Category Archives: Switzerland

Covid in Europe: protests in Czech Republic, Ireland to toughen rules

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Switzerland makes masks mandatory as continent struggles to contain infections

Police fought anti-mask protesters in the Czech Republic, Ireland prepared to announce tough new restrictions and Switzerland made masks mandatory indoors as European governments struggled to contain continuing record Covid case numbers.

As Italy on Sunday reported 11,705 new infections over the past 24 hours, its largest ever figure, and France on Saturday set a new high of 32,427 cases, police in Prague’s historic tourist district fired teargas and water cannon after demonstrations against strict anti-coronavirus restrictions turned violent.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy brings in new restrictions amid record cases

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Mayors will be able to impose 9pm curfews; Senior PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in hospital; Switzerland to introduce more measures on Monday – follow live

Here’s a snapshot of the countries with the highest coronavirus cumulative cases on the African continent, via the WHO African Region dashboard.

Over 1.6 million confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 1.3 million recoveries & 39,000 deaths cumulatively.

View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/MzKYRI4gyY

The Australian state of Victoria has reported four new coronavirus cases and one further death, taking the state’s toll 817 and the national figure to 905.

It comes as the state eases its Covid restrictions, including expanding Melbourne’s 5km travel radius to 25km.

Yesterday there were 4 new cases & sadly the loss of 1 life reported. Condolences to all those affected. Cases with unknown source & average in Regional are stable, Metro average decreased slightly. More info available later today. https://t.co/eTputEZdhs #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/hJpnTBpQ76

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Swiss to vote on whether to end free movement deal with EU

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Sunday’s referendum with echoes of Brexit proposes limits on number of foreign workers

Switzerland will vote on Sunday whether to end its agreement with the EU on the free movement of people, in a referendum with echoes of the pro-Brexit campaign that led to Britain’s decision to leave the bloc.

The largest party in the Swiss parliament, the rightwing, anti-immigration Swiss People’s party (SVP), has called for the vote, arguing that the country must be allowed to set its own limit on the number of foreigners coming in to work.

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As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?

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Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent

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Malfunction at Swiss chocolate factory sends out plume of cocoa ‘snow’

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Fine particles dust the ground around Lindt & Spruengli factory in town of Olten after ventilation defect

A real-life Willy Wonka would have been proud. But residents of a Swiss town got a bit of a shock when it started snowing particles of a fine cocoa powder after the ventilation system at a chocolate factory malfunctioned.

The Lindt & Spruengli company confirmed local reports on Tuesday that there was a minor defect in the cooling ventilation in an area making roasted “cocoa nibs” in its factory in Olten, between Zurich and Basel.

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Swiss authorities seek owner of gold worth £151,000 left on train

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Officials say mystery passenger has five years to present ‘justified claims’ of ownership

If you happened to leave more than £150,000 worth of gold bars in a Swiss train, you can now come forward to claim it.

Authorities in the central city of Lucerne have said a package containing bars worth about 182,000 Swiss francs was found in a train that arrived from the northern town of St. Gallen in October, and efforts to find the owner failed.

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Women stage ‘mass scream’ in Switzerland over domestic violence and gender pay gap

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Thousands of marchers screamed for a minute at 3.24pm – the time of day when women in effect start working without pay

Women across Switzerland have let loose with screams during a national protest demanding equal treatment and an end to violence at the hands of men.

Last year half a million people marched to highlight the nation’s poor record on women’s rights. This year’s version of what organisers call the Women’s Strike was more subdued on Sunday due to coronavirus restrictions.

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Cross-border love – a photo essay

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Photographs of an unusual situation by Roland Schmid. Switzerland and Germany have been divided by the coronavirus pandemic. Fences, concrete obstacles or barrier tapes separate them after the borders were closed to slow the spread of the virus. But love cannot be locked away

“Look, we even marked the border on our blanket,” laughs Sabrina. And indeed; just below the barrier tape a black line divides the cloth in half. Lying on one half is Sabrina, from Basel; on the other, Davor from Wiesbaden. We are in Riehen, the rich suburban community of Basel.

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Hundreds queue for food parcels in wealthy Geneva

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Over 1,000 poorer working people and undocumented migrants waited for hours for basics

More than 1,000 people queued on Saturday to get free food parcels in Geneva, underscoring the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the working poor and undocumented immigrants even in wealthy Switzerland.

The line of people stretched for more than 1km outside an ice rink where volunteers were handing out about 1,500 parcels to people who started queuing as early as 5am.

