Switzerland

A popular initiative in Switzerland wants to hold a vote on partially nationalising UBS Group, the initiators wrote on their website.

The so-called banks initiative proposes to amend the Swiss constitution to say that “large banks of systemic importance are to be managed as joint stock companies with the confederation as majority shareholder in terms of share capital”, according to the website.

The text is currently under review by federal authorities. If they greenlight it, the initiators have 18 months to collect 100,000 signatures for their cause. Parliament and government would then need to weigh in before the issue could be put to a national vote, a process that would likely take several years.

Popular initiatives are a key part of Switzerland’s system of direct democracy. Even if they don’t succeed, they often influence public debate.

After the government-brokered takeover of its former rival Credit Suisse, UBS’s assets are now about twice the size of the Swiss economy. This has raised concerns that the bank would be too big to rescue.

UBS “is a cluster risk for our economy”, Bernhard Schmidt, the 58-year-old school headmaster from near Zurich who’s leading the initiative, told weekly paper SonntagsZeitung. “In the next crisis, the whole country could go under.”

So far, the initiative committee is solely composed of Schmidt’s friends and family, the paper quoted him as saying, but he hopes that supporters and donors will join his cause.

A spokeswoman for UBS declined to comment.

Canton St Gallen's burqa ban has never been implemented since it was introduced five years ago.

The public prosecutor's office has not yet received any complaint, told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

In the last five years, no one has been fined for wearing a burqa, a niqab or a similar item of clothing in canton St Gallen, despite the ban. This was stated by the cantonal police and public prosecutor's office at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Voters in Canton St Gallen voted in favour of a burqa ban five years ago. On September 23, 2018, they supported this with a vote of 66.7%. The ban came into effect on January 1, 2019.

Proponents of the ban said it would promotes equality between men and women and will help fight against radicalisation of Islam.

At the time of the vote, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the political campaign was characterised by xenophobia masquerading as emancipation for women.

“Vague justifications on how the wearing of face coverings would be a threat to safety, health or the rights of others cannot be considered a legitimate reason for such an invasive restriction of fundamental freedoms,” the OHCHR said in a statement.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) CEO, Dieter Vranckx, predicts rising air fares in the future: "In the medium and long term, I expect prices to rise." This is necessary for investments in more environmentally friendly technologies.

For next year, however, Vranckx predicted lower prices in an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). "This year, our prices are already slightly below those of the previous year on average. The plateau has been reached, next year flying should become cheaper. The pressure on prices continues to rise because capacity is growing."

Over the next year and a half, SWISS also wants to improve its punctuality, Vranckx said. "Our punctuality at the moment is actually not what you would expect from a premium carrier."

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also being used to improve the entire system, according to Vranckx. "We have connected different operational systems and have large amounts of data analysed by Google Cloud," the SWISS CEO said. The AI makes suggestions, experts then decide whether to accept them. "96% of the suggestions from Google Cloud have been accepted in the last twelve months," Vranckx said. SWISS had acted as a pilot airline for the project, and now the system is to be expanded to the entire Lufthansa Group.

It is still unclear whether Swiss Federal Railways new long-distance train, the FV Dosto, is suitable for disabled passengers. The Federal Office of Transport aimed to clarify this question with tests. However, disability organisations are outraged.

In videos obtained by Swiss public television, SRF, a man in a wheelchair tries to get into an FV Dosto. After several attempts and with great difficulty, the wheelchair makes it over the entry ledge. As soon as the man is in the entrance area of the train, he gets up and leaves the train on foot.

For the umbrella organisation of disabled people's organisations, it is unacceptable that people without impairments check whether a train is suitable for disabled people.

"People with a disability who sit in a wheelchair, unlike people without a disability, do not have certain physical abilities. For example, if the wheelchair is in danger of tipping backwards, they may not be able to simply tilt their upper body forward to keep their balance," says Caroline Hess-Klein, head of the Equality Department at Inclusion Handicap.

Test results are invalid

In addition, the wheelchairs seen in the videos are unsuitable for public transport travel. They are mainly used in hospitals and homes.

For the umbrella organisation of disabled people's organisations, it is therefore clear that the test results do not reflect the reality of individuals operating in wheelchairs.

