Swiss Info
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 16:07:00 GMTPolice break up unauthorised Covid demonstration in central Swiss town
Officers fired teargas at a group of protestors who defied a cantonal ban on demonstrations in Altdorf on Saturday afternoon, as other Swiss cities remained relatively calm despite social media calls for large protests this weekend. Around 500 oppon...
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 13:39:00 GMTStudy shows benefits of physical and cognitive play in dementia patients
Elderly participants who trained regularly on a fitness device developed by a Swiss company showed improvements in cognitive skills, such as attention, concentration, memory and orientation. The study, carried out by an international team in two Bel...
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 10:18:00 GMTLonza to create 1,200 new jobs at vaccine-production site
The Swiss pharmaceutical company is recruiting workers to join its new plant in southern Switzerland, where three production lines have been set up to manufacture an active ingredient of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. So far the firm has hired 650 ne...
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 09:57:00 GMTSwitzerland joins global condolences for Prince Philip
The Swiss President Guy Parmelin has added his voice to the growing list of countries paying respects to the British royal family following the death of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. Parmelin, who this year holds the rotating Swiss p...
Fri, 9 Apr 2021 14:03:00 GMTCantons step up controls after foreigners get Covid-19 jabs
There have been several cases of “vaccine tourists” - foreigners who are not domiciled in Switzerland - getting their Covid-19 jabs in cantons Valais and Graubünden. Both cantons have tightened their checks as a result. Fewer than ten tourists ...
Fri, 9 Apr 2021 13:09:00 GMTLockdown protestors set to defy Swiss demonstration bans
Swiss police are bracing themselves for renewed anti-lockdown demonstrations this weekend. This follows scenes of violence at a protest march in the eastern city of St Gallen a week ago. Social media posts suggest that demonstrators are planning to ...
Fri, 9 Apr 2021 11:23:00 GMTSuter, Descombes and Eppstein win Swiss Grand Award for Art
Swiss-Argentine artist Vivian Suter is one of three recipients of this year’s Swiss Grand Award for Art/Prix Meret Oppenheim. Also honoured are architect Georges Descombes and the curator Esther Eppstein. The award, which is worth CHF40,000 ($43,0...
Fri, 9 Apr 2021 10:13:00 GMTStudy suggests one in three Swiss entertains Covid conspiracy theories
Coronavirus conspiracy theories have gained traction with around a third of people who responded to an academic survey in Switzerland and Germany. Researchers at the University of Basel asked the sample group of more than 1,600 people whether they b...
Fri, 9 Apr 2021 07:25:00 GMTForeign firms creating more jobs in Switzerland despite pandemic
Switzerland has remained an attractive location for foreign firms, creating more jobs last year than in 2019 - despite the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Swiss public television SRF and RTS have reported. Foreign firms accounted for 1...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 18:00:00 GMTModern human brain is 1.7 million years old
Today’s human brain was born 1.7 million years ago when our ancestors started using more complex tools and were developing language, say Zurich scientists. Researchers at the University of Zurich used a digital imaging technique called tomography ...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 16:47:00 GMTSwitzerland will not protest WHO Covid report on China
Switzerland refuses to be drawn into a growing international row over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. The United States and 13 other countries have condemned the findings of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) visit to China. They have...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 15:27:00 GMTSwiss composer Kelterborn passes away
Inspirational Swiss composer Rudolf Kelterborn has died at the age of 89. In addition to his compositions, Kelterborn was a conductor, taught music in Switzerland and abroad and helped form an influential academy. Born in Basel in 1931, Kelterborn c...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 14:28:00 GMTSwiss artists to showcase project on borders at Venice Biennale
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has chosen a quartet of artists and architects from Geneva to present their work on political and spatial borders at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. Material collected in the participative project, Orae –...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 11:47:00 GMTFewer antibiotics needed to fatten calves, study shows
Swiss researchers have developed a unique method to reduce the use of antibiotics in calves while still maintaining the profitability of farms. Farmers in Switzerland rely heavily on antibiotics in the process of fattening calves, even though effort...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 10:05:00 GMTAll electric pledge by Swiss car-sharing firm
Car-sharing company Mobility says it will electrify its entire fleet of 3,000 vehicles and build a network of e-charging stations by 2030. On Thursday, the company said its first 300 e-charging stations should be operational within three years. Mobi...
