news flash

Unicef gets tougher against female mutilation
The Swiss section of the United Nations Children’s Fund has handed in almost 20,000 names calling for stronger measures against female genital mutilation. The petitioners who filled in an online electronic card are calling on parliament to anchor criminal law provisions in the Swiss penal code against all forms of the practice. Unicef Switzerland’s campaign was launched on February 6, the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, an annual United Nations awareness event.
Read more on this at swissinfo.ch >>

International Women's Day 2010
Theme Each year around the world,
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments and women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.

Some years have seen global IWD themes honoured around the world, while in other years groups have preferred to 'localise' their own themes to make them more specific and relevant.

THEME: So while many people may think there is one global theme each year, this is not always correct. It is completely up to each country and group as to what appropriate theme they select.

United Nation theme for International Women's Day 2010:
Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all


Statistics on tourist accommodation
– Fewer overnight stays in January 2010 - (FSO) - According to provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the Swiss hotel industry registered 2.8 million overnight stays in January 2010. This result corresponds to a reduction of 2.6% (-76,000 overnight stays) compared with January 2009. Swiss guests registered 1.2 million overnight stays, i.e. a drop of 2.3% (-30,000). The number of overnight stays by foreign visitors was 1.6 million, i.e. a decline of 2.9% (-47,000). Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, 08.03.2010

House-building activity in 4th quarter 2009
– Again more dwellings with planning permission - (FSO) - In the 4th quarter of 2009, 11,120 new dwellings were built in Switzerland. The number of new dwellings therefore remained unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier. The number of dwellings with planning permission rose by 19% to 13,250 units during the same period. At the end of December 2009, 63,540 dwellings were under construction, which corresponds to an increase of more than 12% year-on-year. Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, 08.03.2010

Federal Council plans to cut greenhouse gases
by at least 20 per cent
The Federal Council is joining the Copenhagen Accord negotiated at the World Climate Conference in Copenhagen. It has informed the UN Climate Convention Secretariat of Switzerland's aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020. In addition, the Federal Council has decided to increase its commitment to the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, Bern, 24.02.2010

Swiss anti-racism laws found lacking
Switzerland’s anti-racism laws are inadequate and need to be improved, the Federal Commission against Racism said in a report presented on Tuesday.

Private and administrative law do not explicitly ban discrimination and there are inefficiencies in the application of laws due to long court proceedings, high costs of legal action and lack of clarity about the issue, the body said.

The commission said people are being discriminated against every day because of their skin colour or ethnic origin when looking for jobs or homes.

It recommended modelling racism discrimination laws on existing Swiss laws that protect the equality of women and the disabled.
Read more about this on SwissInfo.ch. Feb.23 2010

One Swiss heads to Libyan jail, one heads home
One of two Swiss nationals held in Libya for the past 18 months has left the Swiss embassy in Tripoli to start a four-month jail sentence.
Read more on SwissInfo.ch, Feb.22 2010

Continued improvement in consumer confidence
Based on the latest consumer confidence survey (January 2010), Swiss consumer sentiment rose once again at the beginning of the year. The quarterly survey index* , which is calculated from questioning around 1’100 households, reached a level of -7 points in January (compared with -14 points in October 2009). Based on the January survey, consumers expect unemployment to rise more slowly and expect positive developments in their personal financial situation as well as an improvement in the general economic condition.
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs , Bern, 02.02.2010

Hours worked in 2008
– Increase in total number of hours worked in 2008
According to results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the total number of hours worked in Switzerland reached 7,382 billion in 2008, representing an increase of 1.8% compared with the previous year. The gross domestic product (GDP), expressed in terms of the previous year's prices, increased at the same rate, resulting in stagnation of labour productivity between 2007 and 2008. Compared with the previous year, the annual volume of actual hours worked by self-employed workers registered a decline, unlike that of salaried workers. Between 2003 and 2008, the actual length of the working week of full-time employees increased by 11 minutes, reaching 42 hours and 4 minutes.
Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, 02.02.2010 - (FSO)

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, is the first universal commemoration in memory of the victims of The Holocaust. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. On 24 January 2005, during a special session (Special website for the session), the United Nations General Assembly had previously marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust which resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi German regime. January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by Soviet troops. Prior to the 60/7 resolution, there had been national days of commemoration such as the Der Tag des Gedenkens an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (The Day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism) in Germany[1], established in a proclamation issued by Federal President Roman Herzog on 3 January 1996. Since 2001, January the 27th has been Holocaust memorial day.