When questioned by SRF, the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) said that the plastic dolls were primarily used for the tests. They stated that this is the only way to objectively and accurately determine how much strength people with disabilities need to be able to get on and off the train independently. The people seen in the videos supplemented the tests: "Here it was a matter of testing the entry and exit with various other body masses and generally getting a feeling for the question."

Not without people with disabilities

For Caroline Hess-Klein of Inclusion Handicap, this procedure shows a fundamental problem: "This means that the FOT, but also other authorities, have not yet understood that you cannot proceed without people with disabilities in order to clarify certain questions that essentially concern the effects on people with disabilities. Only they have certain experiences and insights that can contribute to clarification."

Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin has defended the country's government's "no" to Switzerland joining the international task force to track down Russian oligarchs' money. Joining was not in the country's interest, he told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ).

"In an increasingly polarised world, Switzerland, as a neutral country, has an interest in maintaining a certain restraint," the Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian said in the written interview.

Parmelin warned that the work in the task force could increase pressure on Switzerland. "There could also be pressure within the body that Switzerland would have to take on, for example, those of the US in addition to the EU sanctions." Switzerland must retain its freedom of decision on this issue.

The Swiss government plans to vote on a motion on task force accession next week.

Diplomats from France, Italy, Germany, the USA, Canada, Japan and the UK had called on Switzerland in March to become more involved in the search for Russian money.

Earlier this year, ambassadors from the G7 countries sent a letter to the Swiss government asking it to join the REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs) taskforce, an international taskforce for implementing the sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

To date, Bern has declined to join.

Up to 20,000 people demonstrated for higher wages and pensions in Bern on Saturday. The national purchasing power demonstration was the prelude to wage negotiations in the sectors and upcoming referendum campaigns.

The participants of the demonstration came from all over Switzerland, as a correspondent of the Keystone-SDA news agency reported. They demanded quick measures from politicians to reduce the premium burden. In addition, tenants must be protected from abuse and excessive returns from the real estate industry.

The rally was called by the Swiss Trade Union Federation, Travail.Suisse associations, the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Tenants' Association. The procession through the city centre to the Bundesplatz main square, had to be split into two for a short time in order to keep to the schedule.

"Everything is getting more expensive - wages and pensions up!" was written on one of the many banners carried. "Rising profits, falling wages? Not with us!" was another slogan. One woman had written on a piece of cardboard that she was tired of wondering whether she should give up the job she loved just to finally get a decent wage.

"Time for higher wages"

On the Bundesplatz main square, Pierre-Yves Maillard, the President of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, paved the way for the autumn wage negotiations. The incomes of employees had fallen for the third time in a row in 2023. A fourth round of falling wages must be prevented.

The time is ripe for higher wages. Unemployment is at 2% and profits and dividends are higher than ever before. The demonstrators called for a guarantee that wages are in line with the cost of living. Fight against high premiums and rents

The explosion of rents must also be stopped by capping possible increases. There is also a need for reform in the electricity market. There must be an end to the practice of passing on the risks to consumers through price increases, while at the same time the large corporations rake in billions in profits.

The joint communiqué of the organisers stated that general wage increases were needed that went beyond the increases in premiums, rents, electricity and the general price increases.

The investigation ordered by the Swiss Bishops' Conference into the cover-up of abuse cases should not be carried out by a clergyman. This is the opinion of women who have been dealing with abuse cases in the Catholic Church for years.

Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur, who is responsible at the Bishops' Conference for coming to terms with sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, said on Swiss public radio, SRF's, that an external investigation was not planned. He would like it to be admitted that he had honest intentions and that it was not a cover-up.

On the other hand, it was a mistake to entrust the investigation to the Bishop of Chur, said Sylvie Perrinjaquet, President of the French-speaking Switzerland Hearing Commission for Victims of Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (CECAR), in an interview with the Neuchâtel daily "Arcinfo". Bonnemain had to judge his colleagues, whom he had known for decades.

Lack of sensitivity and transparency

"This is a very bad solution," Perrinjaquet said. In the Catholic Church, he said, there is a culture of secrecy and a problematic attitude towards women and children. Church representatives partly lack the ability to realise that at some point one has to stop denying oneself and admit that there are people in the church who abuse children.

CECAR is an independent and neutral commission that has been accompanying victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church since its foundation in 2015.

