‘They Need a Reset’: Gloom in Davos as Trump Boom Leaves Europe Behind

THE GUARDIAN: America First doctrine and threat of tariffs leave EU elite wondering how it can close economic gulf with US

In the bars, hotels and windowless conference halls of the World Economic Forum in Davos, two themes dominated the conversation: America’s ascendancy and Europe’s decline.

If the scale of the continent’s problems was unclear before politicians and chief executives descended on the Swiss ski resort, there was no ambiguity by the time Donald Trump had finished speaking.

The 47th president of the US beamed via video into a packed conference hall to rail against stifling European regulation, car exports flooding to the US and fines and penalties on Apple, Google and Facebook.

No longer will members of Nato be able to freeload off America’s security guarantee, he added, demanding they increase defence spending to 5% of GDP – a barb aimed squarely at Europe.

“From the standpoint of America, the EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly,” he said. “We have some very big complaints with the EU.” » | John Collingridge and Heather Stewart in Davos | Friday, January 24, 2025

Trump at Davos

Jan 24, 2025

Why Älplermagronen Is One of Switzerland’s Most Popular Dishes | DW Food

Jan 11, 2025 | SCHWEIZ | If you love Mac'n'Cheese you should also try Swiss Älplermagronen! The cheesy pasta dish is popular in mountain restaurants in the Swiss Alps, and is a favorite among winter sports enthusiasts. Of course, it uses Swiss cheese like the famous Gruyère instead of cheddar. But there are other details that make it different from Mac'n'Cheese as you might know it. Fun fact: the Swiss version comes with apple sauce! Want to see how Älplermagronen is made, and find out the story behind it? Come with us to the Alps to learn about one of Switzerland's national dishes!

A Real Life Fairytale Village

Mürren, Switzerland

Heavy Snowfall in Klosters, Switzerland | 2023

Dec 16, 2024

Traditional Zurich Ragout – One of Switzerland’s Most Common Dishes | DW Food | Reupload

Oct 29, 2022 | Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is the classic king of Zurich cuisine, though it's a dish with a relatively short history. It was only in a 1947 Swiss cookbook that the terms 'Zürich' and 'Geschnetzeltes' (or 'sliced') paired up for the first time – at the time without the mushrooms that are these days a must. These days, the dish can be found on the menu of almost every home-style Swiss restaurant.

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is typically made with veal fillet, mushrooms, butter, shallots, white wine, bouillon, cream, sauce stock, and a little cognac. Veal kidneys are an optional addition. The meat is seared briefly, and then kept warm while a sauce is prepared from the other ingredients, which is finally pureed. This is then poured over the meat, and the whole dish is then typically served with rösti – potato pancakes.

Report: Jens von Larcher
Camera: Dirk Frenkel
Edit: Eva Luenig

Cheesy Delight: How to Prepare an Authentic Swiss Raclette | DW Food | Reupload

Mar 18, 2023 | Say Switzerland and one of the things that'll probably spring to mind, as well as mountains, Alpine pastures and chocolate, is cheese. Aside from fondue, another popular dish in the country is raclette, a dish made mainly of cheese and potatoes. Find out how an authentic Swiss raclette is prepared and why there's no tabletop grill involved!

Swiss Ban on Face Covering Will Apply from 2025

SWISSINFO.COM: From January 1, 2025, it will be forbidden to cover the face in public places throughout Switzerland. Violations can be punished with a fine of up to CHF1,000 (about $1,143).

On Wednesday, the Swiss government decided to put the new provision to effect from 2025. The controversial “anti-burka” initiative was approved by 51.2% of Swiss voters in March 2021.

