Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The hot and humid climate in Ticino suits tiger mosquitoes but now researchers have found a method to keep them in check.
In other news, Swatch is not doing so well, priests will be given a social score and a prominent campaigner against money laundering is charged with bribery himself.
Warm greetings from Bern
He was considered a model crusader against money laundering – now René Brülhart was forced to defend himself in court. The former Vatican finance chief was acquitted of the accusation of bribery in Zurich.
Swiss citizen René Brülhart is an internationally known hunter of money launderers and the German media have called him the “James Bond of the financial world”. He became known when he was brought by the Pope as an advisor to the Vatican, where he presided over its financial supervisory authority from 2014-2019.
Now the corruption fighter himself was on trial in Zurich – on charges of bribery and violation of banking secrecy, as several Swiss newspapers report today. Brülhart was part of a “well-established corruption system” in which police officers, secret service agents and other officials were involved, the Aargauer Zeitung quotes the prosecutor as saying.
Brülhart procured information about people on behalf of customers. A German, a former GDR spy, who worked for him was convicted in Germany for bribing police officers and civil servants.
Brülhart, on the other hand, was able to credibly demonstrate in court that he knew nothing about the illegal methods. In addition, it could not be proven that secret data was traded in his case.
Social score for priests: The president of the Bishops’ Conference calls for a digital register for clerics to ensure convicted priests or those with allegations of abuse are not employed.
Again and again, cases come to light in which priests facing allegations of abuse or who were even convicted were reinstated. In some cases, without the parish knowing about it.
That is about to change. The president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, Charles Morerod, wants to introduce a national register that can be used to check the history of each priest via QR code. “Every parish should be able to check with their smartphone whether there are accusations or restrictions,” says Morerod in an interview with the NZZ. The system is currently being implemented in his diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg.
The model is France, where such a digital system already exists and priests have an ID card with a QR code.
Demand from China is collapsing, profits are plummeting: Swatch has had a difficult six months – but is holding on to ‘Swissness’.
Swatch has published its half-yearly figures and they do not look rosy. The Swiss watch group sold significantly fewer watches. In China in particular, trade slumped by up to 30%. Sales also stagnated outside China.
In other markets, things went better: in North America, India and the Middle East, the watch brand was able to achieve double-digit growth. According to Swatch, the Omega, Longines, Rado, Tissot and Hamilton brands in particular gained market share, and the Swatch brand also exceeded the previous year’s figures. But that was not enough to compensate for the slump in the important China market.
What is an additional burden on the company is the adherence to Swissness. However, production and jobs in Switzerland are to be preserved and Swatch does not want to introduce short-time work or layoffs. This is reflected in the figures: net profit fell by 88% to just CHF17 million in the first half of the year.
The tiger mosquito feels very much at home in Ticino. Researchers fight the vector of diseases like chikungunya and dengue using sterile males.
Do you live in a country where mosquitoes can transmit dangerous diseases? Switzerland is no safe haven. The tiger mosquito first buzzed around in Ticino over 20 years ago, and since then it has been detected in various places throughout Switzerland. It can transmit diseases such as chikungunya or dengue fever.
But now researchers from Ticino have outsmarted the pesky insect. In Losone, over half a million sterilised male tiger mosquitoes have been released. Uncertain of their deprived fertility, they will mate with females, who will then lay unfertilised eggs. The tiger mosquito population in Morcote was reduced by 90% in this manner, and project manager Eleonora Flacio from the Ticino University of Applied Sciences SUPSI is convinced that it will also work in other places.
Anyone who is now afraid that there will be a massive increase in mosquito bites after the release of over half a million mosquitoes can rest assured: As with all mosquito species, only the females bite.
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