Mar, Ago 9th 2022
Mountain fatalities on the rise, the new process to change gender, and more in our roundup of Swiss news from August 5 – 9.
Swiss officials say some hikers overestimate their abilities.
Swiss mountain accidents on the rise
A 31-year-old woman and her five-year-old daughter fell to their deaths this month while hiking from Äscher to Altenalp – the fourth and fifth deaths along the path this summer. The steep hiking path is famous among travelers because it ends at a historical guest house and restaurant built into the side of the mountain. The tragic deaths are, unfortunately, part of a larger trend, according to Bruno Hasler, who records mountain emergency statistics at the Swiss Alpine Club. There has been a 20% increase in mountain rescues between 2019 and 2021 (nearly 3,700 rescues). There also has been an increase in fatalities on Swiss mountains. Hasler says that many visitors overestimate their hiking capabilities, which can be dangerous. Seguir leyendo.
One with Nature: Naked hiking in Switzerland
Switzerland an ‘island’ in a sea of inflation
Switzerland is “an island of bliss” floating in a sea of inflation, Switzerland’s chief government economist Eric Scheidegger told local newspaper NZZ Sonntags this week. “At 3.4 percent, inflation is much lower here than in other countries. Core inflation — inflation excluding fresh food, energy and fuel — is at two percent,” he said. The Swiss is less susceptible to high energy prices than neighboring countries, as natural gas only accounts for 5 percent of Switzerland’s total energy consumption. “We run the risk of an energy supply bottleneck in winter. If there are persistent production interruptions in the EU and we ourselves have a gas shortage, it becomes problematic,” he said, cautioning businesses to prepare. Scheidegger said the worst case scenario for 2023 would be 0 percent growth for the country, but he believes 2 percent growth is more likely what will happen. Más información.
Transgender Swiss embrace new registry
Several hundred transgender and intersex Swiss citizens have officially changed their gender through a simplified registry which launched January 1 of this year. Before the registry launched, citizens were required to complete several prerequisites, including a medical exam and going to court to petition their case. “The goal was to keep the hurdles as low as possible, and now they are,” the Swiss Civil Registry Association’s president Roland Peterhans said in an interview with a local newspaper. Critics were concerned that there might be systematic abuses, as women in Switzerland are allowed to retire one year earlier than men, but Peterhans said no abuses had thus occurred. Seguir leyendo.
Este artículo puede compartirse y reimprimirse libremente, siempre que se incluya un enlace al artículo original.
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic