Switzerland

The ozone limit values were exceeded at all measuring stations in Switzerland last year. On the southern side of the Alps, this also applied in part to the respirable fine dust particles.

The limits for other air pollutants were met according to the National Monitoring Network for Air Pollutants (Nabel) and according to cantonal measurements at all stations, as the Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) announced on Monday.

Air quality in Switzerland has improved significantly over the past 30 years. Major successes have been achieved with the air pollutants sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and zinc, the Bafu said.

A memorial service for the victims of the terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas was held at a synagogue in Bern on Monday evening. Swiss government minister Albert Rösti attended and offered condolences on behalf of the federal government.

In his address, Rösti said, “I am here today to convey to you, as Jews in Switzerland, on behalf of the Federal Council, the deepest sympathy and great condolences of the national government. We share your grief, we share your horror.”

The Federal Council condemned the “barbaric terrorist attacks” in the strongest possible terms and called for the immediate release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Rösti said. The Federal Council also recognised Israel's legitimate will for national defense and security, he said.

The government also came to the decision that Hamas must be classified as a terrorist organisation, he said.

“We are completely stunned in view of the people who rejoice in the indescribable brutality, and celebrate it in public,” said Rösti, who strongly condemned the behavior at numerous pro-Palestinian events, including in Europe.

Swiss among casualties

Among the victims of the Hamas attacks is also a Swiss-Israeli dual citizen, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis confirmed on Friday. SWISS International Airlines flew 880 people to Zurich in four evacuation flights last week. As of last Saturday, some 300 Swiss travelers in Israel were still registered on the federal government's “Travel Admin” app.

Two people, one of Swedish nationality and one of dual Swedish and Swiss nationality, according to the Belgian authorities, were killed Monday evening in Brussels by an armed man who fled on a scooter. The suspect was arrested on Tuesday morning in the Belgian capital.

The events occurred on Boulevard d'Ypres, near Place Sainctelette, in the centre of Brussels. Police were alerted shortly after 7pm and installed a security perimeter.

A video message was posted on social networks by a man “presenting himself as the attacker and saying he was inspired by the Islamic State” (IS), said a spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office.

According to several Belgian media, the suspect is a 45-year-old man of Tunisian origin who lives in the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek.

The terrorist threat level was raised to four, considered “very serious” (maximum level) on Monday evening in the Brussels region.

Dual national

According to several media, the two victims were Swedish nationals. The Belgian federal prosecutor's office said that one also carried a Swiss passport.

The attack took place before a Euro 2024 football qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden which was being held in Brussels.

The match was interrupted at half-time “following consultations with both teams and local police authorities,” the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced. According to the French-speaking channel RTBF, the Swedish players did not wish to resume the game after the break. Journalists present at the King Baudoin stadium indicated that spectators had been asked to remain in the enclosure.

The federal prosecutor's office in charge of terrorism cases, has taken charge of the investigation.

Donations in Switzerland reached a record CHF2.5 billion in 2022, according to the Zewo organistion.

A report by the same source said donations for Ukraine largely contributed to the annual record, accounting for CHF418 million,. Donations for international aid abroad have increased by 30%, while those for social and health aid in Switzerland have stagnated.

Digital donations popular

Digital donations, in particular via the Twint payment application, are very popular, according to Zewo, a standard setter for Swiss charities. Since 2019, the amounts donated via these payment methods have risen from CHF22 million to CHF117 million. The volume of transactions is also multiplied by each quarter.

Donations from private households exceeded the long-term linear growth trend even more than Covid donations over the previous two years.

A total of 7 francs out of 10 from donors in German-speaking Switzerland came from private households, compared with 6 francs out of 10 in French-speaking Switzerland.

Quality label

Of the 2.5 billion francs in donations received by aid organisations in 2022, 1.51 billion went to organisations with the Zewo quality label. Thirty-five of the 50 largest organisations that collected donations in 2022 carry this label.

