Switzerland

The EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg was evacuated due to a bomb threat on Friday afternoon for the second day in a row.

The airport’s website stated early afternoon that the terminal had to be evacuated for security reasons. French authorities reported on X (formerly Twitter) that the incident was a bomb threat, before announcing in early evening that the airport could re-open.

Several flights to and from Basel-Mulhouse were cancelled or diverted to other airports, EuroAirport told the Keystone-ATS news agency. The bus service linking Basel city centre to the airport was also suspended.

On Thursday a similar incident led to a six-hour interruption of operations at the airport. Passengers were ferried away by bus, before it turned out to be a false alarm.

The airport is located on French soil, but also serves the nearby Swiss city of Basel.

On Thursday, 14 French airports also received bomb threats, while on Friday, 12 regional airports in France were evacuated again due to scares, as was the Château de Versailles near Paris.

The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) says it has registered 26 anti-Semitic incidents in Switzerland over the past two weeks.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, an average of two incidents each day have been reported, SIG Secretary-General Jonathan Kreutner told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday.

In a year-on-year comparison, this marks a big amount for such a short period of time, he said. In the whole of 2022, there were 57 cases. “The SIG is concerned about this trend,” said the organisation, adding that it was imperative to ensure that emotions connected to the Israeli-Palestinian war did not spill over to Switzerland.

According to the SIG, the 26 incidents included three assaults, five insults, six graffiti, eight e-mails and letters, and four posters or anti-Semitic statements made during demonstrations.

The SIG figure does not include anti-Semitic statements on the Internet – nor does it include the French-speaking part of the country. However, the CICAD association – which operates both in French-speaking Switzerland and online – said on Friday that it noted 88 incidents in the past two weeks, 66 of them on the Internet.

Another group, the Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism, also noted an increase in cases, Keystone-SDA wrote on Friday: among them was also an Islamophobic incident, when a 16-year-old was called a terrorist in the street because he spoke Arabic. Joint appeal by seven parties

In a joint statement on Friday, Switzerland’s seven largest political parties appealed to the population, saying anti-Semitism has no place in Swiss democratic society. It is the joint task of authorities, parties, associations and all citizens to act with civil courage against any such incidents, they said.

Following the attack by Hamas, Swiss security authorities have stepped up measures at Israeli representations in Switzerland, while demonstrations linked to the war are currently banned in several cantons and cities.

Link of SRF in German: https://www.srf.ch/news/wahlen-2023-resultate

Some 6,445,100 motor vehicles (excluding motorised bicycles) were registered for use in Switzerland at the end of September. That is 76,500 vehicles or 1.2% more than in 2022.

Three quarters of all vehicles are passenger cars, as the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) announced on Thursday. Compared to last year, the number increased by 39,600 units or 0.8% to around 4,760,800 vehicles.

The proportion of purely electric cars among passenger cars increased from 2.3% last year to 3.3% in 2023, and that of hybrid vehicles from 6.0% to 7.6%. Gasoline-powered passenger cars continue to make up over 60% of vehicles and the share of diesel cars is 26.%.

The first worldwide study of the giant land snail, which has become a popular pet, has revealed that the invasive species poses a serious threat to human health. The researchers from the University of Lausanne are calling for restrictions on the purchase of land snails as pets.

Growing to over 20 centimetres in length, the giant land snail is far from harmless beneath its “friendly” gastropod exterior.

“Social networks are full of photos of people putting the animal in contact with their skin, or even their mouth. The mollusk’s slime is supposed to be beneficial for the epidermis, when in fact it is a vector for diseases such as rat lungworm, which can cause a form of meningitis in humans,” warns Cleo Bertelsmeier, associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), quoted in a press release on Thursday.

Consumption of these invertebrates is also strongly discouraged, adds the director of the study published last Tuesday in the journal “Parasites & Vectors”. Considered a particularly problematic invasive species, the giant land snail, native to East Africa, is voracious and reproduces very quickly, posing a threat to agricultural areas and biodiversity. ...

Switzerland currently does not want to introduce strict controls on the border with Italy, said Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU Interior Ministers meeting in Luxembourg.

In response to the high number of refugees and migrants, Germany announced on Monday that it would introduce border controls with Switzerland.

Baume-Schneider, who heads the justice department, indicated that she understood the decision by Germany after a fatal accident that took place recently. She was alluding to an incident in south-eastern Germany, where a suspected smuggling vehicle crashed while fleeing the police last week. Seven people were killed.

