Free Republic

An international court in France on Tuesday ruled Switzerland’s failure to adequately tackle the climate crisis was in violation of human rights, in a landmark climate judgment that could have a ripple effect across the globe. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France delivered its ruling in a case brought by more than 2,000 Swiss women, the majority of whom are in their 70s, against Switzerland’s government. They argued that climate change-fueled heat waves undermined their health and quality of life, and put them at risk of dying. The court ruled that the Swiss government had violated...

STRASBOURG, France, April 9 (Reuters) - Europe's top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change. The European Court of Human Rights's (ECtHR) decision on the case brought by more than 2,000 elderly Swiss women set a precedent that will resonate across Europe and beyond for how courts deal with a growing trend of climate litigation. The Swiss women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen, argued their government's climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. In her ruling, Court President Siofra...

A group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming. Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg joined activists celebrating at the court in Strasbourg on Tuesday. "We still can't really believe it. We keep asking our lawyers, 'is...

A Somalian refugee has been charged with murder for allegedly killing his seven-months-pregnant Swedish girlfriend rather than face the shame of introducing her to his strict Muslim family. Mohamedamin Abdirisek Ibrahim, 22, is charged in the alleged honor killing of 20-year-old Saga Forsgren Elneborg inside her home in Örebro, a city two hours from the capital, Stockholm, in April 2023, UK news outlet LBC reported, citing Swedish media. He killed his girlfriend “by suffocating and strangling her by means of pressure on her neck with an impact on the trachea and the blood supply to the head,” prosecutor Elizabeth Anderson...

Rahn+Bodmer Enters into Deferred Prosecution Agreement for Criminal Misconduct; Agrees to Pay $22 MillionAudrey Strauss, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Stuart M. Goldberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Tax Division, and James C. Lee, Chief of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced the filing of a criminal Information against RAHN+BODMER CO. (“R+B”), a financial institution located in Zurich, Switzerland. The Information charges R+B with one count of conspiring to help U.S. accountholders evade their U.S. tax obligations, file false federal tax returns, and otherwise defraud the Internal Revenue Service...

An Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed multiple times in Zurich on Saturday evening by a knifeman who reportedly shouted out “death to all Jews” and “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. A 50-year-old man of Orthodox Jewish faith was left with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed multiple times in Switzerland’s largest city at the Brandschenkestrasse/Selnaustrasse junction in Zurich District 2. According to the German-language Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a 15-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene of the attack. Police are currently investigating the potential motive for the attack, including the possibility that it was inspired by antisemitism.

Pascal, the programming language he created in the early days of personal computing, offered a simpler alternative to other languages in use at the time.Dr. Wirth died of heart failure on Jan. 1, 2024 at his home in Zurich, his daughter Tina Wirth said. He was 89. He wasn’t nearly as well known as programmers such as Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. But to legions of computer scientists Dr. Wirth was one of the most influential and inspiring scientists of the early computer age. The Association for Computing...

The Berger Action Fund, one arm of liberal Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss’ philanthropic empire, gave tens of millions to one of America’s most prolific Democrat-aligned dark money groups. The Berger Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, gave $35 million to the liberal dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2022, tax documents show. Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2022 poured tens of millions into Democrat-aligned PACs, groups supporting left-wing ballot measures and voter mobilization operations designed to increase turnout among Democrat-friendly demographics, according to tax forms. Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who made his fortune selling medical devices, had not disclosed publicly...

A green nonprofit that is indirectly funded by a foreign billionaire is pressuring broadcasters to drop advertisements that criticize the Biden administration’s massive electric vehicle (EV) agenda. Climate Power wrote to numerous broadcasters this week demanding that they stop airing American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)-funded advertisements in swing state markets that rail against President Joe Biden’s plans to impose widespread EV adoption in the coming years. The charitable organization affiliated with Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss health care mogul and billionaire philanthropist, donates millions of dollars to the Fund for a Better Future, which was the fiscal sponsor for Climate...

Swiss police have opened an investigation into a ski hire shop's announcement it would no longer rent skis and sledges to Jewish customers. The shop, in the famous resort of Davos, has now reversed its decision. It has taken down the signs, translated into Hebrew, which informed customers of the ban. But many have argued the case is a clear violation of Switzerland's laws against discrimination and incitement to racial or religious hatred. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities has launched its own legal action, condemning the signs as clearly discriminatory. Posters in the sports shop window informed customers that,...