The Zewo Foundation is the service of Swiss certification for the organisation of public use that collects donations. Swissfundraising is part of the professional organisation of fund collectors in Switzerland.

SWISS announced on Monday that it was suspending flights to and from Beirut due to tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon.

An extension of the conflict cannot be ruled out, and the airline is determined not to jeopardise the safety of its passengers and crews.

The suspension of flights is valid in any case until 28 October, pending a reassessment of the situation. Four flights from Zurich have been cancelled, on 17, 19, 24 and 26 October. Tickets will be refunded in full.

A mammoth tusk has been discovered in the gravel pit at Wynau. The animal lived more than 25,000 years ago in the far north-east of what is now the canton of Bern.

While working with a digger this summer, two workers came across fragments of a mammoth tusk measuring around 50 centimetres long and 14 centimetres in diameter. These were isolated remains: no other archaeological objects were found when the gravel layers were examined, nor during the subsequent excavation work.

The workers immediately reported their discovery to the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern (ADB). An ADB employee visited the site on the same day, the canton said in a press release on Monday.

Washed away

In Switzerland, the mammoth became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age. Dating carried out by the University of Bern has established that the tusk belonged to an animal that lived between 24,800 and 24,100 BC.

The last glacial maximum began at this time, around 26,000 years ago: the Rhone glacier extended from Lake Geneva in a north-easterly direction, covering the western part of the Plateau and stopping west of the area where Oberbipp, Aarwangen and Langenthal are now located, i.e. around five kilometres from the site of the discovery.

The tusk probably belonged to an adult male that had died in the steppe landscape in front of the Rhone glacier. It was then washed away by a stream and deposited at the site where it was found. The fragments were protected for thousands of years under layers of sand and gravel.

Limited remains

The steppe that occupied the Plateau during the Ice Age provided a favourable habitat for large herbivores such as mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses and bison. However, finds dating from this period are very rare. There are no known traces of the hunters who roamed the cold steppe in small groups on the Plateau.

A mammoth tusk had already been discovered at the Wynau site in 1979, 400 metres from the site of the new find, and fragments belonging to a woolly rhinoceros and a wild horse had previously been unearthed there. Similar finds have been made in other gravel pits in the vicinity, as well as in the neighbouring canton of Lucerne.

The dismantling of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant in the canton of Bern is progressing well, but there is still a long way to go before the site can be reused in 2034.

To date, 5,400 tonnes of material have been removed, four years after the plant was shut down in 2019. This represents around a third of all the material that needs to be transported until the plant is completely dismantled, news agency Keystone-ATS learned from operator BKW during a visit to the site.

The first major milestone was reached at the beginning of September with the removal of the last remaining fuel elements, which are now stored in the intermediate storage facility (Zwilag) in Würenlingen, Aargau.

The removal of all the fuel elements was the key phase of the work. Today, Mühleberg no longer presents any nuclear risk," explains Urs Amherd, Head of Nuclear Strategy at energy company BKW.

The plant took five years to build, from 1967 to 1972. Dismantling will take three times as long. It will involve no fewer than 300 people, or as many as when the power station was still in operation.

Strict safety measures are still being observed. To enter the site, one has to wear a protective suit and a dosimeter that measures radioactivity. There are also a number of security checks.

A mammoth task

Every bolt has to be removed, cleaned and measured before it is disposed of. Dismantling is a mammoth task, which also requires a great deal of attention to detail. Crates containing dismantled parts are piled up all over the plant.

The specialists have to sort out the active materials from the contaminated ones. The first category comprises materials rendered radioactive by neutron radiation. This radioactive waste is immersed in a basin filled with water - one metre of water reduces the radiation by a factor of a thousand - before being taken to the storage centre.

Contaminated materials, on the other hand, are not radioactive but have been polluted by contact with liquids or gases containing radioactive particles. This is also radioactive waste, but the treatment and decontamination process is different.

