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Tag: Switzerland

  • AWS Opening Cloud Computing Region in Switzerland

    AWS Opening Cloud Computing Region in Switzerland

    AWS has announced it is opening a cloud computing region in Switzerland, expanding its already large footprint on the continent.

    As the leader in the cloud computing market, one of AWS’ biggest advantages is its worldwide reach. The company currently “spans 77 Availability Zones within 24 geographic regions around the world and has announced plans for twelve more Availability Zones and four more AWS Regions.” The existing regions include France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK, with Spain coming online in late 2022 or early 2023.

    The company plans to bring the Switzerland region online in the second half of 2022.

    “The upcoming AWS Europe (Zurich) Region will give our customers the choice and flexibility for where to store and process their data,” writes Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. “As always, our customers retain ownership of their data and control over its movement, so even the most security- and compliance-sensitive companies interested in keeping their data in Switzerland will now be able to innovate faster utilizing the AWS Cloud.”

    The news is good news for AWS’ Swiss customers and helps the company continue its strong international support.

  • Google Employee Diagnosed With Coronavirus

    Google Employee Diagnosed With Coronavirus

    Despite limiting travel, an employee at Google’s Switzerland offices has been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

    According to a report by Business Insider (BI), Google informed employees via email that an employee in the Zurich offices had tested positive for the virus. However, the employee was not symptomatic while they were in the office.

    In a statement provided to BI, Google said: “We can confirm that one employee from our Zurich office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They were in the Zurich office for a limited time, before they had any symptoms. We have taken — and will continue to take — all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”

    This is just the latest example of how the virus continues to impact industries, with experts warning of a possible pandemic. Japan recently began urging companies to allow their employees to telecommute and Amazon has begun relying on video interviews for some open positions.

  • Fears Over 5G Radiation Prompt Nationwide Backlash in Switzerland

    Fears Over 5G Radiation Prompt Nationwide Backlash in Switzerland

    Despite being one of the first countries to roll out 5G, AFP is reporting that Switzerland is experiencing significant backlash to the new technology.

    5G, or fifth-generation wireless, is the next evolution of wireless technology, promising faster speeds, more connected devices and lower latency. Standards bodies are aiming for an average of 20Gbps, rather than Mbps, and 1ms latency instead of 50ms and higher.

    This improved speed, however, comes with a significant downside. Mobile operators use relatively low-frequency radio waves, below 6 GHz, for current cell phones. These radio waves measure tens of centimeters in length. Unfortunately, these are the same frequency mobile operators have been using for decades. As the demand for data and high-speed access has increased, not to mention the sheer number of mobile users, the amount of available bandwidth has come under strain, resulting in poor performance.

    5G, on the other hand, uses millimeter waves. These radio frequencies are much higher, between 30 and 300 GHz, and measure 1 to 10 millimeters in length. Because these frequencies have never been used for mobile phones, there is a huge, untapped amount of spectrum available. This will ease network congestion and help deliver performance never before seen.

    Unfortunately, millimeter waves have a big disadvantage when compared with lower frequencies. Specifically, millimeter waves cannot travel through buildings and other obstacles nearly as well, meaning mobile operators must have far more cell towers and sites to achieve the same coverage. One example is small cells, portable cell base stations that are placed roughly 250 meters apart.

    While small cells and similar solutions will overcome the technical issues surrounding 5G rollout, it does raise another concern. There is already worry that constant exposure to cell phone radio waves contributes to cancer. Now, with the limitations of 5G, the amount of exposure is set to increase dramatically as carriers blanket towns and cities with small cells to provide coverage.

    Those concerns have led Swiss citizens, experts and even the Swiss Federation of Doctors to pressure the government to rethink its approach to 5G. As a result of the pressure, a number of cantons—there are 26 Swiss cantons or states comprising Switzerland—have called for a halt of further 5G deployment.

    “I think we have most citizens on our side,” Coco Tache-Berther, of the organisation Fequencia, told AFP, saying Switzerland’s rapid roll-out of 5G was “ultra-shocking”.

    Mobile operators around the world will no doubt be watching to see what precedent is set in Switzerland.

  • Netflix To Launch In Six New Countries

    Netflix announced on Wednesday that it is readying launches in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. We’ve heard about Netflix’s efforts to secure the further expansion of its European operations, and now it’s coming to fruition.

