“The Metaverse represents a powerful testbed for new governance models that are more human-centered, inclusive, responsive, and pluralistic. Open knowledge and accessible education should be top priorities for the next generation of metaverses. It is imperative to make structures and incentives underlying our digital ecosystem evolve alongside its technological foundations”, said Anastasia Kalinina, Co-Founder and CEO of Re-State Foundation.
Joel Dietz, Founder and CEO of Metametaverse said, “Facilitating learning and collaboration is one of the key reasons we built the Metametaverse. It provides a seamless way of connecting different metaverse spaces.”
Re-State Foundation will also collaborate with the Minister of Cultural Affairs of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
"It could have a major impact on people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. This misinformation is also putting at risk Red Cross staff and volunteers on the ground and could jeopardize our access to people in need of urgent aid."
Reuters: Eyeing Ukraine, neutral Switzerland mulls defence boost
Migration Questions and Swiss Answers on the war in Ukraine
"The long friendship between Russia and the WEF" — Geneva Observer
"Inaction would threaten ecosystems and jeopardize the country's agriculture sector and electricity production.
Full Report in The Guardian UK
This can bring significant environmental and cost benefits to railway companies and mobile-phone operators, since they'll no longer have to install signal boosters to provide wireless connectivity for passengers.
He received the award for his work in creating the Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx), a platform that links innovators, governments and investors and finds solutions to global health-care problems, from COVID-19 diagnosis to the cost of medicines.
An office equipped with an automated system consumed 9.6% less electricity than the regular office, alongside no reduction in the participants' visual comfort. When working in the office with the automated system, participants accumulated 50 minutes of daylight exposure earlier in the morning than when they worked in the standard office. Their melatonin concentration consequently peaked around 25 minutes earlier in the evening, better preparing their bodies for sleep. The difference in body temperature between their torso and limbs (the distal-proximal skin-temperature gradient) began to fall 19 minutes earlier in the morning, to prepare the body to wake up, and started to rise 20 minutes earlier in the evening, to prepare the body for sleep.
"Our reporters uncovered COVID corruption, a sex abuse scandal that rocked the WHO, infighting over how to green aid operations, and more…"
EPFL’s newest postdoc fellowship program — EPFLeaders4impact — will fund innovative research projects that address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Funded in part by the EU, the program is designed to encourage joint R&D among EPFL laboratories, businesses and non-profit organizations.
After seven months of experiment using one hectare of land in Chernobyl, radioactive pollution of the soil fell by an average of 37 percent, that of the air by 46 percent. The Swiss are confident that thanks to their revolutionary technology, a complete decontamination of the Chernobyl site will be possible within the next four years.
Blatter also faces a separate criminal proceeding related to authorizing a $1 million FIFA payment to Trinidad and Tobago in 2010 into the control of then-FIFA vice president Jack Warner. Two former FIFA officials are also suspects in that investigation.
The appeal limits its obligation to monitor traffic and retain data for surveillance purposes. In Septemebr ProtonMail found itself in the centre of a social media storm after it emerged that the company shared the IP address of one of its users as part of a French investigation that led to the arrest of climate activists. However, the company said that it had to comply with a Swiss court order to provide data that helped identify the activists.
In September, Geneva's Graduate Institute introduced for the first time a track in sustainable finance and development within its international economics master's programme. The university also plans to launch a complete master in sustainable finance and economics next year. This autumn, Geneva University's School for Economics and Management (GSEM) relaunched its master of science programme as a master in responsible management with the option to specialise in business and human rights.
The University of Geneva (UNIGE) is launching two new professorships next year in the up-and-coming field of computational diplomacy. The university's Global Studies Institute (GSI) is joining forces with the Faculty of Science to fill the two new roles, whose tasks will include developing computer programmes and an open-source database to support diplomats in making complex decisions. The professors will work closely with another new hire at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH-Zurich) to foster computational diplomacy in Switzerland.
Swiss productions and co-productions are on the rise, driven in part by federal and regional funders that offer attractive opportunities for domestic and international filmmakers.
"Only about half of all taxpayers are liable for wealth tax (as pensions savings are excluded). Allowing for that, and the fact that cantons offer a CHF100,000–200,000 floor before wealth taxes bite, about 90 percent paid less than CHF 1,000 a year, based on 2017 figures. Some two thirds paid less than CHF 100 annually."
South Korea climbed from 10th in 2020 to 5th in 2021. China at 12 is up from 14 in 2020 and 2019 and 17 in 2018. China was also named the most innovative upper middle-income country ahead of Bulgaria (overall rank 35), while Vietnam (overall rank 44) came first for lower middle-income countries, followed by India (overall rank 46).
"The annual meeting netted the Swiss economy around CHF80 million ($87 million) in 2020, with businesses and hotels taking in some CHF63 million in revenues."
Upper Valais is nearly twice has affected as lower Valais: 276 per 100K inhabitants, vs 152. Double-shot infections: 2.5 per 1K.
Male raised in Fribourg prison.