Switzerland does not want to introduce strict border controls with Italy. It has already increased the number of personnel in the border guard corps. More selective controls are currently sufficient, said the government minister.

Many Swiss regions on the border such as cantons Ticino and Basel have close economic ties to neighbours.

Significantly fewer babies were born in Switzerland in 2022 than in the previous year. At the same time, infant mortality increased slightly, according to a report by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

After the child-rich year of 2021, the number of births in 2022 fell by about 8% to 82,371, according to the statistics on natural population movements published by the FSO on Thursday.

According to the FSO, there are several possible reasons for this: the financial situation and fears about the future may have influenced family planning in Switzerland, but the child-rich year of 2021 may also have had an impact.

Infant mortality increased from 3.1 deaths per 1000 live births to 3.8. Infant mortality is caused primarily by deaths within the first 24 hours, the FSO said. About 60% of deaths in the first year of life occurred during the first day.

The Swiss franc continues to be sought out as a safe haven in the wake of the worsening situation in the Middle East. It has gained significantly in value. The euro hit a new all-time low against the franc of 0.9449 on Wednesday afternoon.

This was below the previous low of last Friday. While the US dollar as a world reserve currency was also in stronger demand and gained against most currencies, it also weakened somewhat against the franc on Wednesday. Thus, the US currency slipped below the mark of 90 centimes already in the morning and was traded in the early evening at 0.8980 francs.

Meanwhile, it dropped on the stock exchanges worldwide. The leading index of the Swiss stock exchange SMI dipped by 1.%. Germany's DAX slipped 1%, while the London Stock Exchange lost 1.2%. The US stock markets were also in the red. ...

Switzerland wants to bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics, pledging to spread venues across the country and avoid new construction in order to win over sceptical locals who’ve rejected past attempts to host the Games.

The plan is to keep the budget in line with expected revenues of 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion), officials said in a briefing on Wednesday. If the bid were successful, it could be the first time a country, as opposed to a city, is tasked to organize the Games.

Switzerland’s so-called sport parliament, made up of primarily of delegates from local sport federations, will vote on Nov. 24 whether to approve the bid. The International Olympic Committee, will then choose next summer the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games.

Traditionally, a country is chosen to organize the games about seven years before the event, but the IOC is trying to make the selection process less of a competition and more of a dialog. It’s also a nod to the reduced local enthusiasm seen of late.

Switzerland hosted the Games in 1928 and 1948, both times in the upscale resort of St. Moritz, but citizens have shown little appetite in recent years. Local votes rejected three attempts to organize Olympics in different parts of the country between 2013 and 2018.

This time officials are convinced that they will have popular support. Two out of three Swiss would support a bid in a referendum, according to a poll conducted last August. ...

Switzerland will support the new peace process in Colombia as a guarantor country, alongside Ireland, Norway and Venezuela in particular, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. It will be present during the negotiations and will provide political support and technical assistance.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs welcomes the opening of peace negotiations on Monday between the Colombian authorities and the rebel group Estado Mayor Central de las FARC-EP (EMC).

Active in Colombia for many years, Switzerland has assumed, at the request of both parties, an official mandate as guarantor country of the negotiations.

The creation of the EMC dates back to the conclusion of the 2016 peace agreement that part of the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had refused to sign.

When negotiations opened, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement with immediate effect. The latter, provisionally decreed for three months, aims to improve the humanitarian situation in the regions where the EMC is active.

The Colombian government aims, as part of its peace policy, to involve all armed groups, if possible, in the establishment of total peace. ...

In view of the tense security situation in the wake of the war in the Middle East, several cities have imposed bans on demonstrations. No demonstrations related to the Middle East conflict are allowed in Zurich this week. Basel generally prohibits rallies.

The ban therefore also applies to a demonstration by anti-corona measures planned for Saturday in Basel, as a cantonal police spokesman confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency. A trinational rally was planned under the name “Demo for Peace, Freedom and Sovereignty,” which was initially approved. At the same time, anti-fascist groups called for a counter demonstration.

Seven requests for demonstrations related to the Middle East conflict have been received in Zurich this week, a spokesman for the security department told Keystone-SDA.

The general order banning demonstrations applies from Friday 5 pm to Sunday midnight. Standing rallies and vigils are then also prohibited, as the police write. ...

he number of company bankruptcies so far this year has been significantly higher than in the same period last year.