The new constitutional article will be implemented in the Federal Act on the Prohibition of Covering the Face. Violations will be dealt with through the administrative fine procedure to minimise bureaucracy. The administrative fine to be paid will be CHF100 and can be paid directly on site. However, those who refused to pay the administrative fine will be subject to the ordinary procedure which carries a maximum penalty of CHF1,000. » | SWI swissinfo.ch/ac | Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Swiss ‘burka ban’ accepted by slim majority: Supporters of a people’s initiative to ban face coverings in public have carried the vote with a majority of 51.2%. »

Seven Dead after Storms Lash France, Switzerland and Italy

THE GUARDIAN: Three people died when tree crushed car they were travelling in, while torrential rains triggered landslides

Ferocious storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have left seven people dead, local authorities said.

Three people in their 70s and 80s died in France’s north-eastern Aube region on Saturday when a tree crushed the car in which they were travelling during fierce winds, the local authority told Agence France-Presse. A fourth passenger was in critical care, it added.

In neighbouring Switzerland, four people have died and another is missing, according to local police. Three were killed after torrential rains triggered a landslide in the south-east, police in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino said. » | Agence France-Presse | Sunday, June 30, 2024

Churchill's Zurich Speech, 19 September 1946

Aug 29, 2016 | "We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living.

The process is simple. All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds of millions of men and women to do right instead of wrong, and gain as their reward, blessing instead of cursing."

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill's Speech in the University of Zurich, 1946

Mar 2, 2013 | The term "United States of Europe" was used by Winston Churchill in his speech delivered on 19 September 1946 at the University of Zürich, Switzerland.

In this speech, given after the end of the Second World War, Churchill concluded that: "We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living.

Auf Deutsch:

Im September 1946 rief Winston Churchill in einer Rede an der Universität Zürich dazu auf, „eine Art Vereinigte Staaten von Europa" zu errichten. Im selben Jahr fand ein Kongress der europäischen Föderalisten in Hertenstein in der Schweiz statt. Dort wurden zwölf Thesen verfasst, die als Hertensteiner Programm zur Grundlage der europäischen Arbeit der Nachkriegsjahre und zugleich zum politischen Gründungsdokument der Europa-Union Deutschland wurden. Ziel ist bis heute eine auf "föderativer Grundlage errichtete, europäische Gemeinschaft"

Source/Quelle: Wikipedia.org

U.K.’s Richest Family Found Guilty of Exploitation but Is Acquitted of Trafficking

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A Swiss criminal court handed prison sentences to members of the Hinduja family for exploiting domestic workers at their villa in Geneva.

A Swiss court on Friday found members of Britain’s wealthiest family guilty of exploiting domestic workers at a luxury villa in Geneva, but acquitted them of the more serious charge of human trafficking.

Prosecutors had charged four members of the family — Prakash Hinduja; his wife, Kamal Hinduja; their son Ajay Hinduja; and their daughter-in-law Namrata Hinduja — with trafficking and exploiting several workers from India.

They were accused of confiscating the employees’ passports and forcing them to work 16 hours a day or longer without overtime pay in the villa. Lawyers representing the Hindujas had denied the allegations.

The court on Friday sentenced Prakash and Kamal Hinduja to four years and six months in prison, and Ajay and Namrata Hinduja to four years, according to news agencies. It also ordered them to pay about $950,000 in compensation, as well as about $300,000 in procedural fees. Najib Ziazi, a business adviser for the family who also faced charges, was found complicit in the exploitation. » | Isabella Kwai, Reporting from London | Friday, June 21, 2024

Related article here.

British Billionaire Hindujas Sentenced to Jail in Swiss Exploitation Case

THE GUARDIAN: Prosecutors claimed four members of family underpaid staff and gave them little freedom to leave Geneva mansion

A Swiss court has handed jail sentences to four members of Britain’s richest family for exploiting Indian staff at their Geneva mansion.

The Hindujas, who were not present in court, were acquitted of human trafficking but convicted of other charges on Friday in a stunning verdict for the family, whose fortune is estimated at £37bn.

Prakash Hinduja and his wife, Kamal, were each sentenced to four years and six months in prison, and their son Ajay and his wife, Namrata, received four-year terms.

