People in Zurich will now be able to have a greater say in how their entries in the police register are written.

Concerns were brought to the attention of city ombudswoman Claudia Kaufmann that some data in the POLIS database was too subjective.

One case referred to a woman taking a driving course who was referred to by an officer as “very strange.”

Authorities then recommended she seek psychiatric treatment.

After dealing with some 76 complaints made against city police, Kaufmann, in collaboration with the police department, has unveiled new regulations that police should be more careful about how they report cases: “On the one hand, entries are made objectively based purely on facts. But on the other, perhaps due to a lack of training or a fear of bureaucracy, some entries have been subjective. But now this problem has been identified and addressed and we think it’s important that people can contribute to police work. That’s an important tool.”

The 2013 World Telecommunication and Information Society Award has been presented to three eminent personalities, among them Swiss President Ueli Maurer.

Also honored were Robert Bosch, CEO Volkmar Denner and president of the International Automobile Association, Jean Todt.

They were officially recognized for their dedication to promoting information and communications technologies to improve road safety.

The theme for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day—which is today—takes a lead from the United Nations “Decade of Action for Road Safety” which dedicates the period 2011-2020 towards improving global road safety.

The giant festival “Tanz dich frei” will go ahead as planned in Bern next weekend, despite protests from transport officials.

By the end of April, 10,500 people had already registered for the event. 

Last year’s edition saw more than 10,000 revelers.

Bern’s head of security says he thinks the event on May 25 will be peaceful.

The head of the city’s transport, however, calls the situation a “complete fiasco,” saying it will “paralyze the network.”

Switzerland won’t be appearing in the final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The country—represented by the six-piece Salvation Army group Tasaka—wasn’t voted through in last night’s second semi-final in Malmö.

Seventeen acts competed for 10 places for the final but Switzerland’s entry, You and Me, didn’t strike a chord either with audience voters or national juries.

Hungary, Azerbaijan, Iceland and Malta were among the 10 chosen for the grand finale on Saturday.

Switzerland famously hosted and won the first-ever Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.

Lys Assia scooped the prize with her French-language ballad, Refrain.

The country hasn’t scored a win since 1988.

The Federal Council is launching a new programme to address poverty in Switzerland

The National Program for the Prevention of Poverty launches next year after it was found 10 percent of people lived in poverty in the country in 2010.

The focus of the initiative is on improving educational standards of young people to ensure future entry into the job market.

Support will also be available for people who find it difficult to work because of their personal circumstances.

The project will run until 2018 at both federal and cantonal level and has been welcomed by most experts.

However, the Federation of Trade Unions was skeptical about the project’s 9 million franc budget.

The head of Swiss International Air Lines has warned that there may be layoffs ahead.

Harry Hohmeister says that it’s already expensive for Swiss to operate out of Zurich airport and if the airport raises its taxes any more, Swiss would need to think about “all the possible unpleasant consequences such as loss of jobs”.

He says authorities need to take into account that the airline’s average revenue per passenger has dropped by 30 percent since 2008.

Hohmeister added that Vienna, Frankfurt or Munich might make viable alternatives for the airline to based out of.

The Federal Council says the housing shortage in Switzerland isn’t a serious problem.

That’s according to a recent debate which found that there is sufficient good quality housing available.

However, it did recognize that in hotspots such as in Zurich and around Lake Geneva it was tougher to find suitable accommodation.

Changing expectations of house hunters and rising divorce statistics were given as reasons.

The Federal Council has agreed to make loans available for construction firms to buy land for build new social housing but won’t introduce any major new legislation.

Balthasar Glettli from the Zurich Tenant’s association called the new measures a placebo: “There needs to be new regulations written into tenancy laws to counter the price explosion. But the Federal Council showed no willingness to address that. The long-term plan to invest more in social housing is correct – what isn’t clear is the timeframe.”

A pear-shaped diamond—the largest ever offered at auction—has sold for a record 25.9 million francs at Christie’s in Geneva.

The 101.73 carat diamond was bought by jewellery and watch firm Harry Winston.
 
The auction took in a record total of $102 million for 257 lots, showing that the appetite for gems remains undiminished.
 
On Tuesday, a set of diamond and natural pearl earrings belonging to Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida sold for $2.37 million at rival auctioneer Sotheby’s, another auction record.

The Federal Council’s plan to lift the ban on genetically modified organisms is being met with strong resistance.

The consultation period on the proposal to allow GMOs to be used in crops as of 2018 has just ended.

It’s being opposed by farmers and left-leaning political groups.

The Social Democrats say there’s not sufficient protection to guarantee that the GMO crops won’t accidentally taint traditional crops.

The Christian Democrats say they doubt the economic and social benefits and want a cost-benefit analysis.

The Greens have threatened to launch a referendum should it go into effect.

The number of businesses declaring bankruptcy is on the rise.

After a slight drop in 2011, the number was up last year.

More than 12,000 businesses went bankrupt last year. 

According to the Federal Office for Statistics, that was an 8.5 percent increase from the previous year.

There was wide variation among the cantons.

The biggest increases in corporate bankruptcies were in Zurich, with a 20 percent jump and the Lake Geneva region, with an increase of 15 percent.

Ticino fared best with 6 percent fewer bankruptcies last year.