Switzerland

the shipwreck from 2,000 years ago that reveals the “luxuries” of the Roman legions in Switzerland

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Few products of Mediterranean gastronomy are as iconic as wine or olive oil. In fact, if we take a look at current exports of the Spanish statewe will check that both are still at the top. This is not something new: two millennia ago, the Roman Empire had already converted the Iberian Peninsula into one of its great strategic pantries. One of the most compelling evidence is It is Monte Testaccioa 50-meter-high artificial hill in the center of Rome made from the remains of ceramic amphorae, 80% of which came from Baetica (today, Andalusia) and brought olive oil. It wasn’t just trade: it was logistics on an imperial scale, organized and sustained for centuries. That this network reached very far is something that the archaeological record continues to confirm: one of the latest and most impressive finds is in the depths of the Swiss lake of Neuchâtel. The discovery. In the Swiss lake of Neuchâtel they have found the cargo of “the wreck of the Eagles”, a ship sunk between the years 17 and 50 AD, in the middle of the Roman Empire. From 2024 to the present the Octopus Foundation has recovered approximately 600 pieces: hundreds of almost intact plates, platters, bowls and glasses, two large fragments of amphorae for oil or wine, a wicker basket preserved in the lime of the lake with the crew’s kitchen utensils, metal tools, harness and shooting equipment, four cart wheels, legionary weapons, among other elements. Why is it important. The most interesting thing about this discovery is that the Roman Empire had a primitive globalization insofar as they were able to distribute their lands throughout the length and breadth, which was not small: It covered three continents: from Great Britain to the Carpathians in Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor. The Roman soldiers in Switzerland did not only eat local products, but also had access to the flavors of their land. On the other hand, it is worth highlighting the exceptional conservation, something that has been helped by the cold waters and the lack of oxygen at the bottom. Furthermore, the archaeological context is intact, allowing the reconstruction of its organization on board and the combination of evidence of civil tableware, land transport equipment and military weapons. Context. The hypothesis The one on which the research team is working points to the Legio A constant supply was needed to maintain a legion of about 6,000 men. Thus, the cargo would have traveled by cart to the Roman port of Yverdon, south of the lake and from there it would have crossed it to the north. As the cause of the sinking, the team points to a gust of wind when approaching the Thielle channel. That there are swords suggests that it was not a military ship but a merchant ship under armed escort. Be careful, no structural traces of the boat have been found, only its cargo, hence the team does not rule out that the boat did not sink at all or that it did so in another place. The only thing we are clear about that was lost at the bottom of the lake was the cargo. Octopus Foundation Oil or wine? At the moment the Octopus Foundation describe the amphorae only as containers intended for the transport of oil or wine, without further precision, which is why further analysis is pending to clear up doubts. Today olive oil and wine may be associated with more select consumer products, but in ancient Rome they were essential items: liquid gold was used for almost everythingfrom cooking to lighting with lamps through personal hygiene and even for sports, medicine and rituals. And the wine, even if it was diluted with water, formed part of the daily diet of all social classesincluding troops. Octopus Foundation How it is being excavated. The detection of the cargo was aerial, using a drone in winter, when the visibility of the lake is greater. Thanks to 3D photogrammetry they were able to generate maps of the site, which they then divided into grids to determine the exact position of the objects found. They then photographed each piece and recorded it in situ before being extracted individually. The site was kept secret during the year between the two campaigns and was monitored with underwater cameras developed expressly for the project. The urgency to act came from a real threat: the sediments that had protected the cargo for centuries had eroded as a consequence of the hydraulic corrections of the Jura in the 19th and 20th centuries, leaving the pieces exposed to currents, anchoring of recreational boats and looting. What’s coming now. The extracted pieces are being analyzed in the Laténium laboratory with the aim of identifying pottery workshops, determining the content of the amphorae using residual organic chemistry and reconstructing trade routes. Once these doubts have been unraveled, its final destination is a public exhibition at the Neuchâtel archeology museum. In Xataka | The Romans were thirsty for oil and we have just found in Tunisia the second largest press of the Empire In Xataka | The most polarizing and divisive scientific debate of the moment has to do with wine. With one 1,700 years old Cover | Octopus Foundation and Rahime Gül

