Rudolf Elmer on his way to court in June (Keystone) Swiss banker tu ed whistleblower Rudolf Elmer has been sentenced to a 14-month suspended jail term after being found guilty of forgery and making threats in a long-running legal battle involving his former employer Julius Bär. However, the Zurich c...

Do you know your recalls from your referendums? (Reuters) A representative system in one, a direct democracy in the other? In reality, both the United States and Switzerland are ‘hybrid’ democracies. Here’s what that means for elections, legislation, and life satisfaction. The founding fathers of th...

Often a lonely place: a teacher does her administrationxa0 (Keystone) Swiss teachers are wa ing that there is a shortage of special needs’ staff, and high levels of dissatisfaction are convincing more and more to leave the profession. Although there are more teachers being trained and foreign staff ...

In Sion, average temperatures are one degree Celsius higher than two decades ago (Keystone) Rising temperatures in summer affect daily life and the health of people who live in cities. So what can be done? swissinfo.ch heads to Sion, the Swiss city that has heated up the most, to see what a differen...

Researchers and collectors have discovered hundreds of meteorite fragments on a field in canton Be . It’s the largest meteorite find in Switzerland so far and an important one for science.xa0(SRF/swissinfo.ch) More than 30 years ago, a Swiss farmer came across a single piece of a meteorite that fell...

See Siang Wong moved to Switzerland in 1998 and has now conquered the classical charts in Britain (See Siang Wong) See Siang Wong, a Swiss-based classical pianist, is delighted that his latest album, “Cinema Classics: The Piano At The Movies”, is number one in the British classical music charts. He ...

These are some of the stories we’re following in the week of August 22. xa0 (Keystone) Monday Do you live in an urban heat island? In cities, the temperature can be five degrees higher than in the countryside, but there are ways to cope – as spatial planners in the Swiss city of Sion explain. Did yo...

(swissinfo.ch) What does it take to run the best restaurant in the world? We go inside the Hôtel de Ville in Crissier. The restaurant was named number one in the world by La Liste, a new ranking by the French foreign ministry. When chef Benoît Violier committed suicide earlier this year, his second-...

Aug 20, 2016 - 11:00Claudia Dummermuth is living her dream, thanks to her 700-square-metre lavender field in a residential neighbourhood near Zurich.Dummermuth uses the organic lavender to make essential oil, which goes into salves, soaps and bath salts, and also into lavender-flavoured jam and even...

Winning an Olympic medal takes years of practice, and in the case of some Swiss athletes, money out of their own pockets. (SRF, swissinfo.ch) Heidi Diethelm won a bronze medal for Switzerland in the women's 25m pistol shooting in Rio. To chase her Olympic dream, she had to put her personal finances ...

The City of London's financial sector is planning how to re-position itself with the EU (Keystone) The City of London has given up hope of universal access to the EU single market and is now seeking a bespoke deal for its different sectors to trade with Europe, with similar but stronger ties than Sw...

Will transgenic co make its way to Switzerland as well? With TTIP, European countries may be forced to adopt US standards. (Reuters) The controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which is entering a decisive phase of negotiations, could have wide-ranging consequences for S...

In Switzerland there are around 220 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants (Keystone) After an attack on a regional train in canton St Gallen, calls have multiplied to boost security. The system could possibly be improved, some people admit, pointing out that the number of police officers in Switze...

Crowdfunding has the potential to bridge the geographical, economic and digital divide (Keystone) Would you pay in advance for something you’ve never seen if it’s for a good cause? Crowdfunding projects in Switzerland are giving Swiss consumers a taste for the exotic and helping small farmers find n...

Albert Roesti, the newly elected president of the conservative right Swiss People's Party, thanks delegates in April 2016 (Keystone) Switzerland has been ranked fifth in a European study comparing support for populist parties and their influence.xa0 The Swedish research think tank Timbro ranked Swit...

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 ...

Ethnic flavour boosts tourism in Kosovo (swissinfo.ch ) Kosovo is a country on the mend after the 1999 war. But high unemployment and widespread poverty have spurred many Kosovars to leave. Switzerland is one of the countries trying to help tu the job market around. Can it work? At first sight, it’s...

There are a growing number of licensed young Swissxa0athletes, especially girls. What’s behind this increase? (SRF, swissinfo.ch) If you look back over the last 20 years, the Swiss athletics delegation in Rio has never been so strong. It’s no coincidence considering that the number of licensed athle...

The 2016 European Gymnastics Championships drew 31,000 spectators to Be over a two-week period. (swissinfo.ch) Is it better for a city’s bottom line and image to host a smaller contest like the European Gymnastics Championships instead of a mega event like the Olympics? Here are some factors to cons...

Khadem al-Qubaisixa0has been under investigation in Abu Dhabi for months, according to gove ment insiders (Keystone) Swiss criminal authorities are probing a well-connected former top Abu Dhabi finance official over an alleged inte ational conspiracy to embezzle money from Malaysia’s 1MDB wealth fun...