Generosity: save a ski resort, donate an organ, give a tax break

Here are some of the stories we will be bringing you the week starting February 6, 2017. 

Keystone

Monday

How much longer can Swiss ski resorts survive faced with increasingly less snow, fewer visitors and high operating costs? Sustainable tourism expert Christophe Clivaz argues alpine resorts need to rethink their business model and stop seeing skiing through rose-tinted glasses.

 

Keystone

 Tuesday

How happy are Swiss consumers with the economy, prices and job security? The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) takes the pulse of spenders, releasing the latest consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. When last measured, consumer sentiment was “lukewarm”, below the long-term average. Will it have moved up or down?  

 

Keystone

Wednesday

In the third of a series of articles looking at Islam in Switzerland, we look at the phenomenon of imams being sent to preach in Swiss mosques from other countries but with little understanding of how Muslims here actually live. Islamic studies specialist Andreas Tunger-Zanetti explains how while these older imams are well suited to dealing with theological issues, young Muslims often feel they don’t really understand their life in Switzerland.

 

Keystone

Thursday

High profile cases of alleged money laundering and trafficking of looted goods have got the art world a bad press. We talk to a group of Geneva-based art dealers, lawyers and experts who have come up with a set of guidelines to counter illicit activity, including ten principles for vetting buyers and sellers of art, to try to repair the art sector’s damaged reputation.

 

Keystone

Friday

Demand for organs in Switzerland is at an all-time high, with an average of two people on Switzerland’s transplant waiting list dying while in line for an organ. Would it be ethical – or effective – to adopt the ‘opt-out’ policy of assuming everyone is a donor, as is the norm in Europe?

Keystone

Sunday

We’ll have the latest results and analysis of nationwide votes happening on Sunday. Switzerland’s tax regime makes it attractive to multinationals, but it has been labelled anti-competitive by the EU. The reforms before voters aim to find a solution but a poll ahead of the vote found the vote result was too close to call. Clearer outcomes are expected in the two other issues before voters. Plans to make naturalisation easier and a reorganisation of road funding are both likely to pass. 

What you may have missed last week: