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Glance around Switzerland: anti-refugee comments, fake meat, sports deaths and major SBB repairs

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Glance around Switzerland: anti-refugee comments, fake meat, sports deaths and major SBB repairs
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Our round up of stories you might have missed this week include calls for a municipal secretary to be dismissed after social media comments, major SBB repairs, fake meat, sports deaths and more.

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As usual, we have tried to give you an overview of the story and a link so you can follow up on it if you want. 

Calls for dismissal after social media comments

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A municipal secretary in Boswil has been criticised for social media comments regarding refugees and immigrants. Thousands have signed a petition calling for Daniel Wicki to be dismissed in the wake of him suggesting the alleged rapist of a woman in Germany, an asylum seeker, should be given the death penalty.

Wicki has since deleted the Facebook post where he said the perpetrators should be lined up against a wall and shot with a 9mm ‘vaccination’ but it is not the first time that his social media comments have been criticised.

He has said that he sees no issue with his comments; that they are merely his opinion and have no connection to his job where he is said to regularly deal with asylum seekers and refugees.

The Aargauer Zeitung has more on this story.

School terror stems from fake news

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A police investigation has revealed that a “man in a white mask and hooded sweatshirt”, who created panic within an Uster school community after he was said to be lurking nearby, is not real.

On Tuesday this week, Police increased their presence surrounding the school in a bid to make children and parents feel safe after the school had sent out a letter informing people of the sightings. The incident prompted many parents to bring their children directly to school rather than allowing them to travel by themselves, as they usually would.

But the police investigation has revealed that the man was a mere figment of the children’s imagination.

Tages Anzeiger has more on this story

182 sports death per year

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A report by the Accident Prevention Service has revealed that, on average, 182 people die every year in Switzerland from mountain, winter and water sport accidents. Nearly 400,000 are injured.

The survey, which looked at data from 2000 until 2017, shows that men account for 83% of the deaths. Men are more likely to die in all sports monitored, with the exception of equestrian sports.

Mountaineering and base jumping are two sports where significantly higher number of foreign guests die compared to that of local practitioners.

Blick has more on this story.

Call for Federal Council to back laboratory meat

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A petition to increase the amount of financial resources devoted to the production of laboratory meat in Switzerland has been launched online.

The initiative, launched by Pat Mächler, outlines seven key reasons why laboratory meat should be given more support, including food security and safety, environmental protection and health. It currently has more than 600 backers online.

Politicians have so far reacted sceptically.

Watson has more on this or you can see the petition itself here

SBB revamp to 580 stations

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Nearly 580 train stations in Switzerland will be modernised to be accessible for people with disabilities by 2023 it was announced on Thursday. The repairs are set to cost 3 billion Swiss Francs (2.6 billion Euros).

The changes will be made as part of the process to implement the Disability Equality Act (DEA). There is nearly 2000 train stations in Switzerland but currently only 41% comply with the DEA. The revamping of stations should take this total nearer to 74%. 

The Aargauer Zeitung has more on this story.

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