Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern!
Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Tuesday.
In the news: Switzerland won its third medal at the Beijing Games today when Mathilde Gremaud (pictured) – on her 22nd birthday – won bronzeExternal link in the Olympic debut of women’s freestyle skiing big air.
- With the Shougang steel mill in the backdrop, in the final run US-born Eileen Gu, representing China, landed a 1620, a trick only Tess Ledeux had achieved in competition before. The Frenchwoman settled for silver. “[Gu] has been skiing for a long time, but she is new on the big stage. What she’s been doing is incredible,” Gremaud said.
- Youth unemployment in Switzerland is nearly half the average rate of EU countries. Switzerland recorded a jobless rate of 6.9% among people aged 15-29. Only Germany (6.1%) and the Czech Republic (5.3%) did better in Europe; Greece and Spain were bottom of the list with a youth jobless rate of about 30%.
- Three patients whose lower bodies were left completely paralysed after spinal cord injuries were able to walk, cycle and swim using a nerve-stimulation device controlled by a touchscreen tablet, a Swiss-led team of researchers has reported.
Edelweiss Village, the historic home of Swiss mountain guides in Canada, is up for sale. Faced with the loss of the village in Golden, British Columbia, two Swiss Abroad have launched a rescue operation.
“Edelweiss Village […] represents one of the foremost birthplaces of Canadian mountain culture and needs to be preserved for present and future generations to enjoy,” says Ilona Spaar, a Swiss-Canadian historian and author.
“Iconic ‘Swiss village’ in the Rocky Mountains goes on sale” was the headline to a SWI swissinfo.ch story last month, referring to six chalets in the village of Golden, or Edelweiss Village, as the chalets are known collectively.
They were home to the legendary Swiss mountain guides who were hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the turn of the 20th century and who shaped the birthplace of the Canadian Rockies as a world-renowned mountaineering tourist destination.
Now they are on sale for CAN$2.3 million (CHF1.7 million). It is not only the local museum that fears the sale will result in the loss of the historic houses – of which there aren’t many in Canada – and with them an important part of Golden’s history. The future of Edelweiss Village has touched people locally and internationally.
Spaar and Roduit have outlined a strategic plan to safeguard the historic village on their “Saving Edelweiss VillageExternal link” website.
“Switzerland is proud to have contributed to shaping this mountain region that we know today as a world-renowned mountaineering and tourist destination,” says Andreas Rufer, the Swiss consul general in Vancouver.
“The Edelweiss Village in Golden, BC, is one of many memories of the achievements of the Swiss mountain guides in the Canadian Rocky Mountains that we should keep alive.”
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In the latest Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes is joined by cybersecurity and humanitarian experts. They discuss who would attack an aid agency, why, and how humanitarian agencies can protect themselves.
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