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Producing for diverse audiences is part of the job at an inteational broadcaster(Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi) ...

The Alpine Initiative won surprise support from voters who wanted to shift freight transport through the Alps from road to rail.(© Keys...

Jürg Schär and Konrad Rüegg are both members of the SwissFederation of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (swissinfo.ch) Switzerland’s Federation of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) supports a proposal to do away with mandatory licence fees for public service broadcasters, which will come to a nationwide vote on March 4. Two of its members sat down to discuss the issue.The SME umbrella organisationexteal link is up against an alliance of most political parties, parliament, the govement, trade unions and most sectors of the business community, who recommend voting against the initiative. But it is a political force to be reckon...

caption-test no caption Over a thousand opponents of the "No Billag" initiative gathered at the parliament square on January 31(Keystone) The No Billag initiative, which seeks to abolish the licence fee used to finance public radio and television, is supported by a relatively small number of parties and organisations. The main official supporters include the Swiss People’s Party and the Swiss Arts and Crafts Union. Most other parties and organisations advocate rejecting the initiative. (swissinfo.ch) Political parties in favourSwiss People...

The UBS Optimus Foundation invested in a DIB to help girls attend school in rural India and improve educational performance(swissinfo.ch) Money to help lift the most-disadvantaged out of misery is drying up, while at the same time private investors are looking for new opportunities in a zero-interest environment. Switzerland is well poised to assume a leadership role in linking the two.It is nearing 9am in Zurich and a conference hall located 100 metres from the square, Paradeplatz, the very heart of the city’s financial district, is packed. Over a hundred representatives from development agencies, academia, as well as a smattering of pr...

Public broadcasting models around the world vary greatly in terms of funding models and govement influence.(swissinfo.ch) On March 4, Switzerland will decide on the future of its public service radio and TV. If voters tu out in favour of abolishing the licence fees that finance public broadcasters, the Swiss media scene will change drastically. What’s the situation for public media around the world?SWI swissinfo.ch tapped its inteational network to find out what kinds of media systems exist elsewhere and how they are maintained.Switzerland’s federal govement should stay out of the media altogether. So say those promoting the "No Billag" ...

Peter Bodenma, former president of the Swiss Social Democrat Party.(Thomas Egli/Lunax) No to EEA, 25 years on A quarter-century of Switzerland’s special status in Europe Some 25 years before Britons voted to leave the European Union, Swiss people cast their ballot in a similar vote with far-reaching implications. 2 There are 2 comments on this article. See in other languages: 9 + Read the interview with anti...

In 2016, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached a record level of 403 parts per million(Keystone/Gaetan Bally) “Now it’s time to take things seriously,” confirmed Jürg Staudenman...

A total of 21 infantshave been depositedin baby boxes since the scheme was introduced in 2001(Keystone) In the last four years, three new mothers have made the long winding walk from Olten railway station or bus stand to the local hospital – theKantonsspital Olten.A small, slightly-hidden alcove at the centre of the hospital’s sprawling gar...

These are some of the stories coming up on swissinfo.ch for the week begiing October 2, 2017. (Thomas Ke/swissinfo.ch) MondayDavid Leuenberger dreams of marriage and perhaps children. But both are not possible for homosexual couples under Swiss law. The 30-year-old design manager from Be talks to swissinfo.ch’s Katy Romy about life in Swi...

UN officials are realising that they may have a better chance of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goalsif business is involved.(Keystone) A growing number of business executives have been keen to sign up to the UN's latest pet project: the so-called Sustainable Development Goals.Until recently, if you'd asked most business leaders whe...

Elmer is a regular at Swiss court hearings but his next one could be the most important yet (Keystone) Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer tells Indian publication The Wire that tax evasion is still common despite inteational pressure to share banking information. He blames the ease of setting ...

New products being rolled out by the food industry will have to create a perception of 'naturalness' if they're going to appeal to consumers, researchers say. (Keystone) It’s splashed all over ads and packaging, but there’s actually been very little research – until now– into the importance o...

With Art Basel now underway in Switzerland and also a fixture in Miami and Hong Kong,some feel the art fair’s massive globalpresence is endangering local markets.(SRF, swissinfo.ch) The three main Art Basel venues and their many fringe events are known for defining trends in the global art market."Art Basel today is a constant presence in the art world," says its director Marc Spiegler.It's especially growing in Asia, where 70,000 people visited the Hong Kong event this year, a new record. But not all artists can afford to be part of the ever-more-influential Art Basel scene. ...

With Art Basel now underway in Switzerland and also a fixture in Miami and Hong Kong,some feel the art fair's massive globalpresence is endangering local markets.(SRF, swissinfo.ch) The three main Art Basel venues and their many fringe events are known for defining trends in the global art market."Art Basel today is a constant presence in the art world," says its director Marc Spiegler.It's especially growing in Asia, where 70,000 people visited the Hong Kong event this year, a new record. But not all artists can afford to be part of the ever-more-influential Art Basel scene. ...

Leibstadt isone of Switzerland's five nuclear reactors. It remains on the grid but no newnuclear power plants can be built after Sunday's vote (Keystone) Voters have endorsed a new energy law that aims to promote renewable energy, ban new nuclear power plants and lower energy consumption. ...

May 23, 2017 - 15:45British actor Roger Moore, who played the role of James Bond in seven of the spy adventures, has died in Switzerland at the age of 89. He passed away after a short battle with cancer. His family aounced the news on Tuesday: “it is with a heavy heart that we aounce the death o...

One month into his new Geneva job, Swiss ambassador Valentin Zellweger (centre) was already hosting top officials like US Secretary of State John Kerry (Keystone) From his sixth-floor office window Valentin Zellweger has sweeping views of his new realm – Inteational Geneva – that stretches from the deep-blue lake northeast of the centre up towards the airport, and includes institutions like the United Nations European headquarters and the World Trade Organization. Zellweger took over as the new Swiss ambassador to the UN and inteational organisations in Geneva on August 1. Although only several weeks into the new job, he agrees with his predecessor, Alexandre Fasel, that the Geneva posti...

Fillet of Sole à la General Sherman - just one of the delicacies from the book (Paul Morigi Photography) William Tell soup, anyone? Or General Ulysses S. Grant pudding? What led Switzerland’s man in Washington to add some spice to his role as ambassador and write a cookbook? “Before going to the United States I was thinking how I can best present Switzerland in culinary terms,” explained Martin Dahinden, on a recent visit to swissinfo.ch’s Zurich office. Schweizer Küchengeheimnisse: Gesichter und Geschichten hinter bekaten Gerichten (Swiss Kitchen Secrets Faces and Stories Behind Famous Dishes), was published in German in July. The Ambassador, who took up his role in 2014, said he was conv...

Net debt, which once stood at $29 billion, should fall to $17 billion by the year’s end (Keystone) In business, a near-debt experience can easily tu into a near-death one. A year ago, shareholders were slapping the pallid cheeks of commodities-and-mining group Glencore and beseeching: “Don’t go towards the light!” On the evidence of interim results, Glencore has meandered back from the other side with only the odd angel feather clinging to its collar as evidence. The Swiss group has made about $4 billion (CHF3.8 billion) in divestments, including a deal to sell gold output from an Aussie mine for more than A$880 million (CHF647 million). Net debt, which once stood at $29 billion, should ...