Новости за 25.04.2024

The European Parliament has adopted new laws to rein in companies for human rights abuses in global supply chains. This will have far-reaching impacts on Switzerland’s largest companies. After years of debate, the European Parliament agreed this week to back two new laws that create obligations on companies to tackle human rights abuses in their supply chains. On April 23 the parliament gave the greenlight to rules that would ban products from EU export and import if they are made with forced labour. Читать дальше...

Swiss law enforcement authorities and the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) ordered fewer surveillance measures last year. The main reason for this was fewer aerial searches, i.e. checks on which mobile phones were switched on and where. This is according to a government statement issued on Thursday. Most surveillance measures were ordered to investigate property offences, which related to a third of all real-time and retrospective surveillance measures. + Read more: Swiss government accused of... Читать дальше...

Despite high annual bee losses, the number of colonies bred in Switzerland has grown over the last decade, new statistics show. However, they are being looked after by fewer and fewer beekeepers. These were the findings of the 2022 ‘Beekeeping in Switzerland’ report published on Thursday by Agroscope, the Swiss centre for agricultural research in Liebefeld, canton Bern. According to the report, the rebound began in the last decade after bottoming out in the 1990s. Agroscope’s census found that there... Читать дальше...

A 118-year-old steamboat on Lake Lucerne has been recognised by the European Film Academy as an important place in film history. The Film Commission Lucerne & Central Switzerland announced on Wednesday that the paddle steamer Schiller would be the first location in Switzerland to be recognised as a ‘Treasure of European Film Culture’ by the European Film Academy. Scenes from the feature film La Chimera were shot on the ship in 2022. This puts the steamship in the same league as the giant Ferris... Читать дальше...

The Swiss Federal Competition Commission (COMCO) has fined Swisscom CHF18 million ($19.7 million) in an antitrust dispute related to access to its fibre-optic cable network. In December 2020, the competition authorities took preliminary steps to halt Swisscom’s fibre-optic expansion, which it said breached anti-cartel laws due to the use of single-mode cables rather than multi-modal ones. According to COMCO, multi-modal cables are the only way to ensure that Swisscom’s rivals can also offer customers their internet services... Читать дальше...

Wars and conflicts: military spending is rising, but Switzerland is producing less defence material. Reasons for this is strict export regulations and Qatar. The world spent $2,443,000,000,000 on armaments last year, almost CHF2.3 trillion. As demand increases, so do the sales of defence companies that manufacture all kinds of military equipment. In Switzerland, however, sales are falling. And this by more than a quarter, down 27%, to be precise. Arms exports from Switzerland totalled just under CHF700 million in 2023. Читать дальше...

While wages in Switzerland rose last year, the benefits were once again cancelled out by rising prices. Nominal wages in the country rose by an average of 1.7% in 2023, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) announced on Thursday. An increase of 1.8% had previously been forecast. For many workers, however, the wage increases were eaten up by inflation. Taking into account average annual inflation of 2.1%, real wages fell by 0.4% on average, according to the FSO. + Swiss salaries: high, stable, and... Читать дальше...

The passenger terminal at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg was temporarily evacuated for safety reasons on Wednesday evening. The terminal was shut at around 7:15pm, an airport spokeswoman told the Keystone-SDA news agency. She did not give any further details of the reasons behind the closure. Hundreds of passengers gathered outside, as seen in photos published by the media, having been informed of a bomb threat. The terminal was reopened at around 10pm and the airport announced that flight operations would gradually resume. Читать дальше...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) returned to a quarterly profit because of the weakness of the Swiss franc, potentially helping officials to rebuild the central bank’s depleted capital base. The Zurich-based institution notched up a gain of CHF58.8 billion ($64 billion) in the first quarter, according to a statement on Thursday. That’s the strongest start to the year on record. The largest part of its profit – CHF52.4 billion – was generated from the SNB’s large assets held in foreign currencies. Its... Читать дальше...

The question of what should be part of sex education in schools is sparking controversy in Switzerland. While some people prefer a biological approach, others demand that sex education should be more “up to date”. What is your opinion? Join the discussion on “dialogue”! In Pfäffikon in canton Zurich, a teacher who is gay was recently dismissed after a barrage of complaints from conservative parents. The reason behind their outrage: sex education. This is not an isolated case. Time and again, concerned... Читать дальше...

Sun and wind produce electricity even when we don’t need it. How can we prevent it from being lost? A gravity battery developed in Switzerland stores renewable energy in heavy blocks of material – an idea that is attracting interest around the world, especially in China. It is an imposing building without doors or windows. Inside there are 3,500 “bricks” weighing 25 tonnes. A system of elevators and tracks moves them up and down, placing them next to each other, in what looks like a modern 3D Tetris. Читать дальше...