Switzerland says it views positively the outcome of the 109th International Labour Conference, which ended on Saturday. “Switzerland welcomes the decision to repeal or withdraw 29 obsolete international labour instruments,” said the State Secret...

Swiss engineers have found a new type of road surface they say can help reduce heat in cities, while also reducing noise. After testing 20 different types of surface, they have found a “test winner” that reduces heat by 12 degrees, reports Swiss...

Switzerland’s economy will be back to its pre-pandemic level as early as this year and does not need a stimulus package, says Sabine D'Amelio-Favez, director of the Federal Finance Administration. The Confederation has incurred debts of CHF30 bill...

The Swiss government is adding an additional CHF300 million ($330 million) in hardship payments to help small companies cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hardship payments were set up to support the worst hit firms, such as restaurants...

The Swiss government has formally adopted a report that sets out the country’s agenda to prevent escalating violence against women. On average a woman dies every two-and-a-half weeks in Switzerland after being attacked. The numbers of reported dom...

A Liberian commander has been sentenced to 20 years in jail in Switzerland’s first war crimes trial in a civilian court. Alieu Kosiah, 46, had faced 25 charges including killings of civilians, rape, recruiting a child soldier and an act of canniba...

A majority of 51% of Swiss would have voted against the framework agreement with the EU, which the government walked away from last month. Only 35% would have backed it, according to a survey. Doubts as to whether the framework agreement with the EU...

Switzerland has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the developed world and also gets bad marks on parental leave, according to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Alpine state is ranked 38th out of 41 countries...

The Geneva-based UN refugee agency says war, violence, persecution and human rights violations caused nearly three million people to flee their homes last year, even though the Covid-19 crisis restricted movement worldwide. In its latest Global Tren...

This year Switzerland will provide more than CHF12 million ($13 million) in humanitarian aid to Venezuela and the region, it said at the Donors’ Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants. “This is part of a long-term commitm...

Two Zurich professors have been awarded a European Inventor Award by the European Patent Office (EPO) for their work on storing large volumes of data in DNA strands. Wendelin Stark and Robert Grass, from the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zuric...

Switzerland is lagging behind most European countries when it comes to solar and wind power. In terms of per capita production, it ranks second to last in comparison with surrounding countries, according to the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES). The fo...

Swiss banks have been able to strengthen their capital bases despite deteriorating economic conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB). This applies to the two big banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, and also dom...

Schang Hutter, best known for artistic creations portraying human suffering in places like concentration camps, has died aged 86. Jean Albert (Schang) Hutter was born in 1934 in the northwestern Swiss canton of Solothurn. After training as a stonema...

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...