Switzerland

The Centre Party has extended its dominance in the Senate, while the Swiss People’s Party lost seats in three cantons. The Social Democratic Party also gained two seats.

The Swiss People’s Party not only lost its seat in canton Aargau, but also failed with its candidates in canton Zurich, where the Liberal Green Party took one seat from the centre-right, and canton Solothurn. The Swiss People’s Party President Marco Chiesa was re-elected. The Social Democratic Party gained two seats.

The new Senate is thus made up as follows: The Centre Party now has the strongest representation with 15 seats (2019: 13). The Radical-Liberal Party is in second place with eleven seats (2019: 12), ahead of the Social Democratic Party with nine seats (unchanged) and the Swiss People’s Party with six seats (unchanged). ...

The new cross-border commuter agreement between Switzerland and Italy, which came into force in July, is already having a noticeable effect in Ticino. Fewer Italian nationals are applying for jobs in the catering industry.

Massimo Suter, President of Gastro Ticino, confirmed to the news agency Keystone-SDA a report in the "Corriere del Ticino" on Saturday, according to which there has been a drop in applications in the catering sector of between 30% and 50%.

Applications from Italy have also fallen by up to 50% in Ticino's industrial sector compared to the previous year. This was the result of a survey of several dozen medium-sized companies, said Stefano Modenini, Director of the Ticino Industry Association, when asked by Keystone-SDA. ...

According to the Swiss National Bank (SNB) Chairman Thomas Jordan, the independence of the SNB is one of the guarantors of "prosperity and growth" in Switzerland. In a speech at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich Day 2023, he emphasised the joint contribution to Switzerland's success.

"Without independence, there can be no free research and no monetary policy shielded from vested interests," emphasised Jordan in his speech. "But independence is neither a law of nature nor a matter of course."

For Jordan, maintaining independence depends on three points in particular. Firstly, independence must be effectively practised at the SNB. For the SNB, this means that it "always gears its monetary policy towards maintaining price stability." ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will give a speech in Zurich on Wednesday at the invitation of the magazine Weltwoche. On Tuesday Swiss President Alain Berset and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will receive him for a courtesy visit.

Orbán’s courtesy visit to Bern was reported by Swiss public radio, RTS, and the Tamedia newspapers. Government spokesman André Simonazzi confirmed the visit on Saturday at the request of the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA.

The Weltwoche event will be held in the morning at the Dolder Grand hotel in Zurich. The initiative for the meeting with the Swiss government came from Orbán. ...

Almost everyone is now familiar with Black Friday, as the discount campaign from the US has made a name for itself in Switzerland. However, it is mainly young people who plan to take advantage of the offers on November 24.

In general though, the Swiss are less keen to shop this year, according to a recent study.

The study commissioned by Salesforce found that 39% of respondents across all age categories wanted to buy fewer products than in the previous year. Contrary to this trend, Generation Z, i.e. the under-30s, are definitely more willing to buy. A third are planning to buy more this year than last year and therefore rate Black Friday as attractive. ...

After many Swiss rivers reported critical levels on Wednesday, the situation appears to have gradually stabilised.

The flooding risks on several lakes and rivers remained “elevated” (level 3 on a scale of 1-5) between Wednesday and Thursday. This was the case for the Arve River in Geneva, lakes Biel and Thun as well as the Rhine in the Basel region.

In Geneva, the situation gradually returned to normal on Wednesday afternoon after five of the eight bridges spanning the Arve were closed, causing significant traffic disruptions. The river experienced its highest volumetric flow ever on Wednesday morning: over 1,000 cubic metres per second. ...

A study comparing lakes in the United States and Switzerland shows that the invasive quagga mussel is spreading widely in both countries, following a similar trend.

The invasive quagga mussel, which is already present in numerous bodies of water in Switzerland, is expected to spread massively in Swiss lakes. The biomass per square metre in Lake Constance, Lake Geneva and Lake Biel is likely to increase by a factor of nine to 20 over the next 22 years, and the quagga mussel is likely to shift into the deeper parts of the lakes, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) announced on Thursday. ...

n a makeshift container village around an area known as the barracks in Zurich, addicts can consume drugs in a protected environment.

The problem became apparent this summer: an open drug scene had spread in Zurich's District 4. Addicts had set up shop at a park in the city centre and openly consumed the cheap drug, crack.

It was assumed that the closure of a drop-in centre where addicts can consume drugs in a protected environment was responsible for this. ...

The situation in the Swiss tech industry is becoming more and more dire. While new orders came in increasingly sparsely in the third quarter, exports of goods and sales also fell.

