This week, Switzerland’s Federal Council said it wants to ban the Islamist Palestinian organisation Hamas for a period of five years, reported RTS. The Federal Council sent a draft bill for a ban for consultation. The ban also includes affiliated and successor organisations to Hamas, as well as organisations and groups that act on behalf of […]
European court rules Swiss police engaged in racial profiling
In 2015, a Swiss man with Kenyan roots was stopped by the police at Zurich train station and asked for identification. He refused to provide it and was fined CHF 150 for not complying. What exactly happened or went on in the minds of those involved is unclear. The man who was stopped, a librarian […]
Swiss supercomputer aims to make AI open to all
Much of the progress being made in AI is captured within private companies aiming to keep it to themselves in order to profit from it. Open AI, a project started as an open-source non-profit has morphed into a largely closed-source profit-maximising project increasingly integrated into the software company Microsoft. Many see open-source as critical to […]
Serious acts of anti-semitism rise 7-fold in French-speaking Switzerland
Anti-Semitic incidents increased by 68% in French-speaking Switzerland last year, according to CICAD, an organisation dedicated to fighting anti-semitism. The number of serious attacks in 2023 was seven times the number in 2022. Almost half of these acts occurred after the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel. During 2023, the Intercommunal Coordination Office against Anti-Semitism […]
Man shot dead during hostage incident in Switzerland
On 8 February 2023, a man armed with an axe, a hammer and a knife held 13 people hostage on a train near the Swiss town of Yverdon-les-Bains, reported RTS. The man, an asylum seeker from Iran, was initially tasered by police as he ran towards them armed. After failing to stop he was fatally […]
Work, housing, crime, culture – Switzerland’s best and worst cities
Recently published data from Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) rank Switzerland’s cities on various aspects related to quality of life, reported RTS. Quality of life depends on what someone finds important. So the survey does not attempt to come up with a single rating. Instead it ranks Switzerland’s cities across a number of categories. The […]
Brits abroad for more than 15 years can now vote
From 16 January 2024, British citizens living abroad are now eligible to register to vote in UK general elections, regardless of how long they’ve been living outside the UK. A new law passed in 2022, which came into force this week removes the previous 15-year time limit. The UK Electoral Commission is calling on voters […]
Switzerland and the EU aim for quick start to negotiations
Viola Amherd, Switzerland’s president, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, agreed at the WEF in Davos that they wanted to begin negotiations quickly, reported SRF. Switzerland’s long running saga of negotiations with the EU cleared a hurdle on 15 December 2023 when the Federal Council approved a draft negotiating mandate with […]
Swiss government victim of pro-Russian cyber attack
On 17 January 2024, several federal government websites were temporarily down after a cyber attack, reported RTS. The attack was claimed by the pro-Russian group ‘NoName’ and linked to the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos. According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) the group launched a DDoS attack. […]
Switzerland to send old trams to Ukraine
On 12 January 2024, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) announced the donation of as many as 78 trams to the Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Vinnytsa. The cities of Bern and Zurich will provide 11 and up to 67 decommissioned but fully operational trams respectively. SECO will organise and finance the transport of […]