All posts tagged: Switzerland

Two Brits confirmed dead after horror plane crash in Swiss Alps | World | News

Two Brits confirmed dead after horror plane crash in Swiss Alps | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

The small plane crashed high in the mountains near the town of Leukerbad in the southern canton of Valais, Switzerland on Tuesday, September 15. All three passengers onboard the plane died, with police working to identify the victims, however two have been confirmed to be British. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has confirmed it is “providing support to the families of two British nationals who died in Switzerland”. The body added: “Our thoughts remain with the families during this difficult time.” The Cirrus SR22T aircraft took off from Sion Airport in the Rhône Valley and collided with a mountain slope in the area of Fluhalp approximately 10 minutes later for unknown reasons. The plane originally came from Lugano in the southern Italian-speaking canton of Ticino before stopping off in Sion. Residents quickly alerted emergency services of the crash after seeing smoke rise from the aircraft shortly after 4pm. Three helicopters and two rescue specialists were part of a team deployed to the site. The federal Swiss authorities have launched an investigation into the …

Three dead after plane crashes into Swiss Alps mountainside near Leukerbad | World | News

Three dead after plane crashes into Swiss Alps mountainside near Leukerbad | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Three people have been killed in a plane crash near a popular spa and ski resort in Switzerland. The Cirrus SR22T came down shortly after 4pm on Tuesday in the Fluhalp area of Leukerbad, Valais, after travelling from Lugano via Sion, the Valais Cantonal Police said. The single-engine plane was continuing its journey towards Buochs, a scenic village in Switzerland, when it collided with a north-facing slope in the Fluhalp area at around 4pm. Witnesses reported seeing large plumes of smoke in the area. Emergency services raced to the scene and confirmed that the three occupants had died. Three rescue helicopters were deployed to the crash site, while police and fire crews from Luekerbad and Sion Airport also attended. Work is ongoing to formally identify the victims. The Swiss Safety Investigation Authority (SUST) has now launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident. While the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) is conducting a criminal investigation in cooperation with the Valais cantonal police. The bus which overturned between Susch and Zernez …

Switzerland takes a Swiss Army knife to Microsoft 365

Switzerland takes a Swiss Army knife to Microsoft 365

Published by skeptic

assalve/E+/Getty Images ZDNET’s key takeaways Two Swiss government groups are moving from Microsoft 365 to openDesk. The Swiss Federal Chancellery and Swiss Armed Forces are moving at different paces. It’s mostly about protecting Swiss data from American snoopers. Switzerland’s federal government is moving to create an open-source, digitally sovereign workplace for thousands of employees, while the Swiss Armed Forces’ Cyber Command is moving much faster to replace Microsoft 365, especially for sensitive work. They’re joining numerous other European government agencies, such as those in  Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland, that are also cutting out Microsoft 365 and Windows in favor of open-source office suites and Linux.  After a feasibility study, the Swiss Federal Chancellery concluded that an open-source browser-based office suite could handle core administrative functions. So, it has started deploying an independently operated office-and-collaboration platform that will run in parallel with Microsoft 365. By the end of 2027, the government expects the platform to serve about 3,000 of its 47,000 employees involved in critical business processes across federal departments. Also: Digital sovereignty at the …

Okafor says he will not play for Switzerland under Yakin

Okafor says he will not play for Switzerland under Yakin

Published by Sam Flores

(corrects defeat to win in second paragraph) Sept 10 : Switzerland forward Noah Okafor will no longer play for the national team under Murat Yakin until further notice, citing a breakdown in trust with the manager, he said on Thursday. The Leeds United player featured for just 19 minutes as a substitute in Switzerland’s last-32 win over Algeria at the World Cup, taking his tally to 26 international appearances. However, the 26-year-old said his limited minutes did not influence his decision, which he stressed stemmed from the way he had been treated. “My decision has nothing to do with my playing time. “Things happened that hurt me deeply. Trust was broken. Commitments were not kept. And when I was allowed to play against Algeria, people reacted to minor mistakes far away from our goal in a way that hurt me deeply. “In the weeks that followed, I thought a lot and decided for myself that I no longer want to play for the national team under the current manager,” Okafor said in a statement on …

Explainer-Raids, Shutdowns, Warning Labels – India’s Unprecedented Food Safety Push

Explainer-Raids, Shutdowns, Warning Labels – India’s Unprecedented Food Safety Push

Published by Sam Flores

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (Reuters) – India is witnessing an unprecedented food safety crackdown, with ⁠regulators ⁠forcing many local eateries and branded restaurants to ⁠suspend operations, while a push for front-of-pack warning labels has rattled the country’s more than $100 billion packaged food industry. Here’s an ​explainer on why food safety is suddenly in the spotlight in India. WHY IS FOOD SAFETY A CHALLENGE IN INDIA? Consumers in India, the world’s most populous nation, have long complained about poor ‌hygiene at restaurants and cafes while food adulteration ‌scandals frequently go viral on social media. Street-food stalls, patronised by millions of Indians, are also often criticised for inadequate hygiene. Since 2020, food inspectors have tested more than 100,000 samples annually, ⁠with roughly one in ⁠five found to be unsafe, substandard or lacking proper labels, government data shows. Nearly 8,000 food business ​licences have been cancelled in the last three years. “In a country of 1.4 billion people consuming nearly 1.5 trillion meals every year, ensuring food safety is a monumental task,” the Food Safety and Standards …