    Netflix is already available in the UK and Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

    The company did not give actual launch dates for any of the new countries, but is letting people sign up for email alerts to let them know when service becomes available. People can simply go to Netflix.com, and sign up.

    “Upon launch, broadband users in these countries can subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of Hollywood, local and global TV series and movies, including critically-acclaimed Netflix original series, whenever and wherever they like on TVs, tablets, phones, game consoles and computers,” the company said.

    Details on pricing, programming, and supported devices will be available at a later date. It remains to be seen if the service will be different than in other regions like the U.S.

    Ahead of the launch in these new countries, Netflix is already claiming 48 million members in over 40 countries. Many of these are in North and Latin America.

    It will be interesting to see if they get the service in the new set of countries ahead of Orange is the New Black’s second season debut on June 6th. Orange CEO Stephane Richard commented a while back that he expected Netflix to launch in France in the fall, but that was well before any announcements were made.

    Image via YouTube

  • Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty to U.S. Tax Evasion

    Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty to U.S. Tax Evasion

    Swiss banking firm Credit Suisse this week pleaded guilty to U.S. tax evasion charges. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Credit Suisse is the largest bank to plead guilty to such charges in over two decades.

    The case surrounds a years-long investigation by the U.S. government into a conspiracy to aid U.S. taxpayers in avoiding taxes. The charges allege that Credit Suisse and its subsidiaries “actively” participated in helping account holders deceive the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the use of undeclared bank accounts. The bank used offshore accounts under false business names to shield its customers’ funds from the U.S.

    The Justice Department‘s investigation revealed that Credit Suisse’s involvement in the conspiracy spanned decades and involved hundreds of the bank’s employees. At least one Credit Suisse subsidiary is alleged to have been helping Americans evade tax payments for over 100 years. Attorney General Eric Holder stated that Credit Suisse destroyed bank records, concealed bank transactions, flouted banking disclosure requirements, and destroyed documents sought by the Justice Department as part of its investigation.

    Credit Suisse will pay more than $2.6 billion to U.S agencies as part of the plea agreement. $1.3 billion will be paid to the U.S. as a fine, $670 million will be paid as restitution to the IRS, $100 million will be paid to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and $715 million will be paid to the New York State Department of Financial Services.

    The Justice Department characterized the guilty plea as an example that the department is not influenced by big business.

    “This case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law,” said Holder. “When the Department of Justice conducts investigations, we will always follow the law and the facts wherever they lead. We will never hesitate to criminally sanction any company or individual that breaks the law. A company’s profitability or market share can never and will never be used as a shield from prosecution or penalty. And this action should put that misguided notion definitively to rest.”

    Image via Facebook

  • Gripen Fighter Jets Deal Nixed by Swiss Voters

    Saab Group was dealt a major blow this week as Swiss voters halted a plan to order the company’s Gripen fighter jets. The deal had been worth an estimated $3.5 billion.

    The deal stems from a February 2013 agreement between the Saab, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, and the Swiss Defense Ministry. Under the terms of the deal Saab was to have developed and provided 60 Gripen E fighter jets to Sweden and 22 of the jets to Switzerland. According to Saab, the jets bound for Sweden are still in production and on schedule for delivery in 2018. Saab is also in the process of formalizing a deal to deliver 36 Gripen’s to Brazil.

    A majority of Swiss voters (over 53%) voted against the proposed Gripen deal. According to a Bloomberg report, opposition to the deal hung on estimates that the jets could cost more than $11 billion throughout their period of service. The Swiss Defense Ministry has indicated that it will follow the directive of the vote and cancel the deal.

    “Our focus is helping countries protect their ways of life, which we do by serving the global market with world-leading products, including Gripen,” said Hakan Buskhe, CEO of Saab. “We have seen in Switzerland support for Gripen, including through its evaluation and selection over competitors and in the votations in the Swiss Parliament last year.

    “We respect the process in Switzerland and do not comment on today’s outcome in the referendum. Following selection in 2011, hundreds of business relationships in Switzerland have been created through the Swiss Industrial Participation program, which was created in relation to the Gripen E procurement. These are relationships we look forward to continuing as long as possible,” adds Håkan Buskhe.

    Saab stock fell significantly following the vote, falling as much as 7% according to Bloomberg.

