A new referendum in Switzerland has approved a law on new surveillance powers for the intelligence agencies.
The law would allow the authorities to tap phones, snoop on email and deploy hidden cameras and bugs.
According to supporters, the new law would help Switzerland catch up with other countries.
Opponents have feared it could erode civil liberties and put Swiss neutrality at risk by requiring closer co-operation with foreign intelligence agencies.
Some 65.5% of voters agreed to accept the proposal. The new law will allow the Federal Intelligence Service and other agencies to put suspects under electronic surveillance if authorized by a court, the defense ministry and the cabinet.
The Swiss government says the powers would be used about once a month to monitor the highest-risk suspects.
The new law was not comparable to the spying capabilities of the US or other major powers, which “go well beyond what is desired in terms of individual liberty and security for our citizens”, Defense Minister Guy Parmelin said earlier this year.
According to a government website, Swiss law currently prevents authorities from relying on anything more than publicly available information or tips from foreign officials when monitoring domestic threats.
The new surveillance law was passed last year but has not yet been enacted after opponents collected enough signatures to force a referendum under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy.
On September 25, Swiss voters also rejected a proposal to boost state pensions by 10% – an initiative supported by the left but considered too costly by opponents. Voters also rejected another initiative to reduce Switzerland’s ecological footprint.
The US has asked Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials arrested on corruption charges in May, the Swiss authorities say.
Formal extradition requests were submitted on July 1, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said.
The seven top executives arrested in Zurich are among 14 FIFA officials indicted on charges of “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted” corruption.
The charges follow a major inquiry by the FBI.
The FOJ said Zurich police, acting on its behalf, would give the seven officials a hearing over the extradition requests.
The officials and their lawyers would have 14 days to respond to the request, which could be extended, the FOJ statement said.
After that, the FOJ would give its decision “within a few weeks”, but warned that any ruling could be challenged in both the federal criminal court and the federal supreme court.
Photo Getty Images
Jeffrey Webb, FIFA vice-president in charge of North and Central America, was among those arrested by Swiss police in a raid on a luxury hotel in the early hours of May 27.
The seven are among 14 defendants the US has charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies.
In a 47-count indictment unveiled in a New York federal court, they were accused of taking part “in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer”.
The indictment alleges that US and South American sports marketing executives paid and agreed to pay “well over $150 million” in bribes and other illegal payments to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to football tournaments.
The corruption was planned in the US, the indictment said. The use of US banks to transfer money appears to have been key to the investigation.
The charges follow a three-year FBI investigation. It was initially sparked by the bidding process for the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups, but was then widened to look back at FIFA’s dealings over two decades.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has not been indicted, although both the US and Swiss authorities have said they may interview him as part of their investigations.
According to a new survey, Switzerland is the world’s happiest country.
The country of chocolates and clocks topped the third annual World Happiness index produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), an initiative under the United Nations.
Switzerland was closely followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.
Togo, Burundi, Benin and Rwanda, with civil-war wracked Syria, were least happy.
The survey was released on the eve of presidential elections in Togo, where one family has been in power for 48 years.
The World Happiness Report examined 158 countries and is aimed at influencing government policy.
The study bases its rankings on data from the Gallup World Poll and takes into account variables such as real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, corruption levels and social freedoms.
“Increasingly happiness is considered a proper measure of social progress and goal of public policy,” the report said.
“A rapidly increasing number of national and local governments are using happiness data and research in their search for policies that could enable people to live better lives.”
The SDSN is comprised of people from academia, government and the private sector and was first launched in 2012.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been seen in public lately, a Swiss tabloid claims that his alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva has given birth to the couple’s third child.
The Kremlin immediately denied the rumor as a “hoax”.
Rumors about the absence of Vladimir Putin from the public view went into overdrive on March 13 as the Kremlin released new footage of the president and also announced that he will meet the president of Kyrgyzstan on March 16.
On March 12, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov fended off suggestions that the president has been out of the spotlight due to illness, something he dismissed by saying “no need to worry, everything is all right,” and joking that the president’s handshake was still so strong it could “break your hand”.
