In order to investigate serious criminal offences or in the event of a threat to national security, law enforcement authorities and the intelligence service can order measures to monitor postal and telecommunications traffic. The data required for this is registered in the telecommunications monitoring processing system (V-FMÜ).

According to a statement from the federal government, the analysis functions allow, among other things, tabular data to be visualized so that it can be quickly recorded in a graph. This should help law enforcement agencies save valuable time when solving serious crimes or conducting an emergency search for a missing person.

The law enforcement authorities set already today the analysis functions, based on the Ordinance on the Processing System for the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (VVS-ÜPF). The explicit legal basis was previously missing. Parliament has now created this on 11 March 2022 with the adoption of the amendments to Articles 7 and 8 BÜPF. The amendment to the Federal Act will enter into force on May 1, 2022.

Source: The Federal Council

To the Federal Office for Food Safety (FSVO) according to reports of non-compliant foodstuffs sold via online stores are increasing. Swissmedic advises particular caution when buying products from unsafe sources, because Swiss food law in principle only applies in Switzerland: online stores in Switzerland would be regularly checked for food safety. The foreign stores could also offer products that are not allowed to be placed on the market under Swiss food law.

Caution with substances such as chlorine dioxide and "cures".

Swissmedic advises particular caution when purchasing food supplements for private consumption, for example. These often contain ingredients that are not permitted.

In the event of an overdose of certain substances such as citric acid together with chlorine dioxide, a health hazard could not be ruled out. Such foodstuffs are often advertised as remedies - in Switzerland, strict legislation applies here: foodstuffs are generally not considered "remedies" in Switzerland.

For example, according to the release, dietary supplements that contain melatonin, the red mold rice Monascus purpureus or other substances harmful to health or pharmacologically active substances contain, such as DNP, DMAA, 5-HTP, DHEA or unapproved "Novel Foods".

Caution is also advised, for example, when products are advertised as being suitable for animals, contrary to their original purpose. Critical checking is also advisable when buying via social media platforms.

Sometimes products are advertised with effects that they do not contain in reality. When importing dietary supplements from abroad, could also be the Possibility can not be excludedthat these fall under the conditions of the Therapeutic Products Act in Switzerland. In this case, the purchaser or importer is also liable to prosecution.

Source: BLV/Swissmedic

51 residents must leave the village of Mitholz who live too close to the former World War II ammunition depot. This was announced by the Department of Defense (DDPS) on Wednesday. 87 people in the outer danger zone may stay if they want to. Originally, it was assumed that by 2030 at the latest, all people would have to leave their homes for safety reasons.

It can get loud and dirty

The construction site situations and infrastructures necessary for clearing should be combined in a compact area, as it is described in the Communication of the DDPS is called. The federal government is currently preparing the DDPS 2022 risk analysis, which defines the specifications for the evacuation, security and facility perimeters as well as the areas for installations and construction work.

The outermost danger zone in the "shell model" principle is the evacuation perimeter, in which living and habitation are still permitted. In the extended danger zone, the security perimeter, people are not allowed to stay permanently. In the secured facility perimeter, special access restrictions apply with entry for authorized persons.

The former ammunition depot still contains tons of old ammunition and explosives. However, the 87 people living in Mitholz have to be prepared for a lot of noise and that it could get very dirty near the construction site from the dust. Temporary evacuations are not ruled out, he said. The entire clearance is expected to take until 2040.

Presentation on the clearance of the former ammunition depot Mitholz (PDF)

Source: VBS

Prospering companies often neglect the issue of online security. This is shown by a survey of more than 1100 employees conducted by the authentication specialist Beyond Identity. According to the study, 62 percent believe that their employers proactively pay attention to online security.

Bad passwords

The picture is even more alarming when it comes to employers' password tactics: although compromising passwords is the most common way for hackers to gain insider access, password hygiene is worse in high-growth companies than in those with normal growth. For example, passwords are stored less securely.

