US, Russia hold 'productive' arms control talks in Geneva

Geneva (AFP)

Sept 30, 2021

Russian and US diplomats held talks behind closed doors in Geneva on Thursday which both sides described as constructive, in the latest round of discussions aimed at ironing out the many tensions between the world's top two nuclear powers.

US State Department number two Wendy Sherman and Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov met for most of the day, with both sides saying they would continue discussions on arms control.

In a joint statement after the talks, the State Department and the Russian foreign ministry said the two delegations had agreed to form two working groups, one of which will look at future arms control measures.

"The delegations additionally agreed that the two working groups would commence their meetings, to be followed by a third plenary meeting," the statement said.

Ryabkov said that the sides had discussed the "entire range of issues" related to strategic stability and arms control.

"Despite existing differences -- and there are a lot -- there is a desire and readiness to move the process further," he was cited by Russian news agencies as saying.

"This is slow progress. But this in itself is also good."

A senior State Department official said that the meeting was "very interactive and broad-based" and went in-depth into multiple issues, although she declined to give details.

"We think this was a very productive meeting," she told reporters on condition of anonymity.

- 'Sort of pact' -

While the United States and Russia are set to negotiate a successor to the New START nuclear treaty, the official said that the talks also discussed broader confidence-building measures and conventional weapons.

"The simple act of dialogue is sort of part of arms control," she said.

"There are non-nuclear tools that can have strategic implications and that's really sort of a conversation that we'd like to expand -- both Washington and Moscow -- and sort of understanding threat perceptions and where we think we need to go in that space."

In June, US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in a high-profile summit at which they agreed it was vital to keep talking despite the differences that divide them.

From cyber attacks on US entities and meddling in the last two US presidential elections to human rights violations and aggression against Ukraine and other European countries, the US list of allegations against the Kremlin runs long.

Putin though insists he is just challenging US hegemony, and has denied any connection to what the US says are Russia-based hacking and ransomware gangs, or having any hand in the deaths of many opponents during two decades in power.

Thursday's talks were held at Russia's UN mission, after the last round in late July was hosted by the Americans a few hundred meters (yards) away.

Arms control was at the top of the agenda at that exchange.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Russia_hold_productive_arms_control_talks_in_Geneva_999.html.

Famed Swiss eatery's closure highlights COVID rule tensions

November 01, 2021

GENEVA (AP) — A move by Swiss police in a resort town to shutter a restaurant because its owners flouted a government requirement to check patrons’ COVID-19 passes has again brought to the forefront tensions with some people who view such measures as infringing on civil rights.

Swiss media reported on Monday that police in Zermatt, a resort town at the foot of the famed Matterhorn peak, swept into the 19th century Walliserkanne restaurant a day earlier and sealed it off after its owners had defied a closure order and kept serving.

The three owners who were taken into custody, had reportedly transformed a stack of cinder blocks that police had used to block off the front entrance into a makeshift bar and let patrons to enter from the back.

The showdown points to renewed tensions in Switzerland and beyond over government measures aimed to fight the coronavirus pandemic that some people claim are treading on civil liberties. The reports said dozens of people over the weekend turned out at the restaurant to protest the arrests.

Police in the southern Wallis region said in a statement that the three restaurateurs refused to close the eatery despite authorities' efforts to engage in dialogue with them and ignored several warnings to respect the health measures.

Switzerland, like some other European countries, has taken a number of steps to fight the pandemic such as the requirement for restaurant managers to request proof of vaccination, recent recovery from the illness or current negative tests before serving patrons.

The rich Alpine country of about 8.5 million people whose ski slopes and winter sports are a key draw for tourists has reported an average of about 1,300 new cases of COVID-19 in recent days, up from around 870 in mid-October, though average daily deaths have been under 10 since early April.

Swiss bask in reopened shops as COVID-19 cases drop

March 01, 2021

GENEVA (AP) — The timing couldn’t have been better for Michele Pesson for Swiss authorities to order a reopening of stores across Switzerland amid a recent drop in coronavirus cases and deaths: Her son’s birthday is coming up, and she wanted to get her hands on something special for him to read.

Pesson, a school teacher and administrator, was one of the droves of shoppers who turned out on Monday in a Geneva shop of well-known Swiss bookstore chain Payot to buy up magazines, books and other wares after a six-week shutdown that left only essential stores in Switzerland open because of the pandemic.

“Honestly, it does a lot of good," she said. “You get the feeling that it's something that's not just the stores that are opening — but it's a whole social aspect that's reopening.” Swiss authorities last week gave a go-ahead to what they called a “cautious” reopening despite a new, more-transmissible COVID-19 variant that first appeared in Britain that is increasingly circulating in the rich Alpine country.