from 164 euros in Ukraine to 4,789 euros in Switzerland

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There is something that draws powerful attention when placed on the same map he minimum wage in all European countries: the difference between one and the other is not a crack, it is an abyss. Two workers on the same continent and working the same day can finish the month with a payroll that doesn’t even look like it. The data of Eurostat on the minimum wage in 2026 confirm this. The portal Visual Capitalist has collected this data and has represented it on a map in which the Minimum Interprofessional Wage of each country in Europe can be compared at a glance, recording the salary (and economic) variety of the continent. What is the minimum wage and why does it matter? He minimum wage It is the lowest remuneration established by law that an employer can legally pay to its workers. In this way, employees are guaranteed a decent standard of living and avoid situations of labor exploitation. According to the European Labor Authority (EURES), this minimum wage also contributes to reducing inequality economic and contributes to internal consumption across countries, as lower-paid workers tend to spend a higher proportion of their income. Not all countries establish this minimum wage the same. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden do not have a legal minimum wage and leave this negotiation in the hands of unions and companies through collective agreements. Swiss It also does not have a federal threshold and each canton negotiates its own minimum wage. For example, the minimum wage in Geneva in 2024 was 24.59 francs per hour, which is about 4,640 euros per month, but rent in Geneva ranges between 1,580 and 2,630 euros and compulsory health insurance exceeds 370 euros per adult. This means that a considerable part of the salary disappears into fixed expenses, while in other European countries covering these fixed costs would be much more affordable. Comparing minimum wage figures between countries without taking into account the cost of living can lead to misleading conclusions. A salary of 1,139 euros in Poland is equivalent, in terms of purchasing power, to more than 1,800 euros in countries with a higher cost of living such as Germany or France. Those who earn the most: Western Europe at the forefront Within the scope of the European Union, Luxembourg leads the table with a minimum wage of 2,704 euros per month, followed by Ireland with 2,391 euros, Germany with 2,343 euros and the Netherlands with an SMI of 2,295 euros. If we look at the continental neighbors that are not part of the EU, the minimum wage in the United Kingdom is applied by age ranges, so those over 21 years of age earn 12.71 pounds per hour (the equivalent of about 15.20 euros). This implies that their minimum salary would be about 2,279 euros per month for a standard working day of 37.5 hours per week. Eastern Europe below average The lower minimum wages They occur in the eastern half of Europe, with Bulgaria as the EU country with the lowest SMI with 551 euros per month, followed by Hungary with 727 euros, Latvia with an SMI of 740 euros and Romania with 797 euros. The difference between Luxembourg and Bulgaria is abysmal, with a wage gap between the two countries that exceeds 2,150 euros, in two countries with the same currency and the same single market. Outside the community bloc, Ukraine sets the continent’s record with just 164 euros per month according to the data from Eurostat, which means that a minimum wage worker in Luxembourg earns more than 16 times more per month than one in Ukraine. Spain: the SMI as a thermometer of low salaries In Spain, the last increase in the SMI was applied in February 2026, leaving it with a gross salary of 1,221 euros per month in 14 payments (1,424.50 euros gross in 12 payments). That salary places Spain in tenth place of the table, just behind the 1,802 euros of France and ahead of the 1,278 euros of Slovenia. Spain has been one of the countries that has increased this minimum wage the most, going from 735 euros in 2018 to the 1,381 euros it had in 2025, as shown in Eurostat statistics. The underlying problem in Spain is that the SMI has become the most common salaryso far from being an exceptional floor for less qualified jobs, it acts as the usual salary for entire sectors. Salary statistics reflect that the latest increases in the SMI have served to push upwards the lowest salariescreating a salary pyramid with an excessively wide base and some intermediate sections that they have not risen at the same rate. In Xataka | Finding a job had always been a good way to escape poverty: in Spain it is no longer true Image | VisualCapitalist

Nuclear waste is a problem, so Germany is looking for the solution in a Jurassic rock in Switzerland

