Voters in Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected some radical right-wing proposals that would have slashed immigration to just 0.2 percent of the Swiss population.  That would have required the government to reduce immigration from about 80,000 to 16,000 people a year.

Supporters of the measure argued that it would have reduced pressure on the country’s resources linking the contentious immigration issue to the environment.  Some environmentalists supported it, but other complained it tried to but a green screen over regular old xenophobia. The Swiss rejected the proposal, with about 74 percent of people voting no in Sunday's referendum.

Another proposal went down by an even larger margin.  It would have required the central bank to hold a fifth of its reserves in gold.  That would have meant the Swiss National Bank would have to buy massive amounts of gold within five years, likely causing its global price to jump.  More than 77 percent of voters said no.  Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the vote reflects people's confidence in the SNB and the view that gold is no longer as important as it once was as a tool to back up paper money.