Thu, 8 Apr 2021 08:24:00 GMTPermafrost temperatures in Swiss Alps reach record highs
The warming trend observed in permafrost over the last two decades continued in 2019-2020, the warmest hydrological year on record in Switzerland, the monitoring network PERMOS said on Thursday. Scientists have now observed an increase in permafrost...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 16:14:00 GMTSwiss film promotion agency names new director
Nicola Ruffo is the new director of SWISS FILMS, the national film promotion agency tasked with boosting the visibility of Swiss movies abroad. “The cinematic landscape is in transition. In times of change, I am very happy to give, together with m...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 14:17:00 GMTSwitzerland in race for sufficient Covid immunisation
Health authorities have called for an extra effort from the Swiss population to keep Covid-19 infections as low as possible in the next few months. “We’re approaching the finishing line,” said Martin Ackermann, president of the government’s ...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 13:47:14 GMTSwitzerland has navigated Covid-19 well, says IMF
The Swiss response to the Covid-19 pandemic has received good marks from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, it said there was still work to be done, in addition to addressing pensions, the environment and relations with the European Unio...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 11:01:06 GMTOil trader admits to role in major Ecuador bribery scheme
A former representative for Switzerland-based commodities giant Gunvor has pleaded guilty to helping channel more than $22 million (CHF20.4 million) in bribes to high-level officials in Ecuador in exchange for lucrative contracts with the state-run o...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 10:10:49 GMTSwitzerland criticised for lack of international solidarity
Switzerland has been criticised by human rights organisation Amnesty International for showing too little solidarity with poorer countries, for adopting “draconian” anti-terrorism laws and for its rights-limiting response to Covid-19. “Between...
Wed, 7 Apr 2021 08:55:00 GMTProminent Vatican critic Hans Küng dies at 93
Swiss theologian Hans Küng, one of the most outspoken critics of the Roman Catholic church, has died aged 93. Küng passed away in the German town of Tübingen, where he had lived and lectured since the 1960s, his Global Ethic Foundation announced ...
Tue, 6 Apr 2021 13:11:00 GMTSwiss population grows despite increase in deaths
A total of 8,667,100 people lived in Switzerland at the end of 2020 – an increase of 61,100 or 0.7% on the previous year. Although there were 8,200 (12.1%) more deaths than the year before and fewer births, net migration caused the population to i...
Tue, 6 Apr 2021 11:49:13 GMTPetition demands government support for Pierre Krähenbühl
The Switzerland-Palestine Society has submitted a petition in favour of the former head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The letter calls on the government to restore the public reputation of Pierre Krähenbühl. A delegation from the Swit...
Tue, 6 Apr 2021 10:28:25 GMTSwitzerland doubles stock of natural uranium kept abroad
The quantity of natural uranium that Switzerland stocks abroad passed the one-million-kilogram mark in 2020. The bounty is double the weight recorded in 2019 – mainly as a result of acquisition, as well as processing of uranium into useable fuel ...
Mon, 5 Apr 2021 16:30:23 GMTCovid-19 unrest: youth parties demand government action
In response to the coronavirus pandemic and the riots in St Gallen, the youth branches of five Swiss political parties are calling on the government to provide better prospects. On Monday they published an open letter [pictured below] demanding that...
Mon, 5 Apr 2021 11:01:52 GMTSwitzerland pays first official visit to Iraq in over 40 years
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis is visiting three Middle Eastern countries this week as part of a national strategy to promote stability in the region. This was the first time since 1979 that a Swiss cabinet minister had visited Iraq. Cassis m...
Sun, 4 Apr 2021 16:23:00 GMTStudy points to lake methane as energy source of the future
Lakes, the source of 20% of global natural methane emissions, could also be the source of much of the world’s energy, if treated correctly, Swiss researchers have argued. In a paper published this week, researchers from Basel and Zurich suggest a ...
Sun, 4 Apr 2021 15:06:00 GMTSwitzerland asks EU for exception to vaccine export rules
As of this week, Switzerland can no longer import Covid vaccines from the European Union (EU) without a special license. Officials in Bern have asked to be granted an exception to the stricter conditions. According to the SonntagsBlick newspaper, at...
Sun, 4 Apr 2021 12:09:00 GMTSwitzerland mulls future European coordination on medical supplies
Switzerland, along with its European neighbours, could develop an industrial strategy to reduce its dependence on other markets for essential medical goods, President Guy Parmelin has said. “The pandemic has shown us that we are very dependent, ma...