Swiss voters took to the polls on Sunday to vote no to bigger motorways, no to easier evictions and tighter subletting rules and yes to a new healthcare financing model.

The Swiss government’s proposal to allocate €5.3 million for expanding motorways and constructing new roads at six key locations, including near Bern and between Geneva and Lausanne, was rejected by 52.7% of voters.

The plan, approved by parliament last year, faced opposition from those concerned about its environmental impact and effectiveness.

The federal government, argues that the volume of traffic on the motorway network has increased more than five times over the past 60 years.

The result was celebrated by the Green Party which called the proposal “an out-of-date transport policy”.

Together with left-wing and environmental groups, the Greens campaigned against the project, highlighting its environmental impact and the concern that wider roads would only lead to more traffic. They now advocate for the funds to be used for public transport, active mobility, and the renovation of existing motorways.

Mattea Meyer from the no camp expressed her satisfaction with the referendum result.

“I am incredibly pleased that a majority of the population does not want a highway expansion, and instead wants more climate protection, a transport transition that is climate-compatible, which the highway expansion is not,” she said.

According to local media to counter this decision the yes campaign, plans on moving forward with expansion projects separately through agglomeration programs, reducing the chance for cantonal referendums.

No to easier evictions

On Sunday, Swiss voters decided on multiple housing issues, such as subletting and lease termination.

53.8% of them rejected the proposal which would make it easier for landlords to terminate leases early in order to use properties for their own purposes.

Additionally, 51.6% voted against a plan for stricter regulations on subletting residential and commercial properties. According to local media, these issues attracted significant attention because tenancy laws affect the majority of Swiss citizens, with about 60% of the population renting their homes, the highest rate in Europe.

The proposal to ease eviction rules faced strong opposition, especially in French-speaking cantons, with Geneva seeing 67.8% of its voters against the plan due to the city’s ongoing housing shortage.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that’s been tagging along as a “mini moon” for the past two months.

The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun’s gravity. But it will zip closer for a quick visit in January.

NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot (10-meter) asteroid then. That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.

While not technically a moon — NASA stresses it was never captured by Earth’s gravity and fully in orbit — it’s “an interesting object” worthy of study.

The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, have collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations so far.

Currently more than 2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) away, the object is too small and faint to see without a powerful telescope. It will pass as close as 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) of Earth in January, maintaining a safe distance before it zooms farther into the solar system while orbiting the sun, not to return until 2055. That’s almost five times farther than the moon.

First spotted in August, the asteroid began its semi jog around Earth in late September, after coming under the grips of Earth’s gravity and following a horseshoe-shaped path. By the time it returns next year, it will be moving too fast — more than double its speed from September — to hang around, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.

NASA will track the asteroid for more than a week in January using the Goldstone solar system radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, part of the Deep Space Network.

Current data suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid will once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Israeli officials on Sunday confirmed the death of an Abu Dhabi rabbi who had been missing since Thursday. 

“The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on X. “The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family from the start of the event and is continuing to assist it at this difficult time; his family in Israel has also been updated.” 

“The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement added. 

RABBI FEARED KIDNAPPED, KILLED BY TERRORISTS AFTER GOING MISSING, PROMPTING INVESTIGATION

Rabbi Zvi Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Hasidic Judaism based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City.

The 28-year-old was a resident of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates when he went missing Thursday. He is a citizen of both Moldova and Israel.

According to his LinkedIn, Kogan worked as a recruiter and was “passionate about volunteering and serving [his] community.”

A man walks past Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store managed by the late Rabbi Zvi Kogan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024.  (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

‘CHEERLEADING FOR TERRORISM’: TWITCH STAR CALLED FOR NEW 9/11, DISMISSED HORROR OF OCT 7

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced its investigation into the unusual disappearance on Saturday. At the time, the statement said the disappearance appeared to be related to “a terrorist incident” but did not elaborate.

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior had confirmed it was investigating Kogan’s disappearance, but described his citizenship solely as a “Moldovan national.” 

Rabbi Levi Duchman performs morning prayers on the roof of the Jewish Community Center of the UAE on March 22, 2021, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  (Andrea DiCenzo/Getty Images)

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The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday, according to the Associated Press. It had been a target of anti-Israel protests. 

Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.