Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Travel woes at Zurich airport, the buzz on aggressive wasps and other Swiss news on Wednesday.
Luggage mayhem at Zurich airport
After reports of tens of thousands of cancelled flights and other disruptions at various airports, there’s further news to make summer holiday travel even less appealing: each day, 250 pieces of luggage are lost at Zurich Airport.
Swissport, the company responsible for handling luggage, admits it has been having problems due to the global flight chaos.
Currently, “about 80 luggage trolleys for local luggage and 60 trolleys for those in transit are affected by the backlog. We are talking about 1,700 suitcases”, said Swissport spokesperson Nathalie Berchtold.
READ MORE: Airport chaos in Europe: Airlines cancel 15,000 flights in Augus
Nearly 30 percent of people in Switzerland were born abroad
Since the 1990s, the percentage of foreign-born residents in Switzerland has steadily increased, according to new statistics from Our World in Data research website.
Globally, Switzerland is at the top of the ranking of countries that receive the most immigrants in proportion to their population: 28.7 percent, or more than one in four people. This proportion has been rising steadily since 1990, when foreigners accounted for 20.9 percent.
READ MORE: How foreigners are changing Switzerland
Switzerland teeming with “tired and angry” wasps
There is an abundance of wasps this summer and they are not particularly good-natured right now: according to Daniel Cherix, a leading insect specialist at the University of Lausanne, the more wasps there are, the more in competition they are for food sources — that is, for human flesh to sting.
“If there is no prey, they have to fly longer. They will start to get tired and angry”, Cherix said, adding that this is when people usually get stung.
This situation is expected to worsen until the fall, as that's when the wasp colonies will continue to get bigger, and presumably angrier and more tired too.
Home is where the cash is
Switzerland may be a nation of bankers, but when it comes to safeguarding their money, 71 percent of Swiss prefer to keep their cash, and sometimes even their entire wealth, at home.
This is the finding of a new study released on Tuesday by Switzerland's Moneyland consumer comparison site. The survey found that out of 25 investment options, including savings accounts, pension funds, and stocks, keeping cash in one’s house is in the third place in terms of popularity.
The study didn’t reveal whether the money is usually stashed under the mattress or kept elsewhere in the house.
READ MORE: ‘Huge differences’: How you can save money on Swiss credit cards
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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Luggage mayhem at Zurich airport
After reports of tens of thousands of cancelled flights and other disruptions at various airports, there’s further news to make summer holiday travel even less appealing: each day, 250 pieces of luggage are lost at Zurich Airport.
Swissport, the company responsible for handling luggage, admits it has been having problems due to the global flight chaos.
Currently, “about 80 luggage trolleys for local luggage and 60 trolleys for those in transit are affected by the backlog. We are talking about 1,700 suitcases”, said Swissport spokesperson Nathalie Berchtold.
READ MORE: Airport chaos in Europe: Airlines cancel 15,000 flights in Augus
Nearly 30 percent of people in Switzerland were born abroad
Since the 1990s, the percentage of foreign-born residents in Switzerland has steadily increased, according to new statistics from Our World in Data research website.
Globally, Switzerland is at the top of the ranking of countries that receive the most immigrants in proportion to their population: 28.7 percent, or more than one in four people. This proportion has been rising steadily since 1990, when foreigners accounted for 20.9 percent.
READ MORE: How foreigners are changing Switzerland
Switzerland teeming with “tired and angry” wasps
There is an abundance of wasps this summer and they are not particularly good-natured right now: according to Daniel Cherix, a leading insect specialist at the University of Lausanne, the more wasps there are, the more in competition they are for food sources — that is, for human flesh to sting.
“If there is no prey, they have to fly longer. They will start to get tired and angry”, Cherix said, adding that this is when people usually get stung.
This situation is expected to worsen until the fall, as that's when the wasp colonies will continue to get bigger, and presumably angrier and more tired too.
Home is where the cash is
Switzerland may be a nation of bankers, but when it comes to safeguarding their money, 71 percent of Swiss prefer to keep their cash, and sometimes even their entire wealth, at home.
This is the finding of a new study released on Tuesday by Switzerland's Moneyland consumer comparison site. The survey found that out of 25 investment options, including savings accounts, pension funds, and stocks, keeping cash in one’s house is in the third place in terms of popularity.
The study didn’t reveal whether the money is usually stashed under the mattress or kept elsewhere in the house.
READ MORE: ‘Huge differences’: How you can save money on Swiss credit cards
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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