Jacqueline Straub caused a sensation in 2018 with her book Kick the Church out of its Coma. The Catholic theologian and journalist finds it "completely absurd" that the Bishop of Chur, as a member of the Bishops' Conference, is also leading the investigation following the publication of the abuse report. He now has to investigate allegations against fellow bishops and there is always a "certain bias", she said in an interview with the online news media organisation, Schweiz am Wochenende.

"It needs an external special investigator, an independent person or even a group" said Straub. It is problematic, she said, if the Catholic official church wants to clear up the abuse cases and cover-ups on its own. Especially because they often do not proceed transparently. It was only through newspaper research that it came to light that there was an investigation. "The final report is then sent to Rome. What happens then is discussed quietly," Straub said.

Fundamental renewal of the Church necessary

For Bishop Bonnemain, a fundamental renewal of the Church is needed now that the study on sexual abuses in the Catholic Church has been published. Structures also need to be changed. Church structures would have to change constantly so that such abuses would no longer happen.

The Catholic Church must also undergo a cultural change and return to its core message, Bonnemain said to SRF. The Church must put people at the centre, he said. The nature of the Catholic Church, among other things, with regard to the relationship between leaders and the people of God and the relationship between men and women had been misunderstood by the perpetrators and those responsible, he said.

Changes are also desired by 107 employees of the diocese of St Gallen, who reacted to the publication of the report with a full-page advertisement in the St. Galler Tagblatt newspaper. "We want to be a different church and are committed to this every day," they stated. In order for something to really change, fundamental mechanisms of the church would have to be addressed. Mentioned here are the question of power, sexual morality, the image of the priest, the role of women, training and personnel policy.

According to Energy Minister Albert Rösti, Switzerland does not need an electricity agreement with the EU "at any price".

The Federal Council would not make any major concessions in the overall negotiations with the EU just because of the electricity agreement, the energy minister said in an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) published on Saturday.

Switzerland is physically part of the European electricity grid and therefore hardly needs to fear inclusion in the so-called 70% rule. From 2025 onwards, EU countries are to reserve 70% of grid capacities for trading among themselves.

It would be a contribution in favour of a secure supply, but not a guarantee for times of crisis," Rösti said.

An electricity agreement between Switzerland and the EU would be "realistic" in 2025 at the earliest, Rösti said. "What is certain is that the agreement cannot come into force before 2025, because the political process would have to take place before then." Despite confidence, Rösti pleaded in the interview for Switzerland to brace itself against an unexpectedly harsh implementation of the 70% rule that excludes Switzerland.

Sun, wind, water: "We have no other choice"

Rösti wants to achieve the expansion of three to five terawatt hours of renewable electricity by a good ten years from now - this is to avoid winter shortages. "The most important thing is that we get out of this situation of a threatening shortage in winter," says the energy minister. "The only way to do that at the moment is with solar, wind and hydro. We have no other choice." But that will take until 2030 or 2035.

With regard to opposition to energy construction projects, Rösti said he wanted to remind the opposition to nuclear power plants that the production of renewable electricity also entails disadvantages. "It won't work without visible intervention in the landscape. The next four or five years are decisive. They will show how great the resistance is." If it is too great, "the energy strategy will have failed. In that case, I will react and show what other options are available."

However, a discussion about new nuclear power plants is "pointless" today, Rösti said. "I really have no interest at all in starting a debate on nuclear power at the moment. My personal stance on this issue is well known, and it's also no secret that as a National Councillor I campaigned against the energy strategy."

The figures for deaths and serious injuries on Swiss roads saw a decline in the first half of 2023 compared to the previous year. One hundred people lost their lives and 1,818 were seriously injured.

In 2022 there had been a sharp increase in the figures, but they fell in the first six months of this year: 19 fewer deaths and 108 fewer serious injuries, the Federal Roads Office said on Friday.

The statistics include car accidents (28 deaths, 338 seriously injured), motorbike accidents (22 and 489), as well as accidents involving cyclists (nine and 348) and people riding e-bikes (ten and 252). Pedestrians also feature in the figures provided by the Federal Roads Office (17 and 198), as do accidents involving other means of transport, such as inline skates and skateboards (two and 31).

For the first time, the category of electric scooters is represented, the statement continues: one person lost their life and 51 suffered serious injuries in road accidents.

