SWI swissinfo

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

A demonstrator calls for the child protection authorities to be stripped of their powers following the case of a mother who killed her two children to stop them being retued to care. She later killed herself in jail.(Eio Leanza/KEYSTONE) Child protection authorities are among the most unpopularinstitutions in Switzerland, even after recent reforms. Why the backlash?Overshadowed by the dark past of so-called "slave children", Swiss child protective services were subject tosweeping changes in 2013. But their reputation has continued to suffer after a series of incidents, notably a mother who killed her two children to stop them from being ...

It has become increasing difficult and costly for Swiss expatriates to open and keep an account with a Swiss bank (Keystone) The Swiss expatriates are tuing up the heat on Swiss institutions to grant discrimination-free access to financial services. The issue has plagued the community for ...

Daniel Gasteiger's blockchain startup Procivisrecently aounced that it is working with canton Schaffhausen to create a digital identity for citizens (Ester Unterfinger/swissinfo.ch) “Civic tech” activist Daniel Gasteiger is a former investment banker who wants to digitise Swiss govement. ...

Undercover agent working for the Swiss intelligence service? There's no black and white in the murky world of spies(sergign/123RF)The ongoing scandal of an alleged Swiss spy arrested in Germany at the end of April has shone a spotlight on the Federa...

Switzerland's Ambassador to the US, Martin Dahinden, took a look at how Swiss chefs have influenced cuisine today, from introducing time-keeping to presidential menus. The results of his research appear in his book, "Schweizer Küchengeheimnisse: Gesichter und Geschichten hinter bekaten Gerichten" (Swiss Kitchen Secrets Faces and Stories Behind Famous Dishes). Let's block ads! بخوانید...

Ambassador LeVine plans to hold talks with Swiss bankers (Keystone) Several Swiss banks have received a letter from the United States Ambassador to Be, Suzan LeVine, asking them not to shun US citizens who want to open accounts in Switzerland. Many Swiss banks have frozen out US clients, and even closed down existing accounts, in the wake of a damaging legal battle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over tax evasion. Banks have not only dropped links to tax cheats, but many have also shued all US citizens, as the paperwork builds up along with the potential penalties for letting a rotten apple slip through the net. LeVine plans to meet bankers to find a solution for tax compliant US...

The idyllic communes Arth-Goldau in canton Schwyz (RDB) Nestled between deep blue Lake Zug, majestic Mount Rigi and the greenery of farmland and forests, the villages of Goldau, Oberarth and Arth in canton Schwyz look typically Swiss. Yet their citizens have a hybrid form of democracy that is almost unique within Switzerland. Rather than voting with a show of hands, the archetype of democracy and method used in many of the nation’s over 2,350 municipalities, the people here vote by secret ballot. This is the case in nearly all 30 municipalities in canton Schwyz. While larger municipalities usually have a parliament, most small and medium-sized ones hold public meetings twice a year so th...

Opponents fear the reform could be the begiing of a 'Big Brother' surveillance policy, but supporters say the intelligence service needs extra powers to prevent terrorist attacks (Keystone) Voters look set to approve a law allowing the Swiss intelligence service to tap private emails and monitor other cyberspace activities to prevent terrorist attacks. Critics have waed of arbitrary surveillance, but they are likely to suffer a clear defeat in Sunday’s referendum. An alliance of civil society groups and mainly leftwing parties is challenging a parliamentary decision from last year. Opponents of the law argue the privacy of citizens is at risk if the agents of the defence ministry’s secre...

These are the top stories we're following in the week starting September 19. Valentin Zellweger (centre) (Keystone) Tuesday It’s been a whirlwind start to his new job: meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry, attending the Human Rights Council and hosting the Swiss ambassadors’ aual get-together. swissinfo.ch talks to Valentin Zellweger, the new Swiss ambassador to the United Nations and inteational organisations in Geneva, about the challenges of his new posting and how a small nation like Switzerland can make a difference in Inteational Geneva. (Keystone) Wednesday In Switzerland, foreigners can vote in certain local or regional ballots – but it’s rare. The extent of political rig...

Supporters of the new intelligence law claim the changes to the secret services’ competences are an improvement to security. But in reality the new law complicates the criminal conviction of plaed terror attacks, argues politician Balthasar Glättli. By Balthasar Glättli The new intelligence law (see infobox) leads to a problematic fusion of competences of criminal prosecutors and the security services and puts at risk proven principles of our constitutional state. Glättli is a member of the House of Representatives for the leftwing Green Party and also sits on the parliamentary security commission (Keystone) In a constitutional state, the authority for investigation and surveillance...

The proposed reforms to the Swiss secret service are urgently needed in order to give the agency effective tools to counter threats like terrorism, argues security specialist Alexandre Vautravers. By Alexandre Vautravers Changes to the intelligence service legislation will give the authorities new ways of operating in four specific areas: terrorism, attacks against critical infrastructure, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and baed activities by foreign spies. Alexandre Vautravers works at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva.He is also Associate Professor of Inteational Relations and History at Webster University in Geneva (rts) The new changes [w...

Leaders of Swiss political parties comment passionately on the first results of parliamentary elections for public television and radio. Like those in EU countries, the Swiss have confidence in audio-visual media. (Keystone) The existence of solid, well-financed public service media is a sign of an equally solid democracy. That’s one of the conclusions of a study led by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The study Trust in Media 2016 is based on data gathered twice aually as part of the European Commission’s Eurobarometer. The survey was done in 28 EU member countries (before Brexit), as well as five candidate countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Turkey). The first f...

The amended law allows intelligence service agents to tap computers and intercept emails (imago) Could reform of Switzerland’s intelligence service lead to widespread state snooping? The political left think so. But parliament and the govement say agency needs more powers to prevent terrorism and the trade in arms. Voters have the final say on September 25. The legal amendment would give the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) the right not only to tap phone lines but also to survey e-mails, access computer systems abroad and bug private apartments. A centre-right majority in parliament approved the plaed reforms last September, arguing they were an indispensable tool for combatting milit...

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...

The Swiss Post, including its yellow postal buses, is one of the biggest public service companies (Keystone) Voters on Sunday decide on a proposal by consumer groups to boost basic services of state-owned companies, including a cap on top manager salaries and a review of strategic business objectives. The outcome of the ballot is expected to be close, despite broad opposition by all major political parties, the govement as well as the business community and the trade unions. The initiative was launched by four consumer magazines following complaints about perceived dropping standards notably by the Federal Railways, the Post Office and the Swisscom telecom provider. The companies, with ...

According to the Swiss Transport minister Doris Leuthard, no other country in the world has public services as good as the ones in Switzerland. swissinfo.ch did some fact checking. “We have the best public services in the world. With the Swiss Railways or the Post buses you can reach even the most remote areas of Switzerland,” Cabinet member Doris Leuthard claimed on May 12 in an interview with the German-language free newspaper 20 Minuten. Grand words and great praise for the Swiss public services. According to the head of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK), this would no longer be true if the People’s initiative "Pro Service public" is passed...