France riots ‘echo’ in Switzerland

Subject: International Relations

Section: Places in news

Concept:

Several shop windows and a shop door were smashed in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland over the weekend in what police said was an “echo” of the riots in next-door France, media reports said.
Lausanne is in western Switzerland, which is adjacent to eastern France — in a part of the country known as Romandy, where more than a fifth of the Swiss population lives, and French is spoken.

About Switzerland

Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe.
Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Divisions: It contains three basic topographical areas: the Swiss Alps to the south, the Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau, and the Jura mountains on the west. The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central and south of the country, constituting about 60% of the country’s total area.
Mountains: Switzerland’s highest point is Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa), in the Pennine Alps. Also located within the Pennine Alps is the infamous Matterhorn whose summit is 4,690 ft.
Rivers and Lakes: The main rivers that flow through Switzerland are: River Rhine, River Rhône , River Po, River Danube, River Adige.
The waterways of Switzerland drain out in four different directions, flowing into the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. Lakes, include Lake Constance (Bodensee), Lake Geneva and Lake Maggiore. Lake Neuchatel – the largest lake entirely within the country’s borders.