In mid-January, authorities ordered the closure of stores except for supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential businesses — around the time that the country of 8.5 million was tallying more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases per day based on a seven-day average. That rate has gradually dropped in recent weeks, now to about 1,000 per day — or less.

The seven-day average of deaths has come in in the single digits in recent days, declining steadily from more than 70 on New Year's Day and a plateau of over 80 per day in most of November and December.

The new measures don't just affect stores: museums, zoos, library reading rooms and outdoor sports facilities like tennis courts and skating rinks can reopen. The government also is allowing more people to gather in public or private — 15 people, up from five.

President Guy Parmelin last week acknowledged public pressure for a faster reopening, but called for “discipline” in the face of the new variant's spread. A reopening of restaurants and bars is planned for April 1, but that could be moved forward “if the situation continues to improve,” he said.

He cited rising vaccinations and COVID-19 testing in Switzerland as reasons to be confident. Shop owners too expressed relief Monday that life was getting a bit closer to normal. Nabil Slimani, manager of a Geneva store of snowboard, freeski, surf, skate and streetwear vendor Blue Tomato, said the closures last month and other forced closures in November “were really starting to weigh us as much as on the customers."

He said more customers flooded into the store after a previous shutdown last year, and this time, “it's been pretty calm ... it hasn't been crazy.” Ikea reported a few longer lines than usual. Spokesman Aurel Hosennen said Monday wasn’t nearly as busy as after a reopening from a longer lockdown last spring, when visits to reopened stores were nearly twice as much as on a normal day. On Monday, traffic was up about 30% from a normal Monday.

But the managers of the Payot bookshop said a combination of a back-to-school rush after university holidays and an eagerness to return to the feel of new books — after some online shopping in recent weeks — was driving up traffic on Monday.

"For a month and a half, people missed coming to bookstores," said Christophe Jacquier, the Payot store manager. “There's a real pleasure for people to come to hunt for and chose their books — it's not the same thing as searching on the Internet.”

Avalanche warnings after heavy snowfall in Alps

January 15, 2021

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Switzerland have warned of high avalanche risk in mountainous regions of the Alpine nation after heavy snowfall in recent days. Zurich's public transport company halted all tram and bus services in Switzerland's biggest city Friday, saying snow had brought down trees and blocked access to three vehicle depots overnight.

Some eastern Swiss regions saw up to 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) of snowfall in 24 hours. Parts of the Goms valley on the border with Italy were cut off from the world due to blocked roads. Many roads were also closed due to avalanche risk or fallen trees in the western Austrian region of Tyrol. In the Vorarlberg region a power cut left some 7,400 households without electricity.

Police in southwestern Germany said a 72-year-old woman died after a tree laden with snow fell on her while she was walking her dog near the Swiss border. The woman’s son found her seriously injured and with hypothermia, but she later died in a hospital.

Swiss hospital chief: Europe at 'turning point' vs. COVID

October 16, 2020

GENEVA (AP) — Europe is at a “turning point” in the fight against the coronavirus, the head of Switzerland’s biggest hospital complex said, acknowledging growing public fatigue over anti-COVID measures but insisting people must buckle down as Switzerland grapples with record daily case counts.

Bertrand Levrat, CEO of Geneva University Hospitals, which counts 12,000 personnel, spoke to The Associated Press at a time when Switzerland — like many other European countries — is fighting a second wave of coronavirus cases that grew in large part out of a summertime lull in which people let down their guard about the highly infectious pandemic.

“The virus doesn’t spread alone — we are the ones who spread it. It’s a line that we don’t repeat enough,” Levrat said from his office overlooking Geneva, a surgical mask tucked into his jacket pocket. “Today, the stakes center on how much people are going to follow health measures that allow most people, and economies, and life in general to get through this.”

He added: “If we don’t get a handle on this, we run the risk of getting into a situation that’s harder to control,” he said. “We are really at a turning point — things can go both ways. Health services need to look for ways to keep up contact tracing (and) to succeed in getting a grasp on the chains of transmission.”

Swiss authorities, like their counterparts across Europe, are facing the increasingly tricky dilemma of calibrating a response that meets the urgent health care requirements at a time of growing public fatigue about COVID-19 restrictions and when doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are already beleaguered and dreading a new wave that would strain their work and personal lives.