Vladimir Putin has not been seen in public since a March 5 meeting with Italian PM Matteo Renzi.
According to the Blick , Switzerland’s oldest tabloid, Vladimir Putin has been out of sight not because of his own ill health – but because his supposed girlfriend, former Olympic rhythmic gymnast and current chairwoman of the National Media Group, Alina Kabaeva, gave birth to the couple’s daughter in Ticino.
The Blick report says many cars with Russian license plates have been seen outside a regional hospital in the past few days, and that Vladimir Putin is friends with a gynecologist who works there. It further claims that this is actually Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva’s third child- following a son in 2009 and another daughter in 2012.
President Vladimir Putin, 62, already has two daughters with his ex-wife, Lyudmila Shkrebneva Putina, though little is known about them and the Kremlin has never published a family portrait.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to dismiss the rumors, saying that its “not true” and referred to the story as a “hoax”, AFP reported.
This is not the first time Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva, 31, have been linked. In 2008, Russian media announced that the two were engaged to be married, despite Putin still being married to his now ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva. Vladimir Putin denied it as “nonsense”.
Rumors swirled about a wedding again in 2013, after Vladimir Putin was divorced. The official Kremlin comment at that time was any talk of a wedding was a private matter for President Vladimir Putin to announce.
Edward Snowden says he would love to get asylum in Switzerland.
The fugitive US whistleblower was speaking via video link to a Geneva audience, from Moscow where he is sheltering from US prosecutors.
“I would love to return to Switzerland, some of my favorite memories are from Geneva,” Edward Snowden said. Previously he worked in Geneva undercover for the CIA.
Edward Snowden, wanted for leaking US secrets, said US authorities had given him no assurances of a fair trial.
Photo Reuters
“The only thing they’ve said at this point was that they would not execute me,” he said.
“That’s not quite the same thing as agreeing to a fair and open trial.”
He was speaking to the audience after a viewing of Citizenfour, an Oscar-winning documentary about his case. In 2013 his exposure of massive US surveillance – including routine tapping of internet traffic – grabbed the headlines worldwide.
It was an unprecedented leak by an insider in the top-secret US National Security Agency (NSA).
“I do think Switzerland would be a sort of great political option because it has a history of neutrality,” Edward Snowden told the Geneva audience.
Edward Snowden said he had requested asylum in 21 countries, most in Central and Eastern Europe, but none had granted his wish. He blamed US “political interference”.
Southern Switzerland and northern Italy have been hit by deadly landslides following days of torrential rain.
Two women died when a wall of mud destroyed a house near the Swiss town of Lugano on November 16.
Over the border, a pensioner and his granddaughter were killed when a mudslide engulfed their home.
The heavy rain is expected to continue across the region, and both countries have issued major flood alerts.
The levels of lakes Lugano and Maggiore are already dangerously high.
Homes and businesses near Italy’s Lake Maggiore have been cut off by rising waters.
The region has had more rain in a few days than it would normally expect in a year.
The Ticino river burst its banks near Vigevano in northern Italy.
Further north, in the Ticino region of Switzerland, rescue workers were searching for survivors on Sunday after mud swept down a hillside and destroyed an apartment building.
Swiss authorities said two women, aged 34 and 38, had died when the mudslide hit the building in the village of Davesco-Soragno.
A third person, a 44-year-old Italian, was rescued from the rubble and taken to hospital.
Relatives were also mourning the deaths of a 70-year old man and his 16-year-old girl in Cerro di Laveno in Italy.
Their house, near Lake Maggiore, was hit by a landslide late on Saturday night.
The weekend’s landslides are the latest of many to have hit northern Italy and southern Switzerland amid incessant rainfall over recent weeks.
High volumes of water gushed down the Ticino river, seen here in the town of Giornico in southern Switzerland, last week.
At least 11 people have been in killed Italy because of extreme weather over the last month.
Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to introduce what would have been the highest minimum wage in the world in a referendum.
Under the plan, employers would have had to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25 or 18 euros) an hour.
The minimum wage proposal was rejected by 76 percent of Swiss voters
Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life.
But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.
