Despite China’s warnings, Swiss politicians travel to Taiwan

According to emergency doctors, the health system is on the verge of collapse

There are not as many vacancies in any industry as in healthcare. The latest figures show that there are currently no fewer than 14,779 vacancies in the healthcare sector. 3904 doctors are also wanted. A high, as the “SonntagsZeitung” writes. The consequences are currently being felt, especially in the emergency department. Emergency room chief Vincent Ribordy warns, “We are about to collapse.” The first aid stations have already had to pull the pull cord. For example, the emergency room of the hospital Martigny US will remain closed for the night. According to Ribordy, the system is not right. It needs a rethink. “People need to realize that they don’t have to come to us for every little thing, but that in many cases pharmacies, general practitioners and fixed practices can help.” More staff is also needed.

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Councils of States want to enable the delivery of war material

Research by “NZZ am Sonntag” should show that security politicians in the Council of States are working on a compromise that will allow the future transfer of weapons and ammunition within a narrow area. If the councils agree, this solution could also be applied to the transfer of war material from European states to Ukraine in the future. The breakthrough could come as early as February in the Security Policy Committee of the Council of States.

Under criticism from China: Swiss parliamentarians travel to Taiwan

Five parliamentarians from the Switzerland-Taiwan group will travel to Taiwan from 5 to 10 February. This is confirmed by the group’s co-chairman and SP national councilor Fabian Molina to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. The second co-chair Nicolas Walder (Greens) and the national councilors Mustafa Atici (SP), Léonore Porchet (Greens) and Yves Nidegger (SVP) travel with him. The third co-chair, SVP boss Marco Chiesa, will not join the trip. The Swiss delegation will meet with Taiwanese parliamentarians and representatives of the ministries in Taipei. The visit is politically controversial. China considers Taiwan part of the People’s Republic and firmly rejects official visits by foreign delegations. In a two-sided “position”, the Chinese embassy in Bern criticizes the trip to the “NZZ am Sonntag” and warns Swiss parliamentarians: they hope that they “abstain from any form of official contact with the Taiwanese authorities” and “there are no wrong signals to the separatists”.

Expert questions the development to 10 million Switzerland

Switzerland has been growing rapidly for years and immigration is likely to be the big topic of the 2023 election year. However, Hendrik Budliger, founder and director of the Competence Center for Demographics in Basel, sees Switzerland facing a completely different problem: “Even if you don’t know it yet see: we are at a turning point,” he told the “SonntagsZeitung”. The number of people of working age will fall rapidly in the coming years – with serious consequences for society, the economy and the social system. Immigration will no longer be able to fill the gaps created by the low birth rate. “There is a lot of talk today about the 10 million Switzerland, but I doubt we will ever reach it,” he said.

Too many pigs in Switzerland: the animals are suffering

There are too many pigs in Switzerland. Animal welfare suffers as a result. Because the animals stay on the farms longer than planned, they grow considerably larger. This makes it even tighter in the shed. Fattening pigs would be legally entitled to considerably more space from a weight of 110 kilograms. The Swiss Animal Protection (STS) assumes that many companies cannot meet this requirement. “There are so many animals out there that it hardly seems mathematically possible to comply with the animal protection law everywhere,” says Cesare Sciarra of the Swiss Animal Protection to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. Meinrad Pfister of the Suisseporcs Association says overcrowding only occurred in isolated cases. The industry is doing everything it can to comply with the Animal Welfare Act.

The situation in the Swiss women’s shelters is tense

The situation in the Swiss women’s shelters is very tense. That’s what Marlies Haller said to “SonntagsBlick”. She is director of the foundation against violence against women and children and a board member of the umbrella organization of women’s shelters in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (DAO). “The specialist advisers are taking longer and longer to find a place for those affected. In the canton of Bern, women and children even have to be temporarily accommodated in a hotel. And the number of calls to the AppElle hotline is increasing,” says Haller. One reason for this could be the current situation in society as a whole with inflation, says Anna Tanner, counselor at the women’s shelter in Bern. “Stressful situations often lead to more pressure and violence at home.”