Measuring rainfall with mobile phone antennas
As rain interferes with radio signals, Eawag researchers have been able to measure rainfall using data supplied by the mobile telecommunications company Orange. The new method offers greater spatial resolution than traditional point measurements provided by rain gauges. In the future, this could be combined with intelligent control systems for sewer networks so as to reduce water pollution in urban areas. Eawag -- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, 26.01.2010

Imprisonment – Increase in number of prison inmates but marked regional differences.
On 2 September 2009, 6084 persons were detained in prison establishments in Switzerland. This is the second largest prison population since 1999. There were 31% of prisoners in pre-trial detention, 59% serving a prison sentence, 7% in detention for expulsion and extradition and 3% were in custody for other reasons. The occupancy rate reached 91%, an increase of 5 percentage points compared with 2008. This rate was particularly high in the cantons of French and Italian speaking Switzerland with an occupancy rate of 100%. The population of some prisons is actually above capacity. The number of prisoners in relation to the resident population has also increased from 76 to 80 prisoners per 100,000 persons of the resident population. Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, 19.01.2010

The company, Green Bio Fuel, has received permission from authorities in canton Aargau to build a factory that could generate enough biodiesel to help Switzerland meet its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to ten per cent of 1990 levels. Read more >>
www.swissinfo.ch, Jan 19, 2010

Earthquake in Haiti: Switzerland has decided to deploy immediately to Haiti an emergency rapid deployment team of 18 persons. Humanitarian aid shipments are also in preparation. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Bern, 13.01.2010

Geneva International Airport has reopened after snow forced its closure for six hours on Sunday morning. Flights started again at midday, spokesman Bertrand Stämpfli told Swiss radio. It is the first time in 25 years that the airport had to be closed for such a long time, he added.
www.swissinfo.ch, Jan 10, 2010


Looking back at 2009

• President Obama enters office.
  
  
• Young Socialist party members in Switzerland lighted 2000 candles representing each million paid out in bonuses to UBS bank staff.
  
  
• Corine Mauch (Socialist party candidate ) gained enough votes in the second round in March to become Zurich’s first woman mayor.
  
  
• The roof of the new gym at a training college in St Gallen collapsed in the early morning under the weight of snow.
  
  
• Plane lands in emergency on the river Hudson.
  
  
• Change at the top at the UBS bank: Peter Kurer, left, outgoing chairman of the board and his successor, Kaspar Villiger was announced.
  
  
• Unemployment in Switzerland rose by nearly 10,000 in January.
  
  
• A 25-year-old man murdered 16-year-old Lucie. Her disappearance increased pressure for the introduction of a child abduction alert system.
  
  
• Down hill skier Daniel Albrecht falls during pratcise and ends up in coma.
  
  
• Boris Becker and Sharlely 'Lilly' Kerssenberg marries at the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
  
  
• The Gabi 2 tunnel-boring machine breaks through the last meters of rock between two stretches of the new Gotthard base tunnel, which will be the longest in the world when completed.
  
  
• Michael Jackson announces in March his comeback after 12 years with the “This is it” tour.  In June he unexpectedly dies.
  
  
• Medvedev was on a two-day state visit to Switzerland.
  
  
• Roman Polanski was arrested when he arrived in Switzerland to receive an award at the festival for his life's work.
  
  
• The continuing economic crisis has caused many companies to reduce their employees' hours or to close down.
  
  
• Two Swiss citizens still held in Libya over immigration charges since August 2008.
  
  
• Didier Burkhalter replaces Pascal Couchpin in the Bundesrat.
  
  
• Nearly a quarter of the Swiss army recruits were found to have swine flu.
  
  
• Students occupy an auditorium in the main building of Bern University to protest against the increasing ties between education and business. Similar actions took place in other universities in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.
  
  
• Die Miss Schweiz 2009 heisst Linda Fäh.
  
  
• The Swiss people vote to ban the building of minarets.
  
  
• Temperatures fell to minus 34.2 degrees Celsius overnight in Switzerlands' coldest village, La Brevine.