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Nuclear energy is capable of generating clean electricity, continuously and in large quantities. A marvel except for two small details: the risk of a possible leak and what to do with its waste. The most widespread solution is bury them in a nuclear cemetery and wait. How much? Well, it depends, but it could be hundreds of thousands of years, until they are no longer dangerous. The million dollar question is where. An international research team led by Germany has started to drill a hole in a Swiss mountain to try to answer it. The project. Her name is DEBORAH (Deep borehole to resolve the Mont Terri Anticline Hydrogeology), stands for deep drilling to understand the hydrogeology of the Mont Terri anticline and is exactly what it does. Your goal? Document in great detail the layers that exist and their properties. There is some especially interesting material: Opalinus Clay. This deep experiment involves the German Geosciences Research Center GFZ and the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), the Nuclear Waste Service (NWS) of the United Kingdom and Swiss researchers from the University of Bern. Why is it important. Because it can be the ideal rock to build a radioactive waste deposit. As details GFZSwitzerland has already made the decision, but Germany and the United Kingdom (the other parties to the project) have not yet. The key is what the analysis of the drilling says: details such as how much water it allows to filter, at what speed or where it will be key to making the decision. It is not trivial: a leak, no matter how slow and small, can contaminate aquifers. What’s special about it. The Opalinus is a clay rock dating back to the Middle Jurassic, with an estimated age of approximately 175 million years. Simply put, it is clay that has been compacted into rock. And it has a property that makes it a good candidate for nuclear storage: its very low permeability. Context. The study of Opalinus is not new by any means: GFZ’s on your radar for 30 years because, in addition to its very low permeability, it has properties such as its plasticity (under pressure, warps instead of breakingsomething convenient if it works as a radioactive deposit) or its ability to retain certain radionuclides. Switzerland has already chosen it, but it remains to be known how it behaves under the conditions that exist in much deeper areas, where, for example, temperature or pressure change noticeably. How they do it. In the Swiss canton of Jura, near the municipality of Saint-Ursanne, there is that Mont Terri. In its bowels there is an underground laboratory that is accessed through the security gallery of a highway tunnel, about 150 – 200 meters underground. A drilling platform works continuously there, advancing meter by meter, until reaching a depth of 800 meters. The drill uses a hollow crown that allows extracting intact rock columns, the sample that is later analyzed in the laboratory. Each advance works as a witness insofar as it reveals the age, the composition, the fractures and the differential quality: how it behaves with water. In addition, they use seismic and gravimetry techniques to obtain a complete x-ray of what is hundreds of meters deep. In Xataka | Ships have been damaging the oceans with noise for centuries. Germany is working on silent propellers to solve it In Xataka | 700 tons of nuclear waste have arrived in Germany from England. The Germans are not entirely happy Cover | Ilja Nedilko and Evangelos Mpikakis

Iceland, Norway and Switzerland have been boasting independence from the EU for decades. Global chaos is about to change everything

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The war between the United States, Israel and Iran is shaking the foundations of the historic independence of the nations that make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA or EFTA). Faced with an increasingly volatile geopolitical panorama, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland find themselves at a crossroads and look, each at their own pace, towards the European Union in search of refuge. The question that now haunts European parliaments is no longer just political, but purely industrial: are they willing to sacrifice parts of their sovereignty in exchange for the protection and stability that Brussels offers? As explained to the newspaper Five Days Sophie Altermatt, economist at Julius Baer, ​​these countries face external pressures from increasingly interventionist superpowers. The United States has become a much less predictable ally on trade and security, while China’s growing ambitions endanger European industrial competitiveness and create vulnerabilities in supply chains. The rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, who has even suggested his intention to annex Greenland, has acted as a powerful catalyst for this change in mentality. As the magazine warns The Spectatorquoting a maxim from Mark Carney: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The return of hard power politics is forcing middle powers to reevaluate their place in the world. From the European side, the door is open. As detailed by the Icelandic public broadcaster RÚVEU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has stressed that the current geopolitical context is fundamentally different from the past and that EU membership offers “an anchor in a bloc based on values, prosperity and security.” Are we facing a real approach? Moving towards greater integration implies sitting at the table where decisions are made, but also assuming a clash of sovereignties. Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, acknowledged in a parliamentary debate collected by Five Days that remaining outside the Union generates enormous vulnerabilities, since their country remains “on the margins of everything we want to enter into.” However, the price of admission is high. Political analyst Thomas Vermes explains in the Norwegian middle ABC Nyheter that the EU is transforming towards a federation where supranational organizations assume more and more authority. Entering means submitting to decisions by qualified majority – where large countries have more demographic weight – and growing pressure to eliminate the right to veto on key issues. In addition, it would imply assuming joint economic burdens, such as the common debt of 90 billion euros contracted to help Ukraine. In fact, the possible entry of Ukraine would radically transform the bloc’s economy. According to the same Norwegian mediathe incorporation of the 41 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land would flood the markets and force rural aid to be restructured. Three countries, three different rhythms The answer to this dilemma varies drastically depending on the resources each nation brings to the table. Iceland: The direct path and the referendum in sight The Icelandic government has stepped on the accelerator and passed a resolution to hold a referendum on August 29, 2026 on resuming EU membership, a measure supported by 57% of the population. Iceland would provide the EU with a vital logistics position in the emerging Arctic trade routes and strategic supply: already is the fourth largest supplier of aluminum of the block, material that accounts for more than half of its exports to Europe. Nevertheless, as reported RÚVthe Minister of Foreign Affairs, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, has drawn a non-negotiable red line: she will not sign any agreement that involves ceding control over the island’s precious natural resources to the EU. Norway: The fractured debate Although the country rejected joining the EU in 1972 and 1994, the debate has been resurrected. According to The Spectatorthe conservative party (Høyre), now led by the determinedly pro-European Ine Eriksen Søreide, is “clearly a yes party.” Polls show an increase in support for accession, rising from 27% in 2023 to 41% in 2025. However, the current Labor government of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is strongly opposed. Despite not being a member, Norway is Europe’s absolute energy guarantor after the invasion of Ukraine: it supplies 51.8% of the pipeline gas and 14.6% of the crude oil consumed by the EU. Precisely for this, the internal opposition is fierce. Columnist Hans Christian Hansen warns in the financial journal Finansavisen that the EU is losing technological ground to the US and Asia. According to Hansen, while the US uses energy to attract industry, the EU uses it to “self-regulate with increasing rigor” and promote projects of uncertain profitability such as offshore wind. The question he asks his compatriots is brutal: “Do we want to link our energy policy, our industry and our future to a team that is already losing?” Switzerland: The pragmatic path and bilateral agreements Unlike the Nordics, Switzerland does not contemplate full accession so as not to compromise its historical neutrality, but it is making progress in its economic and technological integration. President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Guy Parmelin They signed the “Bilateral III” package. This framework modernizes agreements on transport and free movement, and adds crucial pacts on health, food security and Swiss participation in the European space agency and the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. In addition, it will allow it to fully enter the internal electricity market in the EU. The objective of the Federal Council is “stabilize and future-proof the proven bilateral track“. The Federal Council approved the sending of this package to the Parliamentor, proposing to subject it to an optional referendum to guarantee its democratic legitimacy on sensitive issues such as salary protection. Switzerland’s weight is undeniable: in 2023, bilateral trade in services reached €245 billion, representing almost 9% of the EU’s total services trade. Forecasts in sight? The geopolitical board will continue to move. If Iceland eventually joins the EU, the pressure on Norway will be immense. As conservative leader Søreide arguesNorway would be in a “completely different situation” if its EFTA partner makes the leap. For its part, Switzerland … Read more