An Iranian asylum seeker was shot dead by police as he charged at an officer while wielding an axe, the culmination of a four-hour hostage-taking aboard a Swiss regional train service. Nearly 100 members of the emergency services responded to a hostage-taking aboard a local train service stopped Essert-sous-Champvent train station after passengers managed to contact police to alert them of the situation. A “screaming” 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker armed with an axe and a knife had tied up at least some of the 14 passengers and the driver of the Sainte-Croix to Yverdon train, leading to a four-hour hostage...

The famous Herculaneum scroll, charred papyrus found buried by the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD, has been deciphered by artificial intelligence.The feat was achieved by students in the Vesuvius challenge, which used algorithms to scan the artifact that would otherwise had been destroyed if unraveled by human hands.The winning team read more than 2,000 'never-before-seen' texts that discussed sources of pleasure, such as music, the taste of capers and the color purple.The three students, from Egypt, Switzerland and the US, share a $700,000 grand prize for uncovering hundreds of words across more than 15 columns of text, corresponding to around...

Excavations in Kyburg in the canton of Zürich, northeastern Switzerland have discovered a 14th-century fully preserved gauntlet of armor in exceptional condition.Only five 14th-century gauntlets have been discovered in Switzerland thus far, according to the Zurich cantonal infrastructure department on Tuesday. However, their state of preservation is nowhere near that of the glove discovered in Kyburg. All the iron parts of this one have been found, and some of the fingers are even completely free of corrosion and look as good as new.The metal parts of the glove were originally riveted to a leather glove. The 25 pieces were also...

The president of the Heritage Foundation confronted hosts at the World Economic Forum Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, challenging claims that the WEF is protecting democracy and calling so-called elites "part of the problem." (snip) The moderator, British international affairs expert Sir Robin Niblett, at one point asked Roberts about former President Trump's promise of "retribution" if he regains office, and that the World Economic Forum's purported defenses of liberal democracy could be "swept under the rug" by the mogul. (snip) "I'll be candid here, because I think I've been invited here to be candid: The kind of person who will...

It's that time of year again: Our betters are in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum annual meeting, devising ways to tell us what to drive, eat, and cook with. All manner of bigwigs are in attendance, including our own Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Unfortunately, Blinken's plans to return to the U.S. hit some turbulence: It seems the Boeing 737 he was set to take back to the homeland has sprung a leak. I'm not sure exactly what that's a metaphor for, but surely, it's something. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was unable to fly home from...

Argentine President Javier Milei delivered an address fiercely condemning socialism at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, rejecting the “radical feminist” and “environmental” agendas fueled by socialism as well. Milei urged world leaders to embrace capitalism as an alternative. Milei, a libertarian economist, explained in a roughly 20-minute speech how socialism ultimately leads to poverty, how the state “is not the solution,” but rather “the problem itself,” and how leftism has co-opted Western government institutions to further its agendas. Wednesday’s speech was Milei’s first international address since taking office in December. “I am here today to tell...

Forget the fondue. Caviar, magic mushrooms, gold-leaf desserts, A-list selfies, $2,500-per-night hookers and secret dinners are likely to be on the menu as scores of private jets touch down in Switzerland as soon as Sunday to bring the world’s elite to the small Alpine resort town of Davos for what’s officially known as The World Economic Forum 2024.

Once a year, global elites from all sectors attend a five-day conference in the snow-capped town of Davos, Switzerland - which is supplemented by caviar, champagne, and all types of debauchery after hard work is over. The World Economic Forum 2024 is kicking off this week, with world leaders and business executives convening for discussions and events surrounding the most prominent issues of the day. The theme this year is 'Rebuilding Trust' - and will be attended by 3,000 guests. But when they descend on the small Alpine resort town of Davos, attendees do more than just discuss global conflicts,...

The nabobs and panjandrums of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet up at Davos, Switzerland, the next several days to lay plans for their latest assault on humanity. This year’s theme is “Rebuilding Trust.” Did you just blow your coffee through your nose? The outfit that coordinated the world-wide Covid-19 response (that perhaps birthed the very concept of Covid-19 itself), and especially pushed mRNA vaccines on the credulous global public — this gang of super-wealthy, super-connected, super-important celebrity punks, poohbahs, pricks, and predators wants a cuddle. This Davos crowd — moiling around the opening soirée amid drool-worthy trays of crab...

Did Chinese agents run a hotel at Meiringen military air base for years with the aim of finding out the secrets of the US F-35 fighter jet? There is no direct proof of this. But the evidence was apparently enough for the Bern cantonal police to evacuate the hotel in a discreet operation in late summer. Because of suspicions of Chinese espionage, authorities have also become active elsewhere in recent years. For example, on the campus of the University and ETH Lausanne, where a group of Chinese installed themselves in the publicly accessible library of the Swiss Institute for Comparative...