As a result of this lax approach to security, high-growth companies regularly face security breaches. More than a third of respondents (35 percent) say their company has already been exposed to between three and five cyber attacks, and 20 percent have been affected even more frequently. Nevertheless, growing companies seem to be better able to limit the damage (87,000 Swiss francs). For standard companies, the losses amounted to more than 110,000 francs on average.

Nevertheless great learning effect

Another plus for high-growth companies is that many of them tightened the reins after a security breach: For example, 70 percent immediately began educating their employees about cybersecurity and 60 percent took action to secure their data. However, less than half of standard and high-growth companies invested in cybersecurity insurance or installed dedicated cybersecurity software after an incident.

(pressetext.com)

At the end of 2021, slightly more than six million people in Switzerland held a driver's license for passenger vehicles. Last year, 107,130 people acquired a new category B driver's license, an increase of 26 percent according to the Federal Roads Office (Astra).

The increase is due to an adjustment in training, which came into force on January 1, 2022. For example, learning drives are now possible from the age of 17. However, the increase in the number of new drivers affects all age groups. At the end of 2021, slightly more than four million people held a driver's license for motorcycles, a figure that had hardly changed.

Fewer deportations overall

According to Astra statistics, the number of license withdrawals in 2021 was 76,750, below 80,000 for the third year in a row. Cancellations of probationary driver's licenses, however, increased by 6.5 percent, to 1422, as did withdrawals of learner's licenses (with a 13.9 percent increase to 4604). The main reason for these increases is likely to be the rising number of learner drivers and new drivers.

However, the main causes of license withdrawals have remained constant in recent years: In 28,949 cases, the license was withdrawn for speeding, and in 10,591 cases for drunk driving. 7402 tickets were withdrawn for endangering third parties due to inattention The number of tickets withdrawn for driving under the influence of drugs increased in 2021 compared to the previous year (by 5.3 percent to 4634 cases), according to the Federal Roads Office.

Source: Astra

It has long been known that stress can make people ill. What is less well known is that not only the psyche suffers from negative continuous stress, but also the body. "Chronic stress, especially when experienced in childhood, is a risk factor for the development of frequent neuropsychiatric or cardiovascular diseases later in life," says Isabelle Mansuy, Professor of Neuroepigenetics at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich.

Isabelle Mansuy, together with Birgit Kleim, psychology professor at the University of Zurich, is leading the new major flagship project of Hochschulmedizin Zürich (HMZ), which bears the simple name "Stress". The project will start on May 1 and is supported with one million Swiss francs, with ETH and the University of Zurich sharing the costs. A five-member steering committee includes professors from UZH and ETH. The project was recently formally launched at the HMZ annual event.

The purpose of the flagship project "Stress" is to understand, diagnose and treat the effects of stress on mental and physical health. Researchers from ETH, the University, the Psychiatric University Hospital and the University Hospital Zurich are participating in the research collaboration. In doing so, they are addressing a socially serious problem, because stress as such has increased dramatically in recent decades and probably reached a peak with the Covid pandemic.

One in four children affected

In general, a distinction is made between healthy eustress and unhealthy disstress. While eustress increases performance in the short term and can be managed well, disstress reduces brain performance, burdens the immune system and makes people ill in the long term.
When we have stress, the body adjusts to an acute dangerous situation. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and corticoids are released, heart rate and blood flow increase, glucose is released and gastrointestinal activity is restricted. It is an involuntary reaction pattern that developed over the course of evolution: In a dangerous situation, the body adjusts to flight or fight. In the process, cortisol attacks important brain cells during continuous stress. In the long term, the stress hormones even lead to physiological and anatomical changes in the brain.

Stress is also common in childhood - caused by physical or sexual abuse, for example. According to WHO estimates, one in four children worldwide is affected by stress - the negative consequences have an impact across the entire lifespan. This is because stress is a risk factor for chronic diseases, including psychiatric diseases, but also cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, and neurological diseases such as dementia. Comorbidity, in which several diseases occur simultaneously, is characteristic of people exposed to severe stress.

