This year, the United Nations will choose its next secretary general.xa0 We need the best possible candidate for the job. By Mogens Lykketoft It is often spoken of as the most impossible job in the world. And given the files that the next UN secretary general will take over on January 1, 2017, it is...

Patrick Chappatte dans son atelier genevois. (swissinfo.ch) With a new exhibition, Windows on Death Row, Swiss jou alist Anne-Frédérique Widmann and press cartoonist Patrick Chappatte aim to shine a light on the dark – and still taboo – subject of the death penalty in the United States.xa0 Over the ...

Here are the stories we will be watching in the week of April 11: (Keystone) Tuesday One of the most dramatic and acrimonious takeover tussles in Swiss corporate history goes into another round at the annual general meeting of Swiss chemicals company Sika. At stake is the future ownership of the fir...

(swisscom) What does it take for a building to win one of Switzerland's most prestigious sustainability awards? This week, we find out in a tour of the Swisscom business-park near Be xa0—xa0winner of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy 2015 Watt D'Or award for Buildings and Space. Let's block ads! (W...

Apr 9, 2016 - 11:00At the end of the ski season the number of tourists in Swiss mountain resorts might drop as steeply as the pistes, but life goes on as locals clean up and prepare for summer. Swiss photographer Tomas Wüthrich captured this seasonal transition in easte Switzerland.Silvretta Arena i...

The American Dream is just thatxa0–xa0a dreamxa0–xa0for many young people in the US today. By Scott Laband As some presidential candidates have noted, particularly as they try to court younger voters, college-loan indebtedness and a skills gap are blocking many young Americans from reaching the midd...

Young activists set up tents outside the UN in Geneva last month to highlight the cost-of-living problems (@UNPAIDisUNSEEN) The plight of unpaid inte s hit the headlines last year amid uproar over a United Nations inte living in a tent in Geneva. Seven months on, the situation appears to have change...

First it was banks, and now it is lawyers and other middlemen who are under the tax evasion and money laundering spotlight. The Panama Papers have put the Swiss legal community on the defensive over offshore shell companies and links with shady characters. For anti-corruption campaigners, the media-...

Ammann met the Chinese Prime Minster Li Keqiang (Keystone) On a three-day official visit to China, Swiss president and economics minister Johann Schneider-Ammann told swissinfo.ch that the free trade agreement between the two countries is having a positive impact on Swiss businesses. swissinfo.ch: P...

Former UBS bank employee tu ed whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, was one of the first to bring offshore tax evasion to public attention (Keystone) The financial crisis and resulting austerity drive have drawn attention to avoidance.xa0 No one used to care about offshore finance. Or at least, hardly ...

On the up:xa0Swiss freestyle champion skier Virginie Faivre is looking towards a post-sport futurexa0 (Swiss-Ski/Ruedi Flck) She’s an Olympic athlete and three-time world champion but will one day need to xa0find a job. Virginie Faivre is already thinking about making the transition and - like many ...

Playful: Switzerland’s latest banknote features a dandelion and a paraglider. (Keystone) The new CHF50 ($52) banknote, introduced by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Wednesday, has 15 security features to thwart counterfeiters, including shimmery ink, glittery thread, window cut-outs, ultraviolet el...

Apr 6, 2016 - 11:00The Kunstmuseum Be is aiming to lead the way for Swiss museums in provenance research, a decision prompted by its inheritance of Co elius Gurlitt’s controversial collection. With its exhibition “New Masters”, it is coming clean on its own stash of art.“New Masters” will trace the ...

Leading Russian opposition activist and nationalist politician Alexei Navalny Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is an anti-corruption campaigner and strong critic of President Vladimir Putin. Shortly before the “Panama Papers” leaks, he told swissinfo.ch that one cannot ignore Switzerland’s i...

If the franc were to appreciate strongly, there is little the Swiss National Bank could do to reverse it, writesxa0Chris Newlands. Little more than a year ago, while European Central Bank president Mario Draghi was busy fulfilling his promise to do “whatever it takes” to revitalise the eurozone econ...

(swissinfo.ch) On June 23, British voters will decide on whether to leave the European Union, 43 years after joining. A British author living in Switzerland explains Brexit to a Swiss audience in a new inte ational affairs programme on Swiss public television, SRF.xa0 Each month #SRFglobal analyses ...

Apr 5, 2016 - 17:00The Swiss Red Cross, Switzerland’s best-known aid organisation, celebrated its 150th birthday with a big party in Be on April 2. However, its history includes not only great charitable deeds but also dark chapters.xa0The jubilee bash will take place on the square outside the capit...

(swissinfo.ch) On June 23, British voters will decide on whether to leave the European Union, 43 years after joining. A British author living in Switzerland explains Brexit to a Swiss audience in a new inte ational affairs programme on Swiss public television, SRF.xa0 Each month #SRFglobal analyses ...

Former Swiss private banker Rudolf Elmer before his January 2015 trial Following the release on Sunday of the Panama Papers, former whistleblower Rudolf Elmer spoke with jou alist Roger Schawinski on Swiss Public Television, SRF, about secrecy, responsibility and greed. The Panama Papers scandal wil...

Scene of the leak: the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama City (Keystone) A 2.6 terabyte data leak out of a law office in Panama has revealed a staggering amount of questionable banking activity around the world – including Switzerland. Of the ten financial institutions requesting the most offshore ...