Although his profession is teaching business, Reto Marthaler’s passion is gymnastics. He spends hundreds of hours per year organising local and regional boys’ programmes. The sport is on his mind “every day, every hour, every second”.  [...]

The hammered dulcimer, the Hackbrett, is the heart and soul of Appenzell folk music. Traditionally it's played in a string ensemble. But it's not limited to folk.  [...]

Mistrust in China after the death of several babies, along with an expanding population and growing middle class, has led to surging demand for Western baby milk formula, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge to Swiss manufacturers.  [...]

Blaise Cendrars’ Prose of the Trans-Siberian and the Little Jeanne de France was published a century ago. It was a journey around the world and in the mind.  [...]

Saudi Arabia, a key player in the conflict in Syria, is an important Swiss trade partner but it regularly makes headlines due to human rights violations. Is conducting business with the desert state complicity, or another way of bringing about change?  [...]

More and more train tickets are printed by computers; the traditional card ticket is today rarely used. The Aeschbacher company in Worb near Bern still cuts these and prints them with lead type.  [...]

Every third child in Switzerland is born by Caesarean section, one of the highest rates in the world. Particularly women in wealthy urban areas with a high density of private clinics request the surgery, a fact which riles critics.  [...]

Most armed conflicts are resolved not by force but at the negotiating table. However, the growing number of mediation actors seen in recent years can be counterproductive, according to a recent study by Swiss authors.  [...]