Tennis Organizer Contemplates Quitting Basel; No Inflation For Swiss Trains; Switzerland Issues New Passports And ID Cards

News For 1 November 2022

Swiss Indoors, one of the world's elite tennis tournaments and a crown jewel of Basel's sport exhibition scene is threatening to pick up stakes and move the event to Zürich, Geneva or even Zug.  Tournament director Roger Brennwald has been publicly critical of Basel in recent days criticizing local politicians in the press of "lacking appreciation" for the impact the tournament has on the Basel brand.  The contract the tournament organizer has with the city and St. Jakobshalle, the venue which has been hosting the event since 1970 is set to expire next year.  Basel's government councilor and sports director, Conradin Cramer, did not directly address the criticisms and simply said that Swiss Indoors was an integral part of Basel's calendar and sport scene.  The public in Basel however are not as forgiving, accusing Mr. Brennwald on social media of playing hardball at a time when the retirement of local tennis luminary Roger Federer is already diminishing the attraction of the Swiss Indoors event.

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Price rises seem to be the fashion these days for everything from a can of tuna to the cost of filling the tank in your car.  And while that may be the bad news in general, a price bright-spot does remain in Switzerland: your cost of riding on a train.  For the seventh consecutive year, prices for riding a train will remain unchanged in 2023.  On the other hand, riding on Swiss public transport has not been an inexpensive exercise - global statistics show that riding 100km on a Swiss train will set you back 52 Swiss Francs, compared to Europe, where you will pay approximately 13-20 Euros to travel the same distance depending on the country you happen to be in.

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The distinctive red Swiss passport has been updated yet again.  New passports feature the themes of mountains in relief on its surface and river imagery on its internal pages.  Each of the 26 pages of the new passport is thematically designed to reflect one of the country's cantons, with an additional page reserved for visas of Swiss nationals living abroad.  New biometric, holographic and color features have also been added.  New identity cards will also be issued in the first half of 2023 according to the website of the Swiss Federal Council.