    In addition to the Gripen vote, Swiss voters also rejected a proposed law to set their country’s minimum wage at almost $25. The raise would have given Switzerland the highest minimum wage in the world.

    Image via Saab

  • Switzerland $25 Minimum Wage Voted Against

    Switzerland voted Sunday to reject a measure called the Decent Salary Initiative, that would establish a minimum wage of $4,515 per month in that country, with 76.3% of voters opposed to the idea.

    The proposed monthly minimum wage equates to roughly $25 per hour, which would be the highest in the world. Proponents called the wage hike necessary, while opponents felt that it would seriously damage the Swiss economy.

    Hans-Ulrich Bigler, director of the Swiss trades association, commented that “It is a clear vote by the people, a vote of trust in the economy.” The Decent Salary Initiative would benefit roughly 300,000 Swiss workers, with the vast majority being immigrants working in agriculture, housekeeping and catering jobs.

    Swiss voters turn out:

    At present, 90% of Swiss workers already earn more than the proposed $25 per hour, with the average wage being roughly $37 an hour, though union leaders in the country of 8 million will continue to push for higher wage rates for unskilled laborers, which are still some of the highest paid in the world. Though the average household income in Switzerland is about $6,800 per month (as compared to $4,300 in the United States), that country likewise features some of the highest prices for goods and services worldwide.

    The Swiss Business Federation president Heinz Karrer commented that the landslide result in the poll revealed that “the initiative hurts low-paid workers in particular.” Voters realized that forcing wage hikes could lead to job cuts, and Switzerland’s 3.2% unemployment rate is among the lowest globally.

    Luisa Almeida, an immigrant from Portugal who works in Switzerland as a housekeeper commented, “If my employer had to pay me more money, he wouldn’t be able to keep me on and I’d lose the job.”

    In April a minimum wage referendum was on the table in the United States Senate. Democrats had pushed for a $10.10 hourly minimum, which was promptly shut down by the GOP.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Swiss Banker Found Guilty of IRS Fraud

    Swiss Banker Found Guilty of IRS Fraud

    The Swiss banking system, and Swiss bankers in particular, were portrayed in the 2013 Oscar-nominated Scorsese movie The Wolf of Wall Street as outright corrupt. Though the movie, its events, and its characters are based on real-life events, Jean Dujardin’s Swiss banker in the movie (based on real-life banker Jean-Jacques Handali) matches the long-held Hollywood stereotype of a Swiss banker. Now, however, a more recent court case has shown that the caricature of such bankers portrayed in the movie might not be far from the truth.

    Swiss banker Andreas Bachmann today pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court to defrauding the IRS. As part of his plea deal Bachmann now faces up to five years in prison. His sentencing has been scheduled for August 8, 2014.

    Bachmann worked as a banking and investment advisor for a Credit Suisse subsidiary in Switzerland between 1994 and 2006. During those years he served U.S. clients and advised them on how to evade IRS income taxes by sheltering income in secret Swiss bank accounts. Bachmann has also admitted that the highest ranking executive at his bank subsidiary was well aware of his illegal U.S. investor advice.

    “Today’s plea is just the latest step in our wide-ranging investigations into Swiss banking activities and demonstrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to global enforcement against those that facilitate offshore tax evasion,” said Deputy Attorney General James Cole. “We fully expect additional developments over the course of the coming months.”

    In addition to his illegal advice, Bachmann occasionally traveled to the U.S. where he would fulfill withdrawals or deposits for secret bank accounts. To accomplish this, Bachmann would take ferry cash from some clients and to others across the U.S.

  • eBay Adds More Countries To Global Shipping Program

    eBay announced today that it has added Switzerland and Norway to the list of countries sellers can ship to using the Global Shipping Program, which includes 42 additional countries.

    “As you know, the Global Shipping Program helps you expand your sales to millions of eager international buyers,” the company says. “Through the program (which is free to join), you can sell to buyers in dozens of countries—just mail your packages to a shipping center located in the US. You’re only responsible for the domestic leg of shipping.”

    eBay says, “Once your item arrives at the designated US shipping center, the Global Shipping Program takes care of ALL facets of international processing, including: Completion of customs forms; Remitting applicable import charges pre-paid by your buyer; Shipping the package to the buyer—with end-to-end international tracking.”

    Sellers’ shipping-related Detailed Seller Ratings are protected, eBay says. Sellers aren’t responsible for loss or damage that occurs throughout the international shipping process.