The minimum wage proposal was rejected by 76% of voters. Supporters had argued it would “protect equitable pay” but the Swiss Business Federation said it would harm low-paid workers in particular.
The issue was the most prominent of several referendums held on Sunday.
A controversial plan to buy 22 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets for the Swiss Air Force was narrowly rejected by 53% of voters.
It was the trade union-backed proposal to ensure that an annual salary was not less than $53,600 a year that provoked the most debate.
Switzerland is voting in a referendum on whether to introduce what would be the highest minimum wage in the world.
If approved, employers would have to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25 or 18 euros) an hour.
Supporters say the move is necessary for people to live a decent life.
But critics argue that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment because young people would find it more difficult to get work.
Correspondents say that the proposal “to protect equitable pay” is the most prominent of several referendums on Sunday.
Switzerland is voting in a referendum on whether to introduce what would be the highest minimum wage in the world
They include a controversial plan to buy Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets for the Swiss Air Force and to impose a lifelong ban against convicted paedophiles working with children.
But it is a trade union-backed proposal to ensure that an annual salary is not less than $53,600 a year which has provoked the most debate.
They argue that the measure is necessary because of the high living costs in big Swiss cities such as Geneva and Zurich.
The unions are angry that Switzerland – one of the richest countries in the world – does not have a minimum pay level while neighboring France and Germany do.
They argue that surviving on less than 4,000 francs a month is not possible because rents, health insurance and food are all prohibitively expensive.
The minimum wage in Germany will be 8.5 euros an hour from 2017.
A key element of the campaign in favor of a minimum wage is the argument that the Swiss welfare system is being forced to subsidize businesses which refuse to pay a living wage.
But business leaders and the government say that low unemployment and high standards of living for the majority show that there is no need for change.
Small businesses, in particular Swiss farmers, are especially worried that being forced to pay their staff 4,000 francs a month would price their products out of the market.
Most of Switzerland’s low-paid workers operate in the service industry, in hotels and restaurants, and the majority of them are women.
Another vote, which was designed to ensure that bosses could earn no more than 12 times the salary of the lowest paid in their company, was narrowly defeated last November.
The latest opinion polls indicate the minimum wage proposal may be rejected.
Swiss monthly living costs:
One-bed city centre flat: 1,800 francs
Utilities: 100-200 francs
Health insurance: 300-400 francs
Public transport: 50-70 francs
Restaurant meal for two: 100-150 francs [youtube C0j9XP4asPI 650]
Swiss prosecutors have opened a money laundering investigation into Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov.
The public prosecutor said in a statement that Gulnara Karimova is now part of an inquiry already looking at alleged wrongdoing involving four Uzbeks linked to her.
The investigation involves the business activities of a Swedish telecoms firm.
Gulnara Karimova, 41, had her diplomatic immunity lifted last year when she lost her post as Uzbek envoy to the UN.
A flamboyant businesswoman as well as a pop star in her home country, Gulnara Karimova is believed to have broad commercial interests in the Central Asian republic, ruled by her father for more than two decades.
Swiss prosecutors have opened a money laundering investigation into Gulnara Karimova (photo ITAR-TASS)
The public prosecutor revealed on Wednesday that Gulnara Karimova had been under investigation since September 2013 and that her villa in Cologny, just outside Geneva, had been searched by police the previous month, a few weeks after her immunity was lifted.
Gulnara Karimova is believed to have left Geneva after her role as permanent UN ambassador there came to an end.
Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber told Geneva daily Le Temps that Gulnara Karimova’s diplomatic immunity had previously prevented any action from taking place.
A sum of 800 million Swiss francs ($910 million) has been frozen as part of the inquiry, although the origin of the money is not yet clear, officials say. Several searches have also taken place in France.
Four Uzbek nationals have been under investigation since the summer of 2012. Two were held in custody but released a few months later.
Swedish-Finnish company TeliaSonera, which is partly state-owned, was accused in a 2012 Swedish TV report of paying an intermediary company, Takilant, $300 million for 3G mobile phone rights in Uzbekistan.
Although TeliaSonera strongly denied any wrongdoing, the case was taken up by Swedish prosecutors.