A 29-year-old man missing in Grindelwald, a village in the Bernese Alps, since the end of June has been found dead.

The British hiker was walking on the Eiger Trail along the foot of the Eiger North Face towards the Glacier Gorge on June 22. He had been missing since then.

The police initiated extensive search measures, but could not find the man. Relatives also searched in vain.

On September 12, a body was found. Investigations revealed it was the missing person, the Bernese cantonal police wrote in a statement on Thursday.

Initial indications suggest an accident, they said. Further investigations are underway.

Eight specialists from the Swiss Red Cross will help quake victims who have lost their homes by providing shelter and access to drinking water and food.

In addition, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC), with the support of the federal government, is providing CHF750,000 ($838,400) in emergency relief. The SRC has also opened a donation account.

The logistics team in Morocco is taking care of the import and receipt of the relief supplies. The relief workers will come from the SRC emergency pool, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the national societies.

The SRC team of specialists will support the Moroccan Red Crescent to ensure logistics and take care of cargo planes landing in Casablanca and customs clearance, the SRC said.

In addition, the SRC team will ensure the transport of relief supplies to the affected areas and procure additional material on the ground. The Moroccan Red Crescent mainly needs tents, cooking utensils, mattresses, blankets and water canisters.

German aid cancelled

So far, Morocco has turned down several international offers of help. The authorities of the North African country have also not yet responded to an offer from Switzerland. Only rescue teams from a few countries, including Spain and the United Kingdom, have been allowed into the country.

A planned German Red Cross (DRK) aid transport to Morocco's earthquake zones has been cancelled.

"For reasons beyond our control and that of our partners in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, new rules and regulations have been announced at short notice that make it impossible for the aircraft to take off," a DRK statement said. These developments are deeply regretted because the people on the ground urgently need help after the severe earthquake.

The Moroccan government is under increasing pressure to accept more international aid. "It is important that in times like these, aid is provided solely according to the measure of need and humanitarian work is supported from all sides," a DRK spokesperson said.

According to information from the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, about 100,000 children have been affected by the disaster. Thousands of houses in the country have been destroyed. As a result, many families have become homeless and have to spend cold nights outdoors.

Eight specialists from the Swiss Red Cross will help quake victims who have lost their homes by providing shelter and access to drinking water and food.

In addition, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC), with the support of the federal government, is providing CHF750,000 ($838,400) in emergency relief. The SRC has also opened a donation account.

The logistics team in Morocco is taking care of the import and receipt of the relief supplies. The relief workers will come from the SRC emergency pool, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the national societies. The SRC team of specialists will support the Moroccan Red Crescent to ensure logistics and take care of cargo planes landing in Casablanca and customs clearance, the SRC said.

In addition, the SRC team will ensure the transport of relief supplies to the affected areas and procure additional material on the ground. The Moroccan Red Crescent mainly needs tents, cooking utensils, mattresses, blankets and water canisters. German aid cancelled

So far, Morocco has turned down several international offers of help. The authorities of the North African country have also not yet responded to an offer from Switzerland. Only rescue teams from a few countries, including Spain and the United Kingdom, have been allowed into the country.

A planned German Red Cross (DRK) aid transport to Morocco's earthquake zones has been cancelled.

"For reasons beyond our control and that of our partners in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, new rules and regulations have been announced at short notice that make it impossible for the aircraft to take off," a DRK statement said. These developments are deeply regretted because the people on the ground urgently need help after the severe earthquake.

The Moroccan government is under increasing pressure to accept more international aid. "It is important that in times like these, aid is provided solely according to the measure of need and humanitarian work is supported from all sides," a DRK spokesperson said.

According to information from the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, about 100,000 children have been affected by the disaster. Thousands of houses in the country have been destroyed. As a result, many families have become homeless and have to spend cold nights outdoors.

Bisphenol A, one of the main endocrine disruptors, is present in 92% of the bodies of Europeans at levels above what is considered safe, says a report by the European Environment Agency published on Thursday. The share of Swiss people with BPA levels exceeding the safety threshold was 71%.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) studied the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in the bodies of adult male and female participants from 11 European countries, including Switzerland, as part of a human bio-monitoring initiative.