“I think we are quite well prepared, even though it was a huge challenge to every one of us, and huge stress on the system,” Levrat said. “Yes, we are prepared but, yes as well, we are worried a bit because it's a challenge ... with teams that have been quite exhausted by the first wave.”

During that first phase, the hospital had a peak of 550 patients at the same time — all COVID patients. Other medical services were farmed out to private clinics. Today, hospitalizations are at more than 70, but that marks a four-fold increase from just a month ago.

Quarantine ordered for 2,500 students at elite Swiss school

September 24, 2020

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss health authorities have ordered a quarantine for a staggering 2,500 students at a prestigious hospitality management school in the city of Lausanne after “significant outbreaks" of the coronavirus that are a suspected byproduct of off-campus partying.

Authorities in Switzerland's Vaud canton, or region, said all undergraduates at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, known as the Lausanne Hospitality Management University in English, have been ordered to quarantine both on- and off-campus because the number of COVID-19 outbreaks because targeted closures were not possible.

The World Health Organization, national health authorities and others have cautioned that young people, who tend to have milder COVID-19 symptoms than older demographic groups, have been a key driver for the continued spread of the coronavirus in recent weeks, particularly in Europe.

“Significant outbreaks of infection have appeared at several levels of training, making a more targeted closure impossible that that involving the 2,500 students affected,” the Vaud regional office said in a statement. “Until Sept. 28, the students must stay home. For some, that means not leaving their housing on the hospitality school site.”

It noted that an early investigation showed that “one or more parties was at the origin of these many outbreaks of infection,” and reiterated authorities previous call for a ”responsible attitude" among party-goers such as by wearing masks, tracing their contacts, keeping alert for symptoms, and “social distancing.”

School administrators were taking “all necessary measures” to ensure that classes were continuing online, the statement said. University spokesman Sherif Mamdouh said Thursday that the situation was “not ideal” but that the university took precautions in recent months. He said that 11 students had tested positive for the coronavirus and none required hospitalization.

Mamdouh said the quarantine affects 2,500 undergraduates. The university has a total student body of about 3,500, including people pursuing advanced degrees. He said hundreds of students living in on-campus dormitories on campus will be subject to the quarantine.

Switzerland is not alone. The latest government figures in neighboring France show that 22% of the country’s currently active virus clusters emerged at schools are universities. The United States has also seen clusters linked to college students.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that while it is “unfair to just put it on the young people,” it's also unsurprising that teenagers and young adults might assume they don't need to worry about succumbing to the virus.

“Perceptions do indicate that they don't feel they are as at-risk as older groups” Harris said, particularly in the wake of data showing younger people typically have less-severe cases of COVID-19. “The message they have heard is: ‘You are out of jail, go out and play,’" she said. “We don't want to be the fun police, but we want people to have fun safely.”

Keaten reported from Geneva.

Backatcha: Thunberg returns Trump's climate jibe

January 21, 2020

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Greta Thunberg isn't easily intimidated. The 17-year-old Swedish activist wasted little time on Tuesday to push back against U.S. President Donald Trump's description of climate campaigners as “the perennial prophets of doom" who predict the "apocalypse.”

Though Trump didn't mention her directly in his speech at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, it was clear he had his sights on Thunberg, who shot to fame a year ago by staging a regular strike at her school and sparked a global environmental movement. She then beat the U.S. president to receive Time Magazine's award as the 2019 Person of the Year.

“The facts are clear, but they are still too uncomfortable for you to address,” she told business and political leaders in Davos just after Trump's speech, also without directly mentioning the president. “You just leave it because you think it's too depressing and people will give up, but people will not give up. You are the ones who are giving up.”

Thunberg brushed aside Trump's announcement that the U.S. would join the economic forum's initiative to plant 1 trillion trees across the globe to help capture carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Planting trees is good of course but it’s nowhere near enough," Thunberg said. "It cannot replace mitigation," she added, referring to efforts to drastically cut emissions in the near term. Thunberg accused leaders of "cheating and fiddling around with numbers" with talk of cutting emissions to 'net zero' - that is, emitting no more carbon than is absorbed by the planet or technical means - by 2050.

She and Trump have been sparring for months, but Thunberg did not seek to upstage the U.S. leader by walking out of his speech, which was largely focused on trade and economics instead of the climate issues that the WEF has made a focus of at its meeting this year.

Last month, Trump told Thunberg in a tweet to “chill” and to “work on her Anger Management problem." It prompted a dry and humorous response from Thunberg, who then changed her Twitter caption to read: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend.”

