Illegal gold mining has ravaged jungle in an area known as La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region and contaminated it with to es of mercury(Keystone) Signatories to the first global treaty to rein in mercury pollution are gathered in Geneva this week to discuss how to seek further progress. Switzer...

This content was published on September 23, 2017 11:00 AMSep 23, 2017 - 11:00 It's not surprising that many foreign directors have chosen to film in Switzerland, with its chalets, mountains and banks. It's a land of spies and lawyers, of Heidi and Chaplin, of Dr Frankenstein and St Be ards. Switzerl...

Here are the stories to look forward to on swissinfo.ch for the week begi ing September 25, 2017. (Keystone) MondayWe’ll have reactions from the September 24 votes - 'no' to pension reform and 'yes' to food security. What will political pundits say about launching another attempt to ensure there is ...

A total of 78.7% of voters backed the proposal which won a comfortable majority in all Swiss cantons.(Emanuel Ammon/AURA) The Swiss have voted overwhelming in favour of protecting local food production and prioritising sustainable farming practices. But what will the outcome of Sunday’s poll mean fo...

Supporters and opponents of the pension reform agree on the need for amendments but necessarily on how to secure the funding of Switzerland's main social security system (Keystone) Voters have thrown out a wide-ranging overhaul of Switzerland’s old-age pension scheme. It is the third unsuccessful re...

Two-thirds of Swiss school students opt for a vocational stream instead of university(Keystone) India’s attempts to incorporate aspects of Swiss-style vocational education and training (VET) could stumble without industry involvement and investment.As one of the fastest growing economies with the wo...

UN officials are realising that they may have a better chance of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals if business is involved.(Keystone) A growing number of business executives have been keen to sign up to the UN's latest pet project: the so-called Sustainable Development Goals.Until recen...

Since 1848, the Swiss have had their say on over 600 nationwide ballots. Which have been the most popular issues in recent times?The Swiss go to polls about four times a year in nationwide votes. Using data compiled by the Centre for Research on Direct Democracyexte al link, which tagged all nationa...

A Swiss-led team of archaeologists in Greece has made a spectacular find: the temple of Artemis, a famous open-air sanctuary of antiquity. (SRF/swissinfo.chexte al link) Researchers have been looking for the sanctuary for more than a century. The site was found at the foot of the Paleoekklisies hill...

An ounce of prevention: vaccines, given only at certain times in a person's life, may be seen by pharma companies as less profitable than drugs that are taken more regularly.(Keystone) It’s one of the wealthiest nations in the world, yet Switzerland is struggling to maintain stocks of 16 key vaccine...

This content was published on September 20, 2017 2:22 PMSep 20, 2017 - 14:22 Every election of a Swiss cabinet minister actually begins in the bars of Be – the night before. This is where surprise candidates are chosen in backroom deals. This year, however, the election of Iganzio Cassis was not onl...

Tama Vakeesan was bo in Switzerland – to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. She’s interested in cultural and religious diversity in Switzerland. This week she meets members of the “Dialogue en route” project. They take groups of young people to religious buildings and teach them about different faiths an...

Ai Weiwei's monumental works have taken over the 19th-century Renaissance-style Palais de Rumine in Lausa e and its various museum spaces(Keystone) Art is i ocent, says contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, but it is also a means of questioning the establishment. The Chinese native was in Lausa e on Wednes...

Kariem Hussein during the 400m Hurdles Men Final at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in London, on August 9, 2017. The medical student came 8th(Keystone) It is not always easy for Swiss elite athletes to combine a demanding training schedule and competitions with their studies. But help has co...

Ignazio Cassis faces the media on Wednesday(Keystone) ‘It’s a fact: Ticino’s retu ing to the cabinet!” The Corriere del Ticino could barely contain itself given the news that Ignazio Cassis will on November 1 become the first cabinet minister from Italian-speaking Switzerland since 1999. Newspapers ...

The nomination of Professor Strauss (whose last name is the German word for ostrich) inspired many caricatures at the time.(Author unknown) In 1839, the election of a reform-minded theologist to Zurich’s education council caused an uproar – followed by a deep liberal-conservative rift that split the...

In times of climate change and melting permafrost, mode surveillance systems are a matter of life and death. Researchers are developing new wa ing systems to give mountain residents more time to evacuate when the rocks start tumbling. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)In August 2017, eight people went missing, beli...

As president-elect, Trump described the UN as a “club for people to get together, talk and have a good time” but has since softened his tone since taking office.(UN Photo/Kim Haughton) United States President Donald Trump made his debut at the United Nations in New York on Monday, urging the world b...

Occupational pension funds for the first time exceeded CHF1 trillion(Keystone) Occupational pension plans, obligatory since 1985, have considerable economic and social significance in Switzerland. The savings, which are now managed by pension funds and insurance companies, far exceed gross domestic ...

A rags-to-riches career straight out of a film script: as a young man, the protagonist emigrates to Mexico. Once there, he becomes the first ever manufacturer of white chocolate and goes on to become an entrepreneur worth millions. The life of Gianfranco A oldi. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) #WeAreSwissAbroad ...