Asbestos and dyes

Dismantling sometimes holds a few surprises in store. Specialists have found more asbestos than expected. Lead-containing dyes scattered throughout the plant also complicated the cleanup work.

"We even had to change our overalls, not because of the radioactivity but because of the toxic chemicals," explained Urs Amherd. But this was not reason enough to extend the deadlines.

Mühleberg is the first power station in Switzerland to be shut down. The decision was taken in 2013 for economic reasons. "With the current trend in electricity prices, such a decision would certainly no longer be taken today," says Amherd.

The franc has risen in recent days to its highest value against the euro in a year and is approaching an all-time high. A very uncertain international situation in the Middle East is pushing investors towards safer positions.

On Friday evening, the exchange rate against the euro fell as low as 0.9457. One has to go back to September 2022 to find a lower euro value (0.9409), a rate that represents the absolute minimum in the history of exchange rates between the two currencies. This morning the euro changed hands between 0.9486 and 0.9502.

According to market players, there is a rush to so-called safe haven assets, such as the Swiss franc. It is not yet clear how long this phase will last: such episodes are usually short-lived, says an analyst at Commerzbank. "But as long as there is a danger of a ground offensive by the Israeli army in Gaza and as long as it is not clear how the Arab states will react, it is probably too early to give up on the new risk stance”. Historical comparison

The euro (in actual monetary circulation since 2002) hit its all-time high against the franc in 2007 at CHF 1.7146. These were the days of the so-called “super-euro”, which according to its supporters was preparing to replace the dollar as the world's reference currency. The subsequent global economic and financial crisis, later aggravated by the European sovereign debt crisis, sharply reduced the value of the European Union’s currency, reinforcing the franc's role as a safe haven value.

A reputation, however, that was only built up after a long time. The Swiss franc is in fact over 170 years old: it was created in 1850 and was then geared to the French system. The first coins were minted in Paris: the Federal Mint in Bern only came into operation in 1853. And at the time there were probably not many who bet that the currency of a neutral state would one day become more valuable than that of neighbouring great powers.

Public transport companies, that are supposed to set their own fares, faced government pressure to increase fares in 2024, according to a confidential document.

Public transport fares will rise by an average of 3.7% on December 10, the first increase since 2016. By law, prices are set by the companies in the sector, which are members of the SwissPass Alliance, as the Sunday paper SonntagsBlick pointed out. However, a confidential document obtained by the German-language newspaper shows that the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) put pressure on the industry to raise fares. The document is a letter from FOT Director Peter Füglistaler, dated March 27, 2023, addressed to the companies, the relevant cantonal offices and other tariff setters.

Füglistaler called for tariff measures to be implemented by 2024 at both national and regional level. As far as the latter is concerned, the federal authority even said it expected tariff measures to be "above average".

Subsidies as the only lever

Contacted by SonntagsBlick, the FOT believes that "the autonomy of the transport companies in terms of fares has remained guaranteed". The only source of indirect influence for the cantonal and federal authorities is the level of subsidies, it points out. But these must also take into account the interests of taxpayers, the FOT added. Because of the poor state of federal finances, the Federal Council decided at the start of the year to cut spending on regional public transport.

The SwissPass Alliance also believes that it has retained control over the setting of fares despite this letter from the FOT. After discussions with the official price watchdog Stefan Meierhans, adjustments were made to mitigate the 4.3% increase initially planned.

In May this year, however, Meierhans did observe a certain amount of pressure from the authorities on the industry: "According to verbal indications from decision-makers, de facto price sovereignty is severely limited", he wrote in a letter.

Not planning any increase

According to SonntagsBlick, the Swiss Federal Railways has long been opposed to any price increases. In a presentation by its "Sustainable Financing" working group to representatives of the Federal Office of Transport and the Federal Department of Finance on October 27, 2021, it was stated that the company "is not planning any price adjustments until 2030, not least because of the uncertainties associated with the development of post-Covid traffic".

