French air traffic controllers call off strike, but many flights remain cancelled

The union for French air traffic controllers called off, at the last minute, its strike planned for today — but it was too late to re-establish the regular flight schedule.

As a result, SWISS airline maintained its cancellation of flights today connecting Zurich with Paris and Nice.

Flights between French cities and Geneva, on the other hand, remain unaffected.

And speaking of air travel:

SWISS to resume its flights to Tel-Aviv on Friday

The national airline will start flying to the Israeli city again from tomorrow.
 
“The situation is now much clearer than it was a week ago,” the company said, to justify its decision.

Flights to Beirut, however, will remain suspended until April 30th and SWISS will also continue to avoid Iranian airspace for security reasons.

Court orders rich widow to pay alimony to her husband’s ex-wife

In a story that made news in Switzerland this week, the Federal Court, the country’s ’highest judicial authority, has ruled that a widow must continue to financially support her dead husband’s former wife — even though they divorced 30 years ago.

The clearly wealthy man had paid his ex-wife 12,000 a month, but the widow stopped the alimony after he died.

The court ruled, however, that since the widow is the sole heir, she inherited not only her late husband’s assets but his ‘debts’ as well — one of which was the ex-wife’s alimony.

In fact, judges have increased the monthly payments to 14,000 to compensate for inflation. 

The Swiss are not ready to curb vacation spending 

Even though many families in Switzerland are cutting their expenses, when it comes to vacations, no budget caps are planned.

This is what emerges from a new Mastercard study, which found that 85 percent of respondents in Switzerland are not undertaking any cost-cutting measures for travel and leisure.
 
In fact, 51 percent plan to spend even more than they did in 2023, and 34 percent have the same vacation budget as last year.

“In recent years, the Swiss have often had to make difficult choices regarding their financial priorities. But the desire to live positive experiences remains intact,” said Daniela Massaro, head of Mastercard for Switzerland. “The purchasing power is likely to increase again, which should keep leisure spending at a high level.”

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