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Swiss Attoey General Michael Lauber (centre) in a file photo Keystone / Peter Klaunzer Swiss Attoey General Michael Lauber - facing impeachment proceedings over his handling of a ...

Like every other media website our homepage is dominated by scary headlines about the coronavirus. But it tus out there is some good in all this craziness!The coronavirus pandemic has had ...

An exhibition of René Burri's more explorative work showcases the Swiss photojoualist’s obsession with pushing the boundaries of photography. Since 2013, the Musée de l'Elysée’s René Burri's pr...

Exactly 20 years ago, Hurricane Lothar knocked over more than ten million trees in Switzerland. Fourteen people died and the cost of the damage came to around CHF1.35 billion ($1.38 billion). However,...

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In March 2014, Greenpeace activists temporarily occupied the Beznau nuclear power plant site to demand its closure.(Keystone / U...

Mark Zuckerberg appearing before the US Congress hearing into Libra.(Keystone / Michael Reynolds) Mark Zuckerberg testi...

Young people below the age of 18 get a chance to make decisions at the Kloten cantonal assembly.(swissinfo.ch) With mor...

For the mobile Swiss community, should official voting materials be issued in English, too?As part of our series of roundtable discussions in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Octobere...

Could Facebook's Libra become more popular than the original cryptocurrency bitcoin? (Keystone / Oliver Berg) ...

In 2017, a total of 2,404toes of gold were imported to Switzerland, with a value of about CHF70 billion (Keystone) Most of the gold in the world passes through Switzerland. This is a business...

Jalal did not want to have his identity disclosed out of security conces for relatives who arestill in Syria. (swissinfo.ch) Jalal last saw his youngest son was when the boy was a baby. Now H...

What do foreignbanks in the City of London need to consider? (EPA FILE) The UK’s financial regulator has urged a group of inteational banks in the City of London to limit the number of client...

An Egyptian soldier guards the Luxor temple.(Keystone) Switzerland has one of the most generous, state-funded victim support services in the world. However, it doesn’t benefit everyone: Swiss people who live abroad and their relatives – as well as Swiss tourists – who are victims of crime are falling through the net.While assistance to victims in Germany, for example, is almost entirely dependent on donations, the system in Switzerland has been a public institution for the past 25 years.Victims of a criminal offence in Switzerland are supported in three ways, according to the so-called three-pillar modelexteal link. Not only do they rece...

At 91, she's the oldest elected politician in Switzerland: Marlies Näf-Hofma from Arbon in canton Thurgau. And she's still going strong. Swiss Public Television, SRF looks back at an often controversial political career. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)She represents the Christian Democratic Partyin the Arbon city parliamentexteal link, where she campaigns on behalf of the elderly, in particular. But she has changed her political allegiances several times.For 20 years, Näf-Hofmaexteal link worked as a lawyer for the the right-wingconservativeSwiss People's Party on the cantonal council of Thurgau, and was party member for 50 years. After a brief stint with the Green Liberals, the lawyer joined the city pa...

US President Donald Trump has arrived in snowy Davos as this year's most-anticipated WEF attendee. What do the townspeople think of it all?A ski lift operator would gladly help the American leader on to the slopes, but doubts he'll venture that far from the WEF conference centre. Others are happy about the publicity Trump's visit brings for their coer of the world. And some take issue with the way he interacts with those around him.Thousands of security forces are spread out across town and vehicles are parked every which way. Helicopters buzz overhead and joualists rush after interviewees.Storefronts have been rented out to think tanks, companies and nonprofits, and lavish soirees book out ...

Value Added Tax is one of the main sources of revenue for the national govement. Together with the federal tax it accounts for two thirds of the aual tax revenue (Keystone) Swiss voters will have the final say in March on the govement’s right to tax its citizens and companies, including value added tax (VAT). This is a unique feature of Switzerland’s political system of direct democracy and federalism. At stake is an impressive amount of money: two-thirds of the govement’s tax revenue, or CHF43.5 billion ($44.4 billion) in 2016. But the vote is not so much about the financial volume, but the legal justification which was enshrined in the country’s constitution 60 years ago. The system ...

eva 1 Eva Witschi vor Graffitti Before eventually retuing to Switzerland, where she would like to bring up her children, 25-year-old Eva Witschi wants to “have adventures in the big wide world for a while.” Since 2016, she has been living in Britain with her 26-year-old partner. She sees no risks to her career in advertising there, despite Brexit. swissinfo.ch: Why did you leave Switzerland? Eva Witschi: I left Switzerland in July 2016 with my long-term partner. We had both dreamed of living abroad for a long time. We wanted to go to an English-speaking country and Britain is the nearest. We lived in Birmingham for a year and then moved to London in September 2017. I wouldn’t rule...

Watches on display at the SIHH fair last year (Keystone) When Fabiee Lupo, who runs the Salon Inteational de la Haute Horlogerie watch fair in Geneva, says its ambition is “to become a kind of Davos of watchmaking”, this is not just an airy ambition of hers. By comparing SIHHexteal link, which opened this week, to the World Economic Forumexteal link at Davos, with its political and corporate heavyweight guests and policy-setting discussions, Lupo is continuing the polarisation between her more exclusive fair and Baselworldexteal link, the commercial engine of the watch world. Part of this ambition is about SIHH’s exhibitors, which already include Cartier and Jaeger-LeCoultre. (S...

A section of the cathedral's dome showing Gallus taming a wood-bringing bear. (Keystone) After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages. It might have fallen further had it not been for the epic efforts of a band of Irish monks. Take a walk through the vast courtyard of St Gallen Abbey. The stone church towers stretch 68 metres into the sky, clichés of clanging bells sound out, a scent of hot waffle drifts from an old cafe. A few bemused Asian tourists stroll around. It’s difficult to imagine things were ever otherwise. But the history of the Abbey—and of founding father Gallus—is one of constant change. Enzo Farinelli, a Dublin-based Italian scholar, says it...