Spanning disciplinary boundaries

Nevertheless, psychiatric and cardiovascular diseases are rarely considered holistically. This is partly due to the traditional separation of psychiatry and cardiology. This is where HMZ's new flagship project comes in. The Stress Consortium brings together experts in psychiatry/psychology, neuroscience, cellular and molecular biology, cardiology, engineering, and translational bioinformatics to study stress risk and resilience across the life course. "Methodologically, long-term studies are conducted on individuals who have been exposed to stress, and animal models of stress are used for mechanistic studies," explains Isabelle Mansuy.

Recognize and treat alarm signs

For example, a cohort study is planned with over one hundred medical students who complete their internship in a stressful medical setting, such as the emergency department, intensive care unit, internal medicine, or oncology. Six months after the start of the internship, anxiety, depression symptoms, psychosocial functioning, and perceived stress will be recorded as "stress-related psychopathological manifestations." Further interviews over a longer period of time will allow determination and comparison of individual health trajectories within the cohort.

This is a slightly modified version of an article by Marita Fuchs, which first appeared in the "UZH News".

Last week, the NCSC recorded according to own data a somewhat lower reporting rate, but in one classified ad scam, for example, the Internet address of a payment service was elaborately forged. Many scams are based on spoofing the URL. The NCSC recalls that a URL usually consists of a subdomain ("www"), a domain (e.g., name of the company), and a top level domain (e.g., "ch").

However, during a classified ad scam, the NCSC had become aware of an elaborately designed scam website. To ensure that a link to a fake website was not immediately recognizable as a fake, the fraudsters reserved their own domain, which followed the scheme ".ch-123xyz.com". The reserved domain was extended by the name of the legitimate company, so that the URL presented itself as follows: "www.abcdefgh123.ch-123xyz.com".

While the difference from the fake URL should be noticeable, at first glance the fraud may not be immediately obvious.

In case of doubt, the actual URL should therefore always be entered in the browser.

The extent of electrical accidents is often underestimated. In addition to the duration of exposure, energy strength and the current flow through the body, the type of current (direct current, alternating current) also plays a decisive role and must be taken into account when first responders treat the affected person. With alternating current, the charge carriers periodically change the direction of flow.

Statistically, however, affected persons suffer more from cardiac arrhythmias if they have been in contact with alternating current.

However, the first priority for first responders in the event of an electrical accident is their own safety. An injured first aider is a poor first aider. First aid should not be administered until the power supply has been safely interrupted. Any accident involving electricity should also be medically assessed.

Invisible consequential hazards

Insidiously, however, the damage caused by electricity is often not immediately noticeable. This can shift the electrolyte balance and lead to dangerous heart rhythm disturbances in the long term. It is therefore imperative that any person who has suffered a heart attack go to hospital or see a family doctor, even if they appear to be fine. In case of palpitations, shortness of breath or a cramping sensation, the emergency medical services should be notified immediately.

A good guide in case of an emergency is the Suva leaflet "Caution Electric Shock". It also summarizes the most important rules to follow in the event of an electrical accident:

1. Observe self-protection. The victim may be under power.
2. For low voltage (whichever is faster and safer): Remove victim from circuit with non-conductive object (e.g., broom handle, wooden slat) and remove from danger area or interrupt flow of current (unplug, remove fuse).
3. In case of high voltage: Keep your distance, call emergency services. Any approach is life-threatening until the current is cut off!
4. In case of unconsciousness, dizziness, chest pain or rapid heartbeat: Call emergency medical services.
5. Check breathing and heartbeat. In case of cardiac or respiratory arrest, apply artificial respiration and chest compressions immediately and until the arrival of the rescue service.
6. In the absence of the above symptoms: Cool any burns and go to hospital.
7. In case of secondary injuries (e.g. fractures, bruises): Take immediate measures and consult a doctor.

In the age of digitization, it no longer makes sense for each federal administrative unit to individually manage and maintain its own master data. This will also increasingly apply to master data from companies, which in future will be managed jointly and made available to the administrative units of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities.

The Federal Council has now approved the partial revision of the Ordinance on the Business and Company Register (BURV) in a meeting on March 4, 2022. For its part, the revision of the annex to the Ordinance on the Federal Register of Buildings and Dwellings (VGWR) provides for an expansion of the publicly accessible information and thus strengthens the potential of the GWR reference information system, the Federal Council writes in a statement.

