Every year, 4,000-6,000 Swiss sheep die after falling down mountains, becoming ill or being struck by lightning. In comparison, the number of sheep killed by wolves is small. Still, many are calling for canton Valais in south-weste Switzerland to be a predator-free zone. Raised for meat, milk and

Seth Médiateur Tuyisabe arrived in Switzerland as a refugee at the age of nine. Now he is taking exams to become a lawyer. This is his story. Civil war started in Burundi in 1993, and an attempt was made on the life of Seth’s father, a bank employee, who was forced to flee. He went to Switzerland, w

Asylum seekers Hamid and Mohammed from Afghanistan are hiking across Switzerland as an exercise in integration. On this part of their jou ey, they share their stories with their first Swiss hosts. They have been in the spotlight because they are hiking around Switzerland as part of their attempts t

Jun 15, 2017 - 17:00Immortalized by Swiss singer Polo Hofer, this flowering plant thrives just above the treeline in the Alps and in the Jura region.xa0 The evergreen shrub – not actually a rose but a rhododendron – can grow up to a metre high, and it flowers from June through August. Its leaves hav...

Former US Secretary of State John Kerryxa0jokes with Didier Burkhalter, centre, at thexa0World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2016 (Keystone) The decision of Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter to step down at the end ofxa0October has surprised many in Switzerland – including the Swiss press. Asses

Tama Vakeesan was bo in Switzerland – to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. Tama’s mum, who was a structural draughtswoman back home in Colombo, found a job as a cleaner in Switzerland. She has given up on attempts to arrange a marriage for her daughter. (SRF Kulturplatz/swissinfo.ch)

Mobile phones used for selfies in Switzerland (Keystone) Travelling Europeans planning to use their mobile phones in Switzerland might want to reconsider – and start using a hashtag like #DontCallMeInSwitzerland – starting on Thursday. That is because roaming charges for mobile phone users in

With Art Basel now underway in Switzerland and also a fixture in Miami and Hong Kong,xa0some feel the art fair's massive globalxa0presence is endangering local markets.xa0(SRF, swissinfo.ch) The three main Art Basel venues and their many fringe events are known for defining trends in the global art ...

Unprecedented amounts of digital information, plusxa0advanced computing platforms to store and analysexa0it, bringxa0opportunities to create value from big data – as well as certain dangers (Keystone) It’s a ubiquitous buzzword, but “big data” is about to bring a wealth of opportunities to Switzerla

Will Swiss federalism be around in 50 years? (Keystone/Valentin Flauraud) The Swiss model of democracy built around 26 powerful cantons and a relatively weak federal gove ment has given way to a more centralised system, researchers argue in a new book. The researchers say only two principal f

Greater numbers of Chinese visitors and investments arrived in Switzerland last year and the trend looks set to continue. The hotel industry isxa0rejoicing, but critics fear Switzerland is selling off the family silver. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)xa0 The Chinese multimillionaire, Yunfeng Gao, now owns four h...

Hamid and Mohammed from Afghanistan have been described as Switzerland's most famous asylum seekers because they are hiking across the country. They are jou eying across Switzerland on footxa0as part of their attemptxa0to integrate in their host country, and to make good use of their time while they...

In the saddle: Yvette Meisser rides cowboy style in the US (zvg) Yvette Meisser left Switzerland intending to move to Mexico, but instead ended up in small-town Texas. Life is very different from the Alps, but she says she could never go back to her homeland.xa0 “We don’t want to go back to Swi

Religion, language and a social divide: the conflict had all the elements for an escalation. Now the municipality of Moutier is voting on whether it wants to stay in the Canton of Be or switch to Jura. This is the last act of the Jura question, which has largely been resolved both peacefully and d

Switzerland will need to keep attracting new visitors in an increasingly competitive global tourism market. (Keystone) The Alps, lakes, villages and valleys of Switzerland have long ea ed it the reputation of a touristic paradise. So why are more visitors shunning it now? One thing is certain

Switzerland's central bank is against plans for it to inject cash into a sovereign wealth fund (Keystone) Singapore has one, Norway has one, even Papua New Guinea has one – so why shouldn’t Switzerland also have a sovereign wealth fund (SWF)? The political argument, which appeared to have fade

Flying taxi: the electric powered vertical take-off aircraft called 'Volocopter', created by a German start-up, has been given the go-ahead to begin trials fromxa0next year (Keystone) Tiny all-electric planes that can take off and land vertically - this sci-fi future is not that far away, and So

Here are some of the stories we will feature in the week beginning on June 12, 2017.xa0 (Tim Patterson via Flickr Creative Commons) Mondayxa0 As part of our series on Swiss people living abroad, we profile a woman from Davos who has made a home for herself in small-town Texas – and never wants to

Ambassadors check out the Würenlingenxa0reactor at what is now the Paul Scherrer Institute. Photo from 1966. (Keystone) For 40 years Switzerland looked into producing its own nuclear bomb. Artist Gilles Rotzetter has shed light on this hidden chapter of history and says that many answers are sti

A land of no taxes or state education: running things the Liberland way (liberland.org) The newly emerged micro-nation Liberland wants to take the concept of political self-determination for citizens a few stages further than the Swiss form of direct democracy. The seven square kilometres of l