Geopolitics

Swiss army drone crash due to design flaw

This content was published on May 11, 2021 The drone was one of six ordered by the army in 2016. The delivery date is now likely to be mid-2022 at the earliest, three years later than planned.

Israeli police officer at Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem

Foreign Affairs

Foreign ministry appeals for calm in Jerusalem

This content was published on May 10, 2021 Switzerland has added its voice to growing international calls for an end to violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.

International Geneva

Does Bill Gates have too much influence in the WHO?

This content was published on May 10, 2021 The WHO's upcoming Assembly will be facing calls for reform. One of the issues in the spotlight will be funding and the role of private donors.

International Geneva

Covid-19: WHO really calls the shots?

This content was published on May 10, 2021 How much do we really know about the World Health Organization – the agency that Covid-19 has thrust into the spotlight?

Should there be limits on private funding to global bodies like the WHO?

UN bodies like the World Health Organization have become more and more reliant on private funding, raising some concerns.

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May 10, 2021

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Foreign Affairs

Swiss border guards convicted over Syrian woman’s stillbirth

This content was published on May 9, 2021 Switzerland has convicted three more border guards over the miscarriage of a Syrian woman who was sent back to Italy in the summer of 2014. Judges ruled they should have shown moral courage and called an ambulance against the wishes of their superior. German-language weekly SonntagsZeitung reported on the convictions. The head of the three border…

Foreign Affairs

Poll finds most Swiss back framework deal with EU

This content was published on May 9, 2021 The survey conducted by the research institute gfs.bern found that 64% of 2,000 people questioned were in favour of a comprehensive deal with the EU. About a third were opposed (32%). “This shows the considerable potential of the institutional agreement at the ballot box, i.e. two thirds of voters,” says René Buholzer, director of the umbrella organisation…

Foreign Affairs

Climate activists block roads in Switzerland

This content was published on May 8, 2021 Climate activists block roads in Switzerland Climate activists aligned with the Extinction Rebellion (XR) environmental movement created traffic disruptions on Saturday across Switzerland. "I am terrified by the state's inaction in the ecological disaster," said a student in the Plainpalais district of Geneva, before his sign was confiscated by police Calling their demonstration a ''Rebellion Of One,'' activists set up single-person roadblocks in about a dozen cities–including Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Bern–and smaller towns such as Morat. The demonstrations come one month before citizens go to the polls to decide on a revised national CO2 law. It is impossible to determine how many people staged such single acts of protests, according to Keystone-SDA news agency. "As we are working in a decentralised way, each group is organising itself independently," an organiser in Zurich told the agency. Angry motorists In Geneva and Lausanne, several roads were blocked in the morning and afternoon by activists. Most of them were dislodged and fined by the police, sometimes after only a few minutes. In Lausanne, one activist lasted five minutes before being taken away in handcuffs. Angry drivers and passersby dislodged another activist in the same city before police arrived Among onlookers, reactions ranged from applause and support to annoyance and outright anger. "What do we care about the climate? There are all the cars waiting", a young woman in Geneva complained. Another contested the notion of "ecological catastrophe". Vulnerability By sitting alone on the pavement, each activist wanted to show the vulnerability of individuals to global warming. "Behind every activist there are emotions," said the one from Zurich. "Climate change did not go away with the pandemic" Switzerland’s climate activists want the government to tackle climate change more quickly and to convene a citizens assembly on climate and ecological justice. They want the Federal Council (executive body) to declare a climate emergency and make the country carbon neutral by 2025 rather than 2050. XR activists held protests in Britain last week and plan further actions in cities across 10 countries until June.

Foreign Affairs

No ‘status quo’ without Swiss-EU framework deal, EU envoy warns

This content was published on May 8, 2021 EU Ambassador Petros Mavromichalis warns there will be no new deals on access to the EU single market and that expiring agreements will not be renewed. “It is the chronicle of a death foretold,” he told French-language newspaper Le Temps in an interview published Saturday. Switzerland can certainly reject the institutional agreement, the ambassador points…

Foreign Affairs

Indian foreign minister: ‘Covid exposed fissures and weaknesses like a stress test’

This content was published on May 7, 2021 Subrahmanyam Jaishankar gives the Indian viewpoint on the pandemic and the consequences for international relations.

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Swiss army drone crash due to design flaw

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Foreign ministry appeals for calm in Jerusalem

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Does Bill Gates have too much influence in the WHO?

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Covid-19: WHO really calls the shots?

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Should there be limits on private funding to global bodies like the WHO?

More

Swiss border guards convicted over Syrian woman’s stillbirth

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Poll finds most Swiss back framework deal with EU

More

Climate activists block roads in Switzerland

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No ‘status quo’ without Swiss-EU framework deal, EU envoy warns

More

Indian foreign minister: ‘Covid exposed fissures and weaknesses like a stress test’

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