Source: The Local High court upholds ‘hate speech’ conviction Switzerland’s highest court on Monday upheld the conviction of a former Swiss People’s Party (SVP) politician of racial discrimination for a […]
TERRORISM WATCHLIST New intel leads to more suspected jihadist cases NOV 22, 2015 – 13:15 The Swiss federal prosecutor is receiving more tips of suspected jihadis (Keystone) The office of the Swiss attorney general says it has opened nearly a dozen new investigations into potential adherents of jihadist groups over the […]
SEEKING ASYLUM Afghan family finds shelter in Swiss farmhouse By Gaby Ochsenbein in Hinterkappelen, Bern NOV 20, 2015 – 11:00 The Sajadi family in their bed-/living room at the Hinterkappelen asylum centre (swissinfo.ch) Growing numbers of Afghans are coming to Switzerland, most of them via the Balkans – including the […]
ANTI-JIHADI STRATEGY Steering Swiss youngsters away from radicalisation By Simon Bradley NOV 17, 2015 – 17:00 Three teams of Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers carried out attacks last Friday […]
EUROPEAN MIGRATION Swiss to retain high proportion of foreigners NOV 12, 2015 – 21:28 Europe’s migration crisis offers nations a way to replace aging labor pools. (Keystone) An analysis of migration data shows the Swiss can expect to have one of the highest European proportions of foreigners in their midst […]
Gianni Infantino (left) said he will step aside if Platini (right) later qualifies for the vote. Photo: Valery Hache/AFP Five pass ‘integrity tests’ for Fifa leader race Published: 12 Nov 2015 Fifa on Thursday approved five candidates to stand in February’s vote to replace Sepp Blatter as president of world […]
IMMIGRATION QUOTAS Swiss ambivalence towards immigration approach By swissinfo.ch and agencies NOV 8, 2015 – 13:15 Swiss voters are coming to terms with their 2014 vote to reimpose curbs on immigration for foreigners like this Spanish construction worker at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. (Keystone) A growing number of […]
SWITCHING ON Nearly half of current jobs could be lost to machines NOV 9, 2015 – 19:12 While self-scan machines at checkouts are becoming more common, some people prefer to […]
FIFA hopeful Prince Ali takes diplomatic path to presidential goal By AP – Nov 07,2015 – JORDAN TIMES GENEVA — In a FIFA election now more open than expected, HRH Prince Ali has changed his strategy since Michel Platini was caught up in a corruption scandal. Speaking with The Associated […]
Freedom struggle or terror? PKK creates rift between Swiss Kurds and Turks by Peter Siegenthaler, swissinfo.ch Nov 3, 2015 – 11:00 Several people were injured in clashes between Kurdish and Turkish demonstrators in Bern in September (Keystone) With around 120,000 residents of Turkish origin – about half of them Kurds – Switzerland has been […]
By Jo Fahy Nov 5, 2015 The Swiss have been preparing themselves for an influx of refugees from Syria. While volunteers waited for people who weren’t going to come, twitter could have told them that Switzerland wasn’t on their radar. “Switzerland is not, and has never been actually, that much […]
By John Heilprin OCT 15, 2015 – 09:20 The burnt-out MSF hospital after explosions in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz on October 3 (Keystone) A Swiss-based world body for investigating breaches of international humanitarian law says it has requested permission from the United States and Afghanistan – and already prepared an […]
OCT 7, 2015 – 16:23 Swiss law will require hostages to reimburse the costs of freedom (Keystone) Starting in November, Swiss living abroad must register their whereabouts and reimburse government costs of coming to their aid if they are kidnapped or taken hostage. The cabinet decided on Wednesday that […]
REFUGEE CRISIS Defence minister: bunkers could house 50,000 migrants By swissinfo.ch and agencies OCT 2, 2015 – 09:16 Defence Minister Ueli Maurer in the civil protection bunker in Worb (Keystone) Switzerland could accommodate 50,000 people at short notice if the number of migrants in Switzerland were to dramatically increase, says Defence […]
Refugees in Italy: most are avoiding Switzerland — for now. Photo: AFP Swiss brace for refugee trickle to turn into flood Published: 23 Sep 2015 10:15 GMT+02:00 SOURCE: http://www.thelocal.ch/20150923/swiss-brace-for-refugee-trickle-to-turn-into-flood Border guards in crisp blue uniforms rush onto the train as it grinds to a halt, quickly rounding up around a dozen […]
HELPING HAND Swiss donations for Syrian crisis swell to CHF20 million SEP 30, 2015 – 11:00 Migrants, many from Syria, make their way into Serbia en route to Western Europe (Keystone) The Swiss public has donated CHF20 million ($20.5 million) inside a month towards helping the victims of war-torn countries. […]
FACE TO FACE Is a ‘burka ban’ really necessary in Switzerland? By Peter Siegenthaler SEP 29, 2015 – 17:28 According to estimates there are about 150 to 300 people living in Switzerland who wear a burka or niqab (Keystone) Several European countries have banned in public places the wearing […]
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY Sommaruga calls for joint action on migrants at UN SEP 29, 2015 – 10:03 There are around 60 million displaced persons worldwide, more than at any time since the UN was founded (Keystone) In her speech at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York […]
Agenda World Economic Forum: by Sri Mulyani Indrawati — In the 1990s very few countries had laws protecting women from violence, now 127 do partially because the world is more aware of the human and economic cost of mistreating women. In 100 countries around the world, women are barred from […]
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE Novartis offers cheap drugs for developing countries SEP 24, 2015 – 11:29 Patients in Kenya, Ethiopia and Vietnam will be the first beneficiaries of the cheap drugs (Keystone) The Swiss pharma giant Novartis has launched a portfolio of 15 affordable drugs for chronic diseases in low- and middle-income […]