The downturn that began in the first half of 2023 worsened in the third quarter, Swissmem said in a press release on Thursday. “The industrial recession has reached the tech industry,” summarized the organisation.

From July to September, incoming orders fell by 10.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Over the entire first nine months, orders fell by 9.9%. ...

The number of second homes in the city of Zurich has risen from 6,610 to 7,250 in the current year. This corresponds to an increase of 0.2 percentage points to 3.1% of the total housing stock.

Second homes include both privately used flats and furnished flats that are professionally managed. The data from the 2023 survey allows us to conclude for the first time that both groups are growing proportionately, as Statistics Zurich announced on Thursday. ...

The federal government should monitor the implementation of economic sanctions more closely in the future. This is what the Senate Audit Commission is demanding after analysing, among other things, the Russia sanctions. It makes six recommendations to the Federal Council.

In its report published on Thursday, the parliamentary supervisory commission states that the Federal Council has appropriately adopted the EU's economic sanctions in connection with the war in Ukraine. However, it is more critical of how the implementation of the sanctions was accompanied and monitored in the specific case. ...

After heavy rain swept over Switzerland in the past days, Geneva in particular is dealing with record-high river levels on Wednesday.

The Arve, a river that flows through Geneva and into the Rhône, experienced its highest volumetric flow ever recorded on Wednesday morning. “We have exceeded 1,000 cubic metres per second”, said Lieutenant Nicolas Millot, spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Service (SIS).

The situation has prompted the authorities to close five of the eight bridges spanning the river in the canton of Geneva. These closures are causing major disruption to traffic. Public transport is also affected, with trams no longer able to cross from one bank to the other. ...

Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen has called on the Red Cross to do more to establish contact with hostages abducted in the Gaza Strip.

Cohen made his remarks on Tuesday in Geneva, where he held talks with several relatives at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UN organisations.

“To date, no one has seen the hostages,” said Cohen. “We have no signs of life.” The ICRC must at least ensure that relatives receive a sign of life from those who have been abducted and that they are provided with medication.

Militants from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organisations killed around 1,200 people and abducted around 240 people during an attack on Israel on October 7. ...

The Swiss government wants to protect people at risk from respiratory viruses, and avoid overloading the healthcare system. On Tuesday, it launched a long-term strategy, "Endemic Covid-19".

Although the Covid-19 pandemic is over, the virus continues to circulate and can cause waves of infections and serious developments, particularly among the elderly and those suffering from certain illnesses, the Federal Office of Public Health points out in a press release. This is a situation that could put a strain on the healthcare system, especially if many cases of influenza or other infections occur at the same time during the cold season. ...

Balthasar Glättli is stepping down as president of Switzerland's Green Party.

The Zurich politician will not be standing for re-election on April 6, he announced on Tuesday on Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The reason: his party's defeat in last month's federal elections.

"I am the face of this defeat", he declared, as the Greens lost five seats on the House of Representatives. The party, he said, "deserves" a "fresh start" with a "new face".

Although Glättli said he "wasn't the only one who got it wrong", he felt he could no longer "shine" for his party, comparing himself to a street lamp, shining up and down. ...

For the first time, the same number of passengers flew through Zurich Airport in October as before the coronavirus pandemic. The number of passengers rose significantly compared to the same month last year.

A total of 2.87 million passengers traveled through Zurich Airport in October. This is 19 percent more than in the same period last year. For the first time, traffic volumes have thus returned to pre-corona crisis levels.

The exact number of passengers is 99.9% of the October 2019 figure, as the airport announced on Monday evening. With 110,148 passengers on October 8, a new daily record was also set since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of passengers traveling within Europe even rose slightly above the pre-crisis level. In contrast, the number of intercontinental passengers was only around 93% of the 2019 figure. ...

A 53-year-old Polish was transporting drugs worth 2 million euros (CHF1.93 million) from Switzerland to the Czech Republic for sale in Italy.

The Italian Financial Guard seized 196 kilos of marijuana from a van in northeastern Italy, near the Austrian border. A 53-year-old Polish man was arrested. The drugs, worth 2 million euros, had initially been transported from Switzerland to the Czech Republic and were destined for sale in Italy.

The van was spotted on Monday night during a checkpoint at a freeway tollgate in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, Italian news agency Adnkronos reported. The cannabis shipment was packed in 176 packages. ...

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then Christmas shopping: many people in Switzerland will go on a shopping spree at the end of the year. However, Swiss Post is expecting a slightly lower flood of parcels this year than in 2022.

The "parcel peak season" is just around the corner for Swiss Post employees. Last year, Swiss Post sent 22 million parcels across the country between Black Friday and Christmas. This year, however, a slightly lower volume of parcels is expected.