According to the presentation, the fact that pricing measures have nevertheless been discussed in the public transport sector was "at the instigation of the FOT and the cantons".

Since October 2021, however, energy prices have risen sharply, driven in particular by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

To mark World Food Day on Monday, Swiss NGO Swissaid is sounding the alarm: hunger is not going away. The 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that 735 million people are undernourished, compared with 572 million in 2017.

The number two goal of the United Nations Agenda – to eliminate hunger by 2030 – seems to be slipping further away, Swissaid said in a statement on Saturday. In 14 countries, progress is virtually at a standstill.

In 18 countries, hunger has increased since 2015, and in 58 countries it is already certain that the Zero Hunger objective will not be achieved in time. Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly hard hit.

In addition to climate-related crises, armed conflicts and disruptions to supply chains, the structure and functioning of food systems are a major problem: in many places, they are neither sustainable nor prepared for the consequences of climate change.

This is where Swissaid’s work comes in. Projects are helping local people to switch to climate-resilient, local, social and sustainable agriculture.

“Agroecology projects make a major contribution to greater food sovereignty,” said Markus Allemann, director of Swissaid.

Knowledge of local cereals and vegetables adapted to climatic conditions is an important element in improving food security, the NGO continued. “Unfortunately, this knowledge is often forgotten, and many indigenous varieties that were once consumed are gradually being replaced by imported products. Wheat, for example, is gaining ground at the expense of millet in several regions of Africa.”

In order to make forgotten knowledge about local varieties public again, Swissaid has published the brochure “Agrobiodiversity on the PlateExternal link”. The brochure highlights the diversity of cereal varieties and legumes in various countries in the South, as well as their nutritional richness and key role in food security. The recipes with superfoods contained in the booklet are also possible solutions for a diverse diet adapted to climate change.

Ralph Lewin, president of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities and the highest representative of Jews in Switzerland, has spoken of a “breach of civilisation” concerning last week’s attack by Hamas on Israel. Nevertheless, he believes that part of the Israeli population would be ready for dialogue.

“What happened is unimaginable,” Lewin said in an interviewExternal link with Swiss public radio, SRF, on Saturday. He said he was referring not only to the brutality of Palestinian militant group Hamas but also to the fact that Israel was unable to protect the Jews.

This goes “very, very deep” for Jewish communities worldwide, because it is the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Lewin said.

Against this background, he can also understand that Israel wants to “eliminate Hamas” after such an attack. Nevertheless, the question arises whether the two sides will not have to break out of this logic of violence at some point. For if Israel wants to “destroy” Hamas and conquer the Gaza Strip as announced, thousands of people are likely to die, he said.

“The current spiral of violence has started from an unprecedented terrorist attack. You cannot make peace with Hamas, that is clear to everyone by now,” Lewin said, adding that in the current situation, demanding that Israel focus on de-escalation is “politically impossible”.

Nevertheless, Lewin also sees limits to Israel’s actions. He could not judge whether Israel’s sealing off of the Gaza Strip violated international humanitarian law – as the United Nations says it doesExternal link – but Israel also had to abide by it and thus show consideration for the civilian population.

‘Thorny’ process

And what about the fundamental peace process? “I have been dreaming of a peaceful solution since I was a student,” Lewin said. He also knows that the two sides will also have to approach each other again.

As a prerequisite for this, he says the Palestinians need another interlocutor. If the Palestinians send signals that they are ready to talk, he is convinced that part of the Israeli population will resume talks, but after the recent events, this will be an extremely “thorny” process.

However, many also doubt whether peace can be made with the Israeli government; after all, Israel has been massively expanding settlements in the West Bank for years. “Israel has proven that it can make peace,” Lewin said, pointing to the agreement with Egypt. He hopes that this ability to make peace still exists in Israel today.

Concerns in Switzerland

Regarding the situation in Switzerland, Lewin said the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities welcomed the fact that Hamas was now deemed a terrorist organisation.