Getting married in Switzerland was equivalent to paying more taxes than a single person. And a referendum has put an end to the problem

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In Switzerland, marriages they are news. And not because of its rise or fall, demographic issues or new trends when celebrating them. They are for strictly tax reasons. In a historic decision the Swiss have supported majority (with 54% support) a reform that will basically put an end to what is called the “marriage penalty” in the country. In other words, saying ‘I do’ in Switzerland will no longer be (in most cases) a sentence to paying more when declaring income to the Treasury. The decision has come preceded by an intense debate, which gives a clue that the issue does not only have fiscal implications. The background is social, cultural and historical. What has happened? That after years of debate Switzerland has given the ‘green light’ to a key tax change for marriages. Couples in the country who formalize their relationship will stop paying taxes jointly, through a single tax return in which the sum of their income and assets is taken into account. From now on, each spouse will be taxed individually. Just as if he hadn’t gone through the altar. The measure has received the endorsement of 54% of voters during a referendum in which they have discussed more topicsbut it does not mean that it will be activated immediately. The idea is that it be adopted gradually, over the next five years. The cantons have margin until 2032. Is it so important? Yes. In fact in Switzerland (and other countries who have paid attention to the fiscal change) there is no talk of joint or individual taxation, but of something much more forceful: the end of the “marriage penalty”. Because? Because according to its promoters, the current Swiss tax regime punishes those marriages in which both spouses work and enjoy good salaries. In these cases, with the current system, couples are forced to bear greater burdens than they would face if they remained single. That is, the same couple can find themselves in one or another tax bracket (more or less beneficial) depending only on whether they have formalized their relationship. Why’s that? Basically because the Swiss system is a few decades old and is based on a traditional family model in which each household has a single base salary. If the family receives more income (a second payroll) they are usually taxed at a higher marginal rate. “The joint model came from a time when women’s income was considered a ‘complement’ to that of their husbands,” clarify Swiss Info. With the new system, that changes. Does it influence that much? What we have seen so far may sound abstract or too theoretical, but its scope is better understood with practical examples. In January Swiss Info carried out a simulation for different profiles of households with one or another tax system and found that the ‘photo’ changes quite a bit. The summary is very simple: new tax model It mainly benefits marriages in which both spouses earn the same or similar amounts and harms (forcing them to face a greater tax burden) those in which there is a greater imbalance of income between the members of the couple. A practical example. Let’s take the case of a couple in which both members earn the same: 100,000 francs. With the joint model that has been operating in Switzerland for years, its tax burden would be about 6,700 francs. With the new individual taxation system it would drop to 2,700. Things change in couples in which there is only one salary. In these cases (with the same level of income) individual taxation will mean an increase of 32% compared to joint taxation. What is the change looking for? Its promoters assure that the new model will solve a problem that has been dragging down the Swiss economy for some time: a tax system that discourages paid work for those people who provide a second income to their homes. When changing the legal framework, remember Financial Timesthe Swiss government hopes to increase the nation’s workforce by about 60,000 people and increase the national GDP by about 1%. Advocates of the change hope it will help women gain strength in the Swiss labor market. It is estimated that only 60% of Swiss women work full time, a percentage lower than the OECD average, which is around 78%. The “marriage penalty” has also led to some curious practicessuch as couples who marry without legally registering their union or even marriages that they divorce before retiring for tax reasons. Are they all advantages? Not at all. At least that is what the sectors most critical of the measure maintain, warning of several negative effects. The main one, that the new system will result in more bureaucracyincreasing the workload (and costs) of the administration. There are cantons that also fear that the change of model will affect their coffers, punishing them with a loss of income. Beyond the practical issues there is another ideological one: part of the critical sector warns that individual supervision will generate inequalities that will harm traditional families above all. According to the Government, the new framework will more or less half of the taxpayers see their tax burden reduced. 36% would not notice changes and only the remaining 14% will have to pay more taxes. Images | Leonardo Miranda (Unsplash), Ronnie Schmutz (Unsplash) and Leo_Visions (Unsplash) In Xataka | 40,000 euros to say “yes, I want”: weddings in Spain have become events and their price is skyrocketing

