An attempt to veto the Swiss government’s anti-Covid policy has failed in a nationwide referendum but activists say they will continue to fight against the authorities. Final results show opponents clearly falling short of a winning a majority in ...

Voters have endorsed a series of measures allowing police to crack down on militant extremists and apply preventive detention methods, giving Switzerland one of the strictest anti-terrorism legislations in Europe . Final results show the law winning...

A year after Geneva, voters in Basel City approved on Sunday a CHF21 per hour counter-proposal to a leftwing project which initially asked for CHF23. Citizens in Basel City accepted the proposal with a majority of just under 54%. The slightly higher...

Several hundred people have taken to the streets of Lucerne to protest against the Swiss government’s anti-Covid measures. Local police said about 400 people took part in a march co-organised by the Silent Protest movement through the central Swis...

Switzerland and Austria have agreed a deal to increase cooperation on promoting peace, prosperity and sustainability. On a visit to the Austrian capital, Vienna, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenb...

Six Filipino employees say they have been working for Pakistani diplomats in Geneva for more than 20 years without pay. The Pakistani authorities have strongly rejected the allegations. The employees have filed a complaint with the Geneva Public Pr...

Swiss President Guy Parmelin and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday 16 June, the Swiss government has said. This is the same day as Geneva hosts a high-level summit between US President ...

US-based biotech company Moderna is applying for the use of its Covid-19 vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 in Switzerland, it said on Friday. Its vaccine is currently approved only for people aged 18 and over. So far, only Pfizer/BioNTech has be...

Independent research group BAK Economics has revised its growth forecast for the Swiss economy upwards, as coronavirus restrictions are eased. The Basel-based group now expects GDP to rise by 3.9% this year, compared with a previous forecast of 3.4%...

A special fund set up to compensate people who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of representatives of the Catholic Church in Switzerland will be extended for another five years to allow more people to file claims. The fund, which was launched by t...

Switzerland’s highest court has rejected an appeal by 12 climate activists who staged a tennis stunt at Credit Suisse, upholding their conviction for trespassing. The Federal Court dismissed their argument that they had taken emergency action beca...

The Swiss government has renewed its support for the Global Partnership for Education, it said on Thursday. It is making CHF52 million ($58 million) available to the organisation for the period 2021–25. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) i...

Special security measures are being prepared for next week’s summit in Geneva between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Local airspace will be restricted for three days and the public will be banned from accessing the lak...

Fifteen climate activists who blocked a main road in Neuchâtel in western Switzerland in March 2020 have been found guilty and fined. The Extinction Rebellion campaigners blocked a main road for 75 minutes on March 5, 2020 to draw attention to the ...

The predicted disappearance of certain indigenous languages could also lead to the disappearance of the knowledge of many medicinal plants. In three-quarters of the cases identified by researchers in Zurich this knowledge is transmitted only orally i...

French model and actress Laetitia Casta will receive the Excellence Award Davide Campari 2021 from the Locarno Film Festival in southern Switzerland. The ceremony for the award, given to artistic figures who have influenced contemporary cinema, will...

Pandemics, rivalries between global powers, cyberattacks, jihadist terrorism, and violence among left-wing and right-wing extremists are among the main threats to Swiss security, the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) said in its latest situation rep...

The world has witnessed the first rise in child labour in 20 years and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more minors into the same fate, the United Nations said on Thursday. Swiss multinationals from food giant Nestlé to mining ti...

World Trade Organization (WTO) member states have taken a step closer toward boosting Covid-19 vaccine supply to poorer countries. South Africa and India, supported by many emerging countries, have been pushing for a temporary waiver of intellectual...

A Russian businessman suspected of insider trading is being held in Switzerland ahead of possible extradition to the United States, it has been confirmed. The Federal Office of Justice has confirmed Swiss news reports that Vladislav Klyushin was arr...

The Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva are among the world’s best cities to live in, according to a prestigious survey. Zurich moved up to 7th position from 11th position in the latest Economist Intelligence Unit ranking published on Tuesday, compa...

The federal technology institute ETH Zurich has been ranked the eighth best university in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2022. Despite slipping two places compared to last year, ETH Zurich remains continental Europe’s best universit...

Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter says Switzerland supports the European Union’s plans to boost security within the single-border Schengen area. She said improving coordination on asylum issues between the 26 Schengen states, including Switzerl...

The Swiss authorities confiscated 346 packages of illegal medicaments, most of them fake erectile stimulants, as part of a global crackdown last month. Investigators also uncovered 120 illegal foreign websites selling the fake medicines under a Swis...

Swiss scientist Richard Ernst, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991, died on Friday at the age of 87, his family said on Tuesday. He was considered the father of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Born in 1933 in Winterthur, n...

Children’s rights in Switzerland are insufficiently enforced, according to the Child Rights Network Switzerland, which has launched a campaign, “Children have rights!”, to raise awareness of the issue among the public and politicians. At the s...

A newly approved treatment for Alzheimer’s was built on the foundations of Swiss scientific research, says the University of Zurich. On Monday the United States regulator granted fast-track approval for the drug aducanumab, which will be marketed ...

Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan – and now Patent Ochsner. The Bernese band, which sings in dialect, will be the first Swiss act to perform on MTV Unplugged, televised concerts where musicians play acoustic instruments. This project opens up ...

The Swiss foreign ministry says it has shipped medical supplies to Sri Lanka to help the country combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The supplies include half a million antigen tests, 50 ventilators, 150 oxygen concentrators and testing material worth CHF...

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis says Switzerland will contribute an additional CHF3 million ($3.3 million) for reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip following last month’s military conflict with Israel. The funds will be made available to the ...