Switzerland

Thousands of children have been illegally adopted abroad by Swiss nationals. The excessive number of irregularities has prompted the Federal Council to seek a revision of international adoption law.

Following an initial study into the adoption of Sri Lankan children, on Friday the Federal Council received a second report on the adoption of children from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Colombia, Korea, Lebanon, Peru and Romania.

The results show the existence of illegal practices in these countries, child trafficking, falsification of documents and false indications of origin. Several thousand children adopted between 1970 and 1990 could be affected by irregularities. ...

Switzerland’s green credentials have suffered a setback after missing out on a top 20 spot in the annual Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).

Switzerland managed to improve one place in the ranking by non-governmental organisations, but only managed a 21st ranking when compared to other countries.

Switzerland earned its poor marks primarily due to the low proportion of renewable energies in the energy mix and for national climate policy, the environmental protection organisation WWF announced on Friday. This means that Switzerland also ended up behind India and the EU average, among other things. ...

The Federal Technology Institute Zurich (ETH), one of Switzerland’s leading universities, is expanding into Germany with the cooperation of the foundation of Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz.

The plan is to build a new teaching and research center in Heilbronn, the hometown of the Lidl founder.

"Lidl is worth it" - the German discount chain's advertising slogan now also applies to ETH. Thanks to donations from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation (DSS), around 20 new professorships will be created in Zurich and on the new Heilbronn educational campus over the next 30 years, ETH President Joël Mesot said at a media conference on Friday.

The new professorships will, among other things, focus on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI). ...

A new scam by criminals targeting homosexual men is spreading in Switzerland. Under the guise of an intimate relationship, victims are drugged and robbed.

Several such cases have been reported in Switzerland and neighboring countries.

The cantonal police of Vaud warned of this new phenomenon on Friday. Perpetrators lure their victims with fake profiles via internet dating platforms.

After making contact, they arrange to meet the person they met for a paid massage or other service at their home. At home and without their knowledge, they are drugged and then robbed or even attacked while in a state of unconsciousness. ...

The ongoing integration of Credit Suisse into UBS does not yet affect the number of job offers that can be found on the CS website. In November, 147 positions were advertised at CS, roughly the same number as in previous months.

Since October, the number of advertised positions at UBS has increased by 15%. The major bank advertised a total of 185 positions in November. This is shown by an analysis by the job portal Indeed, which counts and analyses the jobs advertised on the websites of the ten largest Swiss banks every month for the news agency AWP. Only positions based in Switzerland are taken into account. ...

The Swiss defence ministry has provided more precise data on noise pollution by new fighter jets. “Unacceptable,” say opponents who are threatening legal action.

If you had to break down the latest report on the noise pollution of the new fighter jet into one sentence - it could be: Everything stays as it is.

At the beginning of 2022, the defense ministry gave information about F-35 noise pollution around the three military airfields of Emmen, Meiringen and Payerne. ...

In Geneva, an initial evaluation of the introduction of the minimum wage at the end of 2020 shows no overall impact on the rate of unemployment in the Swiss canton.

Other studies to evaluate the impact of the minimum wage experiment, particularly on salaries, have yet to be undertaken.

The unemployment rate for young people under 25 even seems to be slightly higher than it would have been without the introduction of the minimum wage. The study carried out at the request of the canton by a team from the University of Geneva and the Geneva School of Business Administration (HEG) was presented to the press on Thursday. ...

One in three daycare centres in Switzerland posted a loss last year. The first-ever study of the key business figures of daycare centres also revealed that the sector has a three times higher staff resignation rate.

The Swiss Childcare Association (Kibesuisse) announced on Thursday that owing to high staff costs, which account for three-quarters of total expenditure, daycare centres do not have much in the way of income. Two-fifths of the daycare centres surveyed closed the 2022 calendar year with a profit and a third with a loss; 13% of the daycare centres surveyed did not want to provide any information. ...

The integration of Credit Suisse into UBS is one step closer: around six months after the definitive takeover of Credit Suisse Group by UBS Group, the merger agreement between the operating companies UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG has now been finalised.

