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All of a sudden, everyone is talking about it: the 2019 Nobel Prize won by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz has reminded the Swiss that the country’s astrophysicists are at the forefront of the hunt for, ...ادامه مطلب

In this episode of Inside Geneva,exteal link we go behind the scenes at the world's most important gathering on human rights, now underway in Geneva.It's the UN Human Rights Council, where, ...ادامه مطلب

Gredig wants to defend the interest of future generations in parliament.(Thomas Ke/swissinfo.ch) Switz, ...ادامه مطلب

Bo in 1979, Switzerland’s youngest canton still owes much of its political and economic fate to the federal system that houses it. Four decades ago in Delémont, ...ادامه مطلب

Filming the most-watched Swiss film of 2018, "Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse" (Wolkenbruch's Wondrous Jo, ...ادامه مطلب

US President Donald Trump at the WEF Congress Center on January 25, 2018 (© KEYSTONE / LAURENT GILLIERON) United States President Donald Trump will attend the annual meeting of the World Economi, ...ادامه مطلب

The number of Eritreans applying for asylum at the Swiss border has fallen dramatically in recent years. In 2015 there were 8,523 new requests, whereas in 2017 there were just over 400. (RTS/swissinfo.ch) This is explained by the changing asylum situation in the Mediterranean and Italy, but also by a more restrictive Swiss reception policy. In 2012, Switzerland was the most popular country among Eritreans. It accounted for 37% of all asylum applications made by Eritreans on the European continent. Five years later, the situation looks quite different. Last year, Switzerland received only 12% of these requests. There were fewer applications than in Germany (36% of requests) and in Italy (23%).According to the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper, the Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis is planning to visit Eritrea to assess the situation and discuss it with the local authorities. Neuer Inhalt Horizontal Line subscription form Form for signing up for free newsletter. Sign up for our free newsletters and get the top stories delivered to your inbox. swissinfo EN The following content is sourced from exteal partners. We cannot guar, ...ادامه مطلب

'One is a lonely number': US president Donald Trump disembarking from Marine One in Davos.(Keystone) Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here’s a round-up of the most interesting statistics to appear in the past week’s stories. Exteal Content Formatting classes Sunday190The estimated length in kilometres of the Hölloch cave network where eight men were trapped from Sunday to Friday. The cavers had planned to spend only a day exploring what is one of Europe's largest natural underground systems when they were pinned inside due to a sudden onrush of water from heavy rainfall.Monday2A2 is the number of the motorway that was closed when it was hit by a mudslide on Monday evening. The A2 is a key Swiss artery since it includes the Gotthard tunnel through the Alps, connecting northe and southe Europe.Tuesday1,000The number of anti-WEF and Trump protesters who took part in demonstrations across Switzerland, according to police. Left-wing organisers put the figure much higher, at 4,500.Tuesday3,000The nu, ...ادامه مطلب

Hundreds of Christians protested in Delhi when a Catholic church was set on fire in 2014 just after the BJP party came to power(Keystone) Christian charities supported by foreign donors, including Swiss ones, are finding it increasingly difficult to operate in India due to administrative hurdles. They allege selective implementation of regulations and blame this on the rise of Hindu fundamentalism.“It is unfortunate, these days fundamentalism is growing in the country with our govement itself supporting the ‘Hindutva’ agenda of the communal forces,” said Indian bishop Robert Miranda in his speech(PDF) in the Swiss city of Fribourg in October 2017. He was invited by Missio Switzerland, the Swiss branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies that are under the jurisdiction of the Pope. Miranda leads a diocese of around 8,000 Catholics in the small town of Gulbarga in the southe Indian state of Kaataka. In 1982, when he was first sent to the region, there were only three Catholics families and a few Methodists. The congregation quickly grew when Dalits, who belong to the lowest caste among Hindus, began showing an interest in C, ...ادامه مطلب

Trump tried to reassure the WEF audience his "America first" agenda also benefits the rest of the world(Keystone) United States President Donald Trump told World Economic Forum (WEF) delegates on Friday that America is “open for business” under his leadership, while reassuring the audience that "America First does not mean America alone”. In his highly-anticipated keynote speechexteal link, Trump said he had come to the Swiss mountain resort of Davos to deliver a simple message. “It has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and grow in the United States,” he declared. “America is open for business and we are competitive again.” He proceeded to vaunt the successes of the US economy and markets, saying the US had created $7 trillion in new wealth and 2.4 million new jobs since he became president in 2017. Trump also outlined his work to overhaul the US tax system and cut regulations. “I believe in America. As president of the United States, I will always put America First. Just like the leaders of other countries should put their country first. But America First does not mean America alone,” he said. He later mo, ...ادامه مطلب