However, Swiss Post believes it is well equipped to deal with the flood of parcels, as a spokesperson told the news agency AWP. In the current year, new parcel centres have been opened around Switzerland.

The daily sorting capacity has increased by around 20% compared to 2022. "This means we are already well prepared for the higher parcel volumes in the coming weeks," said the spokesperson. ...

According to a study by the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, the reforestation and restoration of existing forest areas around the world would make it possible to sequester an additional 226 gigatonnes of carbon. This corresponds to more than six times the global CO2 emissions in 2022.

An international team of researchers, under the direction of the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, obtained this result by analysing satellite data and associating it with ground measurements. The study was published on Wednesday in the specialised journal Nature.

On a global scale, trees could absorb 328 gigatonnes of CO2 more than they currently do, without any human influence. By way of comparison, 36.8 gigatonnes of CO2 will have been emitted in the world by 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (AIE). ...

"Dear students, getting involved in another language is always exhausting," said Elisabeth Baume-Schneider in her speech. "Thank you for leaving your comfort zone." Unfortunately, there were no language exchanges when she was at school, said Baume-Schneider.

However, her son had been to Basel. There, he was allowed to eat "all kinds of crisps" for the first time, which were not available in her household. "It's not just about language, it's also about behaviour."

Zurich and Vaud sign agreement

On Tuesday, Zurich and Vaud will sign a declaration of cooperation, which stipulates that all pupils from both cantons will spend at least one week in another language region during their primary school years. A second opening ceremony for the exchange week took place in Prangins (VD), the other location of the National Museum. Martin Candinas, parliamentarian in the House of Representatives, was present. ...

Former minister Simonetta Sommaruga was awarded the honorary “Trailblazer Award” in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is awarded to women who have reached the highest levels of political leadership. In the Icelandic capital she took part in the “WEF for Women”.

The former Swiss minister was invited as a politician to the 6th "Reykjavik Global Forum - Women Political Leaders" because she has long and persistently been committed to women's political issues, her media spokeswoman announced in advance.

Sommaruga said he was honoured by the award on Monday. In her speech, she pointed out that, especially in times of war and terror, women are at risk of being pushed out of political leadership and from the public eye. This shouldn't be allowed. "On the contrary, we need more women in political leadership." ...

Researchers at the University of Zurich have found viruses or bacteria in almost all the ticks they have examined, including the Alongshan virus, which was discovered a few years ago.

“Almost every tick can potentially make you ill,” virologist Cornel Fraefel from the University of Zurich, who took part in the study, told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS on Monday. “In many ticks, we found several pathogens at the same time.”

The Alongshan virus (ALSV) was detected in almost twice as many ticks (7.6%) as the meningoencephalitis virus (4.2%). Around 77% of ticks also tested positive for at least one non-viral pathogen. Of the ticks collected in urban areas, 83.9% contained at least one non-viral pathogen.

The dangerousness of ALSV has not yet been clearly established. “The discovery of ALSV is so recent that we can’t yet say whether it is relevant to public health in Switzerland," Fraefel said. According to a Chinese study, the symptoms resemble those of meningoencephalitis. ...

Berlin is extending border controls with Switzerland. The decision was made last Monday at a meeting between Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the minister presidents of the federal states, the German authorities told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA.

Berlin wants to use the border controls to combat irregular immigration and people smuggling, according to a statement on Monday.

Berlin had already announced stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for ten days in mid-October and then extended them by 20 days at the end of October. These internal border controls will now be maintained, according to last week's decision. ...

Heavy rainfall in recent days has increased the risk of avalanches in the Swiss mountains.

On Monday the danger level was 4 on a scale of 5 in the Valais Alps, above 2,200 metres, according to the federal government’s portal on natural hazards.

The areas concerned stretch from Val d’Illiez in the Lower Valais to the Alps between Naters in the Upper Valais and Interlaken in canton Bern. The danger is described as high (4) due to the fresh snowfall. Spontaneous and often very large avalanches are likely. ...

Antibiotics should remain effective and resistance should be avoided. The Swiss government has therefore developed a strategy together with the cantons and other stakeholders.

The four federal offices involved presented the National Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) in Bern on Monday. This was adopted by the government in 2016. The aim is to maintain the effectiveness of antibiotics, as the emergence of resistant bacteria is one of the most serious health problems worldwide.

With StAR, significant measures have been implemented to reduce the use of antibiotics and curb the spread of resistant bacteria. In human medicine, the consumption of antibiotics that are particularly critical for the development of resistance fell by 37% between 2012 and 2022. In veterinary medicine, antibiotic prescriptions have fallen by almost half since 2012. Critical antibiotics have been reduced by around two-thirds, according to the press release. ...