The boards of directors of UBS Group and the two companies have approved the merger, the big bank announced on Thursday. Subsequently, UBS and Credit Suisse have concluded a definitive merger agreement. The merger is therefore expected to be completed in 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. ...

The Swiss public will vote on the biodiversity initiative. On Thursday the Senate rejected the government’s counterproposal for the second time, by 25 votes to 18. The counterproposal is therefore dead.

“This rejection is a slap in the face for biodiversity,” lamented parliamentarian Mathilde Crevoisier Crelier. Beat Rieder, speaking on behalf of the committee, pointed out that even a slimmed-down counterproposal went too far and would have major consequences for agriculture, tourism and energy production in particular. ...

Housing is becoming increasingly expensive in Switzerland. Rents rose in almost all municipalities in Switzerland in the third quarter. This was strongest in the Zurich area.

In contrast, the upward price trend for residential property has slowed somewhat.

In around 85% of Swiss municipalities, rents for medium-quality flats rose by a good 3% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, according to a Swiss Real Estate study published by bank UBS on Thursday. This corresponds to the strongest average increase in asking rents since 2008. ...

The number of accidents involving electric scooters has increased 20-fold in a short space of time. The Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA) expects 3,500 accidents this year.

Practical, easy to transport and inexpensive to maintain, electric scooters are easy to hire in Switzerland’s major cities. Their many advantages mean that they are very popular with different age groups, SUVA noted on Thursday.

On the other hand, they are contributing to an increase in the number of accidents. According to insurance statistics, almost 2,300 accidents involving these vehicles occurred in 2021. In 2018, only around 100 accidents were recorded. ...

More than 60% of 15 to 29-year-olds have been confronted with hate speech on the internet, according to surveys by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Half of those surveyed had also seen false or questionable content or information on the web or social media in the three months prior to the survey, the FSO reported on Thursday. Compared to 2021, this corresponds to an increase of six percentage points.

Half of the people who discovered such content said they had checked the facts or the source. However, some 17% said they lacked the skills or knowledge to check whether the information was truthful, the report continued. ...

The world's largest Santa Claus appeared on a rock face just above Montreux on Wednesday evening. Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter was behind the light projection project.

The huge, colourful figure was projected onto an area around 700 metres long and 400 metres high – onto a rock face a good 2,300 metres away. The installation was therefore “not easy to accomplish,” artist Gerry Hofstetter told Keystone-SDA news agency. ...

UBS economists are adjusting their inflation expectations for Switzerland downwards. After inflation unexpectedly fell in November, the bank now expects the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to cut interest rates for the first time in early summer.

The forecast for average annual inflation in 2024 will be reduced to 1.6% from the previous 2.0%, according to an assessment by the major bank's Chief Investment Office on Wednesday.

The bank is confident that inflationary pressure has eased in various components of the consumer price index, such as food, household goods, transport and restaurants and hotels. In addition, below-average growth is expected in Switzerland in the near future, which should further cushion inflationary pressure, as will the strong Swiss franc and falling inflation in the Eurozone. ...

The Valais mountain region of Crans-Montana sees double-digit growth potential beyond the ski season in snow-independent sports and increased Airbnb rentals.

This should also make it possible to remain independent of the US giant Vail Resorts.

“I see growth potential of 10 to 15% for the region over the next two years,” said Crans-Montana tourism director Bruno Huggler on Tuesday on the sidelines of a media conference in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. This forecast covers the entire annual sales, with a particular focus on the previously less important autumn season. So far, the region has made around 60% of its revenue in winter and 40% in summer. ...

Basel-based playwright Boris Nikitin has placed a replica of the living container from the 2000 TV show Big Brother in the Tinguely Museum.

The acclaimed and demonised reality show from back then thus becomes a historical museum object of social media self-portrayal.

A group of "completely normal" people had themselves locked in a container and recorded around the clock by cameras that broadcast the events to a rapidly growing audience in their living rooms. The reality show, which was invented in the Netherlands in 1999, was the first to be broadcast on TV and streamed live around the clock.

In a way, Big Brother marked the birth of social media dominated by self-presentation. Facebook and Instagram only followed after 2004. The first iPhone from 2007 could be exhibited in a display case next to the ten by ten meter container. ...

Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has filed an indictment referring Trafigura’s parent company and three individuals to the Federal Criminal Court.

A former Angolan public official is charged with having accepted bribes to the tune of EUR4.3 million (CHF4 million) and $604,000 (CHF528,077) from the Trafigura Group, in relation to its activities in the petroleum industry in Angola between April 2009 and October 2011.

In addition, a former intermediary and a former senior executive of the Trafigura are charged with being involved in this corruption scheme. Finally, Trafigura Beheer BV (TBBV), the parent company is charged with failing to take all reasonable and necessary organisational measures to prevent the payment of these bribes. For the first time, the Federal Criminal Court is called upon to judge the criminal liability of a company for bribery of foreign public officials. ...

Zurich’s main station has once again been voted the best railway station in Europe. Bern took third place, while the five most passenger-unfriendly railway stations are all in Germany, according to the European Railway Station Index.

Zurich’s main station is comfortably in first place with 102 points, ahead of Vienna’s main station with 94 points. According to the study, Bern is in third place with Berlin Central Station. This means that Switzerland is represented twice on the podium.

According to the study, the German railway stations Essen, Berlin Ostkreuz, Berlin Zoologischer Garten, Munich-Pasing and Bremen offer the least passenger comfort. The reason for this is the massive delays and waiting times. Two-fifths of all trains in Bremen were more than five minutes late. ...

Switzerland will be a guest at the Cannes film market in May. The Swiss film industry will thus have a prominent presence at the market, which is held alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

A range of programmes will showcase Swiss audiovisual creation in the fields of film and innovation, the Swiss Films promotion agency stated in a press release on Tuesday. The focus will be on Switzerland as a co-production country and its exchanges with representatives of the global film industry.

The quality of Swiss co-productions and the efforts made to promote them internationally have enabled a number of Swiss films to escape the confines of Switzerland and reach millions of viewers around the world. ...

Researchers in Geneva have been able to determine the exact origin of a wine based on its chemical signature. The University of Geneva announced on Tuesday that they have succeeded in doing what many experts had previously tried to do.

According to the university, this technology could help to prevent wine counterfeiting.

The researchers have succeeded in identifying red wine by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to existing data. As they showed in a study in the journal Communications Chemistry, 80 wines from seven wineries in Bordeaux, France, and with 12 different vintages (1999-2007) could be identified with an accuracy of 100%. ...

The Federal Office of Culture has handed over the marble sculpture of the head of a young woman to the Libyan Embassy in Bern. The restitution took place within the framework of the law on the international transfer of cultural property.

The sculpture is 19 centimetres high and dates from between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. The object probably comes from the archaeological site of the ancient city of Cyrene in present-day Libya, the Federal Office of Culture announced on Tuesday. ...

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has inscribed the Swiss Alpine season and the multinational traditional irrigation practised in Switzerland on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The decision to include the two traditions on the list was taken by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at its 18th session in the African state of Botswana on Tuesday.

As an exemplary tradition of the Swiss mountain regions, the Alpine season combines skills, customs and rituals related to Alpine farming, the Federal Office of Culture announced on Tuesday. ...

Accidents on Swiss slopes cause costs totalling CHF600 million ($686 million) every year. According to the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU), an estimated 63,000 people are injured every year while skiing and snowboarding.

The number of injuries varies from year to year and depends on snow and weather conditions, among other things, according to the press release. The number of injuries has been falling since 2014, as fewer and fewer people are travelling on the Swiss slopes.

During the last winter season, 14,000 people had to be treated by rescue services after an accident. Most frequently, skiers were treated for knee injuries and snowboarders for wrist injuries. ...

Two Renovate Switzerland activists sprayed orange paint on the façade of the UBS branch in Lausanne. Their action took place outside the building on Place St-François at around midday on Monday.

The two activists were arrested by the police, as was a third supporter accompanying them. Renovate Switzerland explained in a press release that it wanted to "highlight" the fact that the bank "is not sufficiently renovating the buildings it owns". It had carried out a similar action a fortnight ago on another UBS building in Geneva. ...