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30 November 2014 Ecopop Referendum: Swiss Reject Immigration Curbs Voters in Switzerland have decisively rejected a proposal to cut net immigration to no more than 0.2% of the population. The country's 26 cantons rejected the proposal, with about 74% of people voting no in Sunday's referendum. Supporters of the measure argued that it would have reduced pressure on the country's resources. Opponents said it would have been bad for the economy. Around a quarter of Switzerland's eight million people are foreigners. The measure would have required the government to reduce immigration from about 80,000 to 16,000 people a year

In today’s Swiss gold referendum, roughly 78% voted against expanding central bank gold reserves to 20% of central bank assets from the current 7%, according to Swiss national broadcaster SRF. The vote is a blow to the movement to “Save Our Swiss Gold” that had the hopes of moving Switzerland back toward a gold standard which the country left in 1999.

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Voters in Switzerland Sunday rejected a referendum designed to limit immigration into the country for reasons of environmental conservation, along with other items dealing with tax breaks for expatriates and boosting gold reserves. The "Ecopop" initiative called for a massive reduction of net immigration into the country down to 0.2 percent of the total population. The annual number of foreigners entering Switzerland would have been cut from roughly 80,000 down to 16,000. Swiss voters rejected the measure by 74 percent.

Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a plan to force the Swiss National Bank to buy thousands of tonnes of gold, giving the SNB breathing space as it attempts to protect the franc against a quantitative easing blitz from the European Central Bank. Switzerland's government said on Sunday afternoon that 77pc of voters in Sunday’s referendum rejected proposals to make the central bank hold 20pc of its assets in the precious metal. This result was a blow to a right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which launched the “Save Our Swiss Gold” campaign in a reactionary backlash against the SNB accumulating hundreds of...

On Sunday, the people of Switzerland will go to the voting booth to decide their nation’s economic future. The “Swiss gold vote,” as it’s being called, would require that the nation put its currency back onto a gold standard, which would require the Swiss central bank to buy large amounts of gold from the global market in order to put their currency on a gold-based standard. The Swiss gold vote will have historic implications whether the citizens of Switzerland vote yes or no this weekend. This referendum is a measure that sets requirements for the Swiss National Bank (SNB) with...

For most of my career in international investing, I had always placed a great deal of faith in Switzerland's financial markets. In recent years, however, as the Swiss government has sought to hitch its wagon to the flailing euro currency and kowtow increasingly to U.S.-based financial requirements, this faith has been shaken. But this week (November 30th) a referendum in Switzerland on whether its central bank will be required to hold at least 20% of its reserves in gold, will offer ordinary Swiss citizens a rare opportunity to reclaim their country's strong economic heritage. It's a vote that few outside...

* Relatives of Brown, including parents, attack police officer who killed teen * Say his 'brazen confidence' meant he was sure he would not be punished * Darren Wilson, 28, killed Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Missouri, this August * Brown family complained about treatment of his body in report for UN * The Browns will fly to Geneva, Switzerland, to deliver document tomorrow The family of the black teenager shot dead by a white cop in Ferguson, Missouri, have claimed that he knew all along he would get away with it. Relatives of Michael Brown said that Darren Wilson had...

More than 1,500 years after its demise, the Roman Empire remains a vibrant part of modern-day Trier. Near the borders of France, Luxembourg and Belgium, today’s city of 105,000 was once the administrative capital of the Western Roman Empire and with its monolithic architecture became known as Roma Segunda — the Second Rome. The Romans brought to Trier a high standard of living, exquisite artwork and their famed architectural and engineering skills. In northern Europe, on an arc from the Alps to the North Sea, in what was once called northeast Gaul and Upper Germania, the remnants of Roman civilization...

Swiss officials have announced that the country is banning the Islamic State and related entities from their lands. The ban went into effect on Wednesday, when the Swiss cabinet voted to forbid Islamic State membership for at least six months. The ban disallows providing information or soliciting funds and recruiting for the jihadi terror group. Authorities said that doing so may result in three years in jail or a fine. The seven-member Swiss cabinet released a statement, which said that the Islamic State’s “massive human rights violations” have forced the country, which is known for its unapologetic neutrality, to act...