Earth just finished its hottest decade on record with the five last years as the five hottest years on record, according to U.S. and other science agencies. Scientists repeatedly point to more extreme weather as a problem worsened by human-caused climate change. There have been 44 weather and climate disasters in the United States that caused at least $1 billion in damage since 2017, killing 3,569 people, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Thunberg is not the only young activist to highlight the climate emergency, and was joined on a keynote panel by three others, all of whom said politicians and executives are not doing enough. A survey of CEOs released this week by financial firm PwC showed that executives rank climate issues as only the 11th most serious risk to their businesses' growth.

Natasha Wang Mwansa, an 18-year-old from Zambia who campaigns for girls’ and women’s rights, said “the older generation has a lot of experience, but we have ideas, we have energy, and we have solutions."

And Salvador Gómez-Colón, who raised funds and awareness after Hurricane María devastated his native Puerto Rico in 2017, said young activists are doing more than just talking. “We’re not waiting five, 10, 20 years to take the action we want to see. We’re not the future of the world, we’re the present, we’re acting now. We’re not waiting any longer.”

Thunberg cited a report released in 2018 by the U.N.'s science panel that calculated the amount of additional carbon dioxide the atmosphere can absorb before global average temperature increases exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). Leaders agreed to try to stay below that threshold when they signed the 2015 Paris climate accord, but scientists warn the chances of doing so are dwindling.

Thunberg noted that the remaining carbon “budget” to confidently meet that target stood at just 420 gigatons of CO2 two years ago, the equivalent of 10 years of global emissions. Even with a more optimistic calculation, keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 C would require a massive reduction in emissions over the next two decades.

While there has been widespread criticism both inside and outside the United States over Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord, Thunberg said the rest of the world, too, was effectively missing the targets set down in that agreement.

"My generation will not give up without a fight," Thunberg said.

Read more stories on climate issues by The Associated Press here.

Kirsten Grieshaber and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

European divisions beyond Brexit on display in Davos

January 24, 2019

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Europe's divisions were on display Thursday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, with key leaders arguing over the region's big issues, from Brexit to the Italian populist government's tough approach to the EU.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was particularly pointed, warning of divisions in the European Union beyond Brexit: between the generally richer countries in the north and the poorer south centered on an array of issues including Italy's stand against the single currency bloc's debt rules.

The Italian government has decided to ramp up spending far beyond EU expectations and only backed off slightly after the EU threatened legal action. Concerns remain that the Italian government's spending plans will add to Italy's huge debt load and potentially rekindle financial jitters that have been dormant since 2015, when Greece was bailed out for a final time.

Speaking at the gathering of political and business elites, Rutte said people in his country are asking him why the Netherlands is implementing measures to abide by the budget rules when others like Italy are not.

The dispute, he said, is "creating distrust between north and south." The prime minister of Poland, which has had run-ins itself with the EU over its moves to overhaul the judiciary, replied that Italy is not being treated in the same manner as France. France's relatively high deficit over the past few years was widely seen as being tolerated by the EU.

The EU, he insisted, "should apply the same standards for different member states." Tensions have grown between Italy and France in recent days over issues including how to handle migrants travelling to Europe by boat. Italy's interior minister, the head of one of two populist and euroskeptic parties leading the country, this month called the French leader Emmanuel Macron — who is unabashedly pro-EU — "a terrible president.

The diplomatic spats are an unwelcome backdrop for the EU, which is due to lose key member Britain this year. British Prime Minister Theresa May saw her Brexit deal voted down by parliament and is struggling to find a solution. That is raising the possibility that Britain might fall out of the EU without a deal on March 29, which could have huge repercussions for the economy as tariffs and border checks are re-established.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in Davos that British banks are financially strong enough to survive such a scenario. But he warned that ports and borders will face many logistical problems.

Businesses, he said, are "doing what they can but in many cases they can't do it." Further insights into the government's thinking were expected to come from British Treasury chief Philip Hammond but he canceled a scheduled appearance on a panel at the last minute for reasons that are still unclear. He is due to address U.K. business leaders Thursday, though.

World Economic Forum hosts Balkan leaders in Switzerland

October 02, 2018

GENEVA (AP) — The World Economic Forum's president said Tuesday that the organization's move to bring together leaders from four Western Balkan countries and regional powers aims to fight "complacency" in a region facing lingering tensions on a route used by migrants into Europe.

Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, said that lessons from history show that events in the west Balkans tend to have a "huge influence" on the rest of Europe, while pointing to economic opportunities in the region.

"What happens in the Balkans will have huge implications for Europe in the future — and this is too frequently neglected," Brende said in an interview. "What we have learned during the last years is that complacency is not a good idea."