The Swiss authorities did not name TeliaSonera in their statement but said their Swedish colleagues were involved in a corruption inquiry linked to various acquisitions made by a “Swedish enterprise” in the Uzbek telecoms market.
A few months ago, Gulnara Karimova denied any involvement in the TeliaSonera case.
Switzerland has declined to sign a proposed deal granting Croatians free access to the Swiss employment market.
Croatia and Switzerland had agreed the deal last summer after Croatia joined the EU.
Switzerland said the accord could not be signed “in its current form”, after a recent referendum invalidated the Swiss-EU pact on freedom of movement.
Swiss voters narrowly backed a proposal to bring back strict quotas for immigration from EU countries.
The fiercely independent nation is not a member of the EU, but has adopted large sections of EU policy.
Although the Swiss economy is booming and unemployment is low, many Swiss worry about the effects of immigration.
Switzerland declined to sign deal granting Croatians free access to employment market after a recent referendum invalidated the Swiss-EU pact on freedom of movement
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga called Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic to tell her Switzerland would not be able to sign the deal extending the right of free access to Switzerland to the EU’s newest member state.
Simonetta Sommaruga also informed Brussels that the agreement needed to be re-examined, her spokesman, Philippe Schwander said.
The last week referendum had created a “new constitutional disposition”, Philippe Schwander noted.
He stressed that the justice minister was seeking a “solution” to ensure Croatians were not being discriminated against.
Following the referendum, the EU warned it would reassess its relations with Switzerland “as a whole”.
The economic impact could be great since half of Switzerland’s exports are to the EU, with Germany its biggest trading partner.
A quarter of the eight million-strong population is foreign, and last year 80,000 new immigrants arrived.
Since 2007, most of the EU’s 500 million residents have been on an equal footing with locals in the Swiss job market – the result of a policy voted into law in a 2000 referendum.
The Swiss vote to bring back strict immigration quotas for Europeans draws criticism from France, Germany and Brussels.
France and Germany have voiced concern about Switzerland’s vote to bring back strict quotas for immigration from EU countries.
Final results showed 50.3% voted in favor. The vote invalidates the Swiss-EU agreement on freedom of movement.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the vote would cause “a host of difficulties for Switzerland”.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: “It will hurt Switzerland to be inward-looking.”
The initiative to hold the referendum was spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), amid increasing debate across Europe about migration and the impact of free movement of people.
The Swiss vote to bring back strict immigration quotas for Europeans draws criticism from France, Germany and Brussels
Fiercely independent Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but has adopted large sections of EU policy.
The European Commission said it regretted the outcome of the vote and would examine its implications.
Freedom of movement is a key pillar of the EU single market – a market which accounts for more than half of Swiss exports.
The vote has shown up traditional divisions, with French-speaking areas against the quotas, German-speaking regions divided, and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino firmly in favor.
In addition, cities with higher than average numbers of foreigners – Basel, Geneva and Zurich – voted against the quota proposal, while rural areas mostly voted for it.
Switzerland’s economy is booming at the moment, and unemployment is low, but many Swiss worry about immigration.
Last year 80,000 new immigrants arrived in Switzerland, and foreigners now make up 23% of the population. It is the continent’s second highest foreign population after Luxembourg.
In a statement, the European Commission said the Swiss vote “goes against the principle of free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland”.
“The EU will examine the implications of this initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole,” the European Commission added.
Voters in Switzerland have narrowly backed a referendum proposal to bring back strict quotas for immigration from EU countries.
Final results showed 50.3% voted in favor. The vote invalidates the Swiss-EU agreement on freedom of movement.
Fiercely independent Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but has adopted large sections of EU policy.
Brussels said it regretted the outcome of the vote and would examine its implications.
A Yes vote of more than 50% was needed for the referendum to pass.
The vote has shown up traditional divisions, with French-speaking areas against the quotas, German-speaking regions divided, and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino firmly in favor.
In a statement, the European Commission said it regretted that an “initiative for the introduction of quantitative limits to immigration has been passed by this vote.
Voters in Switzerland have narrowly backed a referendum proposal to bring back strict quotas for immigration from EU countries
“This goes against the principle of free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland. The EU will examine the implications of this initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole. In this context, the Federal Council’s position on the result will also be taken into account.”
