

(Newser) - The pandemic has caused a major upset on the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual list of the most livable cities on the planet. Thanks to their relative isolation from the rest of the world, the island nations of New Zealand, Australia, and Japan all had strong showings in the top...

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