Switzerland today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Hope you’re the law-abiding type. The Swiss police now have new powers to use DNA traces to create a suspect profile.

Extrapolated physical traits such as the colour of eyes, hair and skin, as well as geographical origin and age will be used to narrow down the list of potential culprits.

You’ve been warned!

Keystone / Eric Risberg

Switzerland adopts DNA phenotyping to nab crime suspects

As of August 1, Swiss law enforcement can create a suspect profile based on DNA traces External linkfound at the scene of a crime. DNA traces left behind at the scene of a crime can be used to deduce, with a certain degree of probability, physical traits such as the colour of eyes, hair and skin, as well as geographical origin and age of suspects.

“Thanks to phenotyping, for example, the police can assume, with a certain degree of probability, that the trace left at the scene of an offence comes from a man of around 45 with brown hair and green eyes from Western Europe,” stated a press release on Wednesday from the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

According to Fedpol, the new tool will enable the police to narrow down the circle of suspects, crosscheck witness statements and reopen cold cases. 

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Coup in Niger: Swiss citizens evacuated

Close to a thousand people, including ten Swiss nationals, have been flown out of NigerExternal link following last week’s coup.

On Wednesday, several aircraft evacuated expatriates from the capital, Niamey, to Paris and Rome. Around ten Swiss nationals were able to leave Niger at their own request. They took advantage of an evacuation flight led by France, according to the foreign ministry.

Bern is continuing to monitor developments in Niger closely and remains in contact both with its partner states and with the 20 or so Swiss nationals still in the country, the ministry said.

Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Mafia in Switzerland are getting too comfortable

The director of the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) has warned of a lack of personnel to fight organised crime effectively. In an interview with the Tamedia group on Thursday, Nicoletta della Valle said Fedpol lacked around 200 investigators. Switzerland had turned from a place of retreat into a theatre of operations for organised crime, she added.

The presence of the mafia in Switzerland is not noticeable as on the surface they appear to be industrious citizens, she explained.

© Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Credit Suisse: wave of layoffs begin

Credit Suisse has made its first wave of job cuts,External link with 200 investment bankers losing their jobs. The exact impact on Swiss jobs is not yet known but the job cuts were made worldwide, in investment banking and in the capital markets unit, the Financial News portal reported on Wednesday.

According to the Financial News portal, the wave of redundancies began on 31 July. Two further waves are scheduled for September and October.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Locarno Film Festival: Berset but no Blanchett

Swiss President Alain Berset used his invitation to the country’s most prestigious film festival to summarise what the government has been doing to promote cultureExternal link. 

“No other cultural sector has seen such developments over the last ten years,” he acknowledged. 

It is precisely the pace of developments in the film sector that kept Australian actress Cate Blanchett from the festival. The actor’s union in Hollywood is on strike over compensation – with uncertainty over the rules on artificial intelligence and revenue from streaming being the key issues of contention.

“As a dedicated member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Actors’ Council, I have made the difficult but necessary decision not to attend at this crucial time,” she told DeadlineExternal link.