He spoke after the WEF hosted the leaders from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as key officials from regional players like Croatia, Germany and Turkey. The leaders announced plans to create a regional center on emerging technologies in the "Fourth Industrial Revolution," cooperate with a WEF cybersecurity center and hold a regional summit next year.

The Geneva-based think tank is best known for the annual Davos gathering in the Swiss Alps.

Iran president arrives in Switzerland, nuclear deal in mind

July 02, 2018

ZURICH (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has arrived in Switzerland for talks expected to focus on salvaging progress from the Iran nuclear deal after the Trump administration's walkout. Rouhani on Monday began a two-day visit to the neutral Alpine nation, starting in Zurich before heading to Bern, the capital, for deal-signings, talks and a news conference on Tuesday.

Since 1980, shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolution, Switzerland has held the "protecting power mandate" on behalf of the United States in Iran. It recently became an intermediary between Iran and regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Rouhani is leaving Iran just as protests have erupted in the country's south, and Trump said he got Saudi Arabia to agree to increasing oil production — which could lower the price of oil, possibly impacting Iran's economy.

Catalan separatist: Swiss model alternative to secession

March 18, 2018

GENEVA (AP) — Catalonia's fugitive ex-president says that independence for the Spanish region is not the "only option" for resolving Spain's worst political crisis in recent decades. Carles Puigdemont says that a moderate alternative could be adopting Switzerland's canton model, which presumably would give more self-rule to the already ample powers granted to Spain's regions.

Puigdemont said that "'is independence the only option?' Not at all, there are others of course, and perhaps among them, the Swiss model is perhaps the most effective and the most attractive." Puigdemont was speaking at the University of Geneva where he attended a film festival and forum on human rights Sunday.

This was just his second trip outside Belgium, where he has been residing since fleeing Spain following Catalonia's unsuccessful declaration of independence in October.

Back to Switzerland for Cyprus peace deal talks

June 26, 2017

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — It's back to Switzerland for Cyprus peace talks. This time the rival leaders of the ethnically-divided island will be meeting at the secluded Swiss resort of Crans-Montana. Previous summits were held in Mont Pelerin and Geneva.

The talks kick off Wednesday and are due to last at least a week. They will likely determine whether a deal to reunify Cyprus, which is divided into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south, is possible or not.

The key issue is how security will be overseen if and when Cyprus is reunified as a federation. Other issues still to be resolved include how much territory the Greek and Turkish Cypriot federated states would be made up of and the process for allowing tens of thousands of displaced people to reclaim lost homes and property.

Here's a look at what will be at play at the peace summit:

MILITARY MUSCLE

The issue is one of the toughest in the complex negotiations that officials say have made significant headway in the last two years and has been left to be tackled last.

It revolves around the 35,000-plus troops that Turkey has kept in place since 1974 when it invaded Cyprus following a coup aimed at union with Greece. Turkey mounted the military action, invoking intervention rights that were granted under Cyprus' 1960 constitution to the island's "guarantors": Turkey, Greece and ex-colonial ruler Britain.

Cyprus' Greek Cypriot president, Nicos Anastasiades, and the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Mustafa Akinci, both tackled the security conundrum in Geneva during January talks. The foreign ministers of the "guarantor" nations also took part.

But that meeting dissolved relatively quickly amid recriminations that neither side was unwilling to put its cards on the table and get down to hard bargaining.

TROOPS, NO TROOPS

The Greek Cypriot side wants military intervention rights expunged and Turkish troops gone to eliminate what is sees as an existential threat and Ankara's instrument of control over the island. Its argument is that no European Union member country would ever need third-country security guarantees.

Anastasiades has proposed an international police force to oversee post-reunification security with the U.N. Security Council using its clout to back it up.

The minority Turkish Cypriots see Turkey's troops as their sole assurance of protection in case a peace deal unravels and want them to stay.

Akinci has said a rethink over the need for troops could happen around 15 years after reunification. Turkish Cypriot and Turkish officials insist a Greek Cypriot call for a full troop withdrawal is a non-starter.

An alternative proposal that's been floated unofficially would see small contingents of Greek and Turkish troops deployed on the island after a deal, while intervention rights would be amended to remove any clause for unilateral action.

GO-BETWEEN

Any compromise on security must pass muster with Greek and Turkish Cypriots who will vote on any peace accord in separate referendums before it would be implemented.

U.N. envoy Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press in April that the world body has helped put together a compromise formula to overcome the security hurdle. He said the formula was the result of consultation with the Cypriot leaders, the European Union and the "guarantors."