Experiment: Chat GPT seems sexist…

Zurich-based digital and ethics expert Lukas Stuber presented the text robot Chat GPT with various scenarios of the “trolley problem”. The result: the AI ​​model would rather save men’s lives than women’s lives – by far: “In eight of the ten rounds, the bot decided more in favor of the men on average,” Stuber said in the “SonntagsBlick”. GPT also leaves physically fit people alive more often than overweight people. To verify the experiment on a large scale, further series of tests would be needed. However, tests by US researchers also showed a gender bias of the AI.

… and he helps with cheating

The new text generator Chat GPT-3 can do homework, write presentations and seminars. This is “a new form of ghostwriting,” said ETH Zurich spokesman Markus Gross in the “SonntagsZeitung”. “You don’t see that with conventional tools.” Strategies to counter this are currently being investigated at the University of Bern, a spokeswoman said. Gabriele Siegert, Vice Rector of the University of Zurich, responsible for education, speaks of a problematic “democratization of ghostwriting”. Oral and active participation should now be included more in the evaluation. Schools also need to rethink their teaching. “It will be inevitable that students will have their homework written by such machines,” says Beat Schwendimann, head of education at the LCH teachers’ association. “The question arises whether homework is still useful.”

Switzerland installed solar energy worth one nuclear power plant in 2022

Switzerland installed an extra gigawatt of solar energy in 2022. This corresponds to the performance of the Gösgen nuclear power plant, as “SonntagsBlick” writes. Compared to the previous year, the increase in solar energy production is 25 percent, according to data from the Swiss Energy Charts website. The local solar systems now supply 6.3 percent of the electricity requirement – 3.7 terawatt hours per year. “An annual increase of two gigawatts will soon become realistic,” says energy expert Thomas Nordmann, publisher and operator of Swiss Energy Charts. This would allow half of the required energy to be produced in Switzerland, says Noah Heynen, CEO of solar energy company Helion.

Rush to PH Zurich: Now it’s expanding

The University of Education (PH) Zurich expects the number of students to increase by 30 percent over the next ten years. That’s why it needs to expand. “In the coming years, we will realize a second location for the University of Education in the city of Zurich,” announced director of education Silvia Steiner in the “NZZ am Sonntag”. The search for a location is well advanced. The situation in almost all of Switzerland is the same as in Zurich. According to forecasts published this week by the Federal Statistical Office (BfS), the number of students at the Swiss PH will increase by about 26 percent by 2031. Zurich believes that the wave of retirements among teachers of the baby boom generation has been overcome.

Climate organisation: SNB exacerbates the climate crisis

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) continues to heat up the climate crisis. At least that is what the Climate Alliance, an alliance of more than 140 civil society organizations, claims. For the first time, Climate Alliance has made estimates for all of SNB’s investments. The climate alliance publishes the results of their research on the website meine-snb.ch. The SNB invests in companies that are among the largest CO2 emitters in the world. “As a result, she’s acting like a climate denier,” Stephanie Wyss, a member of the Climate Alliance office, told “SonntagsBlick.” The SNB holds shares in Shell or Repsol, among others. From the point of view of the Climate Alliance, the SNB is violating its own investment guidelines by investing in such companies. At the request of “SonntagsBlick”, the SNB stated that it does not violate its investment guidelines.

Former judge accuses Swiss trustee of complicity in money laundering

Former French investigating judge Renaud van Ruymbeke, now retired, states in his book Offshore that Switzerland still plays a role in money laundering despite the new rules on the exchange of tax information. At the request of “Le Matin Dimanche”, he assured that specialized law firms and Swiss trustees would continue this practice. “I saw that since the late 2000s there has been some kind of relocation: the assets that used to be in banks in Switzerland are still managed from Switzerland, but they are being moved to safer countries like Singapore or Dubai.” Those who organized the fraud are still in Switzerland. (sda)