Kurt E. Sieber being interviewed in a café in Tokyo (swissinfo.ch) Swiss businessman Kurt E. Sieber went to live in Japan in 1960. At first he managed a Swiss trading company, then an Austrian one. In 2011 he retired – but did not retu to Switzerland. What does he think about the country where he ha...

This content was published on January 6, 2018 11:00 AMJan 6, 2018 - 11:00Phone booths used to be places where couples met secretly, where people talked for hours in thick clouds of cigarette smoke, where homeless people sought refuge or children played pranks. But this era is coming to an end. The m...

With wind speeds approaching 200km/h, winter storm Burglind knocked down the 13-metre Christmas tree in front of the train station in Be . (© KEYSTONE / URS FLUEELER) Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here’s a round...

(Keystone/Sigi Tischler) Why is Swiss meat among the most expensive in the world? Farmers, consumer groups and industry experts all have their opinions. Not many people in the world can afford to pay nearly $50 for a kilogramme of beef leg round or more than $20 for the same amount of pork chop. But...

Tama Vakeesan was bo in Switzerland to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. This week Tama pulls on her soccer boots and joins SC Wipkingen, an inte ational team of female players in the Zurich suburbs. She finds out from team members how football contributes to integration. (SRF Kulturplatz/swissinfo.ch) ...

(Keystone) Swiss citizenship is highly sought after – and correspondingly hard to get. After changes introduced on January 1, we've updated an article on how to get the naturalisation ball rolling, who is eligible for the fast track and how much it could all cost. I want to become Swiss. I’m free fo...

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 busi...

Over 70% of Swiss forests are publicly owned, for example by cities or municipalities. (Keystone) There is vast energy potential locked up in biomass – like wood, farm manure and food waste – all over Switzerland. But accessing it will take more than just technological i ovation. Currently, biomasse...

The town of Schwyz recently tore down some medieval buildings with beautiful wall paintings in order to create space for some multi-storey buildings. According to the 2014 federal zoning law, Swiss municipalities are obliged to limit urban sprawl. However, building new, incongruous structures in his...

(PatitucciPhoto) Looking into the New Year? Not quite: ski tourers take in the Alpine world around them after making it to the top of the Bisho , in this image by Swiss photographers, Dan and Janine Patitucci. The Bisho is one of the Alps easiest 4,000 metre peaks to climb. What makes it easy for cl...

Swiss skier Beat Feuz at the start of the Lauberho race in Wengen, January 11. (Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott) Two of 800 dogs who took part in the inte ational sledge race in Saignelégier, January 29. (Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott) A crustacean on ice at the White Turf horse race in St. Moritz, Fe...

Not strong enough: An initiative aimed at making health insurance companies pay for fitness lessons failed to collect enough signatures and didn't make it to a nationwide vote (Keystone/Gaetan Bally) Health matters were top of the list of people’s conce s in Switzerland over the past 12 months, as a...

(Daniel Rihs / 13 Photo) At 45, Alain Berset is the youngest politician to become Swiss president since 1934. He holds the rotating post for 2018. In an interview with swissinfo.ch, Berset remains cautious about a change in Swiss-EU relations and talks about whether Switzerland is experiencing its o...

On 1 January, 1942, a document was signed by 26 states, coining the term "United Nations". The Declaration of the United Nations exte al link pledged that their gove ments would continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. Swiss Public Television, RTS, takes a closer look at attempts to make ...

The village choir of Stans in traditional costumes posing for national event in 2011. Many local clubs are struggling to survive and are looking for new ways to attract young members (Keystone/Peter Schneider) There are tens of thousands of them, all around the country: clubs and associations. Often...

(Bettina Jacot-Descombes/Smithsonian) Ferdinand Hodler is one of the best-known Swiss painters of the 19th century. Now one of his works is the centrepiece of an exhibition ru ing until November 12, 2018 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. “Portraits of the World: Switzerland” is th...

Many young people attended a public event outside parliament in the Swiss capital, Be in October 1989. A month later Swiss voters decided on a controversial initiative aimed at scrapping the armed forces. The 36% approval rate dealt a blow to the establishment (Keystone) The people’s initiative is a...

In May, voters said farewell to nuclear power and hello to renewable energies(Keystone) Politics: Big projects shelvedHealth insurance premiums are rising again, the pensions system is still a work in progress, and corporate tax reform remains blocked. 2017 has been a lost year for Swiss politics. W...

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrives for another round of peace talks in Geneva, December 13, 2017. (Keystone) These were the words of Jan Egeland, the chair of the UN’s humanitarian taskforce for Syriaexte al link, just before Christmas. Emerging from a taskforce meeting he said he...

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