Excerpt:
People in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino voted to impose the country's first ban on face-covering veils on Sunday, following in the footsteps of French and Belgian restrictions that rights groups say discriminate against Muslims.
Almost two thirds of voters in the Italian-speaking district backed the ban that still needs to be approved by the federal parliament in Bern before coming into effect.
Campaigner Giorgio Ghiringhelli, who drew up the proposal, said the result would send a message to "Islamist fundamentalists" he said were in Ticino and across Switzerland.