    In addition to Switzerland and Norway, the Global Shipping Program includes the following eligible countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech, Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand and United Kingdom.

    Image via eBay

  • Ethiopian Airlines Co-Pilot Hijacks Flight To Rome

    Early Monday morning, Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300 was bound for Rome when it was hijacked by a co-pilot identified as Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn. The hijacker waited for the pilot to take a toilet break then locked himself inside the cockpit.

    Tagegn steered the plane to Geneva, Switzerland seeking asylum. He then announced via radio that he would land in Geneva for emergency re-fuelling, and set off the alarm for a hijacking alert. In response to the alarm, French military jet and at least two Italian fighter jets escorted the hijacked plane as it flew through Europe. The plane eventually landed at the Geneva International Airport.

    According to the Swiss police, the hijacker parked the plane on the taxiway before opening the cockpit window and descending the tarmac with the use of a rope. He willingly surrendered to the police and identified himself as the hijacker and co-pilot. Reports also indicate that the hijacker was unarmed and all 202 passengers and crew on the plane were safe. Geneva International Airport was shut down during the incident, but was re-opened the same day.

    Many of the plane’s passengers were shaken by the events that transpired. Francesco Cuomo, one of the passengers of the plane said that Tagegn spoke through the speakers and threatened to crash the plane.

    Swiss police’s spokesperson Philippe Grangean said that the Tagegn wanted to seek asylum in Switzerland, as he feels threatened in Ethiopia and feared being persecuted.

    Tagegn can face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of hostage-taking. During a news conference in Ethiopia, Information Minister Redwan Hussein stated that the hijacker had no criminal record whatsoever and had been serving as a co-pilot for Ethiopian Airlines for 5 years. Ethiopia will seek extradition of Tagegn.

    This is not the first time an Ethiopian Airlines flight was hijacked. A flight was also hijacked by 3 Ethiopians in 1996. The hijackers were seeking Asylum in Australia, but the plane ran out of fuel and went down in the Indian Ocean killing 125.

    Image via YouTube

  • Tina Turner: No Stroke, Oprah Winfrey Confirms

    Tina Turner didn’t suffer a stroke recently as many media outlets reported late last week. Oprah Winfrey has even chimed in saying the rumors are false. She and Turner are long time friends and she would certainly know if the singer with the long, gorgeous legs had been that seriously ill. Instead she is happy, fairly healthy–it seems she was ill–and living in Switzerland.

    Oprah turned 60 years old very recently and she is living life to the max as well. She was all too happy to share regarding the rumors of Tina Turner’s stroke that the What’s Love Got to Do With It singer even sent her a red rose to celebrate her big day.

    Absolutely no one is going to refute what Oprah says. If the woman claims there was no stroke–then Tina Turner didn’t have one. Oprah made sure everyone got their facts straight by sending out a tweet to all of her many followers.

    Oprah traveled to Switzerland this past summer to share in her dear friend’s joy as Turner wed her long time boyfriend–at the age of 73. It was there that Oprah experienced that horrid incident of obvious racism where the store clerk assumed because she was black that she couldn’t afford the purse she asked to see.

    Not one to raise a rude ruckus, Winfrey simply left the store without buying the handbag, saying later she didn’t want to see the clerk receive the high commission she would have earned had she bought it.

    “There’s two different ways to handle it,” Oprah later said. “I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing…but [racism] still exists, of course it does.”

    So Oprah didn’t get her fancy bag–turns out it cost $38,000–and Tina Turner didn’t have a stroke. For the moment at least it sounds like all is well with both of these lovely ladies.

    And to celebrate the fact that Turner only had the flu, take a couple of minutes to watch her in action during one of her performances. The woman’s talent is incomparable–and be sure to check out those legs.

    Image via YouTube

  • Tina Turner Did Not Suffer Stroke Says Oprah

    If Oprah says so, we have to believe it.

    Rumors made their way around the internet the past couple days that 74 year old singer Tina Turner suffered a stroke at her home in Zurich, Switzerland, after the gossip website, Hollywood Street King posted the claim.

    The site also stated that Turner was at her home “under nurse’s care.” Also, according to an unnamed source, that since her stroke Turner had been “reminiscing.”