There is brutal competition to guard the fortunes of the planet’s millionaires. The same guy as always is winning: Switzerland

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The ultra-rich around the world move their millions of dollars in search of the place safer for your fortunes. In recent years, countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia they have stepped on the accelerator as a destination for the greatest fortunes in the world. However, amid the latest geopolitical tensions, a report from the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group reveals a disturbing fact: Asian millionaires are turning their gaze to the old and reliable Switzerland to protect your wealth. According what was published for him Financial Timesmany Asian millionaires are diversifying the refuge for their assets and, instead of keeping them in their place of residence in Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore, they prefer to deposit part of their fortune in Swiss banks. Switzerland remains the world’s safe deposit box. According to the report Global Wealth Report 2025 Prepared by Boston Consulting Group, Switzerland managed $2.74 trillion in assets in 2024, which maintains it as the main offshore wealth center in the world. Very close to Switzerland’s management figures are important economic enclaves in Asia such as Hong Kong (which managed 2.65 trillion dollars) and Singapore (with 1.92 trillion dollars in the same year). The study estimates that, by 2029, these three destinations will concentrate almost two thirds of the new cross-border wealth. Boom of the rich in Asia. The study recognizes the enormous growth of Asian and Middle Eastern wealth centers, which have recorded a growth 50% since 2014. However, many of these funds end up in Switzerland, registering a increase in wealth cross-border savings held in the coffers of Swiss banks of 8.7% in 2024, up from 6.3% annually recorded in 2023. That is, although Asia has become a fertile ground for generating wealth, millionaires continue to see Switzerland as a safer place to store it. Geopolitical concerns. One of the main reasons for this behavior of the great fortunes settled in Asia are the political and geopolitical decisions that increase economic uncertainty. An example cited in the report points out that events such as the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong in 2019 or the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, raised questions about the security of assets in Asia. “Private banking focuses on diversifying geopolitical risk: clients are always looking for safe havens,” declared to Financial Times Giorgio Pradelli, CEO of the Swiss private bank EFG. “Clients increasingly began to feel that, geopolitically, the situation was less predictable and therefore it was important to have assets in different jurisdictions,” says Christian Cappelli, head of Julius Baer’s Asia office in Zurich. Financial Times. That is, they were betting on sending part of their fortune to Switzerland to protect themselves against economic blockades, political changes or war conflicts. London is no longer a refuge. On the other hand, the tax changes that the United Kingdom has implemented have caused London to lose much of your interest for millionaires Asians, putting Zurich back on the map. According to Christian Frie, head of the Asia-Pacific business in Switzerland for LGT Private Banking, the majority of Asian clients managed by his banking entity allocate between 10% and 15% of their assets outside their countries, mainly to Switzerlandaccording to the report The Global Entrepreneurial Wealth Report 2025 prepared by UBS. In Xataka | The rich neighborhoods of Madrid and Barcelona have changed their accent: millionaires from the US and Mexico invest their fortunes in Spain Image | Pexels (Peter Steiner), Unsplash (Chi Lok TSANG)

In 2010, the owner of a Ferrari missed a radar in Switzerland at 137 km/h. He took home the most expensive fine in history