The case stemmed from the family’s practice of bringing servants from their native India and included accusations of confiscating the staff’s passports once they had arrived in Switzerland. » | Agence France-Presse in Geneva | Friday, June 21, 2024

Hinduja Family.

Switzerland. Lugano: Streets, Art, Monte San Salvatore.

Jan 19, 2024

🇨🇭Glacier Express: Switzerland's World’s Most Scenic, Luxurious & Expensive Train Ride

Jan 10, 2024 | The Glacier Express connects the two famous resorts in the Swiss Alps in a unique way. The Glacier Express is a direct train connecting railway stations of the two major mountain resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz via Andermatt in the central Swiss Alps .The classic panoramic train is a source of excitement for young and old alike. The journey takes you over daredevil viaducts, through countless tunnels and unique landscapes. The panorama train meanders gently through valleys and over passes, and the constantly changing views of mountains, lakes and glaciers
This video cannot be embedded on external websites. So here is a link to the video on YouTube, where you can enjoy this beautiful and scenic winter train ride. Enjoy! – Mark

Documentary about the City of Zürich, Switzerland | 2015

Jun 22, 2015 | Documentary about the city of Zürich (Switzerland). A presentation of MTA Switzerland Studios.

Swiss Cocaine So Cheap and Widely Used They’re Considering Legalising It

THE TELEGRAPH: As prices halve on ‘highest quality we’ve ever seen’, Bern says ‘war on drugs has failed’ and looks at it being sold for recreational use

Switzerland has one of the highest levels of cocaine use in Europe
Switzerland’s capital is considering legalising cocaine after admitting the “war on drugs has failed”.

Bern is weighing up a pilot scheme to allow the sale of the class A narcotic for recreational use – a radical approach which is thought to be a worldwide first.

Switzerland has one of the highest levels of cocaine use in Europe, according to the levels of illicit drugs and their metabolites measured in waste water, with Zurich, Basel and Geneva all featuring in the top 10 cities in Europe. » | James Crisp, Europe Editor | Thursday, December 21, 2023

Blood Money: Switzerland's Nazi Gold

Nov 26, 2020 | The only documentary to tell the full story of the Swiss Banks, Jewish money, and Nazi gold. It has been called the most cynical bank robbery in history, the ultimate inside job. Swiss banks accepted Jewish life-savings -- smuggled to neutral Switzerland for hiding from Nazi terror, only to use the very same secrecy laws to prevent Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their heirs from recovering their rightful money.

"Blood Money" reveals Switzerland's Faustian bargain to become Hitler's bankers, financing the Nazi war machine, and ultimately prolonging World War II.

In a moving, true-life tale every bit as breathtaking as a best-selling international thriller, "Blood Money" reveals previously unknown details of history's biggest swindle, including an examination of the role of the secretive Bank of International Settlements, run by American, Thomas McKittrick, and the part that the bank played in laundering gold for the Nazis in Switzerland.

The film leads the viewers through the extraordinary events, up through the shredding of documents by the Swiss banks, to the resignation of the Swiss Ambassador to the United States, and the exclusively recorded summit of Jewish, Swiss and U.S. officials as they meet for the historic resolution.

Official Selection Berlin Film Festival
Official Selection Haifa International Film Festival, Israel
Boston Jewish Film Festival
Encontros Internacionais Documentary Film Festival, Portugal
Silver Plaque, Chicago International Television Competition
Winner, Emmy Award for Outstanding Research>br />
Directed by Stephen Crisman
Co-produced and written by Gaylen Ross
A&E Investigative Reports

This important documentary cannot be embedded on external websites; it must be viewed on YouTube itself. This is a link to this very informative, but disturbing, documentary. – Mark

Ein kurzer Blick ins Paradies | #shorts

Nachdem Gott die Schweiz erschaffen hatte, warf er die Form weg!

The Beauty of Switzerland | #shorts

If you want a sneak peek into Paradise, then click here.