Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

In the end it was calm last night here in Lausanne. The ZSC Lions from Zurich were too good for Lausanne Hockey Club (LHC), winning 2-0 in the final match in Zurich. The Lausanne underdogs had dreamed of victory but Zurich just didn’t crack. They are champions of Switzerland for the tenth time following the seven-game National League finals victory (4-3).

Read on for more news and stories from Switzerland today.

The new EPFL robot. EPFL

In the news: Swiss mountain climber Ueli Steck, organ donations, economic forecast, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and a jumping robot.

• Seven years after the death of record-breaking Swiss mountain climber Ueli Steck, his estate is going to the Alpine Museum of Switzerland in Bern. The extreme mountaineer was considered one of the best solo climbers in the world and was known for his fast ascents of difficult routes such as the Eiger. 
• More organ donations were recorded in Switzerland in 2023 than ever before. This was despite a high rejection rate of 58% by surviving relatives.
• Chief financial officers in Switzerland are more optimistic about the near future than they were six months ago, according to a Deloitte survey.
• A new four-legged robot with artificial intelligence can seamlessly change its gait. With the aim of avoiding falls, the robot from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) switches between walking, trotting and jumping depending on the situation.
• Russian star soprano Anna Netrebko will not be performing in Lucerne. The concert on June 1 at the KKL Culture and Congress Centre has been cancelled owing to pressure from the Lucerne government.
• Family members of people temporarily admitted to Switzerland should in future be able to join them after two years instead of three. The proposed amendment to the law is the government’s response to a judgement by the European Court of Human Rights.

May 1 demo in Basel. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / GEORGIOS KEFALAS

May 1: unions call for further improvements for working people.

Labour Day events were held across Switzerland on Wednesday under the slogan “Premiums down, wages up!”. Around 10,000 people took part in an authorised march in Zurich.

Following the success at the polls of the 13th monthly pension payment initiative in March, the unions see another opportunity to improve the situation of the working population on June 9.

+ Swiss vote: ‘yes’ to higher pensions, ‘no’ to retiring later

“The Yes to the 13th pension has shown what is possible and should point the way for the future,” said an appeal published in advance by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions for Labour Day, also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day.

After all, strengthening the old-age pension was only the beginning, it said. “Now, with the vote on the premium relief initiative on June 9, there’s another immediate opportunity to improve the situation of the working population,” it said.

+ Swiss federal votes on June 9: what’s on the agenda?

Families, lower and middle incomes are suffering from the explosion in health premiums, it explained. The premium burden is becoming unbearable for the middle class. The trade unions are therefore focusing on the “unsocial” financing of the healthcare system. At the same time, they are stepping up their commitment to the wage issue and fighting for purchasing power with lower health insurance premiums.

After years of record profits and dividends, there is finally a need for strong wage increases, the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions said. “Because if things go on like this, the bosses and company owners will get an even bigger slice of the cake.”

In Zurich many groups joined the demonstrationExternal link, including this year a large “Palestine bloc”.

In the afternoon, radical left-wing organisations called for an unauthorised demonstration, which usually ends in incidents and damage to property.

Scarred by war: Diana Borysenko, 45, tour guide. The people in Ukraine are all ‘Scarred by war’ in their own way, according to the title of Dominic Nahr’s series of images, which won first prize in the Portrait category. Keystone/NZZ photography team

Meet Dominic Nahr, Swiss Press Photographer of the Year

Dominic Nahr, known for his war reportages, is the big winner of the Swiss press photography awards this year. SWI swissinfo.ch has put together an extensive gallery of his work and that of other photographers (click on link below).

+ Dominic Nahr named Swiss press photographer of the Year

Nahr, 40, was born in Heiden, northeastern Switzerland, and grew up in Hong Kong. He is based in Zurich as a war reporter and photojournalist.

In addition to the title of Swiss Press Photographer of the Year, Nahr also won the Portrait and Foreign categories with his work for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (an overview of all the work in the competition can be found hereExternal link).

He completed a portrait series “Scarred by war”, taken in Ukraine, and his work on the shocks in Morocco followed the devastating earthquake in September 2023. Nahr also took second place in the Foreign category with a photo series from Libya.