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The fine for speeding highest ever recorded did not come from a German road or a French motorway. It arose in Switzerland, and they gave it to the driver of a Ferrari Testarossa. The most curious thing is that they did not put it in for pushing the power of this 90’s classic to the limit since it was traveling at 137 km/h. The result was a fine of more than 247,000 euros, an amount that officially appears in the Guinness World Records as the biggest fine for speeding. A record fine. The highest speeding fine officially recorded was imposed in Switzerland in January 2010. A court in the canton of St. Gallen sentenced the driver of a Ferrari Testarossa to pay about $290,000 (more than 247,000 euros at the exchange rate) after being detected by radar traveling at 137 km/h in a section limited to 80 km/h. The amount of the fine was not arbitrary. In Switzerland, judges do not set fines based on rigid tables according to the infraction, but rather based on the real impact they must have on each driver’s pocket. A system designed so that everyone hurts equally. Swiss legislation contemplates a model of fines proportional to the driver’s income, instead of establishing a table of fixed amounts as happens in Spain. This applies an equivalence factor with respect to economic capacity, making the sanctions truly have a deterrent nature. A fine of 200 euros for a person who charges a salary of 16,000 euros It can be a compelling reason for you to take your foot off the accelerator when you don’t play. But that same figure is insignificant for someone with a net worth of several million euros. Sanctions in Switzerland are at another level. In the case of the driver of the Testarossa, the sanction was triggered because the driver declared assets that exceeded 22 million dollars and accumulated a record for similar violations. For the Swiss authorities, the fine should reflect not only the risk committed, but also the economic impact it should generate. The 2010 record is not an isolated case. According to collects the local newspaper 24hourslast August a billionaire resident in Lausanne was fined 90,000 Swiss francs (about 96,500 euros) after exceeding the 50 km/h limit on the road while traveling at 77 km/h. Although the violation was not extreme, the final calculation was, and was justified by evaluating income, assets, and family circumstances. 96,000 euros for exceeding the speed limit by 27 km/h. Switzerland is not the only country that applies it. Finland shares a sanctioning philosophy similar to that applied in Switzerland. There are also fines calculated according to income, with precedents that have exceeded 120,000 euros. One of the best known cases It is that of a businessman who was traveling at 82 km/h in an area limited to 50 km/h and ended up facing a fine of 120,000 euros due to his level of income. In Austria, for example, a millionaire They took away his driving license and the Bugatti Veyron was immediately seized for traveling at 123 km/h in an area limited to 60 km/h. Spain will never come close to these figures. The Spanish traffic legislation is located at the opposite extreme. The fines depend exclusively on the margin exceeded over the speed limit, not on the financial capacity of the offender. Thus, the case of the Finnish driver fined 120,000 euros, in Spain would be resolved with a fine of 400 euros and four points less on the driving license. In fact, you would even have a 50% discount on the fine if you pay it in the first few days. In Spain, the most serious sanctions are penalized with a maximum of 600 euros and the withdrawal of six points on the license, without there being a link between the sanctions and the level of income. This implies that someone with high purchasing powermay consider the cost of the infringement to be minimal, thus losing its deterrent nature. In Xataka | The DGT allows legal circulation at 150 km/h without being an emergency vehicle. The secret: a sign Image | Unsplash (Noah Boyer)

