Switzerland Today
Greetings from Lausanne!
The death of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the “hypnotically ugly” young rebel who rode in on the New Wave of French cinema, dominates today’s front pages. The Swiss press unanimously mourns the departure of 88-year-old ‘Bébel’, who featured in 80 films.
In the news: Increased Vatican cooperation, alleged Covid fraud and racism claims.
- The Federal Audit Officesays over 200 Swiss firms that benefited from government-backed credits during the Covid crisis paid out dividends during the first three months of this year despite a ban. Various cases of alleged Covid fraud have come to light, but the office says they are “not a mass phenomenon”.
- The Swiss government wants to strengthen cooperation with the Papal authorities and install apermanent Swiss ambassador to the Vatican City in Rome. But the idea has not been that well received among some Swiss politicians, as SRF reportsExternal link today.
- Switzerland’s main trade union umbrella group, the Trade Union Federation, has called for a blanket salary rise for employees as the Swiss economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis. It said that employees should be entitled to a salary increase of at least 2% or CHF100 ($109) per month.
- The Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled racism and hate speech, with racial discrimination in Switzerland affecting more and more young people, says a new report.
- The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is hoping the Swiss government will make a gesture to take in more Afghan refugees out of the 100,000 who need resettling, the Tages-Anzeiger writesExternal link. This comes after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. The UNHCR has asked Switzerland to increase its 1,600-refugee resettlement quota. But so far the request has been in vain.
Remarkably, the lead story in most of this morning’s newspapers was not Covid-19 or Afghanistan.
Across the country – from Geneva to Zurich – the press unanimously mourned the death of French film legend Jean-Paul Belmondo. Front pages were dominated by Belmondo’s handsome craggy face, smoking a cigarette, with headlines such as “Le Magnifique [The Magnificent]” and “Der Draufgänger ist gegangen [The daredevil has gone].
The Frenchman, who made his breakthrough performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s “A bout de souffle” (“Breathless”, pictured above) in 1959 before becoming one of France’s leading comedy and action heroes, died on MondayExternal link. He was 88.
“He was an acting legend whose aura floated over French theatre and cinema for over 50 years,” said Le Temps.External link He marked the New Wave cinema movement as well as action movies,wrote NZZExternal link. “Jean-Paul Belmondo’s style was so irresistible that he didn’t need beauty to rise to icon status,” it went on.
“He was a bit like a French Robert De Niro in that he could play anything. He was capable of slipping into many different roles very easily and remain himself, Belmondo, while totally incarnating his character,” the Swiss cinema archive’s director, Frédéric Maire, told Swiss public radio RTS.External link
The French actor, who was also passionate about the stage, played the lead role in Cyrano de Bergerac to sell-out audiences at Lausanne’s Beaulieu Theatre in 1992.
RTSExternal link paid him a glowing tribute. Belmondo lived for the present, it wrote, digging out an interview with the French star from 1972. “When I’m dead and buried, I won’t care less what people think of me. What counts is now,” he told RTS.
Why are there fewer intensive care beds than in the second Covid wave?
As a fourth coronavirus wave threatens Switzerland, the focus is again on hospitals and how to prevent intensive care units (ICU) being swamped by sick Covid-19 patients. Recent concerns have been raised about the number of ICU beds and possible bottlenecks. Several hospitals across the country have indicated they are at capacity, with surgeries and other non-emergency operations postponed. Just over 76% of ICU beds are currently occupied, of which one-third by Covid patients.
“There are currently fewer intensive care beds than in the second wave – why is that?” asks the NZZ in a detailed report todayExternal link.
At the height of the second wave in autumn 2020, practically all 876 certified intensive care beds were occupied. Extra beds could be added when necessary. This time round, financial pressures on hospitals may be making managers hesitate to add more ICU beds, says NZZ.
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