by Abdelhafidh Abdeleli, swissinfo.ch If Spanish and Italian immigrants have their own old age care homes, why should elderly Muslims not have similar institutions? The relevant parties appear to be in agreement on the urgent need for special health and social services, but views differ on how to achieve them. […]
by Gemma d’Urso in Lugano, swissinfo.ch Thirteen years ago after causing a sensation with her book The White Masai, Corinne Hofmann has returned to the theme of Africa with her new book, Africa, My Passion. It tells of an arduous but glorious journey, her experiences visiting slums and her daughter’s […]
by Isobel Leybold in Zurich, swissinfo.ch Insect expert Hans Rudolf Herren’s work in tackling the devastating cassava mealybug crop pest in Africa saved millions of lives and won him the 1995 World Food Prize. Herren, the subject of a new biography, tells swissinfo.ch how he managed to naturally control the bug […]
By Eveline Kobler and Alexander Künzle, swissinfo.ch Terror attacks, political manoeuvering by rightwing parties and oversimplification in the media explain why Muslims in Switzerland are perceived as a threat. The National Research Programme 58 study into religious pluralism says immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries have been singled out even though this group has […]
Terror attacks abroad, rightwing policies and a biased media are all reasons why Muslims increasingly seem to have a bad image in Switzerland, a report has found. In particular the debate surrounding the national minaret vote of 2009 – in which the building of minarets was banned – was revealed […]
Mosques are a part of the Swiss landscape: there are over 100 dotted around the country. There are four minarets in Switzerland – in Geneva, Zurich, Wangen and Winterthur.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected two appeals against a ban on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland.Judges ruled that the plaintiffs – three Muslim organisations and a private citizen – were not victims of an alleged human rights violation. The Strasbourg-based court on Friday announced that […]
Singapore. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, hired primatologist Jane Goodall’s services last week to give lessons in conservation and philanthropy to children of its clients in Singapore. Goodall, 77, who has studied chimpanzees since 1960 in Tanzania, gave a talk on getting involved with animal welfare, human rights and other causes […]
by Armando Mombelli, swissinfo.ch The prehistoric lake dwellings of the alpine region are to be added to the Unesco World Heritage List, as proposed by Switzerland and five other European countries. These sites provide a unique glimpse of life in the earliest agricultural settlements from 5,000 to 500 BC. They […]
Armed men on Friday kidnapped two Swiss in south-west Pakistan, news agencies reported. The two Swiss entered Baluchistan province from neighbouring Punjab province around 5pm local time and “had been registered by police at a check point” as tourists from Switerland, a local police official said. Their abandoned vehicle was […]
The controversial ultra-conservative Catholic group, the Pius Brotherhood, has ordained four new priests just two days before Bishop Richard Williamson’s appeal against his conviction for Holocaust denial. Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Saint Pius X Society, a Swiss-based Catholic fraternity, ordained the four men at a seminary in Zaitzofen, near […]
by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch The government will not introduce specific regulations on organised assisted suicide, but will extend measures to boost palliative care and suicide prevention. The decision is the latest step in a drawn-out public controversy over current regulations on the right to die and so-called ‘suicide tourism’ – […]
by Andreas Keiser, swissinfo.ch For the first time ever it’s an applicants’ market in the exemplary Swiss apprenticeship system. This year apprenticeship places outnumber school leavers by 4,000. The surplus is mainly seen in German-speaking Switzerland. Low-scoring students continue to find it hard to find a position but it’s still […]
Professors at the University of Zurich are contemplating how the Islamic family law could be integrated in Switzerland. It would not be necessary to go to the Civil marriage registrar, instead polygamy could come. Swiss Universities are working on a concept to integrate the Islamic family law into the Swiss […]
The Federal Court says the humanitarian situation in most regions of Afghanistan is too critical to send back asylum seekers whose requests were rejected by Switzerland. A court statement said security had deteriorated in all regions of Afghanistan over the past few years. It added the return of an asylum […]
By REUTERS UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly on Wednesday elected as its next president veteran Qatari diplomat Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, who UN diplomats say is unlikely to cause trouble for Western powers. Nasser, who has been Qatar’s ambassador to the United Nations since 1998, will replace Joseph Deiss of Switzerland. […]
by Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch Blistering barnacles! A real Yeti skin on sale in Geneva! Not exactly; it is the pelt of an Ursus arctos pruinosus, or rare Tibetan blue bear, to be more precise. The hide is the main attraction on Wednesday at the Hotel des Ventes auction house. It […]
Hybrids may be touted as the vehicles of the future – but not the kind put together by a teenager in the eastern Swiss village of Jonschwil. The unnamed 17-year-old welded together the front of a moped and the back of a Renault Clio, and stuck the back of the […]
by Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch and agencies The president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has demanded “immediate access” to parts of Syria hit by violence. Meanwhile, the Syrian army has begun a military operation to restore security in the town of Jisr al-Shughour near the Turkish […]
by Dr. Monzur Ahmed The honey bee exhibits a combination of individual traits and social co-operation which is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. A glimpse into the nest makes it apparent why honey bees have fascinated us from the earliest days of scientific observations. The infrastructure of the nest, the […]