Based on an April study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which drastically reduced the maximum daily dose of BPA considered safe for consumers, the Copenhagen-based EEA found that "in the 11 countries that took part in the BPA bio-monitoring initiative, the level of exceedance varied between 71% and 100%".

Breast cancer and infertility

Bisphenol A, which has long been omnipresent in many products, such as plastic bottles, is suspected of being linked to numerous disorders and diseases, including breast cancer and infertility, because of the hormonal disruption it causes.

In some countries, such as France, BPA is now banned in food containers. The European Union and the United States have restricted its use and are considering more drastic restrictions, although these have not yet been implemented.

The debates centre on the dose above which BPA is truly dangerous. The EFSA believes that this is much lower than previously thought: it has divided it by 20,000 compared with a previous assessment, an opinion contested by another agency, the European Medicines Agency.

For Europe's environmental watchdog, however, there is no doubt that exposure to BPA "is well above acceptable health safety levels [...] representing a potential health risk for millions of people".

BPA and two of its substitutes (bisphenol S and F) were measured between 2014 and 2020 in the urine of 2,756 adults across 11 countries.

Levels of BPA exceeded the thresholds least in Switzerland, at 71%, while they exceeded them in 100% of cases in France, Luxembourg and Portugal, reports the EEA, noting that exceedance levels reported were minimum figures.

"It is likely that, in reality, all 11 countries have exceedance rates of 100% of exposure levels above the safety thresholds", wrote the agency.

Charles Morerod, the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, was rushed to hospital on Wednesday. He underwent surgery, his diocese said on Thursday, without wishing to comment further for the time being.

"We wish him a full and speedy recovery," the diocese said in a brief statement.

Morerod's emergency hospitalisation came a day after the publication of a study by the University of Zurich into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland. The bishop had spoken to the media on Wednesday, describing the study as "shocking".

Morerod was accused in last week's edition of the Sonntagsblick newspaper of having failed to intervene after reports of abuse. The native of Fribourg pointed out that he could not comment on these accusations because the "facts have been submitted to the competent bodies", that is, state justice authorities and the Church itself. He added that he did not wish to interfere in the work of these investigations, but was awaiting their results "with serenity".

In 2022, the Swiss pharmaceutical industry transferred some CHF218 million ($243 million) to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers, according to the self-declaration of 65 pharmaceutical companies. Novartis topped the list with CHF31 million.

Since 2015, the industry has been reporting its payments to healthcare providers under its Code of Pharmaceutical Cooperation. Over eight years, the companies have paid a total of CHF1.4 billion to the medical profession and hospitals.

Journalists from the Ringier Axel Springer publishing house evaluated the figures and published them on Thursday. The pharmaceutical association Scienceindustries confirmed the figures to the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Roche came in second place behind Novartis, with CHF21.9 million paid out, followed by the American group Pfizer with CHF20 million.

According to Scienceindustries, the payments are governed by law and authorised for research, continuing education, consultancy and other services. The industry lists the recipients individually and by name.

The number of animal experiments in Switzerland has increased - despite fewer research projects involving animals.

According to the federal government, more animals were used in severity level 3 experiments in 2022. This means severe pain, long-term serious damage and great fear for the animals.

The increase in animal testing reflects high level of research activity, the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (FSVO) said in a statement on Thursday. The long-term aim is to reduce this.

With 40 fewer research projects with animals last year, the total number of 2,334 tests with animals met the average of the last ten years. However, the number of animals “used in research projects” increased by 2% in 2022.

In total, researchers used 585,991 animals in experiments last year. In a long-term comparison, according to FSVO, the number is in the lower range: according to 2022 animal experiment statistics, between 560,000 and 760,000 animals have been used in experiments annually over the last 20 years.

While fewer mice were used in animal experiments, the number of fish increased significantly. Compared to the previous year, according to the BLV, around 80,000 animals were used in experiments in 2022 - more than twice as many. The increase is due to a high level of research activity in areas such as toxicology, ecology and basic research.

Animal protection organisations see an urgent need for action. The previous approaches were not ambitious enough, wrote the organisations Animal Rights Switzerland, Animalfree Research and Tier im Recht in a reaction.

According to research by the Tages Anzeiger, Swiss banks have maintained business relationships with high-ranking Russian officials and Putin confidants despite sanctions and money laundering allegations. The focus of the reporting is Bank Julius Bär.

