Updates in 2025 to Global Geneva Insights articles
Travel, sport
Is Fall the best time to visit Switzerland? Roger Federer thinks so (LINK) 9 September 2025
Tennis icon Roger Federer becomes seventh ever billionaire athlete, Forbes says (LINK) 23 August 2025
— Federer was highest-paid tennis player for 16 straight years despite earning less in prize money than rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Federer becomes tennis' second billionaire, following Romanian player Ion Tiriac, who won the 1970 French Open men's doubles championship and began investing after the fall of communism. Also on the list are basketball stars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, as well as Milwaukee Bucks sixth man Junior Bridgeman. Tiger Woods rounds out the list and joins James as the only players to have become billionaires while still competing in their sports.
Watches
The Swiss sports watch Brad Pitt just made impossible to buy: his on-screen role in F1: The Movie has turned the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 into an impossible-to-buy icon, skyrocketing values on the secondary market (LINK) 23 September 2025
IWC Schaffhausen launches Curated: a new digital collectibles platform for watches (LINK) 7 September 2025
— This initiative creates a secure digital certificate for each registered timepiece. IWC Curated acts as a digital vault for every IWC watch.
The pre-owned watch market is rising, as new Swiss watch sales struggle: the secondary market just recorded its best half-year performance since early 2022 (LINK) 15 August 2025
— Patek Philippe's Aquanaut and Rolex's gold Daytona were among the top performers in the secondary market. Record gold prices and the strong Swiss franc have driven up the production cost and retail price of new timepieces, and some customers have to wait months or longer for delivery.
United Nations
The United Nations At 80: Hostage To The Veto: 3 essays (LINK) 27 August 2025
Martin Griffiths: I've seen the UN at its best. As it turns 80, with a world in crisis, it must recover its courage (LINK) 26 August 2025
The Heat: United Nations at 80 Years (LINK audio) 26 August 2025
— The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on 24 October 1945. (LINK)
Culture
Kleptomania, family feuds and Europe's tallest dam: the strange story of Jean-Luc Godard's debut film set in the Valais (LINK) 26 August 2025
Peter Greenaway on the moment cinema died: “I'll give you a date": August 31st, 1983, when the remote control was introduced into the living rooms of the world (LINK) 4 May 2025
Digital nomads
U.S. digital nomads: St. Louis (MO) tops the list for best live-work-play destination from 150 cities (LINK) 25 June 2025
— Digital nomads now count over 18.1 million workers in the U.S. — and the lifestyle keeps growing fans. St. Louis, MO, ranks as the top U.S. city for digital nomads, thanks to its winning combination of lifestyle perks, digital readiness and affordability. When it comes to digital readiness, Austin, TX, takes the lead — boasting plentiful coworking spaces, a thriving remote work scene, and top-tier internet speeds. Budget-conscious nomads will find the best value in Midwest cities such as Springfield, MO, and Lansing, MI, where it’s easy to meet live-work-play goals while staying under $3,000 per month.
Coral reefs: biodiversity
Grand Bahama-based Coral Vita, started with $1K to speed coral protection and propagation through innovative techniques, has just closed an $8m funding round through Builders Vision (LINK) 9 June 2025
— Coral Vita now has operations in The Bahamas, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Saba, and growing.
Activism: women's rights
Grisélidis Real: her life story as a writer, prostitute and activist (LINK in French) 28 May 2025
Street art
"The World of Banksy" exhibition in Valais town of Saxon, the first devoted to the street artist in French-speaking Switzerland and the second largest after New York, has closed suddenly after more than 30,000 visitors in less than a year: "Very busy with his commitments in France, its director Alil Vardar announces that he wants to concentrate on his international career" (LINK in French, paywalled) 21 August 2025
Telerama 28 April 2025: Alil Vardar accused of sexual violence and harassment by 20 women: headline — (LINK)
—In the 20 years since he wrote the play "The clan of divorcees" (Le clan des divorcées), some 1.5 million spectators have seen it in Francophone theatres.
Banksy's print legacy finally gets its due: Documenting every print edition by the artist from 2002-2022, Banksy: The Prints reveals the subversive genius behind 30,000 collectable works. (LINK) 11 August 2025
Banksy "Crude Oil (Vettriano)" art for sale by Blink-182 bassist is going up for auction, with an estimate of up to $6.3m, with some of the proceeds helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires — 18 February 2025 (LINK)
Architecture
Architects Damian and Leentje Walliser Garrels 1592 restoration project has its open day on 4 May 2025: the Belwalder-Gitsch-Hüs near Grengiols, Valais, celebrates 10 years since reopening as a two-apartment in the Swiss "Holidays in Monuments" programme (LINK) in German — 1 May 2025
— The architects designed or used furnishings appropriate for the original period and a heat pump that did not change the way the house looks. Architects' photos — (LINK)
Grand Bahama
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines acquire Xanadu Beach Resort: the 0.19km2(40-acre) Xanadu property is valued at approximately $348 million (LINK) — 30 April 2025
— Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) President Ian Rolle noted similar investment projects like Celebration Key, the MSC development and the Xanadu Resort acquisition deal. "Our desire is to connect Bahamians with the opportunities right in front of them, pay attention to what's going on, do their research, gain knowledge and participate in this growing tourism economy which I think is going to be the most significant growth that we've ever had in Freeport within the next five years."
Royal Caribbean sheds junk-debt status after Moody's upgrade (LINK limited) 19 May 2025
Women
Afghan women's radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban say they're lifting suspension — 23 February 2025 (LINK)
— Radio Begum launched on International Women's Day in March 2021, five months before the Taliban seized power amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. The station's content is produced entirely by Afghan women. Its sister satellite channel, Begum TV, operates from France and broadcasts programs that cover the Afghan school curriculum from seventh to 12th grade. The Taliban have banned education for women and girls in the country beyond grade six.
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