“We think it is right that the government now sees that one cannot negotiate with such an organisation,” Lewin said. However, he said the federation was concerned that the current solidarity with Israel and the Jews would change again and that anti-Semitic incidents would increase.

He called for moderation in Switzerland and for dialogue. “We mustn’t transfer the conflict to Switzerland, which is why it is also very important for me personally that we have a good dialogue with the Muslim authorities in Switzerland,” Lewin said.

The president of the Swiss Medical Association has sounded the alarm that Switzerland is training too few doctors and a gap in healthcare is looming. Yvonne Gilli is therefore calling for more study places and modern working conditions for younger doctors.

“Their demand is extremely moderate: a 46-hour week,” Gilli said in an interview with SonntagsBlick.

The framework conditions would also have to be improved in order to keep doctors of retirement age in the profession longer, she said. “Many are highly motivated to continue working until 71 or 72; the medical profession is their vocation. But if the framework conditions continue to deteriorate, they will not take this step.”

The adjustments for the medical profession are necessary because the baby boomer generation is coming into retirement age, she said.

“There is a drama looming,” Gilli warned, since the problem of attracting new doctors cannot be solved overnight. “If we decide now to train significantly more, it will still take another ten years until these people can actually practise their profession. Our goal must therefore be to keep the gap as small as possible.”

Several hundred people showed their solidarity with the Palestinian people at a rally in the Swiss capital, Bern, on Saturday afternoon. The event had been authorised.

An estimated 400 to 500 people joined the rally, according to a reporter from the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. Many of the participants waved Palestine flags, raised banners and chanted slogans such as “viva, via Palestine” but also “Israel Terrorist”.

The rally was called by the Palestine Group Bern. On a flyer, they demanded an end to the violence, the protection of human rights and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The security director of the city of Bern did not see any indications of a radical background of the organisers, the Bernese Tamedia newspapers reported.

The Bernese cantonal police were present, but kept a low profile. The demonstrators behaved peacefully. Various speakers condemned Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people.

Swiss astronaut Marco Sieber has passed his probationary period and says he had no doubts about his decision to become an astronaut during the first six months of the one-year basic astronaut training.

“But it is difficult to be so far away from home, from friends and family,” Sieber said. Since April, the 34-year-old from Kirchberg, canton Bern, has been training for missions in space at the European Space Agency (ESA) training centre in Cologne, Germany.

In a few years the distance should be much greater for Sieber: after completing basic training, the new astronauts will be assigned to a mission. The rest of the training will be tailored to specific mission tasks.

More specifics, he said, have not yet been decided. “My first flight to the International Space Station ISS will probably take place between 2026 and 2030,” Sieber said. This will make him the second Swiss to fly into space. He was selected from 22,500 candidates for astronaut training.

A Swiss citizen was killed in the terrorist attacks on Israel at the weekend, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis confirmed on Friday.

Not much is known about the death, Cassis said at a media conference on the sidelines of a science diplomacy summit in Geneva. However, it was clear that the man's death was the result of an "unfortunate encounter" with the terrorists.

Cassis expressed his deepest condolences to the man's relatives.

The foreign ministry said on its website that the man had lived in Israel since 2004. For reasons of personal privacy, no further details could be given.

The stance of political parties on immigration will influence the vote of 66% of the Swiss electorate.

No fewer than 41% of Swiss people perceive the migration situation as very worrying, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos for Le Temps.

Older people and people in German-speaking Switzerland are more worried than the youth and those living in French-speaking Switzerland.

The idea of bringing in more foreign workers from outside the EU was rejected by 49% of those polled. Taking in more migrants to deal with the labour shortage and train them was no more appealing (54% rejected). Nor do respondents want the government to force the cantons to open asylum centres (53%). A majority (59%) thought that granting a time-limited protected status to Ukrainian refugees was justified, but 27% thought that this status should end.

