EXPLAINER By Simon Bradley, Geneva MAR 14, 2016 – 11:26 A child injured in an unidentified bombing at Douma, north-east of Damascus, Syria on 10 March 2016 (Keystone) United Nations-brokered talks aimed at ending Syria’s five-year civil war are getting underway in Geneva on Monday. Here is a short guide […]
By Anand Chandrasekhar with input from Surbhi Kaul, Verbier MAR 15, 2016 – 11:00 It is estimated that between 300,000 to 500,000 military and paramilitary soldiers are deployed in Kashmir, mainly along the border with Pakistan (Keystone) Lured by virgin snow, adventurous skiers are ignoring travel advisories to stay away […]
ASYLUM DECISION Bunkers to be commandeered for asylum needs MAR 11, 2016 – 16:08 Civilian bunkers, like this one in canton St Gallen, have already been used for asylum seekers in Switzerland (Keystone) Federal and cantonal authorities will soon be able to force local communities to open their civilian bunkers […]
ROOTS OF EXTREMISM MAR 11, 2016 – 15:41 Homegrown jihadism “is coming” to Switzerland, argues a former Islamic extremist – unless new ideologies are presented to young Muslims. Young people in the country have vanished from their homes and gone to join jihadi movements. And a Winterthur mosque has been […]
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL By Frédéric Burnand, Geneva MAR 9, 2016 – 17:00 According to Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, the death penalty is not an effective answer to terrorism (Keystone) The newest incarnation of the United Nations’ top human rights body is marking its ten year anniversary, and while the […]
LOCAL DEMOCRACY MAR 2, 2016 – Lieli and Oberwil are part of a village outside Zurich. It has attracted many affluent residents but the local council is not keen on accommodating asylum seekers (Ester Unterfinger/swissinfo.ch) The town hall assembly of Oberwil-Lieli last November might go down in the history of […]
EU-SWITZERLAND By Urs Geiser MAR 4, 2016 – 16:14 Justice Minister Sommaruga (centre) and Economics Minister Schneider-Ammann (right) during Friday’s news conference in Bern (Keystone) The Swiss cabinet has proposed to use a unilateral safeguard clause to curb immigration if it is unable to reach agreement with the European Union […]
Source: BBC A haven for expats and loved by locals, Geneva attracts people from around the world for its economic opportunity, lakeside beauty and Mont Blanc views. Home to more […]
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE http://tp.srgssr.ch/p/inline?urn=urn:swi:video:41965588 EMBED CODE FEB 26, 2016 – 09:00 The Swiss will be going to the polls this weekend to vote on four separate issues. It was only 45 years ago this month that men voted in favour of women’s suffrage. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) Despite Switzerland’s democratic tradition, the country was […]
FOOTBALL FEB 26, 2016 – 18:05 Gianni Infantino is a Swiss citizen from canton Valais, with a long career in football administration (Keystone) UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino has been voted in as FIFA’s new president, replacing Swiss compatriot Sepp Blatter. “We will revive the image and respect of FIFA and […]
Photo: Christophe G Published: 23 Feb 2016 More and more foreigners in Switzerland are seeking Swiss citizenship according to official figures, reversing a downward trend over the previous 10 years. Figures from the Swiss immigration office show that the number of naturalizations rose by around 20 percent in 2015, with […]
SCHOOL DRESSCODE FEB 22, 2016 – 20:54 Two young women studying in Zurich (Keystone) With an eye on Muslim hijab, Swiss People’s Party members in canton Valais have collected more than 4,000 signatures calling for a ban on headgear in public schools – despite a recent federal court decision rejecting […]
RECIPES FROM ON HIGH By Jo Fahy OCT 26, 2014 – From the pope’s favourite sweet treats to the Swiss Guards’ pasta preferences, it’s all in the book (Katarzyna Artymiak ) When a young cook from Zurich chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Swiss Guard, he […]
READER RESPONSE Social media divided on religion in school By Stefania Summermatter and Gaby Ochsenbein POLITICS Education Religion FEB 18, 2016 – Potential for conflict: religion at school (Keystone) Do pupils have a right to pray in state schools? An article on this issue published by swissinfo.ch in ten languages […]
By Veronica DeVore swissinfo.ch FEB 19, 2016 – 11:00 Two participants in a food service apprenticeship for refugees show off their creations. Launched in 2006 on a national level, the programme now continues to be run by canton Lucerne. (Hotel & Gastro Formation) After first testing the waters […]
SYRIA CRISIS By swissinfo.ch and agencies FEB 9, 2016 – 10:54 Syrians huddle in a lorry near the Turkish border to protect themselves against the cold on February 6 (Keystone) For three years Switzerland has been dealing directly with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad concerning the humanitarian situation in […]
FIGHTING TERRORISM FEB 11, 2016 – 15:52 The young man’s identity has not been made public. (Keystone) The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has upheld the decision of the Swiss Attorney General’s Office to confiscate the Swiss passport and identifying documents of an alleged Swiss-Lebanese jihadist. He was arrested at Zurich […]
STATE VISIT By Slaheddine Jourchi FEB 18, 2016 – 17:30 Tunisia’s president visits Bern to talk about democracy building and frozen assets (Reuters) On his first state visit to Bern as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia, Essebsi said the neutral Swiss government had been particularly helpful because it […]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Ahmadiyya mosque in Zurich(built in 1963). Islam in Switzerland has mostly arrived via immigration since the late 20th century. Numbering below 1% of total population in 1980, the fraction of Muslims in the population of permanent residents in Switzerland has quintupled in thirty years, […]
FEB 16, 2016 – 11:20 Swiss parliamentarian Thomas Aeschi visited the village of Mendefera in Eritrea in early February, as part of a private parliamentary mission to the country (Keystone) While declaring that Eritrea is not the “North Korea of Africa”, the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration has criticised […]