Switzerland today

Greetings from Lausanne!

Switzerland is being hit by a “very worrying” fourth Covid-19 wave, we learned today. Swiss industry meanwhile seems to be bouncing back from the pandemic. We have more news from Afghanistan and the perspective from International Geneva. And from the city at the end of the lake there are also reports of elephant robots…

Keystone / Gaetan Bally

In the news: Covid-19, Afghanistan, running shoes and Swiss industry

• Switzerland is being hit by a fourth wave of the coronavirusExternal link with a “very worrying” rise in infections, Patrick Mathys, a top official at the Federal Office of Public Health, said today. The number of new cases has hovered between 2,500-3,000 per day recently, close to the level of the third wave earlier this year. Mathys said he was especially concerned by the rise in hospital admissions and the low level of vaccinations (just over half the population).
• The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)External link newspaper today looks ahead to Wednesday’s Federal Council’s session and a possible tightening of national Covid prevention measures. As the virus situation worsens, some cantons are calling for national regulations on the extended use of the Covid certificate to bars, restaurants and cinemasExternal link.
• An airplane carrying 219 people evacuated from Afghanistan landed in Switzerland today. The passengers included 141 Afghanistan nationals who had worked at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) office in Kabul, plus their family members. The plane also flew out 78 other Afghan, German and Swedish nationals.
• Swiss running shoemaker On Holding AG, which has attracted Roger Federer as an investor, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in New York. On has become one of the world’s fastest-growing running-shoe brands – you see them everywhere in Switzerland. The company is eyeing a $6-8 billion valuation, Bilanz magazine reported last week.
• The Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering sectors were boosted by a significant rebound in export sales and new orders in the first half of 2021 as the industry recovered from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) Council meetingExternal link ended on Monday. Delegates passed several resolutions. One called on the Federal Council to define a strategy for maintaining the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the European Union. OSA also urged the Swiss authorities to give all Swiss abroad living in a country with a precarious health situation access to a Covid vaccination at their local Swiss diplomatic representations.
• Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and his counterpart from Oman, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, (photo above) have participated in a Middle East Mediterranean forum for young adults in the Swiss city of Lugano.

Keystone / Sgt. Samuel Ruiz

What are people saying in International Geneva about Afghanistan?

Everyone seems to be talking about how unpredictable and chaotic Afghanistan is right now, especially in Geneva. Today, the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council is holding a special session on Afghanistan. A senior Afghan diplomat from the deposed government called for accountability for Taliban actions, describing an “uncertain and dire” situation.

“Once again the politicians have failed, leaving the aid agencies, once again, trying to put a sticking plaster on the gaping wounds,”writes Geneva-based reporter Imogen Foulkes for SWI swissinfo.ch. Her latest SWI podcast focuses on the aid agencies that are staying in Afghanistan. How will that work, with the Taliban back in control?

Keystone / Shahzaib Akber

Elephant-inspired robots on the horizon

Whether it’s birdsExternal link, dogsExternal link, salamandarsExternal link or elephants, the animal world remains an endless source of inspiration for the developers of robots and drones.

Now Swiss robotics experts presented their research into the complex movements of an elephant’s trunk. The highly versatile nasal organ – which can manipulate a blade of grass as well as carry loads weighing up to 270kg – is an ideal model for robotics, say the scientists.

Using infrared cameras and motion capture technologyExternal link that was used to bring to life the character of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the researchers identified 20 different trunk movements.

The results will serve as the basis for the development of new flexible “bio-inspired robots” to detect, reach, grasp, manipulate and release a variety of objects of different shapes and sizes.

“Over the past ten years, robotics has sought to replace robots made of rigid segments and joints by soft robots. These machines will be made of deformable, elastic materials, and will be able to form trajectories or constitute different shapes, and thus manipulate objects in a much more versatile way,” says University of Geneva research director Michel Milinkotvitch.