Friday 24.05.2013  
 
 
 

Foreign Affairs


Free trade accord

Chinese prime minister praises deal with Swiss

Chinese Prime Minister Li, Swiss Economics Minister Schneider-Ammann and yodelers during a visit to a Swiss farm

On his first visit to Europe, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has praised a free trade deal with Switzerland, saying it would help Beijing open up its economy.  [...]

New deal

Chinese PM arrives in Switzerland for talks

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang arrives at Zurich airport Thursday evening

New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has arrived in Switzerland, his first European destination on a multi-country tour. The two nations, which have a historically good relationship, recently agreed on a free trade pact.  [...]

Human rights report

Amnesty flags Swiss asylum law

The report pointed to improvements in how authorities treat asylum seekers who are being deported

In its annual report, the human rights organisation Amnesty International cited Switzerland’s stricter asylum laws and ongoing discrimination against minorities as concerns while noting progress in the treatment of deported asylum seekers.  [...]

Syrian refugee crisis

Refugees struggle to survive in new Lebanese homes

Around 230 makeshift refugee settlements have sprung up like this one at Bar Elias in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley region.

Traumatised by the horrors of war, waves of Syrians continue to pour into Lebanon despite difficult living conditions in the tiny Mediterranean country – a quarter of the size of Switzerland with a population of four million.  [...]

New lives

Resettling the vulnerable who cannot go home

An Iraqi refugee family at an UNHCR reception area in Beirut

Resettlement in the West for the most vulnerable of the more than 1.5 million people who have fled Syria is as good as winning the lottery. For its part, Switzerland has only taken a handful and there are obstacles to opening the door wider.  [...]

Neither war nor peace

Battle begins against drones and killer robots

The Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, is a British military drone prototype

The intensive use of drones by the Obama administration is feeding a wave of protest and criticism which reaches Geneva next week when a coalition of NGOs will call for a halt to the race to build technology for autonomous killing robots.  [...]

Last word?

Swiss diplomat defends European Court solution

The main courtroom of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The European Court of Justice could settle differences between Switzerland and the European Union over their future bilateral relationship, a top Swiss diplomat has told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.  [...]

Corporate taxes

Swiss set to tackle divisive fiscal reform

Finance Minister Widmer-Schlumpf says it will take at least five years to implement the corporate tax reform

Under pressure from the European Union the Swiss government has outlined plans to scrap controversial tax privileges for international firms. But the reform risks undermining the complex federal fiscal system and leading to a major drop in revenue.  [...]

Chinese readers react

Profit at the expense of moral values

A woman surveys baby milk powder in a Nanjing supermarket

Ever since adulterated milk killed six babies in 2008, Chinese people have rushed to buy foreign powdered milk. But how has it come to this? swissinfo.ch asked its readers in China for their take on the issue.  [...]

Safe and sound

Red Cross hostages freed in Yemen

Yemeni soldiers man a checkpoint in Abyan province, where three ICRC workers were kidnapped earlier this week

Three kidnapped employees of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – reportedly a Swiss, a Kenyan and a Yemeni – have been freed in Yemen, according to ICRC and Yemeni sources.  [...]

Free trade

Swiss minister hails trade deal with China

Econimics Minister Schneider-Ammann has highlighted the importance of the trade deal with China

Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann has praised an accord reached in principle with China. He is confident of winning approval of the free trade deal in parliament.  [...]