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 […]
Bern University has set up a professorial post in bee health with the aim of better understanding the insect and its dwindling colonies. The post, funded with a SFr5 million ($5.89 million) donation by the Biel-based Vinetum foundation, will be attached to the university’s veterinary faculty. It aims to study the largely […]
by Peter Siegenthaler, swissinfo.ch As the Swiss Refugee Council marks Refugee Day on June 18 with a focus on what refugees have to offer society, European states worry about a new wave of asylum seekers. Swiss justice minister, Simonetta Sommaruga, tells swissinfo.ch that she wants to simplify and speed up […]
by Dale Bechtel, swissinfo.ch The authorities have placed strict conditions on an agreement governing the independent monitoring of forced deportations of rejected asylum seekers. Monitors deployed by the Federation of Protestant Churches in a six-month trial period starting in July will not be allowed to go public with their reports. […]
Zermatt’s place in history was tragically secured with the first ascent of the Matterhorn in the 19th century. As the surrounding peaks were climbed in the 1830’s to 50’s, there developed intense competition to conquer the Matterhorn, which for many years had been considered “unclimbable”. The English climber Edward Whymper […]
A rare Sicilian “error of colour” issued in 1859 has become the world’s second most expensive stamp after selling for €1.8 million (SFr2.18) at auction in Basel. The stamp, which was printed erroneously in blue instead of orange, was the centre piece of the four-day auction by Galerie Dreyfus which […]
by Eveline Kobler, swissinfo.ch The insistence of the Roman Catholic Church that priests have to be male reflects the power of men and not Christian theology, says Swiss theologian Doris Strahm. Strahm is co-author of a recent study into women in leadership roles in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. […]
by Marc-André Miserez, swissinfo.ch Antennas developed by Swiss scientists have sounded ice layers in Antarctica up to several kilometres thick, as well as the rocks underneath. This is of interest not only to geologists and climatologists attempting to measure the effects of global warming on Earth’s ice-covered regions, but also […]
by Julia Slater, in Lucerne, swissinfo.ch Concerns about both climate change and safe energy supply in the post-Fukushima world have given a new impulse to one of Switzerland’s specialities: hydroelectricity. About 900 experts in dams from all over the world converged on Lucerne this week for the annual symposium of […]