The Greek Cypriot side has insisted on prioritizing a security deal before other issues are tackled. Turkish Cypriots said all issues must be discussed concurrently as part of an overarching bartering process.

To accommodate both sides, negotiations at Crans-Montana will be split into two rooms — security in one, and everything else in the other.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

The aim at Crans-Montana is for the two sides to achieve a breakthrough on an agreed peace accord framework. More work will be needed over the weeks and months ahead to fill in the gaps and prepare the ground for putting the completed deal to a vote.

Although it's said the talks will be open-ended, officials say it'll likely last a week to 10 days. And timing is essential.

The Cyprus government is set to start promising exploratory oil and gas drilling off the island's southern shore in mid-July amid strong opposition from Turkey, and the Turkish Cypriots who warn of a potential "crisis" if drilling proceeds.

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots say a "unilateral" Greek Cypriot search for gas flouts their rights to the island's offshore mineral wealth. The Cypriot government insists drilling is it's sovereign right and that any hydrocarbon proceeds will be shared after a peace deal is sealed, signed and delivered.

Swiss vote to withdraw country from use of nuclear power

May 21, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters are supporting a referendum to withdraw the country from nuclear power in favor of renewable energy. A projection from Sunday's referendum shows a majority of cantons (states) voted for the plan. Under Switzerland's direct democracy system, initiatives need a majority of both cantons and votes to pass.

The projection for SRF public television showed 58 percent of voters in favor and 42 percent against the proposal. The Swiss government wants to ban the construction of new nuclear power plants and decommission the country's five existing ones at the end of their technically safe operating lives.

The plan would also boost renewable energies such as water and wind and make cars and electronic devices more energy efficient. Opponents warned the initiative would significantly increase electricity bills.

World's oldest standing army has 40 new Swiss Guards

May 06, 2017

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The world's oldest standing army has 40 new members after a Vatican Swiss Guard swearing-in ceremony. Each man took a loyalty oath Saturday evening in a ritual-rich ceremony in the St. Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. The May 6 date commemorates the day in 1527 when 147 guardsmen died while protecting Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome.

Earlier Saturday, Pope Francis told the Guards they're called to "another sacrifice no less arduous" — serving the power of faith. The recruits, who enroll for at least two years, must be single, upstanding Swiss Catholic males younger than 30.

Wearing blue-and-gold uniforms and holding halberds — spear-like weapons — they are a tourist delight while standing guard at Vatican ceremonies. Their main duty is to protect the pope.

Swiss parliament's upper house rejects bill to ban burqas

March 09, 2017

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's upper house of parliament has rejected an initiative championed by a right-wing populist party to ban burqas and niqabs, the face- and body-covering garments worn by some Muslim women, which have become emblematic of cultural tensions in parts of Europe.

The Council of State voted 26-9 with four abstentions Thursday against the measure that passed the Swiss lower house in September by a single vote. The Italian-speaking Ticino region in southern Switzerland enacted a ban on burqas last year.

The issue strikes at the heart of Europe's struggle to integrate Muslims, and comes amid fears about radical Islam in some corners. Burqas are body-covering garments with screens for the eyes, while niqabs have open slits for the eyes. France and Belgium have enacted similar bans.

Proponents say such face-covering should not be allowed for security reasons, and insist wearing the burqa harms women's rights. Opponents say the measure is a not-so-veiled attack on Islam, insist that existing laws already do the job, and note that burqas are rarely seen in Switzerland. They have also argued that national legislators should try to stay out of the clothing closet.

The measure, led by Swiss People's Party lawmaker Walter Wobmann, would change the Constitution to ban face-covering clothing in public. A campaign poster features silhouettes of a niqab-wearing woman and a masked man poised to throw a firebomb.

Anian Liebrand, a former youth leader in the people's party, said that a movement called "Yes to a ban on face-covering" has collected over two-thirds of the 100,000 petition signatures needed by September for the issue to be put up for a referendum in coming years.

"We are convinced that the people are going to vote 'yes' to this initiative," he said. "We have done a lot of surveys as we have gathered signatures, and we are optimistic." Andrea Caroni, a libertarian lawmaker with the Free Democratic Party who opposes the measure, praised Thursday's "very clear decision," but said a "real battle" looms once voters get their say.

"I don't want to have clothing regulation in my Constitution," Caroni said. He insisted the issue is "not relevant at all" in Switzerland, where about five percent of Switzerland's population of about 8.2 million people are Muslim.

