Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Paraskavedekatriaphobia. I had to read the word three times – and I’m probably still pronouncing it wrong. The Greek term from psychotherapy refers to the fear of Friday the 13th. Yet the number 13 does not bring bad luck everywhere; in Japan it is even considered a lucky number.
No luck for Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris– or is it due to Swiss regulations? His hotel project on Lake Uri in central Switzerland violates environmental and heritage protection rules.
Enjoy today’s briefing!
Bay, bungalows and yacht berths — a tourism project in central Switzerland that faces major obstacles.
Billionaire Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris wants to build a hotel complex including a marina on the Isleten peninsula on Lake Uri, a former explosives production site. But the Federal Office for Spatial Development and two federal commissions – nature and heritage protection, and monument preservation – have concluded that the planned tourism complex violates environmental and heritage protection laws.
According to canton Uri’s executive council, the so‑called Marina Project must meet several requirements before being implemented: reduce the density of construction, explore alternative road routes, abandon the planned land‑based harbour, and ensure new buildings comply with heritage requirements.
Isodor Baumann, a project manager at IsenAG, the company tasked with realising the marina, says the door is not yet closed: “We will try to find a solution that respects the responsible authorities. Giving up is not an option.”
Opponents of the project, including the Green Party of canton Uri, feel vindicated by the federal report. What happens next remains unclear. A site visit is planned in spring with Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rösti, where potential solutions will be discussed.
Researchers have detected rare earth elements in bodies of water in Zurich. They enter via wastewater treatment plants in concentrations that pose a risk to aquatic organisms. The main element is the contrast agent gadolinium, which is used in MRI scans to produce high‑quality images.
Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), together with the Ecotox Centre, monitored wastewater treatment plants and waterways in canton Zurich over two years. They found gadolinium concentrations up to 1,000 times higher than natural levels in water, particularly at the outlets of treatment plants.
After being administered as an MRI contrast agent, gadolinium is excreted via urine and flows from hospital toilets into the wastewater system, eventually reaching rivers and lakes.
Whether these high concentrations pose risks remains unclear. “We still know very little about the ecotoxicity of these rare earth elements,” says Eawag researcher Ralf Kägi. But ideas for prevention already exist. In cooperation with a hospital, a pilot project will soon begin that provides urine bags for patients after MRI scans. These bags can then be disposed of with normal household waste, potentially reducing gadolinium in water by 50% to 60%.
Chaotic scenes erupted yesterday morning in Sion ahead of a hearing into the tragic bar fire in Crans-Montana, prompting renewed criticism of the Valais justice system.
As the owners of the Le Constellation bar – where 41 people died and 115 others were seriously injured in a New Year’s Eve fire – arrived for further questioning, they were confronted by relatives of the victims.
Jessica and Jacques Moretti were attacked verbally and called “murderers”. “You killed my son. You killed my brother. Where is my son? You are monsters. How can you eat and sleep?” one person can be heard shouting in a video.
The Valais cantonal police later told the Keystone‑SDA news agency that they would “adjust their security measures starting Thursday evening”. In a commentary, Watson said such confrontations should not occur in a state governed by the rule of law. “Canton Valais is not questioning the rule of law, but it apparently lacks the resources to enforce it,” it declared.
Meanwhile, two Valais lawyers have filed criminal complaints not only against the Moretti couple but also against Crans‑Montana’s mayor, Nicolas Féraud. The online newspaper 20 Minuten cites Italian media that have reported on a “key witness” – the supplier of materials used in the bar’s renovation – who accuses Jacques Moretti in an email of rejecting flame‑retardant foam for cost reasons.
In a TV interview this week, US President Donald Trump repeated provocative claims about the punitive tariffs imposed on Switzerland — remarks he had already made at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. Trump said he had initially raised the tariffs simply because then‑president Karin Keller‑Sutter had ‘got on his nerves’ — comments that could now come back to haunt him.
Previously, Trump had justified the tariffs by arguing that trade deficits posed a security risk and therefore constituted a national emergency.
But, as Blick writes, by recounting the Keller‑Sutter anecdote the US president has undermined his own legal argument. Trump admits raising the tariffs solely because of an “annoying prime minister”.
This has led Democrats and some commentators to expect the US Supreme Court, due to rule on the legality of the tariffs, to strike them down.
On the social media platform X, the Democratic Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives wrote: “Trump admits that his tariffs have nothing to do with national security.” Ultimately, the Supreme Court must determine whether the emergency measure was truly justified – and could hobble Trump’s tariff strategy.
Translated using AI/sb
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