The vote comes amid increasing debate across Europe about migration and the impact of free movement of people.
Switzerland’s economy is booming at the moment, and unemployment is low, but many Swiss worry about immigration.
A quarter of the eight million-strong population is foreign, and last year 80,000 new immigrants arrived.
Since 2007, most of the EU’s 500 million residents have been on an equal footing with locals in the Swiss job market – the result of a policy voted into law in a 2000 referendum.
But a coalition led by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party now wants to reverse this deal, saying it was a huge mistake.
Supporters of quotas believe free movement has put pressure on housing, health, education, and transport. They also argue that foreign workers drive salaries down.
But the Swiss government and business leaders say free movement is key to Switzerland’s economic success, allowing employers to choose skilled staff from across Europe.
Switzerland’s bilateral agreements with the EU took years of negotiation to achieve.
Abandoning free movement could limit Switzerland’s access to Europe’s single market, where over half its exports are sold.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has applied for a visa to travel to Switzerland, the Swiss foreign ministry says.
A ministry’s spokesman said Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky submitted his request for a three-month Schengen visa at the Swiss embassy in Berlin.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 50, a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin, spent 10 years in a Russian prison for fraud and tax evasion.
He was pardoned and freed on Friday and immediately flew to Germany.
Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Stefan von Below told the Associated Press news agency that the three-month visa request would probably be processed in the coming days.
He declined to give further details.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has applied for a visa to travel to Switzerland
Schengen visas allow holders to travel to most EU countries without having their passports or other documents checked at the border.
Earlier, Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s spokeswoman, Olga Pispanen, told AFP news agency that he was considering moving to Switzerland where his twin sons go to school.
Olga Pispanen said he was due to be reunited with his wife, Inna, and their three children in Berlin on Christmas Eve and he planned to discuss the idea with them.
“He is waiting for the family’s arrival. They will sit down and discuss everything,” she added.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has always insisted that his conviction was politically motivated.
Oprah Winfrey has said she is sorry for a “blown up” media response after she claimed she encountered racism in upmarket Trois Pommes handbag store in Zurich.
Oprah Winfrey’s racism claims were made amid a political row in Switzerland over asylum seekers’ rights
Speaking on the red carpet premiere for her new film, The Butler, Oprah Winfrey said: “I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland.”
“I’m really sorry that it got blown up. I purposefully did not mention the name of the store. I’m sorry that I said it was Switzerland,” she added.
Oprah Winfrey’s claims were made amid a political row in Switzerland over asylum seekers’ rights.
Switzerland considers changing its national anthem as being too old-fashioned, so a new one will be chosen through a competition.
The priority is to have a new text, but contestants will also be free to compose a new tune, said project leader Lukas Niederberger.
The current text dates back to 1841 and includes references to God, prayer, mountains and sunshine.
The new text is to include values enshrined in the Swiss constitution, such as democracy and solidarity.
The competition will run from January to the end of June 2014, with the top prize – SFr10,000 ($10,745) – to be awarded in 2015.
The runners-up will get SFr5,000, SFr3,000 and SFr1,000. The competition is open to Swiss nationals and foreigners living in Switzerland.
The winning anthem will be presented to the government – the Federal Council – for approval.
The judging panel has just been selected. It has 25 members from various areas of national life, including football, the Olympics, music, literature and yodelling.
There are four jury presidents – Christine Beerli, Patrizia Pesenti, Pierre Kohler and Oscar Knapp – representing respectively the four official languages spoken in the federation: German, Italian, French and Romansch.
Switzerland considers its national anthem too old-fashioned and a new one will be chosen through a competition
The current anthem is called the Swiss Psalm. In 1981 it replaced Rufst du mein Vaterland (When you call, my Fatherland), which was set to the same tune as the British national anthem – God Save The Queen.
“The real problem is above all the text,” Lukas Niederberger said. He is in the Swiss Society for Public Utility (SGG), the competition organizer. The SGG, founded in 1810, seeks to promote Swiss values and has previously launched social and cultural initiatives.
