Assad has said that taking the city of Aleppo from rebel forces would act as a springboard to 'push terrorists back to Turkey’ (AFP) Syria's President Bashar al-Assad told Swiss public television, SRF, that fighting ‘terrorists’ in Aleppo was the only way of ‘protecting civilians’. He denied govement forces bombed hospitals indiscriminately and dismissed allegations of the army’s use of chemical weapons. “According to the constitution, according to the law, we have to protect people, we have to get rid of those terrorists from Aleppo. This is where we can protect the civilians,” Assad told SRF in the interview broadcast on Wednesday. "How can you protect them while they are under the control of terrorists? They've been killed by them, and they've been controlled fully by the terrorists. Is it our role to sit aside and watch, if that's how we can protect the Syrian people? We need to attack the terrorists, that's self-evident." The Syrian military said on Thursday

Care work third most-chosen apprenticeship for young people in Switzerland (swissinfo.ch) Who will be crowned the best care worker in Switzerland? With a looming staff shortage in nursing homes and hospitals, a high-stakes contest is a way to attract young people to the profession. Rahel Pomaro’s face glistens with sweat in the bright lights as she prepares breakfast for her “patient”. On the other side of the glass, her friends and family watch anxiously, brandishing homemade flags and kerchiefs with her face printed on them. She glances at the clock to make sure she can finish all the tasks on her list before time is up.She’s a competitor in the second-ever national skills competition for care workers – people who assist patients in nursing homes, hospitals and home care settings. In Switzerland, the profession is heavily female-dominated, and all of this year’s competition finalists are women. Whoever wins will have the chance to compete at next year’s world skil

Ambassador LeVine plans to hold talks with Swiss bankers (Keystone) Several Swiss banks have received a letter from the United States Ambassador to Be, Suzan LeVine, asking them not to shun US citizens who want to open accounts in Switzerland. Many Swiss banks have frozen out US clients, and even closed down existing accounts, in the wake of a damaging legal battle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over tax evasion. Banks have not only dropped links to tax cheats, but many have also shued all US citizens, as the paperwork builds up along with the potential penalties for letting a rotten apple slip through the net. LeVine plans to meet bankers to find a solution for tax compliant US citizens living in Switzerland. There are currently around 20,000 US citizens resident in the alpine country and many more with dual citizenship. “Many US persons have expressed their conces to me about their lack of access to banking services in Switzerland,” LeVine wrote in the letter t

Guterres pledged on Thursday to act as an "honest broker"and said he would take a humble approach in trying to deal with global issues (Getty Images) Switzerland has welcomed the official appointment of the new United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, although media waed that he had his work cut out in the “most difficult job in the world”. He replaces Ban Ki-moon, who will step down at the end of the year. The 193-member UN General Assembly on Thursday unanimously appointed the 67-year-old former Portuguese Prime Minister as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years, begiing January 1, 2017. The news of his selection last week by the UN Security Council received rapturous applause from newspapers and officials in Geneva. “Inteational Geneva jumped with joy,” wrote the Tribune de Genève, also referring to Guterres as a “Genevan”. “Impossible to have dreamed of a better choice,” raved an editorial. “The former boss of the UNHCR

Three-quarters of the 20 states most affected by land grabbing are in Africa and Asia (Reuters) The worrying rise in foreign investors buying up land in poor countries is set to get worse in future, taking valuable resources from local populations. A report out later this month by a Be database into ‘land grabbing’ should dig deeper into the problem. “The grabbing of agricultural land is really a kind of neo-colonialism,” says Swiss entomologist and agriculturist Hans Rudolf Herren, who has been awarded inteational prizes such as the World Food Prize for his work to stop famine in Africa. “Wealthy states are getting hold of more and more valuable land in the poor countries, and in two-thirds of these countries, the local population suffers from hunger.” Herren has for years been one of the inteational agricultural experts denouncing the new phenomenon of ‘land grabbing’. “These lands are generally put to use for agriculture on an industrial scale, for

