Swiss President Guy Parmelin says he is hopeful that the Biden-Putin summit in Geneva will serve as a “starting point” for new disarmament negotiations. At a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday evening, Parmelin said he hoped that the summit...

Parliament has approved an annual financial package of CHF150 million ($166 million) to help struggling newspapers and online media in Switzerland. The House of Representatives on Wednesday ironed out final differences over the long-discussed suppor...

Parliament has approved the final amendments to a reform which will bring more transparency around political donations and campaign spending. The legislation, approved by the larger chamber of parliament on Tuesday, will oblige political parties to ...

Switzerland has held further talks with Sudan about securing peace and stability in the African country following a regime change. A delegation of Swiss diplomats, led by Ambassador Siri Walt, tackled the subjects of peacebuilding, development and m...

US President Joe Biden has touched down in Geneva ahead of key talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. But first he met both Switzerland’s president and foreign minister. After a brief delay, Biden emerged solo from Air Force One and was ...

Coronavirus vaccines could offer at least 12 months of protection against all forms of the virus, a top Swiss health official says. This increases the former official line of six months of protection. The Federal Vaccination Commission has concluded...

The Swiss federal police authorities stopped 167 people from entering the county in 2020. The main reason: terrorism links. This was a slight in overall numbers from 2019 (160) but the figures reveal a much higher proportion of terrorism-linked bans...

Swiss International Air Lines will make fewer pandemic-related job cuts than feared following consultations with staff and trade unions. On Tuesday, SWISS said the number of intended layoffs has been reduced to 550 from the 780 announced last month....

Switzerland’s economy is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic at a faster rate than previously anticipated. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) painted a brighter picture for economic growth (gross domestic product or GDP) and em...

Thousands of women took part in protests across Switzerland on Monday demanding greater equality between the sexes. Over 40 different protests took place in Swiss towns and cities, including Geneva, Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, Lausanne, Fribourg and Neu...

Nils Melzer, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, has written to the Swiss government to complain about the treatment of the violent repeat offender known as “Carlos”. Humanitarian law specialist Melzer, who is Swiss, wrote to the ...

The president of the Swiss-based International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Hamane Niang, has stepped aside from his job during an investigation into allegations of systemic sexual abuse of women players at his home federation. Hamane Niang “stro...

Five people lost their lives on Saturday when a glider and a small plane crashed in high mountains above Bivio in canton Graubünden, the police reported on Monday. It is unclear if the accidents are linked. Two pilots and three passengers died in t...

Voters on Sunday narrowly rejected plans to build a new concert hall complex in the heart of so-called International Geneva. In all, 50.86% of Geneva voters rejected the plans for the “Cité de la Musique” project. Opposition had come from a coa...

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...