“Officially the anthem is a psalm, a prayer, but of course we have an open society, religiously neutral. We have atheists, no single god, so this anthem is a difficulty,” he explained by phone.
Since the 1970s pressure for a new anthem has gained momentum, but previously the calls came from individuals or small groups, Lukas Niederberger said.
“Many people are conservative and the anthem is emotional, but if a composer creates a super song, then we can change the tune too. But that’s a bit difficult for conservative people, so we say the contestants don’t have to change the music,” he said.
The SGG says the preamble to the Swiss constitution “forms the textual basis for the new national anthem”.
It speaks of the Swiss people’s “striving… to strengthen their freedom and democracy, independence and peace in solidarity and openness to the world”. It also speaks of “living together in mutual consideration and respect for differences”.
In 2011 Switzerland’s Alpine neighbor Austria decided to change the wording of its national anthem to recognize its “great daughters” alongside its “great sons”.
Two trains have collided in western Switzerland injuring at least 40 people have been injured, five of them seriously.
The crash happened in Granges-pres-Marnand in Vaud canton, about 30 miles south-west of the capital, Bern.
Reports say the regional trains collided head-on in the early evening.
Two trains have collided in western Switzerland injuring at least 40 people have been injured
The driver of one of the trains was still unaccounted for and thought to be inside the wreckage, police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said.
“These are regional trains. The speeds are a little lower and even if one deeply regrets the likely loss of life of one person as well as five serious injuries, the situation could have been much more catastrophic,” he said.
Jean-Christophe Sauterel said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
One of the injured was taken by helicopter to Lausanne. Others were treated at the scene by paramedics or taken to hospital by ambulance.
Earlier this month, 79 people were killed in a high-speed derailment in north-western Spain.
Belgium is holding a day of national mourning by coming to a standstill for a minute’s silence at 11:00 a.m. and with flags being flown at half mast to remember the 28 victims of the Switzerland coach crash.
After the minute’s silence, church bells rang out.
Two planes carrying the bodies of those killed have landed at Melsbroek military airport in Belgium.
The C130 planes left Switzerland following a memorial ceremony.
Twenty-two of those killed when the coach struck the wall of a tunnel on the way back from a school skiing trip were children.
Eight of the injured children were flown home on Thursday, but many survivors are still in hospital.
It has emerged that one of the victims was an 11-year-old British boy who had been a pupil at St. Lambertus School in Heverlee.
Sebastian Bowles’s parents Edward and Ann flew to Brussels on Thursday night after identifying their son’s body in Switzerland, a school spokesman confirmed.
The four most seriously injured children are being treated at hospitals in Lausanne and Bern.
Belgium is holding a day of national mourning to remember the 28 victims of the Switzerland coach crash
Family members of the dead children who had travelled to Switzerland visited the crash site on Thursday, some laying flowers in the tunnel.
They also faced the daunting task of identifying their children’s bodies.
Most of the victims of Tuesday night’s disaster were around 12 years old. In addition to the British boy, six of the dead children had Dutch nationality; the others were Belgian.
The authorities have refused to comment on suggestions in Swiss and Belgian media that the coach driver may have been changing a DVD at the time of the crash.
Swiss police spokesman Renato Kalbermatten said CCTV from the tunnel did not confirm the disk theory, which he described as “pure speculation at this stage”.
All the adults on board the coach were killed in the crash.
The group had spent a week skiing in Val d’Anniviers in the Swiss Alps and were travelling home on one of three buses hired by a Christian group. The other two coaches reached Belgium safely.
Those on board the bus that crashed were from the Stekske primary school in Lommel, near the Dutch border, and from St. Lambertus in Heverlee, near Leuven (Louvain).
A memorial service was held in Lommel on Thursday evening.
Police there said 2,500 people attended the service, at St Joseph’s Catholic church next to the school, AFP reports.
Rows of chairs were set up outside the church for residents to watch the service on a large screen.
A message of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI was read out.
A Vatican statement said the Pope was praying for the bereaved families and expressed his deepest sympathy for the injured and the emergency workers. He had conferred a special apostolic blessing on all affected by the tragedy.
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