States Reach Agreement at Autonomous Weapons Talks in Geneva

States Reach Agreement at Autonomous Weapons Talks in Geneva

Published by Sam Flores

GENEVA, Sept 5 (Reuters) – The 128 states ⁠party ⁠to a framework that ⁠regulates or bans weapons considered as indiscriminate, or ​causing too many injuries, agreed on a document on Saturday that could ‌pave the way to international ‌rules on autonomous weapons. Agreement to the non-binding text marks a ⁠significant ⁠step after more than a decade of talks on how ​to regulate weapons systems that can identify and engage targets with varying degrees of autonomy, sometimes called “killer robots”. However, one rights group said the text ​definition of an autonomous weapon and the measures to reduce ⁠their possible ⁠harmful effects on civilians ⁠appeared ​to have been watered down. “It’s a real shame that all the work ​done by states ⁠on the text over the past three years has been substantially diluted in the last hours,” Nicole van Rooijen, executive director at Stop Killer Robots, told Reuters. The member states of the Convention ⁠on Certain Conventional Weapons had been meeting this week in the Swiss ⁠city of Geneva and reached consensus overnight. The agreement comes as …

Police arrest Swiss man after deadly rave shooting

Police arrest Swiss man after deadly rave shooting

Published by Sam Flores

Swiss police ​said on Monday that they had arrested a ​43-year-old Swiss man in relation to a deadly shooting at a rave in the town of ​Aargau ‌on the weekend. A 22-year-old Italian ⁠woman was killed and five people wounded after the shooting ‌at an event at a covered horse ⁠race track in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police launched a massive operation ​and just before 1am on Monday ‌arrested a 43-year-old Swiss man on suspicion of carrying out the attack, it said. “Investigations into the ‌exact circumstances of the incident, as well as its background ​and possible motive, are currently underway. At this stage, it is assumed that a single perpetrator ​was involved,” police in the canton of ​Aargau said in a statement. ‘A very rare event in Switzerland’ To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this …

Gunman kills one at Swiss rave party

Gunman kills one at Swiss rave party

Published by Sam Flores

A large-scale police operation is underway in Switzerland after a shooting at a rave in the town of Aarau, 46 kilometres west of Zurich, left one person dead and five others injured. Swiss daily Blick reported that some attendees initially mistook the gunshots for fireworks, until someone shouted, “everyone down”. Police are appealing to potential witnesses who may have photos or videos of the incident to come forward and share them with investigators. France 24 correspondent John Zarocostas reports from Zurich. Keywords for this article Source link

1 Dead and 5 Wounded in a Shooting at a Rave in Switzerland

1 Dead and 5 Wounded in a Shooting at a Rave in Switzerland

Published by Sam Flores

GENEVA (AP) — A shooting at a rave in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau left one person dead and five wounded early Sunday, local police and media reported. Police said they are still looking for a suspect. “The search for the unknown perpetrator is ongoing,” police wrote on X. “Possible motives and the exact circumstances of the crime remain unclear.” Cantonal police wrote on X that a 22-year-old woman died of injuries at the scene. Four men and one woman, between 24 and 27 years old, were taken to the hospital with injuries ranging from minor to severe. All of the victims are residents of Switzerland, police said. They did not release their names in line with Swiss privacy rules. Public shootings are rare in the Alpine country despite relatively widespread gun ownership. Authorities were alerted around 2:30 a.m. to the shooting in the canton’s capital Aarau, 46 kilometers (29 miles) west of Zurich, Police spokesperson Pascal Wenzel told Swiss public broadcaster SRF. At the time of the incident, the “Aarau Rave VOL. 7” …

UN Refugee Agency Scales Back Posts and Budget for 2027, Documents Show

UN Refugee Agency Scales Back Posts and Budget for 2027, Documents Show

Published by Sam Flores

GENEVA, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency has scaled back its budget by 16% ⁠and ⁠lowered its official headcount by around 3,500 as it ⁠adapts to new financial constraints at a time when global displacement is forecast to climb to an all-time high next year, according ​to diplomats and documents seen by Reuters. The total cuts, on paper, would amount to a near halving of the workforce and a drop in the budget of a third since 2025, laying bare ‌the cumulative impact of cuts due to reductions in foreign ‌aid budgets by the Trump administration and others.  In 2025, UNHCR had 16,126 budgeted posts versus 12,051 this year and 8,540 in 2027, the budget documents showed, excluding temporary roles and contractors.  UNHCR officials presented ⁠the latest cuts to ⁠member states at a U.N. meeting in Geneva on Thursday, according to three diplomats who attended. However, a U.N. ​refugee agency spokesperson said that, in reality, such large cuts would not be implemented since many posts were never filled in previous budgets, which reflected needs and …