    However, Turner’s pal Oprah Winfrey took to Twitter to squash the rumor. It seemed like the Proud Mary singer had a bad case of the flu and not a stroke.

    Oprah posted the Tweet after a fan asked about whether or not the rumors were true regarding Turner’s stroke.

    Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, has been on the music scene since the 1950s. She worked in a band with ex-husband Ike Turner and then branched out on her own in the 1970s and 80s. A few of her most popular solo hits include Private Dancer and What’s Love Got To Do With It.

    Turner has lived in Switzerland since the mid 1990s. She married her longtime boyfriend Erwin Bach, a record producer, this past July. The singer is a Swiss citizen and even formally relinquished her American Citizenship last November after stating that she had no ties to the United States “except for family, and has no plans to reside in the United States in the future.”

    The rock and roll singer is known for her energetic and lively stage performances. Even into her late 60s, she moved around the stage like a woman half her age. Turner launched a 50th Anniversary Tour in 2008 that lasted six months. She played to sold out arenas throughout Europe and North America.

    Rolling Stone Magazine ranks Turner #63 on their list of 100 greatest artists of all time. The power singer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Stanislas Wawrinka Wins His First Grand Slam

    Swiss tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka nabbed his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Sunday. In an interview with CNN, the 28-year old Wawrinka seemed thrilled and maybe even a little surprised.

    “I never dreamed about that, never expected to be in that situation and that’s just crazy … You don’t really know what’s happening, I started to tell myself ‘You just won a grand slam.’ It’s something amazing for me.”

    Wawrinka wasn’t the only one surprised by his victory.

    When Spain’s Rafael Nadal beat Wawrinka’s compatriot Roger Federer in the semi-finals Friday night, many assumed that Nadal would take the Australian Open title.

    A victory for Nadal would have tied him with tennis legend Pete Sampras at 14 Grand Slam titles. He would have been the first man in the Open era to win each of the Grand Slam titles twice, and only the third in history to do so. (Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver accomplished the feat previously.)

    Sampras himself tipped Nadal to win: “It’s a tough match-up and I’m not sure [Wawrinka] has the firepower from the back of the court. He’s got to deal with Rafa and his nerves, it’s his first major final so he needs to settle down and work his way into the match … I think Rafa’s just playing too well.”

    Wawrinka had lost to Nadal in all 12 of their prior matches – and all 26 sets. But before their Australian Open match-up, Wawrinka pointed to his record with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic: “I’m playing my best tennis here, I’m physically ready. I’m going to try everything. Before I beat Djokovic it was the same — I had lost 14 times to him before that.”

    But another Grand Slam win wasn’t in the cards for Nadal this time around. The Spaniard suffered a back injury on Sunday, and although he played through the pain barrier, he lacked the power to overcome Wawrinka.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_reY1EtQDk#t=21

    The final score: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

    The win puts Wawrinka at number 3 in the world:

    In what the tennis world has quickly come to recognize as his typical humble style, Wawrinka said: “It’s really not the way you want to win a tennis match, but in a Grand Slam final I’ll take it.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Tina Turner Relinquishes Her American Citizenship

    Singing legend Tina Turner has formally relinquished her American Citizenship.

    The singer, who has been living in Switzerland for over twenty years, has declared that she has no ties to the United States “except for family, and has no plans to reside in the United States in the future.” Therefore she is cutting all ties with the U.S.

    The Washington Post reported that the 73-year-old was in the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerlandin on October 24 to sign her Statement of Voluntary Relinquishment of U.S. Citizenship under Section 349 (a)(1) of the INA (the Immigration and Naturalization Act).

    Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, was born in Tennessee, but later moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she met her first husband, Ike Turner. Tina and Ike performed together for years and there names became simultaneous. They recorded “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” and “Proud Mary” together, along with many others. After enduring a 14 year abusive marriage to Ike, she made the tough decision to divorce him in 1976.

    On April 10, Turner took the oath of Swiss nationality. Then in July, she married Erwin Back, her boyfriend of 27 years and a German music producer. The couple has been living together in Zurich, Switzerland since 1995.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Higgs Boson Team Wins Nobel Prize for Physics

    LiveScience and Reuters both report that Peter Higgs of Britain and Francois Englert of Belgium have been awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for physics yesterday. Their prediction of the Higgs boson’s existence helps to explain how the stars and planets formed from elementary matter.

