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(Keystone) Here’s a look back at some memorable statistics from swissinfo.ch stories over the past year,...

How much do “ordinary” Swiss ea, how much money do they spend, and what does it go on? Money diaries gives us an insight. The average gross wage for a full-time job in Switzerland is CHF6,...

All the votes are counted and the last seats in the Swiss parliament been allocated. (Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) ...

While thesefoot-shaped plates helped women cross gratingsoutside a German department store in the 1960s, women at the SBC were asked to leave high-heeled shoes at home (Keystone) Since its cre...

(swissinfo.ch) Today, on World Radio Day, we celebrate the power of radio and its role in bringing people together.It is also an occasion to look back at how swissinfo.ch began... with radio.Begiing in 1935, special programmes for the Swiss abroad were broadcast over short wave.In 1939, the Short Wave Service got its own antea, located at Schwarzenberg in canton Be.Here is a sample programme from May 3, 1949, witha speech in Switzerland byIndian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. And in thisinterview from 1958, we hear from legendary jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong in relaxed mood. In 1978, the Short Wave Servicewas ren...

This content was published on January 26, 2018 5:00 PMJan 26, 2018 - 17:00 The aual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos has always attracted movers and shakers from a wide range of countries and fields. This year, however, the number of A-list guests was particularly high, with one attendee in particular happy to grab theheadlines.Presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens have all gathered this week in the mountain resort of Davos in easte Switzerland, as well aseconomists and business leaders.In addition to actual royalty, such as King Felipe of Spain and Queen Rania of Jordan, several members of the showbiz royal family have also been sighted, such ...

The Solar Impulse round the world flight is one example of how technology can be put to good use in the environment(Keystone) Transforming smoke-belching, river-polluting industrial dinosaurs into environmentally-friendly businesses is key to achieving the targets of the Paris climate accord, the World Economic Forum is hearing in Davos.“The good news is that this is the biggest business opportunity that we have ever seen, but it is only an opportunity if we are able to harvest it in time,” Christiana Figueres, who has switched from leading the United Nations' climate efforts to the NGO Mission 2020, told swissinfo.ch. “If we are too lat...

Susan Tiberghien sayslife in Switzerland was difficult at first(Jeaie Wurz) I came to Europe to do graduate work in Contemporary Literature. I was 21, just out of university, with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Literature and a minor in French. I had studied French for three years in high school and four years at college, but when I arrived at Grenoble University in the French Alps, I realized that I couldn’t make myself understood, nor could I understand.For the first two months I leaed more French in intensive classes. And as it happens, suddenly I was able to take notes at lectures in French instead of English! It just swi...

An Afghani boy leas to walk again thanks to his prosthesis.( Handicap Inteational ) On December 3, 1997, over 120 countries gathered in Ottawa, Canada, to sign one of the most far reaching arms control conventions the world has ever seen: the ban on anti persoel landmines.The exhibition, which moves from Plain Palais to the Place des Nations on December 4th, traces the tireless work of campaigners who first brought their dream to the United Nations disarmament process, through the involvement of major humanitarian organisations like the Inteational Committee of the Red Cro...

... Print comment The turkeys spend their daysin the meadow; at night they are housed in so-called igloos to protect them from the cold and from foxes The turkey enclosure can be made larger or smaller depending on conditions,for example if the ground becomes muddy In the moing the animals are fed (no hormones or antibiotics) and their stallsare cleaned Bühlho...

The picturesque hamlet of Taveyae in the Vaudoise Alps is a place frozen in time.(RTS/swissinfo.ch)Above the clouds at 1,649 metres (5,400 feet), it’s a listed historical monument, with its timber chalets and wooden shingle roofs. Its residents have to manage without mains electricity.To guarantee the long-term future of the hamlet and its environment, the locals teamed up with theVaudoise Le...

(swissinfo.ch) Having left his native Broye in canton Fribourg 15 years ago, Raphael Knopf, 38, has since found happiness in the antipodes. Knopf has built his home in the wilds of New Zealand’s North Island, where he cultivates organic honey in harmony with the savage nature of his adopted country. swissinfo.ch: Why did you leave Switzerland?...

In times of climate change and melting permafrost, mode surveillance systems are a matter of life and death. Researchers are developing new waing systems to givemountain residents more time to evacuate when the rocks start tumbling.(SRF/swissinfo.ch)In August 2017, eight people went missing, believed to have been buried under 4million cubic metres of debris. The landslide in Bondo, close to...

From field to the plate: Swiss voters on September 24 decide what role the govement should play in ensuring there is enough agriculture foodstuffs produced in Switzerland (Keystone) Voters will have the final say on an integral plan for ensuring Swiss food security on September 24. The content of the text spans the entire agricultural and food-supply chain. Opposition against the amendment is very limited and seen as merely cementing the existing situation, while supporters argue it is crucial to enshrine food security in the constitution to face up to future challenges. “Food security...

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 good news in financial circles has coincided with celebrations of Swiss National Day in Montreux and other cities (Keystone) The euro crisis is over and all is well in the world. Just ask Thomas Jordan. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) chief finally has reasons to be cheerful now that his stu...

Switzerland's image abroad, at least as seen at the House of Switzerland at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (KEYSTONE/Praesenz Schweiz/House of Switzerland Brazil 2016) As the Swiss at home and abroad celebrate their National Day, we look at what the world thinks of Switzerland despit...

While some people findyodelling a cacophony of clichés and others consider it a living art form, it is a welcome business opportunity for the people of canton Valais, where the National Yodelling Festival will be held this year. (SRF, swissinfo.ch) The National Yodelling Festival is organised by th...

Seth Médiateur Tuyisabe arrived in Switzerland as a refugee at the age of nine. Now he is taking exams to become a lawyer. This is his story. Civil war started in Burundi in 1993, and an attempt was made on the life of Seth’s father, a bank employee, who was forced to flee. He went to Switzerland, w...

In the saddle: Yvette Meisser rides cowboy style in the US (zvg) Yvette Meisser left Switzerland intending to move to Mexico, but instead ended up in small-town Texas. Life is very different from the Alps, but she says she could never go back to her homeland. “We don’t want to go back to Swi...