"UBS and CS [...] invested more than 80 billion in fossil fuels between 2016 and 2019. And thus financed 20 times the greenhouse gas emissions that Switzerland causes."
"Many UN organizations and programmes with headquarters in Geneva such as UNAIDS, Unitaid, UNICEF and UNCTAD have confirmed they will be impacted by the cuts, which would imperil projects fighting disease and supporting women and children in crisis around the world. International NGOs with advocacy offices in Geneva, such as Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee, are also facing drastic funding shortfalls for their operations in countries like Syria and Yemen, where the combination of conflict, rising poverty and famine are pushing millions into emergency."
"According to a recent survey by the canton's International Geneva Welcome Center (CAGI in French), 31 per cent of the 108 NGOs surveyed state they have been hit severely by Covid-19, and 17 per cent even cut jobs. The impact on revenues was better than many surveyed last year had feared, with only 37 per cent of NGOs reporting a decrease compared with the 57 per cent who envisioned budget restrictions in the previous survey."
"No mitigating circumstances were taken into account in the sentencing. A deportation from Switzerland was also ordered for a period of 15 years," the said. Kosiah was also ordered to pay compensation to seven plaintiffs. Human Rights Watch called the sentencing a "landmark".
Jungle Jabbah, Alieu Kosiah and the fight against war crimes impunity (LINK)
This is the second time since 2017 that Switzerland has taken 1st place. "Social cohesion, a low level of public debt and a world-class infrastructure have catapulted Switzerland to 1st place."
"Sweden's Umea and Tampere in Finland have the cleanest air in Europe, according to the EU Environment Agency (EEA). Zurich ranks 54th out of 323 in terms of fine dust pollution, Basel 95th.Lugano only made it into the midfield (161st place). [...] The bottom of the ranking[s] are in Poland and northern Italy." (No figures given for Geneva)
"It will now hardly be possible to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as planned."
"60.7% of the voters or just under 1,967,000 said no to the drinking water initiative, around 1,276,400 agreed. The pesticide initiative was rejected by 60.6% or around 1,965,000 voters, while 1,279,900 voted yes. The voter turnout was around 59%. Almost all cantons rejected the initiatives, most clearly Valais with 78% no to the drinking water initiative and 77% to the pesticide initiative."
According to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), 75 per cent of the age group from 70 to 79 years and 76 per cent of those over 80 are considered fully vaccinated. Overall, a quarter of the population has [received] both doses. [...] Since 27 January, with 719 deaths, in 702 of these cases (97.6 percent), the persons were not or only partially vaccinated.
Throughout the summer, architectural works by first-year students at EPFL's ALICE studio will be on display at four sites in Geneva Canton: Genthod, Aigues-Vertes, Vernier and Onex. Visitors will be able to view the students' work through a series of events, all in compliance with public health and safety measures. Available on YouTube
"Despite being home to the United Nations second headquarters, the public often overlooks the importance of Geneva. The Concise Atlas of International Geneva 2019/2020 argues that this is unfounded, since the work of the over 45 international organisations as well as over 750 non-governmental organisations located here gives shape to a multilateral diplomacy such that scarcely exists anywhere else across the world. On the basis of key policy areas in Geneva such as global health, humanitarian aid, global trade, digitalisation, human rights or flight and migration, the atlas highlights the central importance of international Geneva for global developments and multilateralism."
The Committee urged the State party to conduct thorough and impartial investigations to determine whether children adopted from Sri Lanka during the 1980s and 1990s may have been victims of enforced disappearance and wrongful removal, and whether other offences, such as falsification, concealment or destruction of identity documents were committed in these cases.
It also recommended that the Swiss authorities guarantee the right to reparation to any person who has suffered from such acts.
The definition of enforced disappearance contained in Switzerland's existing Criminal Code lacks clarity, and the Committee therefore recommended that the State party review it to remove any ambiguity.
Further, the Committee expressed concern at allegations that there are regular delays in the provision of information to relatives and legal counsel of detainees during criminal investigation, as allowed by the Code of Criminal Procedure. It called on the State party to amend its national legislation to ensure its full compliance with the Convention.
"The world's largest food and beverage company is accused of taking millions more gallons than it is entitled to."
The discovery redefines the city of Lucerne's history and suggests that the area was settled 2,000 years earlier than previously assumed.
Includes editor from University of Zurich.
— epfl —
23 April
2021Automatic algorithmic processes blur identifiable information concerning persons and vehicles, meeting Swiss privacy standards.
— lenews —
22 April 2021 — lenews —
22
April
2021Switzerland's re-opening: Everyone for themselves (LINK)
— transnational_red_sea_center —
22 April
2021Transnational Red Sea project that could help save Earth's coral reefs (LINK)
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24 February 2021"Bertrand Kiefer, a doctor, ethicist and editor of the Swiss Medical Review, criticised some of the early communication regarding the pandemic in Switzerland. He thinks it was a mistake to reassure the public in the face of such high uncertainty."
— swissinfo —
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