According to the Federal Council, the Ordinance on the Business and Company Register is intended to regulate more transparently and clearly what specific information is included in the company master data. In the future, this information is to be made available to all authorities via electronic interfaces in order to fulfill their legal duties.

More reference data of buildings and apartments accessible

The data of the register of buildings and dwellings (GWR) serve as reference data of buildings and dwellings both for purposes of statistics, research and planning (art. 1 VGWR) and for the fulfillment of statutory tasks (art. 1 para. 2 VGWR).

During the total revision of this ordinance in 2017, publicly accessible housing data (authorization level A) was defined restrictively according to the Federal Council. In order to meet the current situation of the digital age, more information is now to be brought together centrally.

This would create the prerequisite for e-government services such as the National Relocation Service (eMove): all citizens who move can indicate there to which apartment they are moving. However, this requires sufficient publicly accessible data on the apartments so that they can be clearly identified, according to the Federal Council.

In addition, as part of the consolidation of data, building services installations will now also be made publicly accessible. In this way, the data of the heating systems can be made available in a simplified way for monitoring the CO2 emissions of the buildings.

Source: The Federal Council

In addition to accident hazards, many health aspects play a role in optimal lighting. Especially in shift work, lighting can have an impact on health. Thus, the European standard has now also been DIN EN 12464-1 "Light and Lighting - Lighting of Workplaces" is updated and provides important information for companies and planners.

The new standard essentially defines lighting requirements for occupational visual tasks. It was published in November 2021 and proposes lighting solutions for most indoor workplaces and associated surfaces.

Unlike its predecessor from 2011, the current version of the standard addresses the needs of users in addition to the minimum requirements and explains the non-visual effects of light. After all, daylight or artificial light is not only used for seeing, it also acts in complex ways: Light clocks the "internal clock" and coordinates most bodily functions in a 24-hour rhythm.

For all types of rooms - from entrance halls to corridors and sanitary facilities - the standard recommends, for example, illuminance levels and values for color rendering. It also provides specifications for special activities, such as welding, patient care in the healthcare sector or teaching on the blackboard.

"A successful lighting design can support employees and thus contribute to productivity and well-being. Unfortunately, this also means that poor lighting can have a negative impact on work results and, in the worst case, provoke accidents," says Dr. Jürgen Waldorf, Managing Director of the industry initiative Licht.de.

 Source: licht.de

The DPA is strongly oriented towards the GDPR/GPDR of the European Union. There are direct consequences under data protection law for providers and customers in particular. However, the new Swiss Data Protection Act will not come into force by the end of 2022 at the latest, as expected, but only definitively on September 1, 2023, as the Federal Office of Justice has now announced on the website writes.

Originally, the Federal Council instructed the Federal Department of Justice and Police to do so on December 9, 2011. Now, however, the necessary decision by the Federal Council seems to be still pending.

Most recently, on June 23, 2021, the Federal Council opened the consultation on the total revision of the ordinance to the Federal Data Protection Act. As a spokeswoman says in response to an inquiry from "Inside-It," the late introduction is due to the fact that companies want to be given enough time for implementation.

On the website of the Federal Office of Justice, the previous stages of the stage decisions on the FADP can be viewed. track.

Source: Federal Council for Justjz

Suva can look back on a solid investment performance of 7.5 percent in 2021. The average of the last few years is 5.2 percent. This was due to a good stock market environment. Direct investments in real estate and investments in real estate funds also contributed significantly to the good results, according to a Suva statement. Suva's investment assets increased by CHF 3.9 billion from CHF 55.7 billion to CHF 59.9 billion in 2021. The funds are earmarked for specific purposes and also cover the legally required reserves for pensions, future medical costs and daily allowances, as well as other statutory insurance benefits from accidents and occupational diseases. If the reserves exceed the maximum levels provided for, the surplus will be refunded to the insured in the form of lower premiums.

The Suva Council will decide on the appropriation of the annual results and on the premium tariffs for 2023 on Friday, June 10, 2022.