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Briton’s abseiling death in Swiss Alps was an accident, inquest finds

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Hayden Prince, 24, fell to his death when large rock to which rope was tied became dislodged

A British man fell to his death in the Swiss Alps when a rock holding his abseiling rope toppled over as he descended a mountain, an inquest has heard.

L/Cpl Hayden Prince, 24, was on a private trip with two mountaineering friends while on annual leave from the British army. The group set out from the Hornli hut at the base camp of the Matterhorn at 6am on 2 June last year with a plan of turning around and descending by 2pm regardless of whether they had reached the summit.

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Geneva motor show organisers brace for coronavirus disruption

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Key event in European automotive calendar could be under threat as crisis deepens

Carmakers are monitoring the development of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe amid concerns that a key motor show in Geneva could be affected.

The spread of the disease has forced the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress, a tech trade fair in Barcelona that had been expected to host more than 100,000 delegates from about 200 countries.

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Swiss vote to approve legislation to protect LGBTQ+ rights

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Referendum approves law that was passed in 2018 but was opposed by rightwing parties

Swis voters have given their backing in a referendum to extending anti-racism legislation to cover sexual orientation, defying critics who had claimed such a move would be an infringement of free speech.

Unlike many of its western European neighbours, Switzerland has no law in force that specifically protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination or hate speech.

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Tidjane Thiam: the man who traded politics for finance after military coup

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Ousted Credit Suisse chief transformed Prudential before City regulator censured him

Tidjane Thiam is the scion of an influential family whose political connections and history spread across two West African countries: Ivory Coast and Senegal.

The 57-year-old came to prominence in the UK when he was named as the head of Prudential in 2009, making him the first black chief executive of a major British company.

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Credit Suisse chief Tidjane Thiam ousted after spying scandal

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The 57-year-old loses boardroom battle with Thomas Gottstein set to replace him

The Credit Suisse chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, has been ousted in the wake of a saga involving corporate espionage, an alleged car chase and personal vendettas that has sent shockwaves through Switzerland’s famously discreet banking community.

Thiam, widely seen as one of the finance world’s leading lights, resigned after losing a boardroom battle that erupted when the bank admitted to having hired private detectives to spy on former staff.

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World’s most expensive watch sells for £24.2m in charity auction

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All proceeds from sale in Switzerland go to research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy

A Patek Philippe watch has sold for a record 31m Swiss francs (£24.2m) at a charity auction hosted by Christie’s in Switzerland. It is by far the highest price ever paid for a wristwatch, and all of the proceeds will be donated to research into muscular dystrophy.

The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300A-010, which was created specially for the charity auction Only Watch, was bought by a private telephone bidder following a five-minute auction at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, in Geneva, on Saturday. It had been expected to sell for SFr2.5-3m.

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‘A tectonic shift’: Green Party makes historic gains in Swiss vote

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‘Tidal wave’ of support for environmentalist party but anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party remains the largest

Switzerland’s Green Party have made historic gains in national elections, while the anti-immigrant rightwing remained the largest party in parliament despite a slip in its support.

Definitive results confirmed a pre-vote forecast that rising concerns about climate change would trigger an electoral “green wave”.

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Senior Credit Suisse executive quits over ‘extraordinary’ spying scandal

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Bank rules surveillance of outgoing head of wealth management Iqbal Khan was ‘wrong and disproportionate’

Credit Suisse has sacked its chief operating officer over an “extraordinary” James Bond-style corporate espionage scandal in which the bank hired private detectives to tail a senior executive and his wife through the streets of Zurich following a row with his boss at a cocktail party.

Switzerland’s second-biggest bank said on Tuesday that Pierre-Olivier Bouée had left with immediate effect after the board of directors ruled that the seven-day spying operation was “wrong and disproportionate and has resulted in severe reputational damage to the bank”.

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Swiss to auction 25 supercars seized from son of Equatorial Guinea dictator

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Luxury cars seized from vice president Teodorin Obiang Nguema are expected to fetch $18m at Geneva auction

A collection of luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea’s vice president, Teodorin Obiang Nguema, will be auctioned off in Switzerland and are estimated to bring in 18.5m Swiss francs ($18.7m).

“This is an exceptional sale,” Philip Kantor, of British auctioneers Bonhams, told AFP. “It’s a private collection of supercars, with very low mileage.”

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Assisting a suicide is not always a crime, rules Italian court

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Trial of a euthanasia activist who helped a tetraplegic, blind DJ to die may lead to new law

Italy’s constitutional court has ruled it was not always a crime to help someone in “intolerable suffering” commit suicide, opening the way for a change of law in the Catholic country.

Parliament is now expected to debate the matter, which was highlighted by the Milan trial of an activist who helped a tetraplegic man die in Switzerland.

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