From January to September 2023, 8 percent more bankruptcy proceedings were opened compared to the previous year.

In Switzerland there were a total of 3,845 company bankruptcies in the first three quarters of this year, as the business information service Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) announced on Wednesday. In September alone, D&B counted 522 insolvency proceedings (+10%). The risk of bankruptcy depends largely on the industry.

The number of company bankruptcies rose the most over the course of the year in the large Espace Mittelland region, where bankruptcies rose by 17 percent. In Ticino the increase was 13 percent, followed by northwestern Switzerland (+11%) and Zurich (+10%).

The risk of insolvency depends heavily on the industry. In the wood and furniture industry, for example, the probability of bankruptcy is three times higher than the national average. For craft businesses and the hospitality industry, the factor is 2.3, and in the construction industry there were twice as many bankruptcies as average.

The number of new businesses has also increased this year. At 3 percent to 38,325 new companies, the increase was significantly lower than the growth in bankruptcy.

Zurich researchers have identified one of the darkest rivers in the world. The Ruki River in the Democratic Republic of Congo is darker than the famous Rio Negro in the Amazon, ETH Zurich announced on Wednesday.

An international research team led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) conducted a study to investigate why the river is so black. According to the university, this is the first study on the jungle stream.

The result: The water of the Ruki is so dark because, due to its low gradient, it carries hardly any sediment, but large amounts of dissolved organic substances. According to ETH Zurich, its water contains four times more organic carbon compounds than the Congo River and one and a half times more than the Rio Negro in the Amazon.

According to the university, the carbon-containing substances enter the river primarily in rainwater. The rain falls on the dead jungle vegetation, dissolving organic compounds from the dead plant material, the study published in the journal "Limnology and Oceanography" showed. ...

Singapore’s financial regulator will conduct an on-site inspection of Credit Suisse Group AG after at least one of its customers was charged for money laundering in a scandal that has rocked the city-state.

The local unit of Credit Suisse will be among banks the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) plans to examine to determine whether they properly handled the monitoring of wealthy clients, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials from the regulator are set to interview personnel and review documents within weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.

The planned inspection underscores the seriousness of the scandal that has ensnared at least 10 domestic and international banks in the Asian financial hub. More than S$2.8 billion ($2 billion) of assets from cash to jewelry have been seized from a group of alleged money launderers with Chinese origin. ...

Switzerland has repealed an ordinance that allowed it to tap strategic fuel stocks after supplies of petroleum products normalised.

The Swiss government opened those stockpiles last year as imports along the River Rhine to the land-locked country came to a near standstill. Switzerland relies on the fuel it refines domestically as well as deliveries across land and by river, making the Rhine a vital conduit.

In addition to the dwindling water levels that hindered navigation on the Rhine, there were also cancellations and delays in cross-border rail traffic due to staff shortages and construction work. Those bottlenecks were aggravated by strikes in France earlier this year.

The supply situation in Switzerland has since returned to normal, the Swiss government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The number of livestock killed by wolves in Switzerland has fallen by 29% compared with the previous year.

Last year 1,200 livestock animals were killed by wolves in Switzerland by the end of September, the programme Schweiz Aktuell on Swiss public television, SRF, reported on Tuesday.

In 2023 the figure is 850 animals. According to SRF, which relied on “exclusively available figures”, the strongest decline was recorded in canton Glarus. There, 80% fewer farm animals were killed compared with the previous year.

In Graubünden, around 50% fewer killings were recorded. And in cantons Valais and Ticino the numbers are also declining. In contrast, the number of killings in cantons Vaud and St Gallen remained stable. ...

On behalf of the army pharmacy, Swiss Post is distributing iodine tablets to all households, businesses and public institutions within a 50-kilometre radius of Swiss nuclear power plants. However, anyone over 45 is advised not to take the tablets.

A total of 779 Swiss municipalities are being supplied with the tablets, spread over 12 cantons. Experience has shown that the iodine tablets are particularly effective for people up to 45 years of age and could protect children as young as two months from thyroid cancer, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) told the media on Tuesday.

The risk of developing thyroid cancer decreases sharply with age. According to the FOPH, possible side effects of iodine tablets thus become more significant. At the same time, the risk of serious side effects increases with age, for example for thyroid hyperfunction triggered by iodine.

Iodine tablets would have to be taken if there were an accident at a nuclear power plant with radiation leakage. The authorities would inform people of the right time to take the tablets with potassium iodide in case of an emergency. ...