The Swiss People’s Party is the party seen as best placed to resolve the migration issue, which will influence the vote of 66% of Swiss voters. Of those surveyed, 28% of put the right-wing party in the lead on migration issues, ahead of the Social Democrats (14%) and the Radicals (10%), while 26% of had no confidence in any party.

With the slogan "Intifada until victory", communist student groups have called for a rally at Swiss universities.

"Solidarity with Palestine - Intifada until victory", proclaim the posters calling for a rally in Zurich. The kick-off was to take place in front of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and then move to a hall at the University of Zurich (UZH). Two Marxist organisations are behind the action.

In the meantime, the University of Zurich has banned the rally. In response to an enquiry from public broadcaster SRF News, it says that the student association "Marxist Students Zurich" will not be provided with premises for the event. "The call for an Intifada until victory spread by the organisers 'Der Funke' and IMT is not compatible with the stance of the UZH," stated the University of Zurich. It regrets the many victims and condemns Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel in the strongest possible terms.

ETH Zurich also condemns meeting

ETH Zurich also condemns the terrorist attacks by Hamas last weekend in the strongest possible terms, it told SRF News. A call for violence and the justification of terror are unacceptable to the university.

When asked about the planned rally on the Polyterrasse, representatives said that "ETH Zurich sees the posters as a clear call to violence. It will prevent the rally on its premises within the scope of its possibilities and will expel people from the Polyterrasse if they carry out the rally despite the ban".

The communist group International Marxist Tendency is also planning similar meetings at the universities of Bern and Fribourg. In both cases, the universities have banned the events. In Bern, the Marxists now want to meet at a different location, according to the portal IMT.

Lecturer dismissed

The University of Bern is also in the spotlight because of a lecturer who had made supportive comments about the Hamas attack in two online postings on X. The university has dismissed the lecturer because his posts were deemed unacceptable.

The lecturer's comments will also become a case for the Bernese judiciary. The public prosecutor's office will examine the facts of the case for their relevance under criminal law, Christof Scheurer, information officer of the general public prosecutor's office of the Canton of Bern, said on request, thus confirming information from the news portal 20 Minuten.

According to 20 Minuten, the lecturer is said to have posted about the Hamas attack that it was the best present he had received before his birthday. In another post, he allegedly commented on a video of the Hamas attack with the words "Shabbat Shalom" ("Peace be Sabbath"). The online posts have since been deleted.

Potentially harmful synthetic chemicals known as PFAS, or forever chemicals, have been found at almost half of the 500 groundwater monitoring sites in Switzerland. But Swiss limit values were only exceeded at one station, according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

In total, the measurements revealed the presence of 13 different "forever chemicals”, or per-​ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The highest concentrations were found in water samples taken in 2021 for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), a category of PFAS, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) announced on Thursday. The conclusions were from a pilot study by the National Groundwater Monitoring (NAQUA).

“The results of a pilot study by the National Groundwater Observatory (NAQUA) show that PFAS are also widespread in groundwater: their presence was noted at almost half of NAQUA measuring stations. However, the current limit values [set in Switzerland] ​​were exceeded at only one measuring station,” BAFU said in a statement.

PFOS has been banned in Switzerland since 2011, with a few exceptions. Around 80% per cent of drinking water in Switzerland comes from groundwater.

According to current knowledge, an important source of PFAS in groundwater is fire-fighting foam, said BAFU. These are used at fire-fighting training sites or on civil protection training grounds, as well as at industrial areas, reservoirs and railways. At these sites, PFAS sometimes repeatedly entered the soil, BAFU said.

Other sources, such as landfills or sewage, also pollute the groundwater with PFAS. For example, PFAS and radioactive residues were found at the Stadtmist landfill site in Solothurn, as revealed in September. This has resulted in additional unplanned costs for clean-up work.