I’m a huge fan of Switzerland, largely because its voters approved a spending cap that should be a role model for other nations.It’s called the “debt brake” and it has helped reduce the burden of government spending in Switzerland at a time when most nations in Europe have been moving in the wrong direction.But that’s not the only reason I like Switzerland.I also appreciate the fact that Swiss voters seem to be much more sensible than voters in other nations.Every so often I see polls, for instance, suggesting that French voters overwhelmingly want less government spending. But then they go...

Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a plan for a seismic shift from the country's all-private health insurance system to a state-run scheme. Referendum results showed that almost 62 percent of voters had shot down a reform pushed by left-leaning parties which say the current private system is busting the budgets of ordinary residents. The results also underlined the national divisions over the hotly-contested issue as the country's German-speaking regions voted against the plan, while their French-speaking counterparts were in favour. Switzerland's private insurance lobby hailed the vote.

Two major groups of Arab sates questioned Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas in Gaza, in addresses to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday in Geneva. Describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as self-defense is both “legally incorrect” and “morally abhorrent,” said Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. […] Switzerland, Ireland, and Iceland were among the few Western countries to address to address the UNHRC under Agenda Item 7. Ireland condemned both Israel and Hamas as unacceptable for attacking innocent civilians during the Gaza war. With respect to Israeli attacks in Gaza, Ireland said,...

Is this really enriching anybody besides the Muslim settlers? A village of just 1,000 residents in Switzerland has been forced to raise taxes because an African refugee and her seven children cost the local authority $65,000 in benefits every month.Hagenbuch, in the Swiss canton of Zurich, is understood to be spending close to a third of its total annual budget on the family after they arrived from Eritrea in East Africa three years ago.The Eritrean woman and her family arrived in Hagenbuch three years ago in possession of a visa allowing her to stay in Switzerland for five years, with...

Swiss authorities say a male nurse who was bitten by an Ebola patient while working in West Africa has been flown to Switzerland as a precaution. ... It said the man, who was flown to Switzerland by a private transport company Monday, will be kept under observation at Geneva's University Hospital for the incubation period of three weeks.

As the popularity of alternative-lifestyle choice ‘veganism’ increases across Europe, officials in Switzerland have expressed concerns about the health implications for children who have the unusual diet forced on them by “idealistic” parents. In the statement, Swiss officials said: “Vegan food is not recommended for young children. It can cause serious harm”. The lack of vitamin B12, which is seriously deficient in Vegan diets is the main cause of the interjection by federal health officials, who have warned denying children access to animal-derived food at an early age can cause health problems.

On November 30th, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to vote in a referendum on gold. On the ballot is a measure to prohibit the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from further gold sales, to repatriate Swiss-owned gold to Switzerland, and to mandate that gold make up at least 20 percent of the SNB's assets. Arising from popular sentiment similar to movements in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, this referendum is an attempt to bring more oversight and accountability to the SNB, Switzerland's central bank. The Swiss referendum is driven by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the...

This week, Switzerland's attorney general completed a legal opinion on the question of whether Snowden could be granted political asylum if he traveled to Switzerland to testify about the National Security Agency's surveillance activities in the Swiss homeland. The AG's office concluded that Snowden would be given asylum as long as prior obligations made by higher-level Swiss officials did not take priority.

ZURICH (Reuters) - At least 10 Swiss banks have withdrawn from a U.S. program aimed at settling a tax dispute between them and the United States, Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources. Around 100 Swiss banks came forward at the end of last year to work with U.S. authorities in a program brokered by the Swiss government to help the banks make amends for aiding tax evasion. "At least 10 banks that had decided at the end of 2013 to pay a fine have withdrawn their decision," NZZ am Sonntag said, quoting unnamed lawyers and...

They DO have a strategy, but they prefer to appear indecisive. That’s because the strategy would likely provoke even greater criticism than the false confession of endless dithering. The actual strategy is detente first, and then a full alliance with Iran throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It has been on display since before the beginning of the Obama administration. During his first presidential campaign in 2008, Mr. Obama used a secret back channel to Tehran to assure the mullahs that he was a friend of the Islamic Republic, and that they would be very happy with his policies....

One person was killed Friday in a shooting in the prayer hall of a mosque in the Swiss city of Saint Gallen, police said. Media reports said the victim was 18 and was killed as a result of a row between Albanian families. […] The suspected killer was arrested at the scene, Saint Gallen cantonal police told AFP, without giving further details about the individual. …