Israeli-Palestinian conflict reaches Bern (Switzerland)
by Renat Kuenzi, swissinfo.ch An exhibition in Bern presenting the history of the Palestinian exodus has raised questions about the validity of featuring one side of the conflict. More than […]
Does Palestine UN vote threaten Swiss neutrality?
by Jean-Michel Berthoud, swissinfo.ch Switzerland has announced that it will support a call to upgrade the status of Palestine at the United Nations when the issue comes to the vote […]
Atheists and Islam – No God, not even Allah
THE ECONOMIST, Beirut. A MOB attacked Alexander Aan even before an Indonesian court in June jailed him for two and a half years for “inciting religious hatred”. His crime was to write “God does not exist” on a Facebook group he had founded for atheists in Minang, a province of […]
Switzerland: Asylum process is short on space and organisation
Reviews of Swiss asylum centres and procedures have found more space and centralised coordination is needed. While most accommodation was seen as adequate, one transit location at Geneva airport was […]
Weighing up the “unusual” Swiss justice system
by Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch No other European country sends as few convicted violent criminals to prison as Switzerland. With the penal code due to be reformed, questions are being raised about whether the criminal justice system is serving the country well. Take a sample case of aggravated bodily assault. On […]
World’s biggest flower blooms in Switzerland
Russian TV: The world’s largest flower has blossomed in Basel. The monster stinky plant, which boasts the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, is 2.27 meters tall and blooms for […]
Switzerland: Elite hotel school blends food and finance
Right now Clementine Dupraz is busy slicing a chocolate cake, but soon she may be running a luxury hotel, or crunching numbers in a bank. For this Swiss school trains […]
Switzerland: Major shift in energy policy looms
by Armando Mombelli, swissinfo.ch The phasing out of nuclear power will mean a profound transformation of the Swiss energy system. But the Energy Strategy 2050, which the government has issued […]
Health care in Syria is “beyond catastrophic”
by Mohamed Cherif in Geneva, swissinfo.ch Hundreds of doctors are being imprisoned or killed for doing their job and tens of thousands of people are deprived of vital treatment as […]
Switzerland: Divided over asylum reform: Rights groups urge fair asylum procedure
by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch In a bid to overcome divisions among the political left and civil society on how to deal with stricter asylum rules, the non-governmental Refugee Council and […]
ICRC develops global website to reunite families
The Geneva-based International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a new website designed to help families dispersed by conflict and catastrophe find each other. The site, familylinks.icrc.org, will […]
History of the Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement
Do you know where and how the Red Cross started? Please click on the links below and find out! For more pictures and explanations throughout the years please click on […]
Swiss help countries move beyond conflict
by Patricia Islas, swissinfo.ch Colombia is on the path to peace after 50 years of civil war and Tunisia is trying its hand at democracy after two decades of dictatorship; […]
Switzerland: Mountain villages look for a workable future
by Julia Slater in Poschiavo, swissinfo.ch “A bejewelled crescent at the heart of a continent” is how a booklet issued by the eight-nation Alpine Convention describes the Alps. Beautiful, certainly […]
Swiss businesses ready to enter Turkey
by Alexander Kuenzle, swissinfo.ch For Swiss exporters and investors, an emerging market is opening. Foreign trade booster Osec will open its 20th Swiss Business Hub in Istanbul next spring. Also […]
Swiss to vote on curbing population growth
Campaigners have collected enough signatures to force a nationwide vote on a proposal to slow down population growth through immigration limits and measures to promote birth control in developing countries. The Environment and Population Association (Ecopop) on Friday handed in more than 120,000 signatures to the federal authorities. No date […]
Swiss vow to improve human rights situation – but reject calls to cancel the ban on minarets
Switzerland has accepted 50 recommendations made by other states as part of a human rights peer review process carried out by the United Nations Human Rights Council, while rejecting four […]
“Shining example for the entire Islamic world”
by Renat Kuenzi, swissinfo.ch For Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, joining the European Union is no longer a priority. Instead he is pursuing a course of industrialisation and Islamisation, says […]
Arafat poisoning probe: Body to be exhumed in November
RAMALLAH: ARAB NEWS Wednesday 31 October 2012 Criminal investigators from France will exhume Yasser Arafat’s remains next month to try to find out how the Palestinian leader died, a French official said yesterday. The official said the team from France would arrive sometime between Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 in […]
Welcoming strangers
The town of Olten has a café that is specially for refugees and asylum seekers. Margaret Stringer, who runs the church-funded café, can relate to the migrant experience, as she came to Switzerland from Britain 16 years ago. Asylum laws are in the process of being tightened in Switzerland, and […]