Close to half of the Swiss polled in the recent Vimentis survey would chose to introduce immigration quotas even if it meant the cancelation of European Union (EU) bilateral treaties – 45% held this view. By contrast only 41% would put preservation of the EU bilateral treaties ahead of immigration quotas. 14% were undecided on […]
Swiss embassy in Baku secretly shelters journalist
Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) Press release: Geneva, 11 February (PEC) AZERBAIDJAN. The Swiss embassy in Baku has been secretly sheltering Azerbaijani journalist and human rights activist Emin Huseynov for the past six months, a Swiss national television (SRF) report has revealed. The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) calls for the end of the persecution of activists […]
PEGIDA expands to Switzerland in the wake of Charlie Hebdo attack
The German PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) movement is using the outrage following the Charlie Hebdo attacks to further its cause. It was founded in October 2014 in Dresden, Germany and its Facebook page now has over 140,000 likes. It is difficult to ascertain the group’s objectives. The German news service […]
The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo hits the streets
Today, one week after the appalling attack on Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris the weekly satirical magazine published its regular weekly edition. According to the Swiss newspaper the NZZ it will be translated into 16 languages (including Arabic) and be available in Switzerland in German on Friday. The French version is expected to arrive tonight […]
From Silent Night to Explosive Night: A blaze of violence in Zurich
It is Christmas time! Time for Christmas carols, Christmas cookies and beautiful street decorations. However, Christmas time in Zürich this year seems to be a little different: On 13 December about 200 often masked rioters armed with crude weapons including iron bars plundered and vandalised the centre of Switzerland’s biggest city, causing significant damage to […]
Will Uber bring the same tragedy and drama to Basel?
LAUSANNE Uber, the quasi-taxi company, is back in the news, again for all the wrong reasons. The company has just launched its service in Basel despite condemnation by local taxi firms, but also public authorities and lawmakers elsewhere. For such critics, the city would do well to heed the advice of those who have experience […]
Switzerland continues nuclear power cutback
World-wide, the use of nuclear energy, including new investment, is falling back. The Italians already made the decision in 1987 following the Chernobyl crisis to close nuclear power stations. In Germany, eight stations have been shut since 2011 leaving nine others to continue producing 16 percent of the country’s needs. Over the next decade, Berlin […]
Swiss to crack down on FIFA and sports corruption
ZURICH Amid repeated allegations of corruption and lack of transparency, the Swiss-based International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) may finally be held accountable by the Bern government. In recent years, the organization’s top executives, including Swiss national, Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, the governing body of world football, have managed to ignore accusations of inappropriate […]
Gurlitt’s Nazi art legacy accepted by Bern
Switzerland’s oldest art museum, the Kunstmuseum in Bern, will be accepting a collection of modernist artworks bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer. The masterpieces, among them paintings and drawings by Picasso, Chagall and Monet, were discovered in Gurlitt’s home a couple of years ago, according to The Guardian. Following an […]
HIV infections down in Geneva
The number of people living with HIV in Geneva has remained stable this year, according to new statistics released by the Department of Health. One in 100 people in Geneva are living with the virus – more than 4,000 people – and during the first 10 months of this year, 46 people were diagnosed. However, […]