FC Thun is making history not only in the Swiss Super League, but in European football. The team where the Catalan Genís Montolio plays has been promoted to the First Division this very season and, far from settling in and playing it safe, has wanted to go a little further and establish itself as the undisputed leader of the competition. “It is a situation that nobody expected. Being first or even fighting for European places was almost unthinkable. I am valuing it very highly. Now that we see that we are close to achieving it, I enjoy it even more. It is a historic moment for the club and very important for the city [of less than 50,000 inhabitants]. I live it with enthusiasm and without pressure,” explains Genís in conversation with ARA. With twelve points advantage over the second, St. Gallen, with only six matchdays left – including those of the final phase – before the end of the competition, glory is within reach.

"Seeing so many people traveling for one of our matches was really beautiful." Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (Steffisburg, 1990) fondly remembers her time at Barça and in Catalonia. The Swiss footballer—who prefers to be addressed in Catalan—fell in love with Catalan culture and traditions. "I love Barcelona, ​​it's one of my favorite places, and I can imagine myself living there in the future; I was very happy." Crnogorčević, who prefers Sant Jordi to Valentine's Day, still has a Catalan identity card and a Catalonia jersey with her name on it, gifts from fans. "The fans were always very kind to me, and I tried to talk to them, sign autographs, be close to them… They welcomed me with open arms," ​​she says.

Switzerland is famous for allowing its citizens to determine the country's course through direct democracy. It has put everything from social issues like same-sex marriage to economic debates like basic income to referendums. Now, the country faces another momentous vote: deciding whether to legally limit its population to 10 million. This initiative, dubbed "Not in a Switzerland of 10 Million" and proposed by the far-right Swiss People's Party, will be put to a vote on June 14, the government announced Wednesday. The proposal has set off alarm bells in both the government and the business and financial sectors. They warn that such a limit could have serious consequences for the country, ranging from having to suspend agreements with the European Union to a sluggish economy due to a labor shortage. Although the government and other political parties are vehemently opposed, a December 2025 poll puts support for the initiative at around 48%, suggesting a very close race leading up to June.

The New Year's Eve tragedy in Switzerland following the fire in a bar in the town of Crans-MontanaThe tragedy has so far claimed 40 lives. However, this toll is still provisional, as 119 more people were injured, most of them critically. On Sunday, Swiss forensic services identified all the bodies: among the deceased were 22 Swiss nationals, while the second most affected national group was French, with seven victims. Six of the deceased were Italian, two Romanian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, and one Turkish. One of the most harrowing facts is that half of the dead (who ranged in age from 14 to 39) were minors. Among the victims was 18-year-old Joaquim Van Thuyne Daniel, the son of a Catalan mother. Although he was born in Switzerland in 2007 and his family lived there, the young man had Catalan roots. He played football and was at the bar with other team members who also lost their lives. His grandfather, Josep Daniel, is well-known in Sant Cugat del Vallès, where he is a co-founder of the University Extension Program for Seniors. In fact, a funeral mass is expected to be held at the Sant Cugat monastery to remember the victim. At the moment, no date has been set. The young man's burial will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Justice begins to act after the New Year's Eve tragedy which has shocked Switzerland. Police have opened a criminal investigation against the couple who ran the Le Constellation bar in Valais, where a fire killed 40 people and injured 119, most with very serious burns, so the death toll could rise.

Swiss authorities are still investigating the origin of The fire in a bar on the corner of Valais on New Year's Eve, which has left at least 40 dead and 119 injuredMost of the injured are very serious, so the death toll could rise. "A large number of the injured, perhaps between 80 and 100, are in danger of dying," Stéphane Ganzer, the region's health and safety official, told French radio station RTL. The number of injured has increased by four in the last few hours, bringing the current total to 119. Regarding the cause of the fire, the Valais regional prosecutor, Béatrice Pilloud, pointed to flares placed inside champagne bottles: "They were placed too close to the ceiling, which caught fire rapidly." This is the leading hypothesis being investigated by authorities, and it is consistent with the testimony of several witnesses and videos of the fire starting. Patrons who frequent the bar say that bottles containing sparklers are common at the establishment, but in this case the pyrotechnics reportedly set the ceiling on fire. Le Constellation.

A fire at a bar in the luxury ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the Valais region of Switzerland, has left 40 dead and 115 injured, many of them seriously. The fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. during a New Year's Eve party, when there were about 400 people in the establishment, mostly teenagers and young adults. Police ruled out any terrorist connection and described the fire as extremely intense. Authorities warn that identifying the victims will be "very complex" due to the condition of the bodies and the fact that there were young people of various nationalities at the party. Italy is still searching for six people missing, while 13 Italians are hospitalized. There are also at least nine French citizens among the seriously injured, and eight more remain unaccounted for. At the moment, there are no reports of Spanish victims, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An information line for relatives has been activated at +41 84 811 21 17. Police and rescue services have deployed ten helicopters, 42 ambulances, and 140 personnel to evacuate victims to hospitals in Sion. All hospitals in the region have been overwhelmed, and intensive care units are full. The area has been cordoned off, and a no-fly zone has been imposed over the municipality. According to a senior police official at a press conference, everyone involved in the rescue operations was "shocked" by the devastation and the high number of victims. "Now the priority is for forensic experts to help us identify the people who have died," said the Attorney General of the Valais region, Beatrice Pilloud. Swiss President Guy Parmelin has declared five days of mourning and described the fire as one of the most traumatic events in the country's history. "It was a tragedy of unknown proportions," he lamented.

He arrived in 2019, brought in by Lluís Cortés, with the goal of "winning another league title." Six years later, he has left Barça after winning three Champions League titles, six league titles, five Copa de la Reina trophies, and five Super Cups. Rafael Navarro (El Pinell de Brai, 1986) has experienced all the successes of the women's first team firsthand. The Catalan—who was assistant coach to Lluís Cortés, Jonatan Giráldez, and Pere Romeu—took on the challenge of leading the Swiss national team last November. "The working tools I have here are quite similar to those I had at Barça. Besides that, the ideas I've tried to introduce are very well received by the Federation, which is open to making changes," he explained to ARA.

If everything that happens in Switzerland already seems like a given to us by default preppyImagine how this feeling intensifies when you add the Rothschild name to the equation. Well, this is the league we're playing in today. The level of exclusivity of the topic we're discussing this Sunday is so high that even names like Empress Sissi and Napoleon appear. In fact, to fully understand the context of these events, imagine that in the most VIP country in the world, there's a VIP room, which inside has another VIP room, which in turn has an even smaller, and therefore even more VIP, room. It's there that everything that follows takes place. Perhaps that's why, despite their importance, we know practically nothing about the characters in this tragicomedy.

Nemo's Eurovision win would have been a moment of celebration and euphoria, but for those who represented Switzerland it was an opportunity to put on the table the shortcomings regarding freedom of expression in the contest. Although Eurovision is a symbol of sexual liberation and diversity, Nemo has found the limits of this maxim. The interpreter of The code He explained in the subsequent press conference that he had to sneak the non-binary gender flag, with which he identifies, into the contest after the organization told him he could not show it.