EMPTY PEWS: One in four shuns religion in Switzerland
By Susan Misicka MAR 31, 2011 – A quarter of Swiss don’t attend church at all(Keystone) The role of organised religion in Switzerland is an increasingly small one, according […]
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES: Readers react to ‘outrageous’ burka ban article
By swissinfo.ch POLITICS APR 21, 2017 – Two tourists from Saudi Arabia have a break in Interlaken in October 2016 (Keystone) swissinfo.ch readers have been holding a lively debate over whether direct democracy leads to a majority of society tyrannising religious minorities. An article published by swissinfo.chexternal link on Wednesday, […]
RELIGION AND POLITICS: Switzerland’s controversial Islamic leaders
By Marc-André Miserez, Samuel Jaberg APR 16, 2017 – The recent expulsion of Swiss Imam Hani Ramadan from France is a reminder that Switzerland is home to several controversial Muslims – some with a reach far beyond Swiss borders. Following are four examples. Hani Ramadan Hani Ramadan: stoning not as […]
LISA BOSIA MIRRA: Swiss politician guilty of helping illegal immigrants
APR 13, 2017 – The 43-year-old regional parliamentarian is believed to have helped facilitate the illegal entry of nine migrants last year(Keystone) The public prosecutor of southern Swiss canton Ticino […]
SWISS SALARIES: PASTORS: Why do Swiss clergy earn so much?
By Veronica DeVore APR 10, 2017 A Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor blessed the new Gotthard rail tunnel at its opening in June 2016(Keystone) Are Swiss pastors really […]
MISSILE STRIKE: Swiss warn against military escalation in Syria
APR 7, 2017 – US President Donald Trump announcing the missile strike on Thursday (Keystone) Switzerland has urged the international community to tackle the escalating Syrian crisis through diplomatic means rather than military confrontation. The statement follows United States missile strikes on a Syrian airfield suspected of launching an earlier […]
CONDEMNATION: Switzerland calls for truth behind Syria chemical attack
APR 5, 2017 – UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (left) and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter during the Syria conference in Brussels(Keystone) Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter […]
LAND OF MANY TONGUES: Has migration changed the Swiss language map?
By Kai Reusser & Balz Rigendinger APR 5, 2017 – 18:15 Switzerland has always been a multilingual country – and is becoming a place of ever more languages. Since […]
EXORCISMS: Driving out the devil in Switzerland
http://tp.srgssr.ch/p/inline?urn=urn:swi:video:43080614&locale=en EMBED CODE APR 3, 2017 – 17:59 Every year, about 1,400 people ask Swiss churches for help with exorcisms, and the number is growing. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) The practice of ridding […]
Switzerland: CULTURAL DIVERSITY: Wanted: Teachers of all origins
By Isobel Leybold-Johnson APR 4, 2017 A trainee teacher during her final internship at a primary school in Thun, canton Bern (Keystone) Are teachers in Swiss schools too Swiss? One university of teacher training thinks so. It plans to launch an innovative campaign to find trainee teachers from immigrant backgrounds […]
Credit Suisse’s Khan Says He’s `Surprised’ by Timing of Raids
Bloomberg APR 1, 2017 – (Bloomberg) — Iqbal Khan, Credit Suisse Group AG’s head of international wealth management, said he’s surprised by the timing of a tax evasion investigation […]
REVOLUTIONARIES AND SPIES: When Swiss neutrality hurt the Indian freedom struggle
By Anand Chandrasekhar APR 2, 2017 – The Café de la Couronne along with Hotel Bristol in Geneva were favoured hangouts for anti-colonial activists and foreign agents(by courtesy) A forgotten […]
TURKISH VOTERS IN SWITZERLAND: Erdogan: a hero for some, a dictator for others
By Peter Siegenthaler APR 1, 2017 The well-protected Turkish embassy in Bern. The green container on the left is where voters have to identify themselves(Keystone) He’s brought the country […]
UNDER SURVEILLANCE: Turkish ex-spy recounts political espionage
MAR 28, 2017 www.swissinfo.ch In an exclusive interview with Swiss public television, SRF, a former agent of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MİT), confirmed suspicions that political espionage had taken place in the past on members of the Turkish community in Switzerland. On March 24, the Swiss Attorney General’s office announced […]
MIGRATION FLOWS: Asylum requests in Europe: where things stand
By Duc-Quang Nguyen, Stefania Summermatter MAR 29, 2017 – 15:43 In 2015, Europe had a record number of asylum requests with more than 1.3 million registered first-time claimants. New numbers show a slight decline since, but demands are still twice the number from 2014. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/31vho/3/ More than 1.23 million […]
ITALIANS AND ERITREANS: When ‘old’ immigrants help ‘new’ ones
By Stefania Summermatter and Ester Unterfinger MAR 29, 2017 – 11:00 A goal of Bern’s Catholic mission is to collect donations to allow young Eritreans to practise their faith. (Ester Unterfinger/swissinfo.ch) Italians in Switzerland are considered an integration success story even though they used to face violence and racism. […]
Switzerland opens probe into ‘Kill Erdoğan’ poster in pro-PKK rally in Bern
DAILY SABAH ISTANBUL AP Photo Authorities in Bern have opened a probe into a mass meeting of members and sympathizers of the PKK terrorist group in the Swiss capital […]
SALARIES: What do people earn in Switzerland?
By Kai Reusser & Susan Misicka MAR 17, 2017 Workers lay reinforcement steel in a tunnel between Bellinzona and Lugano. (Keystone) From baker to banker, Swiss workers earn salaries that must be put into perspective. Like anywhere in the world, salaries in Switzerland vary depending on factors like education, experience […]
Swiss senate refuses nationwide burqa ban
The Local news@thelocal.ch 9 March 2017 Photo: AFP The upper house of parliament has rejected the idea of a nationwide ban on the Islamic face veil and other face coverings. […]
Swiss parliament’s upper house rejects bill to ban burqas
Source: Associated Press By JAMEY KEATEN GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s upper house of parliament has rejected an initiative championed by a right-wing populist party to ban burqas and niqabs, the […]