    LiveScience managing editor Jeanna Bryner said that early Nobel forecasts were predicting the win for Higgs and Englert, who were among the original team to propose the theory in 1964. The prize was jointly awarded to both scientists. Higgs’ and Englerts’ predictions were fulfilled in the summer of 2012 when CERN’s super-sized underground particle smasher detected the presence of the theorized particle.

    Higgs, who is known to avoid the spotlight where possible, said in a statement from the University of Edinburgh, “I am overwhelmed to receive this award. I hope this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research.” Englert, meanwhile, told reporters excitedly by phone from Stockholm, “You may imagine that this is not very unpleasant, of course. I am very, very happy to have the recognition of this extraordinary award.”

    The official reason for the award cites “the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider” on the Nobel website.

    The Higgs boson has been popularly called the “God particle” because of its place as a fundamental building block in the universe’s construction, although scientists avoid that title and Higgs himself does not favor it.

    By studying the debris from particle collisions in the L.H.C., Higgs and Englert proved that the particles inside atoms gain mass by interacting with an invisible field that pervades all space; as they interact further, so they gain more mass. That field’s existence is made possible by the Higgs boson.

    Attempting to understand the concept of the Higgs boson particle may seem like a daunting task; thankfully, artist Nigel Holmes with the New York Times created a fascinating series of drawings illustrating the more nuanced aspects of the discovery; they can be viewed here.

    [Image via Nigel Holmes/The New York Times]

  • Switzerland Installs ‘Sex Boxes’ to Regulate Prostitution

    The UK’s Telegraph reports that Zurich officials are trying a new method to manage prostitution and cut out the black market pimps who handle hookers: “sex boxes” that are to be utilized by johns and their dates are being installed, and will open on August 26.

    When the initiative was first announced, spokesman Michael Herzig of Zurich’s social welfare department said that “We want to regulate prostitution because until now it was the law of the jungle.” The project cost a whopping 1.4 million euros, and voters in Zurich approved the plan last year.

    The drive-in structures, which will be built in a former industrial zone on the west side of the city, will be clean and feature posters that encourage men to wear condoms as well as to take precaution against dangerous diseases like HIV. If a prostitute feels endangered, panic buttons exist for just that reason.

    The idea is to have automobile owners (who usually pick up prostitutes on the side of the road for prices set by a pimp) frequent other areas to look for working girls, as many simply work the streets in residential districts or shopping centers. With the introduction of the sex box, Zurich officials are hoping that prostitutes will relocate their business and solicit near the zones. Men who are caught soliciting outside the designated areas will be fined up to 450 francs.

    The law in Switzerland on prostitution is clear: selling sex is legal as long as you pay the nightly tax, but the prices of the trade are not explicitly covered by the law. Black market prostitutes often find themselves underpaid and risking their lives without the protection of the pimp, who determines how much sex with a prostitute will cost and often takes most of the money.

    “It was the pimps who decided the prices,” Herzig said of the problem. “We are trying to reach a situation which is better for the prostitutes themselves, for their health and security and also for people who live in Zurich.”

  • CERN to Open For Tourists in September

    The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced it will be opening its doors to the public this fall. On September 28 to 29, the organization’s installations, including the Large Hadron Collider, will be open for tourists and gawkers alike.

    CERN has stated the days are part of an outreach for the organization to share its discoveries with a wider audience. The theme for the two days is “Our Universe is Yours,” and visitors will be shown the technology that has enabled discoveries such as the confirmation of the Higgs boson. CERN scientists and engineers will be oh-hand to explain their duties and the experiments that are run on the most advanced particle physics research equipment ever built.

    CERN is expecting around 100,000 people to come and tour its facilities during those two days in September. Tickets for underground visits will be parsed out sparingly through an online ticket office, and shuttles will be made available car parks near CERN’s facilities on Franco–Swiss border.

    Just before the public days at CERN, the organization will be holding a European Researchers’ Night event called “Origins 2013.” Researchers at CERN headquarters in Geneva, UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and in Bologna will describe their recent research findings, including several breakthroughs. The event will be streamed live on the Origins 2013 website.

    The Large Hadron Collider recently reached the end of its first three-year running period. It has now been shut down for maintenance and upgrades that will allow it to run at higher energies. The supercollider is scheduled to be reactivated in 2015.

