Switzerland Today
Greetings from Zurich!
The snow has come early to some alpine regions thanks to some “dynamic” autumnal weather patterns.
But first, the news of the day.
In the news: grounded flights, winter tourism chill and US Patriot air defence missiles.
- A technical malfunction with air traffic controller Skyguide led to several flights being unable to take off at Zurich airport on Monday.
- Switzerland has signed a CHF300 million contract to boost its Patriot ground-to-air defence system with the latest generation of missiles from the US.
- The Swiss Fair Trading Commission has warned companies about using “climate neutral” slogans in their advertising unless they can prove the claims to be accurate.
- Snow has started to fall in alpine areas above 2,500, but “dynamic” weather conditions also contributed to snowfall in Scuol at 1,300 metres.
- Despite the early snowfall, economists expect only a moderate increase in tourism to Switzerland this winter.
What’s in a name?
The hyphenated double-barrelled surname might be making a comeback in Switzerland, a decade after the practice was abolished on the grounds of gender equality.
The decision to scrap the old-style double family name in 2013 followed European Court of Human Rights criticism in 1994 of Swiss laws that forbade a man from hyphenating his name to include the name of his wife, and which stipulated that any children must be given the father’s family name.
As things stand, each spouse is free to stick with their own family name or choose one of the two as their common last name. In practice, 90% of women are opting to take their husband’s name.
A parliamentary legal committee has now recommended that parliament brings about further changes next year.
One of the recommendations is that spouses can take both family names – with a hyphen – but in the order they choose: so one could be Peter-Müller and the other Müller-Peter.
If that sounds confusing, then bear in mind that this also affects their offspring.
Parents would choose whether their children take the joint family name or the name of just one parent.
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