The problems with these widely used persistent synthetic chemicals is well known. The name "forever chemicals”, or PFAS, comes from their ability to accumulate in water and soils, as they do not decompose due to an extremely strong bond between carbon and fluorine atoms. Most people ingest or inhale these synthetic chemicals released through contaminated water and food — even air, according to the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

There are thousands of different PFAS – they are used in all sorts of products and machines, including cars, textiles, medical gear, windmills and non-stick pans due to their long-term resistance to extreme temperatures and corrosion.

Certain levels of PFAS may lead to health problems like cancer, thyroid disease or fertility issues, as well as environmental damage, research has shown.

BAFU is currently examining whether an action plan is needed to reduce the exposure of humans and the environment to PFAS in Switzerland. This follows a parliamentary question by Swiss parliamentarian Tiana Moser.

In addition, BAFU is currently drawing up limit values for PFAS for contaminated sites, soil and discharges into water bodies, in response to a motion by Swiss parliamentarian Marianne Maret.

The limits of the Drinking Water Ordinance apply to PFAS in groundwater. This currently sets limits of 0.3 and 0.5 micrograms per litre for three individual PFAS substances. The Swiss government has already issued bans for the most frequently detected PFAS with the greatest health risk.

Significantly more sexual assaults are committed in Switzerland on Saturday or Sundays than on weekdays, according to a study of victims treated in the emergency departments of the University Hospitals of Geneva and Lausanne.

During the four-year study period between 2018 and 2021, 962 sexual assault reports were made at the two hospitals, according to a joint statement issued by the hospitals on Wednesday; 740 of the cases were included in the analysis. The median age of the victims was 24.

According to the report, 45% of all reported assaults took place on a Saturday or Sunday. There were also more assaults in the summer, when the number of reported assaults was about one-and-a-half times higher than in winter.

Almost six out of ten victims said they knew their attacker. Just as many assaults took place in the victims’ own homes. Around one in four could not remember what kind of penetration they had been subjected to.

A high-ranking Swiss delegation is attending the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) in Marrakesh, Morocco. Discussions will include the consequences of inflation and the war in Ukraine.

Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin and National Bank President Thomas Jordan will be present, according to a statement on Wednesday. A meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will also take place during the conference, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday. Switzerland has been invited as a guest since 2016.

The annual meeting will discuss, for example, how the IMF and the WBG can most effectively support members in tackling global problems such as climate change and poverty, according to the statement.

Switzerland also advocates a sustainable and transparent approach to sovereign debt. Switzerland also wants to discuss how the regulatory framework for global systemically important banks can be further improved in the future.

According to the government, Switzerland also supports the commitment of the WBG and the IMF to the economic stabilisation of Ukraine, also with regard to reconstruction.

National airline SWISS has to replace around 1,000 faulty items of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) for cabin crew. The crew have had to deal with malfunctioning masks in recent in-flight incidents.

Crew members noticed unusual odours on two recent flights and donned their masks as a precautionary measure, SWISS said in a press release on Wednesday. Some masks did not work properly or were difficult to remove from their packaging.

The crew and passengers were in no danger at any time, the airline said. Both flights landed safely and in a controlled manner. As a precautionary measure, SWISS will replace all the PBEs of the model concerned.

The airline immediately reported the incidents to the relevant authorities. On Wednesday the Swiss Safety Investigation Service published a preliminary report confirming the ongoing investigation.

Agriculture is set to receive a total of CHF13.67 billion ($15.13 billion) for the years 2026-2029, 2.5% less than for the period 2022-2025. On Wednesday, the Federal Council (executive branch) opened the consultation on agricultural expenditure ceilings.

The CHF347 million reduction is mainly due to the cost-cutting measures decided by the Federal Council as part of the 2024 budget, the government said in a press release.

More support will be given to adapting agricultural production to the consequences of climate change. More resources will thus be devoted to agricultural structural improvements (+CHF86 million) as well as to the breeding of disease-resistant crops and varieties and sustainable plant protection (+CHF24 million). The necessary funds will be reallocated from “Direct payments” (-CHF92 million) and “Production and sales” (-CHF18 million).