According to the report, Julius Bär has, among others, Leonid Reiman as a customer until 2021. Reiman served Russian President Vladimir Putin in various capacities until 2010. According to an internationally recognized court, Reiman is said to have enriched himself from Russian state assets in the 2000s.

The court found money laundering on a large scale, the report continued. Despite the money laundering allegations and the closeness to the regime, the Julius Bär bankers conducted further business with Reiman. The figures come from a new data leak from the Zurich financial centre.

Bank Julius Bär is not commenting on the allegations. “We generally do not comment on perceived or actual customer relationships,” writes a spokeswoman for the bank upon request.

Foie gras can still be imported into Switzerland, but only if it is explicitly labeled as such. This is what the Federal Council decided.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives agreed with the position of the Senate, which in June this year decided against an import ban but in favor of a declaration requirement. This meant that the chambers were able to argue that foie gras would be eaten in Switzerland even after an import ban.

The product would then simply be bought abroad. Especially in western Switzerland, foie gras is an integral part of the local food culture. Opponents of an import ban also said that declaration requirements had proven successful.

Proponents countered that the fattening of ducks and geese was cruel to animals.

The debate was sparked by a motion from Martin Haab (People’s Party, Zurich). The House of Representatives approved this in February 2022. At the time, this chamber was still in favor of an import ban. Before Thursday's debate, the House of Representatives’ preliminary advisory commission also requested that the motion be retained in its original wording.

In Switzerland, signatures are currently being collected for a popular initiative for a ban on foie gras imports. The organization Alliance Animale Suisse is behind the request. In Switzerland, “stuffing” birds is prohibited.

According to Alliance Animale Suisse, Switzerland imports 200,000 kilograms of goose foie gras every year.

In Switzerland, female parliamentarians on maternity leave will soon be able to carry out their parliamentary duties without losing their right to maternity pay.

After the Senate, the House of Representatives also spoke out in favor of changing the current practice.

Today a parliamentarian loses her maternity pay for her full-time job as soon as she takes part in parliamentary sessions. The Federal Court confirmed this in a leading judgment a year ago.

The participation of mothers on maternity leave in parliamentary sessions will no longer be considered as taking up employment. The House of Representatives approved the corresponding change to the Income Compensation Act on Thursday.

The Senate had already done this in June. The change is based on professional initiatives from several cantons. The new regulation will apply at the municipal, cantonal and federal levels. Because of a small difference, she goes back to the Senate.

The University Hospital Basel recently collected its thousandth blood stem cell donation. A thousand people in Switzerland have contributed to saving a person with a life-threatening blood disease such as leukemia.

The first donation of blood stem cells from the bone marrow took place in 1992, the blood donation company of the Swiss Red Cross announced on Thursday. Around 180,000 people are now registered in the blood stem cell donation register.

The register is networked worldwide. This increases the chance of finding a suitable donation for sick people. Nevertheless, no suitable blood stem cells can be found for one in four people suffering from a blood disease. According to the information, around 41 million donors are registered in over 55 countries.

For a long time, a leukemia diagnosis was tantamount to a death sentence. As Blood Donation SRC wrote, the discovery of HLA characteristics (tissue characteristics) by the French scientist Jean Dausset was the turning point: allowing the transplant of blood stem cells from another person.

HLA characteristics are different for every person. For a successful transplant, these characteristics must be very similar so that the treated person's body does not reject the foreign blood stem cells. Young people aged 18 and over are being asked to donate blood stem cells.

Economic actors are increasingly using lawsuits to prevent unpopular statements or reports. A new alliance of non-governmental organisations and media professionals in Switzerland is mobilising against these so-called slap lawsuits.

They advocate better legislation against these intimidation claims, as announced on Thursday. The threat of legal action by corporations can often nip reports of human rights violations or environmental damage in the bud.

Journalists and smaller non-governmental organisations in particular often cannot afford costly and time-consuming legal processes. In this way, undesirable facts are suppressed from becoming known.

According to the alliance of aid organisations, environmental associations and media professionals, this contradicts the public's right to fact-based information and democratic principles. Politicians are called upon to take action against such abusive practices.