Switzerland shows how to take advantage of it in the middle of winter

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In the Swiss Alps, where the silence of winter often means months of ice and gray skies, a group of engineers is looking at how snowflakes can be transformed into energy. What was once an obstacle—the accumulation of snow on the solar panels—now becomes an opportunity. Their goal is as simple as it is ambitious: discover how winter can produce solar electricity. A solar laboratory. In these cold, bright valleys, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL) and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research have developed a computational model to study how snow patterns affect the performance of photovoltaic systems in alpine environments. This is the first detailed model that simulates the interaction between snow and vertical solar structures in high mountains. The study, published in the magazine Cold Regions Science and Technologyfocuses on Helioplant, a vertical solar structure patented by Austrian company Ehoch2. Its design – a kind of cross with four solar wings – allows snow to be removed passively, without covering the panels and maintaining its efficiency in extreme conditions. Snow as part of the solution. The question is inevitable: how? The Lausanne team has discovered that snow not only blocks light: it also returns it. Its white surface acts as a natural mirror that reflects the Sun’s rays towards the panels, a phenomenon known as albedo effect. The challenge is finding the right spot. If snow accumulates too much, it blocks light and can damage structures. That is why researchers are seeking to redesign the way the panels are installed, to take advantage of the reflection without being buried under the ice. Seeking to understand snow. To understand it, scientists did not limit themselves to observing it: they decided to model it based on what we were already discussing. To do this, they used Snowbedfoam, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool based on OpenFOAM, capable of simulating the transport and deposition of snow around solar structures. According to the studyis an Eulerian-Lagrangian solver that allows us to accurately represent how flakes move and accumulate in real environments. In hundreds of simulations, the team adjusted parameters such as the angle of inclination, the height of the panel above the ground, the spacing between units or its alignment with the wind. The results were revealing: the most efficient panels rise at least 0.6 meters above the ground, enough to prevent accumulated snow from blocking the release of new flakes. Hence the orientation as well. Panels aligned with the prevailing air currents stay clean as they carry away snow and prevent it from accumulating. But if they are rotated about 45°, protected areas are created where the flakes remain. As some French scientists have already confirmedair currents can be as useful a resource as sunlight itself. When the cold inspires energy. In other places they are also learning to listen to winter. In Norway, solar panels They rise vertically to look straight at the snow. In the Arctic city of Tromsø, 1,600 units cover more than 2,600 square meters, capturing both direct sunlight and that bouncing off the white ground. On the other side of the Atlantic, researchers from the University of Michigan test transparent coatings that prevent snow from adhering to the panels, even at –35 °C. Different solutions for the same learning: that the snow is not an obstacle, but part of the system. When winter also shines. Solar energy, a symbol of summer and the desert, is reinvented among glaciers and snow-capped peaks. What previously shut down production now multiplies it. What once blocked light now reflects it. The objective of these tests is not only to generate electricity, but to “create more efficient and snow-resistant photovoltaic systems.” In the words of the Lausanne researchersthe future of solar energy could lie in learning from snow, not fearing it. In the Alps, each flake is no longer an obstacle: it is a potential particle of energy. And in that silent gesture of snow reflecting light, Switzerland is testing the future of solar energy. Image | Pexels Xataka | Spanish scientists have created a material that swallows 99.5% of light. And it is great news for renewables

While industrial production collapses in the European Union, in Switzerland is triggered. And it is an energy issue

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In the midst of the European energy storm, Switzerland seems to live in a bubble of prosperity. In a recent publicationthe geopolitical analyst Velina Tchakarova showed how the Swiss industry continues to grow in front of the European Union. And the data does not deceive anyone: in the first quarter of this year the industrial production of the Helvetic increased 8.5% year -on -yearwhile in Germany recorded last June A 1.9%collapse, the worst data in years. The contrast is even more evident in the long term: since 2011, Swiss industrial production It has grown almost 40%in front of the German stagnation. The Swiss road. True to its neutrality, but knowing how to position itself, the Swiss industry is dominated by sectors of high added value and low relative energy consumption, like pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. But here is the most revealing: that low energy consumption is not only efficiency, but also outsourcing (a sophisticated strategy of Green offshoring). An EBP consultant study for the Federal Environmental Office (BAFU) shows that two thirds of the environmental footprint of Switzerland They are generated outside their borders. The report Umwelt Schweiz 2022 Confirm this pattern: the country reduces its internal impact at the expense of moving it abroad. There are different examples that illustrate it well: the Roche company announced in May A new biopharmaceutical plant in Shanghai, the Lonza company operating in Guangzhou Or, the most striking case, Siegfried managing a global network with headquarters in different countries that allows you to distribute phases of the chain outside the Helvetic territory. Together, these movements illustrate how the Swiss industrial “miracle” retains the added value at home while displacing the most polluting and expensive part abroad. To this is added an electrical system less vulnerable to gas: the Hydroelectricity and the nuclear They represent a good part of their mix. The Labyrinth of the EU. At this time you are going through an industrial decline: Eurostat reported that in June the production fell 1.0% in the EU as a whole and 1.3% in the eurozone. The setback It was coming last yearwhen the manufacturing volume was 2% lower than in 2022. And Ing Think analysts They warn that European industrial production It remains 5% below two years ago, a prolonged stagnation signal. To this fall is added a perfect storm: high energy costsCO₂ and an internal debate about its energy model. France, With a reactor -based systemleads the block that defends nuclear energy as a backbone of the transition. Spain and Portugal, with solar and wind abundance, demand otherwise: more interconnections and networks To take advantage of renewable surplus. In addition, it is added The tireless search by the EU of looking for another output to stock up that it is not Russia in terms of gas. While Switzerland transfers its heaviest loads to Asia, Europe is enclosed in its own rules, paying CO₂ rights that further increase its energy intensive industries. Switzerland outsourizes, Europe internalizes. Switzerland harvest added value, Europe assumes added costs. The awkward contrast. Here the paradox emerges. Switzerland exhibits an expansion industry, favorable environmental statistics and a more stable electricity supply. Everything seems to indicate that it has found the perfect formula to prosper in the midst of European chaos. For its part, the European Union is paying the price If pioneer: its factories face much higher energy costs, their energy intensive industries lose competitiveness and their governments carry the pressure of meet strict climatic objectives. But Swiss success relies on a small print. The report itself Umwelt Schweiz 2022 He admits that two thirds of the country’s environmental footprint are generated outside their borders. That is, Switzerland retains at home the added value of its pharmaceutical and technological industry, while the energy cost and pollution are transferred to other places. That apparently virtuous model implies a strategic risk: to depend on global supply chains and expose themselves to political vulnerabilities in Asia. In climatic terms, the question is inevitable: are global emissions really reduced when Switzerland “is cleaned” at the cost of others getting more? Or, in other words, isn’t its industrial miracle with another way to outsource the environmental invoice? Forecasts On paper, Switzerland seems greener and more prosperous. But the true story is told in the chimneys of China and in the closed factories of Germany. The Helvetic miracle works, to a large extent, because the energy and climatic invoice is paid by others. While industrial production collapses in the European Union, in Switzerland is triggered. However, that balance, sustained in global chains and in others, could be broken when geopolitics tightens. The real unknown is not how much the Swiss miracle can last, but who is willing to pay his invoice. Image | Freepik and Unspash Xataka | Nuclear fever in the middle of AI: Uranium rises like foam while stumble

