Switzerland News

February 16, 2019

Historian casts doubt on Swiss reverence of direct democracy

Even if the symbolic value of citizen participation in decision-making should not be underestimated, the actual importance of direct democracy in Switzerland is often exaggerated, claims leading Swiss historian Thomas Maissen. An interview with the Paris-based academic, published in in…

February 16, 2019

Survey: one in two care workers want to quit

Almost 50% of staff working in care professions in Switzerland want to leave their jobs, according to report by trade union Unia. The reasons: poor working conditions, stress and lack of work-life balance. Unia said the results of survey of…

February 16, 2019

Aerial photography, ‘voice phishing’ and quotas for Brits

Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here’s a round-up of some of the most interesting statistics to appear in the past week’s stories. Monday 158,000 Swiss researchers found that…

February 16, 2019

Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who played Hitler, dies at 77

Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor who gave masterful performances as Adolf Hitler in “Downfall” and an angel seeking mortality in divided Berlin, died Saturday aged 77, his agent said. Ganz, who was suffering from cancer, died “in the early hours…

February 16, 2019

Dying star may have helped form Earth as we know it

If it had not been for a massive star, Earth may well have developed into a hostile ocean world covered in ice sheets, Swiss and international scientists say. Computer simulations of planet formation by researchers from the Federal Institute of…

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February 16, 2019

Bruno Ganz: five key films

His masterful incarnation of Hitler in the film “Downfall” was one of many memorable performances by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who was also a renowned stage actor. – ‘The Marquise of O’ (1976) – In one of Eric Rohmer’s early…

February 16, 2019

Swiss actor Bruno Ganz dead at 77: agent

Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor who gave a masterful performance as Adolf Hitler in “Downfall”, has died aged 77, his agent said Saturday. Ganz, who died at his home in Zurich, had a distinguished career on screen and stage before…

February 16, 2019

Swiss film legend Bruno Ganz dies

Bruno Ganz, Switzerland’s best-known actor, has died in Zurich, his management has announced. He was 77. “It is with a heavy heart that we confirm our client Bruno Ganz passed away on February 16 at his home in Zurich after his…

February 16, 2019

The woman who guards a Swiss town

The small town of Schaffhausen, on the border with Germany, is being guarded by a woman for the first time in the centuries-old history of the Munot fortress. Karola Lüthi has been the guardian of the Munot fortress for two…