Expenditure ceilings are the maximum amounts set by Parliament for budget appropriations earmarked for certain expenses over several years. The final budget appropriations must be requested each year in the budget and approved by Parliament.

The consultation period runs until January 24, 2024.

In 2023, the number of bearded vulture offspring in Switzerland was higher than at any time since reintroduction began some thirty years ago.

Some 25 bearded vulture pairs successfully raised an offspring, according to the Foundation Pro Bearded Vulture.

For the first time, the canton of Ticino also succeeded in raising young animals, as the foundation announced on Wednesday.

A total of 163 bearded vultures have fledged in Switzerland as part of the reintroduction program, according to the report. The first successful broods of reintroduced bearded vultures took place in 2007 in the cantons of Graubünden and Valais. Since 2019, a pair has also been breeding in the Bernese Oberland.

The successful reintroduction of the bird of prey in Switzerland is also of great importance internationally, the foundation said. In many regions in Eurasia and North Africa, the bearded vulture is highly endangered or extinct.

Thanks to the significant rise in interest rates, banks are currently able to increase their profitability according to an analysis by management consultant McKinsey. Swiss banks, however, are unlikely to exceed the global average return on equity this year.

In an analysis for 2023, management consultant McKinsey expects the average return on equity to rise to 13% from 12% the year before.

The past 18 months represent arguably the best window of opportunity for the financial industry since 2007, McKinsey wrote Wednesday. As recently as 2010, the average return on equity was only 9%, it said. The ratio puts profit in relation to equity as a measure of how efficiently companies have used their money.

Overall, McKinsey projects a profit for the entire sector of about $1.4 trillion (CHF1.34 trillion) in 2023, a doubling since 2017. It said the average core capital ratio for financial institutions reached a 10-year high of 13.8%. For the global figures, McKinsey analysed data from the world's 1,000 largest banks. Swiss sector below average

However, the Swiss industry has only been able to partially benefit from this development due in part to comparatively lower interest rates, according to the release. Overall, the average return on equity in Switzerland for 2023 is expected to be well below the global average, Christian Zahn, head of the Swiss Banking & Insurance Practice at McKinsey, is quoted as saying in the statement.

Due to structural differences though, the Swiss financial center has higher margins compared to many other European markets. The country also benefits in particular from its continued strength as the largest offshore center in private banking, with a total volume of $2.9 trillion in invested assets and a continued growth rate of 3% in 2018 - 2022, it said.

McKinsey sees the “green transformation” of the economy, which requires significant investment, as an opportunity for the industry. For Switzerland, the consulting firm estimates the associated financing volume in areas such as transport, buildings and energy provision at CHF700 to 800 billion by 2050. The sustainable transformation of the economy can only succeed if banks can provide the financing and financial infrastructure for it, it says.

Three climate activists from the canton of Vaud who called for people to refuse military service have finally been acquitted.

The Office of the Attorney General announced on Tuesday that it would not appeal against the Federal Criminal Court's ruling from last July.

The activists' lawyers reacted happily to the decision. "This is an important victory for freedom of expression, but one that should not obscure the direct attack on freedom of expression that this trial represented," they said in a statement.

Overall, the case not only leaves a high bill for the state, but also and above all a feeling of waste due to disproportionate criminal action, the statement noted. The case resulted in freedom of expression suffering a serious blow.

On July 27, the criminal court acquitted the three young men, aged 21, 23 and 32, of charges of inciting them to violate military service obligations. The costs of the case were awarded to the federal government and the three activists were compensated for their legal fees.

The defendants were initially sentenced to conditional fines by the Federal Prosecutor's Office because they had published an article entitled "The Army, I Boycott" on the climate strike's website in May 2020. “Out of ethics, morality, ecological and social responsibility,” they called for people to refuse military service.

An Swiss People's Party politician later filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Prosecutor's Office against unknown persons on suspicion of inciting a violation of military service obligations.