"There have been no proven sightings of a real Afghan burqa — not a single one ... which makes the debate slightly absurd," he said. As for the niqab, he added: "I think I've seen one in my whole life in Switzerland."

Swiss ease citizenship for foreigners, reject tax reform

February 12, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters decided Sunday that they want to make it easier for "third-generation foreigners" to get Swiss citizenship. They rejected a complex tax reform initiative aimed at getting Switzerland in line with international standards.

The "simplified naturalization of third-generation immigrants" measure passed in a national referendum with 60.4 percent of the votes, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported. It simplifies applications for anyone under 25 whose parents and grandparents have lived in Switzerland for years.

The measure gives young people who qualify the same fast-track, simplified access to Swiss citizenship that foreign spouses of Swiss nationals often enjoy. SRF reported that 59.1 percent of voters rejected the tax reform referendum, which would have scrapped a two-track tax system that offers lower rates to foreign firms to lure investment.

Experts say the tax initiative's failure means that overall rates are likely to be set higher — which would be a disincentive to companies that bring in jobs and ultimately tax revenues. Many domestic companies, meanwhile, could see their tax rates go down.

Critics including regional government leaders and much of the political left had said the initiative would deplete tax coffers for an uncertain payoff. Proponents had countered that the reforms were needed to keep competitive a country that has few exportable natural resources and relies heavily on globalized industries such as finance and pharmaceuticals.

The citizenship initiative affects just under 25,000 people, but the long-term implications are far-reaching. Roughly one-fourth of Switzerland's total population of 8.2 million is foreign-born, one of the highest such percentages in Europe.

Switzerland, which is not in the 28-nation European Union but is all but surrounded by bloc members, has been taking in foreigners for centuries. As in some other parts of Europe, being born in Switzerland doesn't automatically confer Swiss citizenship.

The "third-generation foreigners" initiative strikes at a Europe-wide dilemma about how best to integrate newcomers, but generally involves people from elsewhere in Europe or Turkey whose families have been in the Alpine nation for decades — not migrants and refugees from Africa and the Middle East who have poured into Europe in the last several years, sparking a backlash among many on the political far-right.

Sunday's referendum was the latest installment of Switzerland's direct democracy that gives voters a frequent say on political decisions. A third issue on the national ballot involving infrastructure spending passed with 61.9 percent of the votes.

Voters in the eastern Graubuenden canton, or region, also decided against a bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. Four years ago, the region rejected a similar referendum about the 2022 Winter Games, which were eventually awarded to Beijing.

Swiss voters consider streamlined citizenship for under-25s

February 12, 2017

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss voters are considering two issues that will affect immigrants and foreign companies in Switzerland, deciding whether to make it easier for "third-generation foreigners" to get Swiss citizenship and whether to lock in competitive low tax rates for businesses.

The "simplified naturalization of third-generation immigrants" measure is expected to pass in Sunday's referendum. It would simplify applications for anyone under 25 whose parents and grandparents have lived in Switzerland for years.

Polls have suggested a tight race over the complex tax reform initiative, which aims to get Switzerland in line with international standards by scrapping a two-track tax system that offers lower rates to foreign firms to lure investment.

Sunday's referendum is the latest installment of Switzerland's direct democracy that gives voters a frequent say on political decisions. A third issue on the national ballot involves infrastructure spending.

Voters in the eastern Graubuenden canton, or region, are also deciding whether to bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. Four years ago, the region rejected a similar referendum about the 2022 Winter Games, which were eventually awarded to Beijing.

Those hoping to benefit from a new, easier way to Swiss citizenship include high school student Selena Mercado. The 17-year-old was born in Switzerland, has gone to school in Switzerland, considers herself Swiss and dreams of a political career in the country one day.

But her passport is from Chile, a country that she's never set foot in but was home to her grandparents before they moved to this small Alpine nation decades ago. Being born in Switzerland doesn't mean automatically mean becoming Swiss, a situation echoed in a few other European nations.

Swiss voters are considering giving "third-generation foreigners" like Mercado the same fast-track, simplified access to Swiss citizenship that foreign spouses of Swiss nationals often enjoy. "I want to give back to Switzerland,'" said Mercado, who lives in Vallorbe on the French border.

Swiss air force upgrading surveillance radars

Paris (UPI)
Jan 19, 2017

Master air defense radars of the Swiss air force are to be modernized by Thales to extend their operational capabilities until the year 2030.

The work is part of the Swiss government's FLORAKO radar modernization program. It was commissioned by Armasuisse, the Swiss armaments procurement agency, and is worth more than $79 million.