There is a new “technological giant” in the US. The surprise is that it is not from the US, but from Switzerland

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ANDThe Swiss National Bank (SNB), a traditionally conservative institution, has ceased to be. In fact, it has silenced one of the most important technological investors in the world. The firm has accumulated a portfolio of actions of such magnitude that its value is equivalent to almost a fifth of the annual economic production of Switzerland. What happened. According to records From the US stock and values ​​commission (SEC) of the month of June, the SNB has 167,000 million dollars in shares of US companies, distributed in more than 2,300 positions. That makes the entity a first -order investor in Silicon Valley. Love for Big Five. More than 42,000 million of that portfolio are invested in just five technological giants: Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia. SNB has A special focus on Applecompany in which it has invested almost 10,000 million dollars, and in Nvidia, where it has invested more than 11,000 million dollars. A gigantic entity. The Swiss National Bank is not a sovereign fund as such: its main mission is not active investment to make the country’s money grow. However, its asset balance, which amounts to 855,000 million dollars, places it in a league comparable to that of large investment vehicles from countries such as Singapore or Qatar. Experts, yes, They point that SNB is an entity that does not seek to influence these companies, and only uses its portfolio as a management tool for its currency. Banks do not do this. The SNB approach – which is not owned by the national government – is really atypical. The Bank of Japan For example, it makes use of mechanisms such as ETFs for its operation, and usually also buy shares from your own country. In Switzerland there are requests that the SNB manages that portfolio actively (as an investment fund) to make more profitability. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank warns that shares can be overvalued. And our Bank of Spain? The Bank of Spain, on the other hand, buys governments bonds to control inflation and interest rates throughout the eurozone. They all differ in their strategy, and clearly that of the SNB resembles an investment company than a traditional banking entity. SNB positions in US companies. Source: Financial Times with sec data. Switzerland is small to snb. But the Swiss bond market is too small for SNB operations, and that causes the entity to invest the foreign currencies that it acquires (mainly dollars and euros). He does it in bonds and, as we have seen, in abroad actions, a strategy that some analysts They call “Foreign quantitative flexibility” and that has led him to invest in those actions of technology companies in the US. The powerful Swiss Franco. The argument that defends that strategy is that of the Swiss Franco strengthconsidered a global shelter currency. Having a strong currency is fantastic, but it is not good that it is too much Strong because it slows exports and can cause deflation: the extrin products become very cheap for the Swiss and make the Swiss companies very difficult to compete. To counteract all this, SNB does the opposite of what investors do. Sells francs – adding the offer – and buy foreign currencies that he does not want to have stops, so he invests them in companies such as Apple or Nvidia. Passive-agreesive strategy. Although SNB philosophy is basically passive and does not exercise its voting rights in those companies, this entity adjusts its positions. The sec data reveals a great increase in their participation in NVIDIA or the creation of a new position in Berkshire Hathaway, and a reduction of assets in Meta and Netflix in the last two years. That, of course, has its risksbut SNB does not seem to go bad at the moment. In Xataka | All against Nvidia: the strongest Chinese companies in Chips and IA have created a historical alliance

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