Public transport is now free in Geneva, as a way to combat a spike in ozone pollution. This is the first initiative of its kind in the Swiss city which began on Wednesday 13 August.
“High temperatures and low cloud cover mean ozone pollutants accumulate and take longer to be dispersed”, Canton of Geneva’s Environment Office said to Reuters.
Temperatures reached 37 degress (98.6°F) Celsius on 12 August, alerting the government to issue a heat warning.
The canton’s anti-smog monitoring system recorded concentrations of the pollutant above 180 micrograms per cubic metre over 24 hours.
This harmful gas can cause problems breathing and can trigger headaches and asthma attacks, according to the World Health Organization.
The scheme is aimed at encouraging residents to switch from private cars to buses, trams, trains, and boats, aiming to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the transportation sector.
Passengers do not need tickets, and ticket inspections will be suspended until pollution levels improve.
Authorities have also imposed restrictions on vehicle use, prohibiting the most polluting cars from the city centre between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
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Iran says it is prepared for all scenarios as Tehran and Washington seek to avoid renewed tensions ahead of the planned signing of a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal in Switzerland on Friday.
A group of Azerbaijani civil society organisations has called for increased scrutiny of Swiss building materials giant Holcim, citing court rulings and ongoing investigations linked to its subsidiary Lafarge's activities during the Syrian conflict.
Soaring temperatures across Europe have broken records in Portugal and sparked heat alerts in Italy and France, affecting events including the French Open tennis tournament.
Three people were injured in a knife attack at a train station in Winterthur, near Zurich, on Thursday (28 May), in what Swiss police described as a terrorist act linked to radicalisation and Islamic State propaganda.
Donald Trump has said the U.S. will resume bombing Iran if Tehran doesn't "behave," at the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. Earlier, the U.S. President criticised Israel for its tactics against Hezbollah, saying it was unnecessary to bomb entire apartment buildings to tackle militants.
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A cyber extortion group has claimed it stole more than a terabyte of data from Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk after the company allegedly refused to pay a $25 million ransom.
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Britain has announced an additional £8 million ($11 million) to help Pakistan combat illegal migration, human trafficking and organised crime, while praising Islamabad's role in diplomacy that helped secure the recent U.S.-Iran agreement.
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The U.S. has announced new visa restrictions targeting individuals it says are undermining peace efforts in Ethiopia, focusing on hardline members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and their immediate family members amid rising tensions in the country's north.
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The United Arab Emirates has introduced a minimum age of 15 for social media use, becoming the first country in the Arab world to impose such a restriction amid growing global concerns about the impact of digital platforms on children.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed the recent agreement between the U.S. and Iran, saying it could help stabilise the Middle East and ease pressure on global energy and food markets.
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