"We are proud that Amasuisse has decided to renew its trust in Thales and award us with the sustainability contract for the Swiss Air Force radars until 2030," said Thomas Got, Thales vice president in charge of military air operations and weapon systems. "We are fully committed to this partnership and are keen to meet the requirements and expectations of the Swiss armed forces."

Thales said the upgrade work on fixed long-range surveillance radars will be carried out at the company facility in Limours, near Paris, in cooperation with RUAG defense, who will act as a Thales subcontractor.

Modernization of the radars will take about five years.

Thales said the project will involve development of a new radar signal and upgrading the radar's data processing and antenna system.

The Swiss air force has had an air defense command-and-control system by Thales and its partners since 2004.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Swiss_air_force_upgrading_surveillance_radars_999.html.

Voters reject 2026 Olympic bid for St. Moritz, Davos

February 12, 2017

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Voters in the Swiss Alps have rejected a second Olympic hosting bid planned for upscale mountain resorts St. Moritz and Davos. The canton (state) of Graubuenden says a referendum on financing a candidacy for the 2026 Winter Games was rejected by 60.1 percent of voters.

In a tighter vote in 2013, the region refused to support a 2022 Winter Games bid. That Swiss project was the likely favorite in a contest won by Beijing. Switzerland now has a second option centered on the town of Sion, which could involve the IOC's home city, Lausanne.

The Swiss Olympic board meets next month to decide on formally bidding in the 2026 contest. The IOC chooses a host in 2019. Sunday's ballot was conducted as St. Moritz hosts the two-week ski world championships.

Crucial Cyprus peace talks at Swiss resort 'inconclusive'

November 22, 2016

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Crucial talks being held at a Swiss resort aiming to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus have hit an impasse, officials said Monday, in a serious setback that casts doubt over whether 18 months of negotiations can successfully resolve the decades-old dispute.

Cyprus' government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said United Nations-backed talks on how much territory Greek and Turkish Cypriots will administratively control under an envisioned federation have proven "inconclusive."

"This isn't good for anyone," Christodoulides told reporters after the talks broke off shortly after midnight Monday. We are not at all happy with the outcome." A U.N. statement said Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have failed to narrow differences on the territorial aspect of a deal over two days of negotiations at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland.

"Despite their best efforts, they have not been able to achieve the necessary further convergences on criteria for territorial adjustment that would have paved the way for the last phase of talks," the statement said.

A deal on territory would have paved the way for a final summit bringing together Greece, Turkey and Cyprus' former colonial ruler Britain to agree on how implement security arrangements in a reunified island.

A 1974 Turkish invasion triggered by a coup aiming at union with Greece divided Cyprus into an internationally recognized, Greek-speaking south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and maintains more than 35,000 troops in the north.

The U.N. statement said Anastasiades and Akinci have decided to return to Cyprus "and reflect on the way forward." U.N. envoy Espen Barth Eide will brief U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the result.

Christodoulides said the main area of disagreement was on the amount of territory that would make up the federal zones each side would run.ia Greek Cypriots sought the return of enough territory that would enable as many as 100,000 displaced people to return to the homes and property they lost during the war. That would serve to build support for an accord that would be put to a vote and help reduce the costs involved with compensating those unable to return.

Turkish Cypriots sought to avoid displacing most of the people who have been living in Greek Cypriot-owned homes and property for decades. Akinci's spokesman Baris Burcu accused the Greek Cypriot side of being inflexible in negotiations and of keeping a "maximalist" approach, even as Turkish Cypriots agreed to cede about 7 percent of the territory now under their control.

Christodoulides dismissed Burcu's accusation as "not corresponding with reality." "Now is not the time to apportion blame," he said. Neither Christodoulides nor Burcu would say what the next step was, saying they would reevaluate where things stand on their return to Cyprus.

Numerous rounds of talks over four decades have ended in failure. Officials repeatedly said this latest round has marked significant progress especially on how power will be shared between the majority Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots.

A reunified Cyprus would usher in a significant degree of stability in a tumultuous region and unlock cooperation on newly-found undersea gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean among rival neighbors.

But important obstacles remain, including Turkish military intervention rights that Turkish Cypriots insist are vital to their security and that Greek Cypriots reject as a threat. Monday's impasse dashed the hopes of hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who gathered inside the U.N. controlled buffer zone dividing the capital, Nicosia, to demonstrate for peace.

Waving peace flags and dancing to Cypriot folk music, the event aimed underscore the determination of Cypriots from both sides for reunification. "Fear is holding us back," said Greek Cypriot Rania Georgiou. "Our future must be a shared one."