Financial services rose in price by 6.8% in August compared to the previous month in Switzerland. Inflation weakened compared to July, as also shown by the Comparis consumer price index.

Of the products analysed by Comparis, bank fee prices rose the most last month. In view of the increased interest rates, a reduction would have been expected, Comparis financial expert Dirk Renkert was quoted as saying in Thursday’s announcement.

In general, prices for Swiss everyday goods fell by 0.5% in August compared to the previous month, according to the Comparis consumer price index. The index reflects the price development of regularly consumed goods. The costs for private transport services, such as car rentals, fell the most.

Compared to the same month last year, prices increased by 1.6% in August. Official Swiss inflation, measured by the national consumer price index of the Federal Statistical Office, also rose sharply.

According to the report, single-person households aged 65 and over experienced the highest inflation last year. They recently felt an inflation rate of 2% compared to the previous year.

Inflation affects the lowest income bracket most severely. Consumer prices for this class were 1.8% higher in August than in the same month last year. Meanwhile, the middle to high income class was the weakest affected by annual inflation at 1.5% in August.

According to its own information, the Comparis consumer price index in cooperation with the KOF economic research centre at ETH reflects perceived inflation by adjusting the data from the national consumer price index (LIK) for rents and durable goods such as cars and furniture. The LIK measures price changes based on a representative basket of around 1,050 goods and services.

In the past 25 years, 128 wolves have been found dead in Switzerland. Some 54 were legally shot, 38 died in traffic collisions and 11 were poached.

This means that almost half of the wolves (42%) were legally shot, as the Federal Office for the Environment announced at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday evening. It confirmed a report by SRF Rundschau.

The Federal Office cited work by the University of Bern, which investigated the causes of death of the 128 dead wolves.

In addition to the 11 poached wolves, attempted poaching was found in eight cases: in five legally hunted predators and in three run-over wolves, investigations showed ammunition residue from illegal gunshots.

In addition, since the evaluations began in 1998, four wolves died from falls, three drowned, two were hit by an avalanche, two died in fights with other wolves, and the cause of death for six animals is unclear.

The cause of the damage in the Gotthard road tunnel has been identified as "stress redistribution in the local mountains", which led to pressure changes and then to a crack in the intermediate ceiling, the Federal Roads Office (FRO) announced this on Wednesday.

Such stress shifts in the mountains could put a lot of strain on structures - such as tunnels, according to a statement. As a result, similar damage occurred in the Gotthard road tunnel in 1985.

There are several possibilities why these rearrangements could occur: movements in the mountain, construction work or even tectonic influences. FRO is therefore in contact with the Swiss Seismological Service, which recorded a “seismic signal” on Sunday afternoon at 4:10 p.m.

It is currently being clarified whether this signal is related to the events in the tunnel.

In any case, FRO could rule out structural conditions of the tunnel as the cause of the damage, it said. Construction work is on track and FRO expects to be able to open the tunnel to traffic this week.

The plant growing season and therefore the pollen season are coming to an end. Looking back, the pollen year 2023 was difficult for people with allergies.

It started very early and brought sometimes high concentrations of grass pollen.

Normally there is only a little pollen in the air from October to January, as the weather service Meteonews wrote in its pollen balance on Wednesday. In 2023, as in the previous year, hazels and alders bloomed in the first half of January or even at the end of 2022 due to the mild temperatures.

Typically, these plants begin to bloom in late January - early February. In the north, hazel and alder pollen decreased in mid-February, but a strong increase in these allergenic pollens began at the end of February.

The season of the most important allergenic tree pollen from ash and birch was a constant up and down in concentration due to the changeable weather in the main flowering season of April.

In the south, release of the main allergen, grass pollen, began earlier than normal at the end of March. From mid-April there were already high concentrations.

In the north, the grass pollen only arrived towards the end of April and was therefore normal. In the first 20 days of May, the rain repeatedly washed out the pollen. At the end of May, however, the grass pollen concentration was high to very high. It stayed that way in June. The level only fell in July. Overall, the grass pollen count was significantly above average.

In August there was a lot of ragweed pollen in the air, especially in Ticino and Lake Geneva. Most of this was blown over from Italy or France. The invasive and highly allergenic plant is spreading particularly strongly there as a field weed. According to Meteonews, the fight against it has been quite successful in Switzerland so far.