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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.xa0(Ennio Leanza/KEYSTONE) Child protection authorities are among the most unpopularxa0institutions in Switzerland, even after recent reforms. Why the backlash?Overshadowed by the dark past of so-called "slave children", Swiss ch...

It has become increasing difficult and costly for Swiss expatriates to open and keep an account with a Swiss bankxa0xa0 (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 Procivisxa0recently announced 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 spiesxa0(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 bekannten Gerichten" (Swiss Kitchen Secrets Faces and Stories Behind Famous Dishes).xa0 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 sh...

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 ba...

Opponents fear the reform could be the beginning 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 soci...

These are the top stories we're following in the week starting September 19.xa0 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’ annual 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...

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 planned 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 o...

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 banned activities by foreign spies.xa0 Alexand...

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 annually as part of th...

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, ...

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 thinning 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 Swiss Post, including its yellow postal buses, xa0is one of the biggest public service companiesxa0 (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 initi...

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 servi...