The Swiss government says its first ever China foreign policy strategy is intended to create “greater coherence" in its relations with Beijing, even if there are “clear differences in values between the two countries”. The move comes at a time...

Police cleared climate activists demonstrating in Bern and Zurich on Friday. Demonstrators gathered in 15 cities across the Alpine country calling for a more ambitious national climate strategy. Groups of protestors carried out a sit-in on Waisenhau...

Three of Switzerland’s “too big to fail” banks no longer threaten to cause a seismic shift in the economy should they collapse, says the financial regulator. Zurich Cantonal Bank, PostFinance and the Raiffeisen banking group are now deemed to ...

Switzerland’s coronavirus vaccination campaign is starting to show its first effects, data shows. Although overall new infections have started to rise, among seniors - who are being vaccinated first - cases and hospitalisations are falling. The Sw...

The United States Justice Department has charged a Swiss hacker with computer intrusion and identity theft, a week after a house raid by the Swiss police. Till Kottmann, 21, has taken credit for helping to break into a US security-camera company’s...

Up to a month’s worth of snow has been lost at low and medium altitudes for the last 50 years, according to the first global analysis of snow trends across the mountain range. Between 1971 and 2019, the winter snow season shrunk by an average of 2...

Companies and individuals affected by the Covid-19 pandemic will be able to benefit from additional financial support of about CHF12 billion ($13 billion). On Thursday, both the House of Representatives and the Senate signed off on funds for emergen...

The medicines regulator Swissmedic says it has not yet received enough robust data from clinical trials to give the green light to the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Swedish-British company. While the supervisory authority saw conclusive results ...

Parliament has criticised the Swiss government’s Covid-19 policy, notably the restrictions for businesses and citizens. The main political groups in the House of Representatives aired their grievances during a special debate on Wednesday. The rig...

Metalor, one of the world’s biggest gold refiners, has developed a way to quickly confirm where gold had been mined, potentially stopping illegal gold from entering supply chains. The Swiss-based company announced that it has devised the method w...

Cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Suisse has withdrawn its application for a banking license, in part because it failed to meet the anti-money laundering requirements of the Swiss financial regulator. “The application process has shown the need for furt...

At certain times and in certain regions, water will become so scarce or so warm in Switzerland that humans will have to curb their activities and nature will suffer, according to a government study. On the other hand, more rain will lead to more loca...

The division of labour in ant colonies has little to do with age but is apparently determined by random factors, scientists believe. Female ants either take care of the queen and larvae inside the nest or venture out in search of food. Researchers a...

Swiss households saved an average of CHF880 ($950) in the second lockdown, compared with around CHF3,000 in the first lockdown in spring 2020. “The forced pause in consumption with closed restaurants and shops led the average household to put asid...

Global sales of art and antiques fell by more than a fifth during 2020 to $50.1 billion (CHF46.5 billion). With the cancellation of many art shows, online sales doubled to $12.4 billion, making up a quarter of all sales, according to a report from Sw...

Glencore’s top coal trader is to depart, completing a change of the old guard at the top of world’s most powerful commodity trader. Tor Peterson will leave the Swiss-based company later this year along with two of the candidates who lost out in ...

Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, has approved pharmaceutical company Lonza’s new site for making Moderna’s Covid-19 active substance. It issued the licence following a successful inspection of the production plant in Visp i...

At this year’s session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Switzerland is focusing on equal pay, women’s economic independence, sexual and reproductive health rights, and the fight against discrimination and violence. The main foc...

Swiss authorities on Monday confirmed a police raid at the home of a Swiss hacker who took credit for helping to break into a US security-camera company’s online networks, part of what the hacker cited as an effort to raise awareness about the dang...

The Covid-19 pandemic has left a bitter taste in the Swiss candy sector. Sales last year dropped by 12% to CHF321 million ($345 million), announced umbrella association Biscosuisse on Monday. The slump in industry sales was more than double the volu...

Covid-19 has had a major impact on the Swiss Federal Railways, which reports a third fewer customers on trains and in stations in 2020 and a loss of CHF617 million ($663 million). “[The Federal Railways] looks back on an extremely challenging ye...

Rapid Covid tests are now free for everyone in Switzerland, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. The government says this is an important step towards further relaxation of the coronavirus measures. As of Monday the government, which has...

Media reports over the weekend indicate that vaccinating everyone who wants to by the summer in Switzerland relies on meeting ambitious vaccine approval and delivery targets in spring. Swiss authorities are facing mounting criticism over the speed a...

The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva handed out several awards on Sunday to films that not only push cinematic boundaries but bring to light stories of youth struggles and injustice. The Grand Prize of Geneva for a cre...

Switzerland benefits from tax abuse by companies and individuals to the tune of around $12.8 billion (CHF11.9 billion) according to a new global ranking. However, it also loses out on $5.7 billion in revenue. According to an analysis by the Tax Just...

An international team led by the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich analysed data from 7,250 water measuring stations around the world to find that changes in river flow in the last 40 years could only be the result of climate change. River ...

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have developed a simple method to extract natural melanin from mushrooms also known as "black gold". This unlocks new opportunities to create new materials and ...

Exports of Swiss watches are unlikely to return to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels over the next couple of years according to estimates by the Vontobel private bank. The forecast is not all doom and gloom though. After taking a hit in 2020, Swiss w...

The government has begun consultations on the second phase of reopening, which includes outdoor dining, despite the “precarious” coronavirus situation. A final decision will be made on March 19. At its meeting Friday, the Federal Council (govern...

Humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity has spent CHF40 million ($43 million) in donations on people in Switzerland left in need due to the coronavirus pandemic. In total, 1.7 million people have been supported, the organisation said on Friday. It has...