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(Keystone/Sigi Tischler) Why is Swiss meat among the most expensive in the world? Farmers, consumer groups and industry experts all have their opinions. Not many people in the world can afford to pay nearly $50 for a kilogramme of beef leg round or more than $20 for the same amount of pork chop. But those are the price tags on these cuts of meat in Swiss supermarkets. According to the Meat Price Index 2017 by Caterwingsexteal link, Switzerland has the highest meat prices in the world - 142% more than the global average. Caterwings estimates that an unskilled Swiss worker needs only 3.1 hours to afford 1kg of beef, while in India someone must work 22.8 hours to pay for the same amount. ...

On 1 January, 1942, a document was signed by 26 states, coining theterm "United Nations". The Declaration of the United Nations exteal linkpledged that their govements wouldcontinue fighting together against the Axis Powers. Swiss Public Television, RTS, takes a closer look at attempts to make historic documents like these available to a wider public. (RTS/swissinfo.ch) The Geneva archives are testament to efforts to establish peace through diplomacy.The League of Nations wasthe predecessor of the United Nations, and was the firstinteational organisation that set out to achieve world peace.The 26 years of the League's history are summed up in 15 million pages. These documents will soon be av...

A demonstratoris detained by police during a protest rallyin Moscowearlier this year.(Keystone / EPA / Maxim Shipenkov) The automatic exchange of tax information (AIE) between countries is generally seen as an effective way of cracking down on tax cheats. But what if a country uses the data to politically oppress its citizens? It’s a buin...

Here are the stories to look forward to on swissinfo.ch for the week begiing September 25, 2017. (Keystone) MondayWe’ll havereactions from the September 24 votes - 'no' to pension reform and 'yes' tofood security. What will political pundits say about launching another attempt to ensure there is enoughmoney in the state coffers to payfor...

While expats considered Switzerland’s leisure options, such as Zurich’s techno parade, to be average, they appreciated the country’s security and stability (Keystone) In expat heaven, safety levels are Swiss, leisure options are South African, teachers are Fiish and neighbours are Mexican. In expat hell, safety levels areSouth African, leisure options are Fiish,teachers are Mexicanand...

Democracy is a bit likea puzzle, withmany different people holding a piece. People trying to solve the puzzle have todiscuss ideas and vote. If citizens don'tfulfil certain criteria, the puzzle doesn't fit together very well. Civic education plays a crucial part in democracy:it prepares people to take part in a democracy and helps them find their place on the political spectrum. What happens ...

This content was published on September 9, 2017 11:00 AMSep 9, 2017 - 11:00A record number of visitors – 30,000 – tued out for the biaual science days hosted by the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. Over the course of three days, some 300 researchers welcomed visitors at 60 stands, 40 lectures, and 14 workshops covering topics like health, robotics...

Why do the Swiss abroad vote differently from the Swiss at home?An expert takes a closer look at the political profile of the Swiss diaspora. Political expert Thomas Milic has researched the political profile of Swiss expats. He's an expert on voting, parliamentary research and political psychology at the research centreSotomoexteal link. He also regularly works for the Centre for Democracy Aarauexteal link. In our new series,'Inside the Democracy Labs', researchers answer all kinds of questions about democracy. ...

The Jungfraujoch monitoring station, home to several research projects, sits at 3,466 metres above sea level (© KEYSTONE / GAETAN BALLY) Swiss scientists recording greenhouse gas emissions from the Jungfraujoch Alpine station are working to have their data recognised by those enforcing the Par...

Inteational polls rank Be as one of the safest capital cities to live in on the planet. swissinfo.ch found out what it means to feel secure there. The city, with its thriving economy and excellent infrastructure, seems to offer a great quality of life. People appear to be pretty relaxed about p...

The pharma industry is relying more and more on data and technology. (Keystone) Big pharma companies are tuing to big data in an attempt to keep up with shifts in market demand.Swiss-based Novartis is no different. After many years building successful technology businesses, Jeremy Sohn neve...

Tama Vakeesan was bo in Switzerland – to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. Both she and her friend Aceko, who’s from Cameroon, had trouble convincing their parents to support their career choices. Aceko succesfully switched from banking to professional dancing, and went on to winthe “Red Bull Beat It" competition in 2016.(SRF Kulturplatz/swissinfo.ch) ...

Global warming naturally comes to mind as a topic for reflection while Switzerland swelters in a Europe-wide heatwave. To help inform our thinking about this, swissinfo.ch compiledmore than 150 years of Swiss temperature data in graphics. It illustrates both the changing climate and hotter temperat...

Unprecedented amounts of digital information, plusadvanced computing platforms to store and analyseit, bringopportunities to create value from big data – as well as certain dangers (Keystone) It’s a ubiquitous buzzword, but “big data” is about to bring a wealth of opportunities to Switzerla...

Passport applicants living abroad will also face tighter criteria for Swiss integration. (Keystone) From January 1, 2018, it will no longer be enough to have a Swiss grandmother or great-grandmother to qualify for a Swiss passport. The country’s new citizenship law has more stringent criteria ...

What do you really know about Switzerland? Images of mountain scenery and sparkling alpine lakes abound. But what about caabis consumption and divorce rates? swissinfo.ch offers a dedicated platform to deepen your knowledge of the country in just a few minutes.Not many might know that it is illega...

A doctor calls for a patient in the waiting room of a mode group practice in Zurich(Keystone)Young general practitioners want to leave the traditional model of a lone doctor working long hours behind. But will their wish to work in a group practice instead stem Switzerland’s GP shortage?Raphael T...

Flesh and bones meet machines in a bid to improve healthcare (Keystone) At the University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg 6,000 patients are waiting for a diagnosis of their rare conditions. In a good year, doctors can only diagnose 1,000 of them. A Zurich-developed artificial intelligence system it’s now using can diagnose baffling cases in days. Most patients have spent years bouncing from one doctor to another, building up huge dossiers of medical notes. Rare diseases typically take at least five years to correctly name, and sometimes up to 30, by which time it can be too late for effective treatment. “This is an inefficient, costly business,” Dr Jurgen Schafer, who heads the German u...

If every byte of information on the inteet needs a physical location where it’s stored, one of the safest places to keep this data might be inside a Swiss mountain. (Carlo Pisani, swissinfo.ch) Around 80 kilometres from Zurich it is one of the largest Swiss military bunkers ever built. In 2011 the bunker was converted into a data centre that’s now run by the company Deltalis. Located close to one of Europe’s major inteet backbones – the cables ruing under the motorway between Milan and Zurich – it benefits from fast response times over the inteet, or low latency. Given Switzerland’s reputation for stability and relatively restrictive laws on data secrecy (the Swiss authorities are only allow...

The Niagara Falls are at the border between the US and Canada. John Zimmer, who grew up north of them, shares his opinion of what's going on south of them, in the run-up to the US presidential election. (AFP) Like most Canadians, John Zimmer knows what it’s like to not be an American. In this essay, the seven-time wier of the Toastmasters European Speech Contests takes a tongue-in-cheek look at a US Presidential candidate who takes himself very seriously. By John Zimmer This article . . . is goa be a great, great article. I will write . . . the greatest article that you’ve ever seen. Believe me. It’s goa be beautiful. They’re goa put my name on this article and it’s goa be gorgeou...