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(Keystone) On April 16, 1943, Albert Hofma suddenly saw “an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours”. Hofma, then a scientist at Basel-based pharmaceutical company Sandoz, had accidentally experienced the first LSD trip after touchin...

... Print comment Reuse article See in other languages: 3 See in other languages: 3 Languages: 3 Keeping animals in small cages for fur production is baed in Switzerland.(Sylvain Cordier/Biosphoto/AFP...

... Print comment Reuse article See in another language: 1 See in another language: 1 Languages: 1 laura g 1 Laura Gibilras swissinfo.ch: You were bo in Italy as a Swiss abroad. Does someone ...

The constitution calls for every effort to be made to care for and integrate people with disabilities into society, like this group of girls.(Keystone) People with disabilities and placed under f...

There is always plenty of debate in Switzerland, with sometimes surprising results. (Keystone) In Switzerland, voters determine how much should be paid in taxes, and how those taxes should be used. Isn’t this asking for trouble? Switzerland is a strange nation. The people are handed the chance to increase their aual leave to six weeks on a silver platter, and what do they do? They decline!...

Inteational Alertworks with young people in neighbourhoods near Tunis to promote local govement participation and workforce development (swissinfo.ch) Urban working-class areas around the Tunisian capital, Tunis, have a reputation as breeding grounds for crime and religious extremism. Swi...

May 20, 2017 - 11:00Michael Rüegsegger, anauctioneer,gazes into his computer screen. The compressors of the high-pressure cleaners puff up, a group of brown cattle stands wet in the spray mist, while another truck drives forward and the last group of cattle prepares to unload. "I'm Michael," he sa...

Swiss Parliament has just increased the retirement age for women to 65 years, up from 64. This may be just a first step, since parliament has for several years mentioned the possibility of raising retirement age to 67 years for both sexes. For some, the increase in life expectancy justifies these in...

Workers lay reinforcement steel in a tuel between Bellinzona and Lugano.(Keystone)From baker to banker, Swiss workers ea salaries that must be put into perspective.Like anywhere in the world, salaries in Switzerland vary depending on factors like education, experience and location. Each year, ca...

The proportion of under-25s getting their licence in Geneva has fallen from 75% 15 years ago to 65%, according to mobility specialist Vincent Kaufma(Keystone)Geneva attracts global attention for its motor show currently underway, but fewer and fewer young adults in Geneva itself are showing an int...

Campaigners celebrate the rejection in 2016 of a controversial initiative to deport foreigners who commit certain crimes(Keystone)The more options people are given to participate politically, the happier they are, according to scientific research. So shouldn’t every country introduce Swiss-style dir...

Hadzhi Toshko Yordanov: "We want more democracy and less corruption" (Slavi’s Show) Bulgarians will vote for the first time on three electoral initiatives on November 6. Years of collaboration with Switzerland helped pave the way for this democratic precedent. The hideous grey complex I enter in downtown Sofia was built in 1981 in honour of Lyudmila Zhivkova, daughter of Todor Zhivkov, a dictator who reigned over the country for 30 years. The ghosts of this communist dinosaur still loom today, particularly in the dark, never-ending corridors where I take shelter from the rainy autumn day outside. Suddenly a heavy wooden door opens and a short man with long, curly hair appears in the corr...

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 con...

We often get asked who our audience is at swissinfo.ch. Well, we’re aimed at an inteational community who are interested in Switzerland, and Swiss citizens living abroad. To know our readers better, we asked our fans on Facebook to tell us who they are and what their coection to Switzerland is. Here’s three people who shared their stories of their interest in Switzerland and why swissinfo.ch matters to them. David, Mexico: "Leaing to ski changed my life!" (Courtesy of David Martinez ) “I was bo in Mexico City in 1958. Actually I live in Monterrey, the third largest city of Mexico, located 200 km away from the US Border. I am married and I have three sons: David Alejandro, 24; Daniel And...

Battle of the generations? Actually political ideology seems to be more important when deciding whether to increase pension payments (Keystone) Why would you vote against something from which you would benefit – or vote in favour of something that you would have to pay for but not benefit from? An upcoming people’s initiative on raising pension payments by 10% has raised questions about the role of personal and national interests in direct democracy. There have been several initiatives and referendums over the years in which the Swiss appear to vote against their own interests, rejecting for example a lower retirement age, an unconditional basic income and extra holiday. Incredulous fore...

These are the top stories we're following in the week starting September 12. (Keystone) Monday With Swiss voters poised to decide on a people’s initiative promoting a greener economy, swissinfo.ch tests the oft-quoted maxim that Switzerland is world champion of recycling. We check the facts and put the claim to the test. (Keystone) Tuesday Researchers from the University of Neuchatel will present the findings of a co-produced survey into the social media performances of US Presidential election candidates Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. Which candidate attracted the most online users and whose was the most effective? (Keystone) Tuesday To non-climbers, it can seem counter-intu...

A look back at Switzerland’s old-age pension scheme, as well as survivors' and invalidity insurance, which are an integral part of the social security system. (SRF, swissinfo.ch) Switzerland’s social security system to ensure the livelihood of Swiss citizens as they retire and get older consists of three ‘pillars’: old-age and survivors/disability insurance (‘first’ pillar), a professional pension plan (the ‘second’ pillar) and optional private investments (‘third’ pillar). Old-age and survivors' insurance (OASI) was first introduced in 1948 and has since been revised ten times. The next revision is plaed in 2020. In 1948 the minimum pension was CHF40 ($41). It currently stands at CHF1,100. ...

Surrein is the last Swiss village without streetlights (Keystone) Direct democracy kept the people of one Swiss alpine village in the dark for over 40 years. What made them finally see the light? There could be someone standing just in front of me, but if there is I can't see them. The night in the village of Surrein is pitch black. There are only a couple of tiny orange-tinged lights blinking in the distance - waing lantes from a construction site. Otherwise, it's dark. Silent too, except for the gentle gurgling of the river ruing through the valley. Surrein, population 250, is the last Swiss village without streetlights. But this will soon change, bringing the place and its people into...

The 150 members of the Swiss Youth Parliament voted in the spring in favour of a national youth parliament. (Colin Bieri) Moves are afoot to create a new national youth parliament in Switzerland. The time has come to empower young people in politics, arguesJonas Hirschi, head of a new group for the Swiss Federation of Youth Parliaments. By Jonas Hirschi In Switzerland there are 66 youth parliaments at the local and cantonal level. Although in many cases they are organised differently, they have a common denominator: engagement by young people for young people on political themes and for causes that are of conce to the young. At the national level, a comparable institutionalised f...

A painting depicting "The Gotthard Post" (1873) by Rudolf Koller (Keystone) Politics is full of contradictions. An initiative aimed at strengthening and even expanding public services was worded in such a way that the opposite was to be feared: a further thiing of services, a reduction in mountainous regions and privatization. The Swiss have done an about-face on voting day by clearly rejecting the ‘Pro Public Services” initiative. As the initiative’s delighted opponents noted, following the high approval rating in the first opinion poll, the Swiss people then fortunately “noticed” that it would have led to a backwards step into the 1990s; to a weakening of public services and ultimatel...