CAIRO: The Embassy of Switzerland in Cairo has launched a mobile application that pin-points Swiss-inspired landmarks across the Egyptian capital.
The app called “Swiss Trail” provides users with information about those landmarks, along with Swiss-led hotels and resorts in the country, a press release by the embassy said.
“It is extraordinary to see how Swiss entrepreneurs, artists and architects have left their legacies across the Egyptian capital.
“Swiss Trail follows the innovative and pioneering spirit that has created fascinating historical and cultural ties between Egypt and Switzerland,” stated Paul Garnier, the ambassador of Switzerland to Egypt.
The GPS-based application gives users background information about each landmark, it added.
“We have launched this phone application to make the knowledge of these strong links accessible to everyone,” Garnier added.
It also mentioned some of the Swiss-themed spots in Cairo, inlcuding The Windsor Hotel and the once-famous Cafe Groppi in Downtown Cairo, believed to have been founded by a Swiss chef and chocolate maker Giacomo Groppi back in 1909.
“The popular Downtown Cairo area in particular is home to many Swiss-influenced sites. A stroll through the neighborhood with the app shows that there is a more prevalent Swiss touch to the area than most people know,” he added.
New app to promote Swiss-inspired landmarks across Cairo
New app to promote Swiss-inspired landmarks across Cairo
Two Tunisia columnists handed over three years in prison
- Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies have already been in detention for almost two years
- They were due to be released in January 2025 but have remained in custody on charges of money laundering
TUNIS: Two prominent Tunisian columnists were sentenced on Thursday to three and a half years in prison each for money laundering and tax evasion, according to a relative and local media.
The two men, Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, have already been in detention for almost two years for statements considered critical of President Kais Saied’s government, made on radio, television programs and social media.
They were due to be released in January 2025 but have remained in custody on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
“Three and a half years for Mourad and Borhen,” Zeghidi’s sister, Meriem Zeghidi Adda, wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Since Saied’s power grab, which granted him sweeping powers on July 25, 2021, local and international NGOs have denounced a regression of rights and freedoms in Tunisia.
Dozens of opposition figures and civil society activists are being prosecuted under a presidential decree officially aimed at combatting “fake news” but subject to a very broad interpretation denounced by human rights defenders.
Others, including opposition leaders, have been sentenced to heavy prison terms in a mega-trial of “conspiracy against state security.”
In 2025, Tunisia fell 11 places in media watchdog Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, dropping from 118th to 129th out of 180 countries.
