Switzerland has been taken to task by the human rights group Amnesty International for its tough treatment of asylum seekers and migrants. The country was violating international legal principles by returning migrants and asylum seekers with rejected asylum claims to countries where they are in danger of persecution, Amnesty said in its annual report published on Thursday. The human rights …

Swiss voters once again participated in the country’s unique system of direct democracy on Sunday, casting their ballots on matters of national, regional and local import. Here are the key results. 1) A clear vote against the No Billag initiative Swiss voters on Sunday overwhelming rejected an initiative backed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which would have seen …

Swiss President Doris Leuthard on Thursday slammed the EU’s decision to limit Swiss financial access to its markets as “discriminatory”. Leuthard was reacting to the news that the EU intends to place a one-year limit on Swiss stock exchange equivalency to EU markets because the two parties haven’t yet made any significant progress on an institutional framework agreement. Legal and …

When you see pictures of what’s going on in the rest of world, you feel lucky to live in Switzerland, said the new Swiss president, Alain Berset, in his New Year address on January 1st. Interior minister Berset, who took over from last year’s president Doris Leuthard on the stroke of midnight, said the country was a stable, safe and …

Another year is nearly over, and it’s been an eventful one in Switzerland. Arguments over cowbells, record-breaking engineering projects and one small village’s repopulation plan were among the many stories that made international headlines this year. Here’s review of the biggest stories in 2017. January The year kicked off in typical Swiss style with a row over citizenship… and cowbells. …

The narrative of the 2016 election seemed to set the tone for the entire year. Donald Trump’s surprising win came at the end of a long, bitter campaign where both sides flung accusations of sexism, racism, lies, cover-ups, illegal activity, and even sexual assault. The country saw for the first time a political candidate who could change the entire conversation …

The most popular names given to babies in Switzerland in 2016 were Mia and Noah, according to the Swiss statistics office, which published its annual analysis on Monday. Among the 42,951 girls born in Switzerland in 2016, the most popular name was Mia, topping the table for the second year, followed by Emma and Elena. Noah was the trendy name …

A village in Switzerland would rather pay a fine of close to $290,000 than accept 10 refugees, required under the country’s quota to deal with the 1 million refugees and migrants who have arrived in Europe in recent years. Residents of Oberwil-Lieli, one of the wealthiest villages in Switzerland, voted this weekend to keep the refugees out. They simply “wouldn’t …