"If Switzerland cannot say, 'under no circumstances will we use nuclear weapons', how can we expect North Korea to do that?" This is the question posed by Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Inteational Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weaponsexteal link (iCAN), speaking to swissinfo.ch from the WEF annual meeting in Davos. For Fihn, it's high time that Switzerland signed and ratified the United Nations' inteational nuclear disarmament treatyexteal link, adopted in July of last year and supported by some 50 nations - especially considering global nuclear threats that have caused the so-called Doomsday Clock to move two minutes closer to midnight.exteal linkUnited States President Donald Trump, who arrived at the WEF meeting on Thursday, has famously boasted that his "nuclear button" is much bigger and more powerful than that of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The two men have been swapping threats over the use of nuclear weapons for the past year, putting other countries' govements on high alert.This situation, combined with leaked documents from the Trump administration seen by the anti-nuclear weapons group, lead Fihn to believe that wo, ...ادامه مطلب

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 late is ceases to be an opportunity and becomes a burden on the most vulnerable populations.” Figueres and others, including Swiss Solar Impulseexteal link adventurer Betrand Piccard and former United States Vice President Al Gore, are lobbying Davos delegates to adopt greener strategies whilst encouraging cleantech start-ups to flourish.The Paris climate agreement to keep global temperature rises below at least two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels was hailed as a pivotal poi, ...ادامه مطلب

«Funky Claude» Nobs and Jean-Paul Marquis help fight the fire at Montreux Casino. Blame it on Zappa. Montreux 1971. (© Alain Bettex) Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival, the National Museum of Zurich has opened a memorabilia exhibition mainly focused on its founder, the legendary Claude Nobs (1936-2013). With a carefully selected set of objects, videos and sounds, "Montreux. Jazz Since 1967" gives form to one of the richest immaterial treasures of humanity.  Before organising his first humble festival in 1967, Nobs had begun meeting established and promising performers while working as an accountant in the tourism office of Montreux, then a sleepy holiday destination by Lake Geneva with barely more than 15,000 souls. His transformation into the larger-than-life personality who was arguably the very soul of the festival, catering to all the artists’ whims, came as the festival expanded its scope to embrace a large range of musical trends and styles.  Nobs is “Funky Claude” in the lyrics of Deep Purple’s classic “Smoke on the Water”, inspired by an episode when the Montreux Casino bued down during a Frank Zappa show. More than funky, Nobs was amazin, ...ادامه مطلب

Playing to a vanished audience: Basel's Valentin Stocker celebrates. (Keystone) As the Swiss national team goes from strength to strength in preparing for the World Cup in Russia, we dig into the numbers to explore the struggles of the domestic league. On the surface, Swiss football is enjoying something of a purple patch. The national side ‘Die Nati’ (unfortunately pronounced ‘Nazi’) has qualified for the fourth World Cup running, and will fly to Russia in summer with what’s widely acknowledged as its finest generation in years. The team currently sits eighth in the FIFA world rankings. Meanwhile, domestic powerhouse FC Basel (winners of the Swiss Super League for the past eight years) qualified in December for the last 16 of Europe’s Champions League, racking up wins along the way against Manchester United and Benfica. A “brilliant” achievement not just for the club, but for Swiss football generally, said CEO Jean-Paul Brigger at the time. But how reflective are these achievements of the state of Swiss soccer at home? How does the Super League stack up against the championships of the European nations around it? The Alpine legacy of Switzerland – which has fostered sports f, ...ادامه مطلب

Flexible arrangements exist for Swiss workers (Keystone) More than 41 hours and 10 minutes? That’s the average in Switzerland for people with full-time jobs – relatively few compared with most developed countries. How did Switzerland get to this seemingly happy situation, and why are unions and business associations getting all worked up?  After the General Strike of 1918exteal link (in which over 250,000 workers downed tools, resulting in the troops being sent in), a 48-hour week for workers on contracts was introduced in Switzerland in 1920.  This story is part of our "Curious Switzerland" series where we report on questions from our readers about Swiss politics, culture or life in the country. Reader Stéphane Bisinger asked, "Why does Switzerland have such a long and strange official work week? And are (or were) there efforts to reduce it?"Submit your question at the bottom of this story, and we may report on it for the next story in the series. (swissinfo.ch) The current labour lawexteal link – with weekly maximums of 45 or 50 hours, depending on the sector – dates back to 1966.  A popular initiative to lower this to 40 hours was launched in 1971. The Federal Co, ...ادامه مطلب