Anyone who has moved to Basel with their kids knows that finding a school can be daunting. 
Switzerland plans night-time trains; New waste bag to close recycling gap; Switzerland world's most innovative country
News for 1 October, 2024
The national rail company, SBB, is planning nationwide night trains that will run on weekends from the end of 2026.
The goal is to connect major cities such as Zurich, Basel and the Lake Geneva region.
Under the plan, Intercity night trains will run between Zurich and Geneva, with the transfer hub in Olten; connections will be offered in all directions from there.
The connection to Zurich, Basel and Geneva airports will also be expanded to night trains.
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Switzerland has recycling bins for all kinds of materials, except for milk and fruit juice cartons, as well as plastic packaging for salads, yogurts, and other foods. All of these still end up in ‘regular’ trash.
But starting this month, consumers across Switzerland will be able to dispose of significantly more packaging waste, which will be processed into recycled material. The organisation called RecyPac is planning a Switzerland-wide collection of beverage cartons and other plastic packaging that currently ends up in conventional waste.
The effort is backed by retail chains like Migros, Coop, Lidl, Aldi and Spar. Specifically, RecyPac will provide uniform collection bags to retailers throughout Switzerland.
However, the details — such as the price of the bag and the collection points — have not yet been announced.
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In the annual UN ranking, Switzerland occupies first place for the 14th consecutive year.
This is the finding of the Global Innovation Index 2024, released on Thursday by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
The Index tracks the most recent global innovation trends of 133 countries on 80 indicators, including research, technology, infrastructure, and logistics.
According to the report, “Switzerland is still the global leader in innovation ranking, in the first place for knowledge, technology and creative outputs. It also ranks in the top five in all the other criteria.”