  • Shakira Ex Loses Court Battle For Account Access

    Shakira Ex Loses Court Battle For Account Access

    For over one decade, Colombian pop star Shakira dated Antonio de la Rúa, the son of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa. The couple split in early 2011, but Rúa claims the couple continued to work together on the singer’s career afterward. This week, a judge in Geneva has rejected Rúa’s lawsuit for access to one of Shakira’s bank accounts.

    According to an Associated Press report, Rúa had claimed that he worked as a business adviser with Shakira and that he was involved in creating the singer’s “brand.” Rúa claims he and Shakira had an oral agreement over finances. The judge found that Shakira is the sole owner of the bank account Rúa was seeking access to, since no written agreement exists and there is not enough evidence to establish the claimed professional relationship.

    Shakira is currently dating Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué, a stopper for FC Barcelona. Shakira recently gave birth to the couple’s first child, a boy named Milan Piqué Mebarak. The pop star tweeted a teasing picture of the child back in January.

    (via Associated Press)

  • This Robot Cat Has Dreams Of Becoming A Cheetah

    What’s up with researchers making robots that mimic terrifying animals? MIT has already doomed us all with its cheetah bot, and now researchers in Switzerland want to finish the job with a small robot cat that will worm its way into our hearts before tearing it out.

    École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL for short, is developing what is calls a “cheetah-cub robot.” The team may call it a cheetah-cub, but the robot’s design and movement is actually based on a regular house cat. The cheetah comparison comes in when it runs – it can run seven times its own body length in a second.

    So, what possible use could this catbot have? EPFL explains:

    “It’s still in the experimental stages, but the long-term goal of the cheetah-cub robot is to be able to develop fast, agile, ground-hugging machines for use in exploration, for example for search and rescue in natural disaster situations. Studying and using the principles of the animal kingdom to develop new solutions for use in robots is the essence of our research.”

    There’s no word yet on whether the catbot always lands on its feet when dropped. If it does, we’re probably screwed when the inevitable catbot uprising occurs.

    [h/t: Engadget]

  • Swiss Nurse Posts Corpse Photos on Facebook

    Every week, it seems like somebody is making the news for forgetting that Facebook is a public forum and that people can actually see the things they post. A lot of the time, this lesson is learned in the form of a questionable photo that either gets the poster fired, arrested, or otherwise seriously embarrassed.

    This story takes that formula and adds “totally unnerving” to the mix.

    A Swiss nurse has run afoul of investigators after posting photos on Facebook showing her posing next to dead people – presumably people formerly under her care.

    In captions posted alongside the photos, the nurse refers to herself as the “soul thief”:

    “Guess she is asleep or is she dead? Hint: I’m the soul thief,” read one caption.

    “Yeah, your time is over. Send them to hell, where some of them belong. The rest goes into the hole for compost fertilizer, hehehe,” read another. Both are Google Translated from German, but you get the picture.

    According to reports, the nurse’s Facebook page was also full of “Satanic” imagery – “devilish images” and such.

    Officials in the town of St. Gallen, Switzerland said that they are looking into possible criminal charges. The Swiss nurses federation said that they were “shocked and saddened” by the nurse’s actions.

    Facebookers have been known to post photos of their deceased relatives at funerals and such (RIP GRANNY LOVE YOU #YOLO). But posting photos of dead people in your nursing care, well, that’s a whole other animal. Yikes.

    [20min via France 24 via Jezebel]

  • This Robot Cube Can Walk, Jump And Balance Itself

    This Robot Cube Can Walk, Jump And Balance Itself

    Cubes are relatively stationary objects. You can throw them around, sure, but it’s hard to see them as being autonomous. One robotics lab did just that, however, with its newest invention.

    Robohub reports that the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich have created Cubli, a robotic cube that can walk, jump and balance on its corners. The most amazing part is that the cube is built out of nothing but off-the-shelf motors, batteries and electronic components.

    You can see Cubli below balancing on its corner through the use of spinning flywheels that maintain its balance, even when slightly nudged:

    So, what’s next for the Cubli? The researchers are already working on a version of Cubli that can walk on flat surfaces, or jump. It can already do these things, but it was found that some internal components were damaged when it jumps. These flaws have been mostly fixed, and now the team is working on “controlled maneuvers of jumping up, balancing, and falling over to make the Cubli walk across a surface.”

    [h/t: Gizmodo]