The initiative demands the end of nuclear energy production in Switzerland by 2029 (Reuters) Baing construction of nuclear power plants and limiting to 45 years the use of existing ones: that’s what a people’s initiative from the Green Party, to be voted on in November, proposes. It has not been endorsed by the cabinet or by parliament. On March 11, 2011, dramatic footage from Japan showed the destruction caused by an earthquake and tsunami. The coastal nuclear power plant at Fukushima sustained severe damage. There was worldwide conce, and a few weeks later the Swiss govement aounced its historic decision that “existing nuclear power plants [in Switzerland] should be decommissioned at the end of their safe operational lifespan and not be replaced by new nuclear power plants”. According to the govement, the lifespan of nuclear power plants, based on technical safety criteria, is “about 50 years”. This was too long for the Greens, who want to walk away from nuc

King Bhumibol of Thailand, who reigned for seven decades, died in hospital aged 88 (Keystone) Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has died at the age of 88, having ascended to the throne in 1946 to become the world’s longest-serving monarch. Early in his reign, he lived and worked in the Swiss city of Lausae. “King Bhumibol discovered his passion for music in Lausae, first as a musician and later as a composer,” reads the book “King Bhumibol and the Thai Royal Family in Lausae.” The book contains the memories of Cléon Séraïdaris, who served the king’s family for 26 years. Bhumibol Adulyadej lived in Switzerland on and off between 1933 and 1951, in a villa in the town of Pully near Lausae. He lived there with his mother, sister and brother Ananda Mahidol, who was king before him. The family often took holidays in cantons Valais and Graubünden. Bhumibol was fascinated by photography, skiing, fast cars and nature. He received his baccalaureate at a canto

In 1971, fights broke out in Geneva over the Schwarzenbach initiative, which aimed to limit the number of foreigners in Switzerland. (Keystone) Fear of an excess of foreigners and isolationism: Donald Trump’s political profile is a Swiss invention. By Michael Herma Whenever the US election campaign lurches into new extremes – as is the case at the moment – people often ask: “Will this American trend engulf us, too?” The US is something like the centre of the world and is often ahead of the times. New topics and debates that cause a furore over there often find their way across the Atlantic to Europe and Switzerland. Should we now expect “Trumpification” to reach us? It is actually the other way round. This megalomaniac mogul embodies the American oversize-culture with every fibre of his being. His political agenda, however, dances to a very European tune. He has unwittingly created a political profile in the US that is a Swiss invention. Back in 1970, James S

ABB's YuMi robot can work, uncaged, alongside humans (AFP) It is hoped that robots can stem, or even reverse creeping deindustrialisation. An automated future is already becoming a reality in Switzerland. Squeezed by the strong franc some Swiss firms have been moving production to cheaper countries since currency imbalances have made Swiss exports uncompetitive in many markets, particularly Europe. This was sharpened by the Swiss National Bank’s decision in January 2015 to abandon its defence of the franc. The last great hope of Swiss-based industry appears to lie in the latest technological iovations, which can stem the exodus of factories: Robots that can work alongside humans, sensors that can detect potential defects in the production line and intelligent software that harmonise all the working parts – from construction and assembly to logistics and ordering new materials. The transformation of the factory promises to reduce costs and enhance efficiency, acting as an an

Over a century the percentage of over-65s has risen from 6% to 18% of the total population (Keystone) The Swiss population is extremely dynamic and much better educated than in the past, but it is also getting much older, new figures show. According to the results of the 2010-2014 census presented by the Federal Statistical Office on Monday, the Swiss population has doubled in 80 years, growing from 4.1 million in 1932 to 8.2 million in 2014. But the increase varies depending on the region and its relative economic strength. Zurich, which has a population of 1.5 million, is the most inhabited canton. It is followed by Be, with just over one million residents and Vaud with 760,000. In 2014, there were around 100,000 more Swiss women than men. This is the case in most cantons, except for those in central and northeaste regions such as Glarus, Thurgau, Appenzell Outer-Rhodes and Appenzell Ier-Rhodes. Foreigners represent around a quarter of all permanent residents. But numbers