Switzerland Today
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What are Switzerland’s priorities at the COP27 climate conference, which starts on Sunday? Our explainer has everything you need to know. Here are other news and stories from Switzerland on Friday.
In the news: A Gruyère from Vorderfultigen in Bern has been named the 2022 World Champion Cheese, beating a Gorgonzola from Italy.
- Swiss judge Christian Zürcher championed the cheese for being “smooth in your mouth and melting on your tongue. You have a lot of flavour in it, from herbs to fruity, roasted, with a real leather note”.
- Six opponents of the government’s Covid-19 measures have been ordered to contribute between CHF200 and CHF1,000 ($198-$990) to the cost of police operations. Canton Bern can charge organisers or people who use violence up to CHF10,000 or even CHF30,000 in serious cases. For the costs to be passed on, the rally must be unauthorised and violent.
- FIFA, world football’s Zurich-based governing body, has urged the 32 teams preparing for the most political World Cup in the modern era to focus on the game in Qatar and avoid handing out lessons in morality. The choice of Qatar as World Cup host sparked scrutiny and criticism of its treatment of low-paid migrant workers needed to build stadiums and its laws criminalising same-sex relationships.
Will rich countries pay for the climate emergency?
Nearly 200 countries will gather in Egypt on Sunday for the latest UN climate change conference (COP27), as global pressure grows for tougher action to tackle global warming.
Among the many topics to be tackled at COP27 is financial aid for the countries most affected by the climate crisis. Switzerland is calling for increased investment in climate protection and asking for the support of countries that are in a position to contribute.
In this explainer, we ask and answer the following questions: What will be discussed at COP27? What are rich countries doing? What are the poorest countries asking for? What are Switzerland’s priorities? What is Switzerland’s financial contribution?
Karin Wenger, former Asia correspondent for Swiss public broadcaster SRF, has put down her microphone and picked up her pen, publishing no less than three books this year that focus on survivors she met while travelling around Asia.
The journalist from Zurich has worked all over Asia since she began reporting there in 2009. From the start of her time there, she revisited people from all walks of life whom she met during her newsgathering. Holed up in Bangkok because of the Covid-19 pandemic, she finally had time to write her stories about the challenges they overcame and their extraordinary survival spirit. In this video, she discusses her reportages, which show the consequences of war, corruption, fundamentalism and cheap clothing production.
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