Новости за 05.04.2024

Emergency coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) Marie-Aure Perreaut Revial is just back from Gaza. In an interview with SWI swissinfo.ch she condemns systematic attacks on humanitarian workers by the Israeli army, just days after the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen employees. "Humanitarians have become targets, just like civilians," says Marie-Aure Perreaut Revial, emergency coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who returned from Gaza last week. On Monday... Читать дальше...

Despite cancelling a flight to Beirut in mid-air on Friday due to security concerns in Lebanon, Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) intends to maintain its flight schedule of twice-weekly direct flights to Lebanon from Zurich. Owing to a security situation that was difficult to assess, SWISS experts decided on Friday night to cancel the flight from Zurich to Beirut while in the airspace over Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was done as a precautionary measure, as first reported by 20 Minuten. The decision... Читать дальше...

As part of a study in the city of Bern, several hundred people can now obtain cannabis products in five selected pharmacies. The aim is not to promote cannabis consumption, but to gain insights for future drug policy. At a media conference on Friday, Bern city councillor Franziska Teuscher, of the Green Party, said it had long been accepted that cannabis products had to be purchased on the black market. The start of the study with controlled distribution was therefore "a significant day". The study... Читать дальше...

The Swiss space telescope CHEOPS has found a type of rainbow on a planet 637 light years away. The observation of a so-called “glory” is likely the first evidence of this phenomenon outside our solar system. However, further investigations are needed to confirm whether the observation on the planet known as "WASP-76b" truly was a glory, the University of Geneva, which runs scientific operations for CHEOPS, announced on Friday. The researchers presented their discovery in a study in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Читать дальше...

Researchers in Zurich have discovered fossils of a previously unknown species of squid from Ticino, which they have christened "Chuchichäschtli". The name refers to the fossil, which is around 242 million years old, having lain in a "Chuchichäschtli" – a Swiss-German word for a cupboard, often a kitchen cupboard – for a long period before its significance was recognised. Chuchichäschtli is also a sort of shibboleth, testing a person's pronunciation of Swiss German. "At first we thought about naming... Читать дальше...

A wolf has killed three alpacas in canton Thurgau, northeastern Switzerland. The canton is considering issuing a licence to shoot the wolf, saying the legal requirements for this have been met. Two alpacas were killed in Dussnang by an animal early on Thursday morning, while a third had to be euthanised due to its injuries, canton Thurgau wrote in a statement on Friday. Analysis of the bite marks indicated that there was a high probability that the predator had been a wolf. Employees of the Thurgau... Читать дальше...

No, no and no: the Federal Council recommends rejecting all three people’s initiatives that will be put to the ballot box on June 9. It wants to instead tackle the increasing burden of health insurance premiums with two bills passed by parliament. The government regards the initiative led by the Social Democrats, "Maximum 10% of income for health insurance premiums (premium relief initiative)" as unacceptable because, among other issues, the majority of contributions would have to be paid by the federal government. Читать дальше...

Small breweries, which have been very popular in Switzerland in recent years, are now falling victim to the tough economic climate. Rising costs of raw materials are weighing heavily on the beer market. In 2021, Switzerland had the highest density of breweries in the world, with 1,278 establishments, most of them run by amateurs. Three years later, there are 86 fewer. Until 2022, Thomas Dequesne was producing beer with his partners Dogzilla. After just two years, they decided to close the doors of their microbrewery. Читать дальше...

The Swiss foreign ministry is not ruling out the possibility of further deterioration in the security situation in the Middle East. Developments in the conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory have led to uncertainty, the ministry announced. It was recommended that anyone wishing to leave the area should use the commercial means of transport available. Flight connections could be reduced rapidly if the situation deteriorates, the foreign ministry wrote on its website on Thursday. Читать дальше...

Twelve years ago, Switzerland and Tunisia signed an MOU defining migration policies between the two countries. The goal was to control the influx of Tunisian migrants into Switzerland while training young professionals from both countries. Hailed then as a “win-win”, SWI swissinfo.ch analyses how successful the partnership has been and what challenges it raises today. In 2011, a surge in the number of Tunisian asylum-seekers arriving in Switzerland pushed the two countries to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU)... Читать дальше...

Circular migration programmes are a way to fill labour shortages and promote short-term immigration. Etienne Piguet, a migration expert, discusses the risks, challenges and opportunities of such schemes for Switzerland. On January 19, Switzerland and Tunisia agreed to enhance their ongoing migration partnership initiated in 2012 and signed a project called “Perspectives”. The project officially aims to “stimulate qualified circular migration between Tunisia and Switzerland." Circular migration is... Читать дальше...