The Swiss foreign ministry has condemned a rocket attack on a hospital in the Gaza Strip which is thought to have killed hundreds of people.

Switzerland is calling for a full investigation into the incident, the foreign ministry tweeted on Tuesday evening. “Following the attack on a hospital in Gaza, in which hundreds of people lost their lives, Switzerland wishes to remind everyone once again that hospitals and civilians must be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law,” it said. ...

More and more men are becoming victims of human trafficking in Switzerland. This is the finding of Plateforme Traite, the Swiss Platform against Human Trafficking which, since 2020 has brought together the four specialised agencies that provide counselling and assistance to trafficking victims.

As the platform announced on Wednesday, on the occasion of the European Day against Human Trafficking, the four Swiss specialised agencies identified 177 new victims of human trafficking in Switzerland in 2022. This is 30 fewer than in the previous year.

Of these 177 persons, 136 were women and 41 were men. This corresponds to a male share of 23%. In 2019, the proportion of men among newly identified victims was just 9%. ...

Switzerland will provide around CHF25 million ($27.7 million) in aid to Moldova in 2024, twice as much as before the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced on Tuesday at a meeting of the Moldova Support Platform in Chisinau.

The Platform was created by Germany, France and Romania after Russia's attack on Ukraine, the Department of Foreign Affairs explained. Cassis attended the fourth meeting of the Platform in Chisinau on Tuesday. Thirty states and over a dozen international organisations were represented at the meeting.

Moldova is home to around 110,000 refugees from Ukraine, the foreign ministry added. In terms of population, the Republic of Moldova has taken in the most refugees. Moldova is also suffering from the negative consequences of the war, such as high inflation, interrupted supply chains and increased energy prices. ...

The University of Bern has fired without notice a lecturer who had made positive comments about the Hamas attacks on Israel. An administrative investigation of the Middle East Institute has also been initiated and a co-director temporarily relieved of her duties.

"The University of Bern is confronted with an unprecedented case that has triggered an enormous public response," the university said on Tuesday. The controversial posts made on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, are unacceptable, it added, and the institution condemns any kind of violence or support for it.

The lecturer from the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and Muslim Societies allegedly wrote on X that the Hamas attack was the best present he had received before his birthday.

In another post, he allegedly commented on a video of the Hamas raid with the words "Shabbat Shalom" ("Peace be Sabbath"). The online posts have since been deleted.

The termination without notice is due to the intolerable behaviour and the resulting loss of trust, Christoph Pappa, Secretary-General of the University of Bern, told the media. ...

The Swiss government wants to make its international work better known abroad. For this reason, it is now providing information via an English channel on X, formerly Twitter.

Until now, the Vice-Chancellor, in his capacity as spokesperson for the Federal Council (the executive body), has operated an account on X in the national languages that is primarily aimed at a Swiss audience.

As the Federal Chancellery announced on Tuesday, this account will now be supplemented by a second one that will provide information mainly in English. The account is called @SwissGov and went live on Tuesday.

...

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been in Switzerland since October 9. They will be monitoring the federal elections this Sunday.

The OSCE experts are assessing the electoral process and its compliance with the commitments made by the organisation's member states, as well as with international obligations and standards and national legislation.

The OSCE made the announcement on its website. The three observers will focus on the regulations governing the financing of the election campaign, the trials with electronic voting taking place in three cantons (Basel-City, Thurgau and St Gallen) and the participation in voting by people with disabilities.

The team includes a Greek, a Belarussian and a Spaniard. According to the OSCE website, the team will visit a small number of polling stations. It will not carry out any systematic observation of voting or counting operations. A final report will be published approximately two months after the elections.

The citizens' movements Friends of the Constitution, Mass-Voll and Aufrecht Schweiz, together with the Pirate Party, have launched the popular initiative for stronger Swiss constitutional rights.

The authors of the federal popular initiative “For effective protection of constitutional rights (sovereignty initiative)” come from the anti-vax movements. They now have 18 months to collect the 100,000 signatures needed.

In its sights are the European Union and especially the World Health Organization (WHO), “which have a stranglehold on Switzerland,” noted Nicolas Rimoldi, who leads the Mass-Voll movement.

The aim of the initiative is to guarantee citizens consistent protection of constitutional rights and to defend Switzerland's sovereignty. For example, Switzerland would not be able to submit to foreign courts, with the exception of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.