Swiss Abroad

Would you quit your job if you had a state income?

This content was published on Jun 13, 2013 The initiative says creating a new society based on a re-evaluation of work leaves people with the choice of whether to get a paid job and allows them to live a life with less pressure. Is it a utopian idea to give everyone a basic income?

Swiss Politics

Old utopian ideal revived on Swiss streets

This content was published on Jun 13, 2013 “Bloody nonsense,” mutters a middle-aged man as he rushes to the entrance of the Basel railway station at the end of May. A young activist with a clipboard has just invited him to sign an initiative launched by a group of people without the support of a major political organisation. The campaigners say it is…

Swiss Politics

Senate approves US tax probes bill

This content was published on Jun 12, 2013 The 46-seat chamber on Wednesday approved the plan, designed to solve the issue without overturning Swiss banking secrecy laws, by 24 votes to 15 with two abstentions. Lawmakers are divided over the plan to allow Swiss banks, suspected of helping wealthy Americans hide their money, to disclose data to US prosecutors to help settle investigations…

Swiss Politics

Turks in Switzerland divided over protests

This content was published on Jun 11, 2013 Political scientist Can Büyükbay, lawyer Sibel Arslan, and Leyla Gül, Co-General Secretary of the centre-left Swiss Social Democratic Party, hope that the protests in their homeland will lead to permanent changes. They are following the events almost nonstop via social media like Facebook and Twitter. But there are close to 70,000 Turkish citizens living in…

Swiss Politics

Snowden and Switzerland, around the Web

This content was published on Jun 11, 2013

Swiss Politics

The long road from Guantanamo to Switzerland

This content was published on Jun 11, 2013 More than three years have passed since two Uighur brothers and an Uzbek left Guantanamo Bay. At the request of the United States, Switzerland offered them refuge – a place to begin a new life. The transfer of former inmates held at the detention camp within the American naval base in Cuba is back in…

Swiss Politics

US security snooping scandal unnerves Swiss

This content was published on Jun 10, 2013 Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, while admitting that the latest reports would not make relations with the US any easier, told Swiss public radio on Monday evening that it was important to “keep calm”. Relations between the two countries are already strained over an on-going tax evasion row. Switzerland is faced with a US ultimatum…

Swiss Politics

Post-vote, Swiss media weigh in on next steps

This content was published on Jun 10, 2013 As the Tribune de Genève put it, there was “no apparent shadow of the Röstigraben” – the imaginary trench that divides the German and French-speaking parts of the country. The loud “yes” to asylum reform, with 78.5 per cent of the vote, is “also a vote of confidence for (Justice Minister) Simonetta Sommaruga” said the…

Swiss Politics

Minister pushes for more asylum reforms

This content was published on Jun 9, 2013 Three out of four voters came out in favour of keeping in place restrictive measures implemented last September and valid for three years. The new rules include the scrapping of asylum requests at Swiss embassies abroad and of refusing in principle a safe haven in Switzerland to conscientious objectors. As part of the revised legislation,…

Swiss Politics

Stricter rules will stay

This content was published on Jun 9, 2013 More than 78 per cent of voters supported the change to the asylum laws. The legislation was introduced in September 2012 thanks to a fast-track parliamentary procedure, since the new package of measures was considered urgent due in part to an increasing number of asylum requests. There has also been growing public concern about crime…

Swiss Abroad

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

Sign in and personalize Swissinfo