The United States has raised its travel advisory levels for Switzerland because of rising Covid-19 infections rates. Switzerland was lifted to the highest level, urging American citizens not to travel to the country, according to the US state depart...

The coronavirus pandemic is pushing more and more Swiss people to shop online and use streaming services and social networks such as Netflix and TikTok, according to a study published on Monday. Television and radio retain their popularity. Coronavi...

Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court has sentenced a German woman, who was at the helm of a trading company, to 45 months behind bars in a hefty fraud case. The 71-year-old woman, a former director of the Lucerne-based trading company Fera, was ac...

Switzerland’s use of animals for medical experiments decreased in 2020 despite an uptick in painful experiments and animal testing being a feature of Covid-19 research efforts. Approximately 556,000 animals were used for experimental purposes in ...

Four wolves from increasingly problematic packs can be shot to deter the others from attacking farm livestock, the Swiss authorities said on Monday. Permission for the cull has been granted by the Swiss environment ministry following complaints that...

The Swiss authorities have rejected an attempt by Moscow to extradite a Russian businessman caught in an extradition tussle between Russia and the United States. Vladislav Klyushin has been held in Switzerland since March on a US arrest that accuses...

The coronavirus pandemic has affected eating habits in Switzerland, causing people to put on an average three kilogrammes of weight, a University of St Gallen study has found. The study, revealed on Swiss public television SRF on Sunday, found the a...

A Danish-Swiss scientific expedition team say they have found the world’s most northerly island. It was found by chance off the coast of Greenland, several Swiss newspapers highlighted on Sunday. The expedition had financial backing from Swiss ent...

Swiss Interior Minister Alain Berset has told the NZZ am Sonntag that he is considering bringing back quarantine for travellers for the autumn holidays. His comments come amid a rising number of coronavirus cases and increased pressure on hospitals. ...

Demonstrations against Switzerland’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions have been held in three towns across the country. Around 250 people gathered in Schaffhausen in the north; around 200 people in Brig in canton Valais and an as yet unconfirmed ...

Some Swiss hospitals have begun delaying non-urgent operations due to pressure from the rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung has reported. The University Hospital Zurich told the newspaper that it had alread...

The Swiss interior minister Alain Berset has called for regular mass Covid testing in schools. The coronavirus situation is more serious than thought, he said. Speaking during a special debate on Swiss public television (SRF)’s Arena programme on ...

Bern has now ended its evacuations from Afghanistan after bringing 387 people to Switzerland over two weeks with the help of the German military, says the foreign ministry. These people include 34 Swiss nationals and 218 Afghans who worked for the S...

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is a mistake, and the chaos in Kabul will quickly have consequences for Western democracies, especially in terms of security, according to the Afghan ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Nasir Ahmad And...

The Swiss government has approved the extradition of Hanno Berger, a German lawyer sought in a major tax evasion case. The Federal Office of Justice confirmed on Friday that it had issued an order on August 20 for the extradition of the German lawye...

If a mother speaks to her premature baby during a medical intervention, signs of the baby’s expression of pain decrease, research has found. The baby’s level of oxytocin – the hormone involved in attachment and also linked to stress – also r...

An orchestra in western Switzerland is preparing to perform an unfinished piece of Beethoven generated by artificial intelligence, based on research by the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). The Nexus orchestra (formerly the Young Prof...

Extending the use of Covid-19 certificates to bars, restaurants and other public indoor spaces to prevent the spread of the virus is “the right way to go”, says Lukas Engelberger, president of the Conference of Cantonal Health Directors. The cant...

Every evening, Lausanne’s night watch climbs to the top of the ancient cathedral bell tower to call out the time each hour, keeping alive a 600-year-old tradition. For the first time, the job is now held by a woman. The Lausanne authorities announ...

Swiss-Tunisian artist Jasm One has paid tribute to Lucy Walker, the first female climber to conquer the Matterhorn 150 years ago, and to all female climbers. His mural, inaugurated this week, can be seen in the heart of the Swiss mountain resort of Z...

Gross domestic product fell by 2.4% in 2020 as a direct consequence of the global pandemic affecting certain sectors of the Swiss economy. The health crisis caused a big drop in both domestic demand and international trade, the Federal Statistical O...

A Franco-Swiss graffiti artist’s monumental project on top of a Swiss mountain aims to encourage a more contemplative approach to life by inspiring childlike wonder at clouds drifting by. The 1,500 square metre painting Un nouveau souffle (A New L...

The rapid antigen test approved in Switzerland has performed badly in a direct comparison with PCR tests. Among 141 people infected with Covid-19, it detected only two out of three infections. The rapid test performed even worse in symptom-free infe...

Swiss households, businesses, foundations and other institutions donated around CHF2.05 billion ($2.24 billion) to charitable organisations in 2020, helping relief agencies to make up for an income shortfall blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic. Every se...

The takeover of Swiss companies by foreign state-owned or state-linked funds is to be better regulated. The government has laid down the broad outlines of a foreign investment control system. Concerned about the international trend of company takeov...

The new prices for priority and standard mail were set in cooperation with the country’s price watchdog and will go into effect in January 2022. Priority mail (A-Mail) inside Switzerland will be 10 centimes more expensive to send while the price o...

The government has proposed measures to extend the use of Covid-19 certificates to avoid a potential overburdening of Swiss hospitals. Interior Minister Alain Berset said a series of measures, including limiting access to indoors areas of restaurant...

A controversial free trade agreement (FTA) upgrade between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Turkey will come into force from October 1 after surviving stinging criticism and delays. Despite being signed off in 2018, the new terms of th...

All Swiss International Air Lines flying personnel have been instructed by the company to take Covid-19 vaccinations from November 15. The airline says it will become impossible to continue its flight operations around the world without this mandato...

Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has set up a fund to reclaim $201 million (CHF183 million) that was stolen from the sport by corrupt officials and marketing executives. The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has agreed to pay the sum...