Switzerland Today
It’s going to be the first weekend with almost no Covid restrictions in place. Are the Swiss going to let their hair down or play it safe?
In the news: Chinese censorship, Bulgarian money laundering and the end of a Belarusian nightmare.
- A Weibo post by the Swiss embassy in China was removed last week as it referred to the disappearance of human rights lawyer Tang Jitian. In a rare show of spine, the Swiss foreign ministry objected to the censorship and reposted the message on Twitter on Thursday. Quite a departure from the quiet diplomacy Switzerland pursues with China.
- The first ever Swiss trial of a major Swiss bank for money laundering is throwing up some dirt. Credit Suisse, which is on trial facing charges of helping a Bulgarian drug trafficker wash his dirty money, is accused of dismissing loud alarm bells such as two murder accusations allegedly linked to cocaine trafficker Evelin Banev.
- Swiss-Belarusian dual national Natallia Hersche, who was arrested for protesting against the election of Alexander Lukashenko as Belarus’ president, has been released after nearly a year and a half in a Belarusian jail. This follows intense diplomatic efforts by Swiss officials, parliamentarians and NGOs to get her released.
Passport flop: Poor uptake of Swiss citizenship opportunity by third generation foreigners.
A facilitated naturalisation process introduced in 2018 for those whose grandparents came to Switzerland and who were born here has received a lukewarm response. Out of 25,000 people eligible, fewer than 2,000 had received a Swiss passport by the end of 2020. Age restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles are to blame.
Science corner: Goodbye to instruction manuals and hello to augmented reality.
For some, instruction manuals are a nuisance that are destined straightaway for paper recycling. A start-up by researchers from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) aims to ease the pain of learning how to operate complicated gadgets and tools. They’ve designed virtual instruction manualsExternal link that can be interpreted via augmented reality goggles. The glasses project explanatory videos, interactive text fields or even 3D machine models into the field of view while assembling or repairing an object.
“Instead of working their way through a tedious paper-based handbook, users wear augmented reality glasses that guide them step by step through complex instructions, providing them with the information they need exactly when and where they need it,” it explains.
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