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Swiss Info

Thu, 9 Sep 2021 08:53:00 GMT
Vaccination chief calls for end to school quarantine for children
The head of the Federal Vaccination Commission has said that quarantine rules for children over Covid-19 “make little sense at the moment”. In a television interview with Swiss public television SRF on Wednesday evening, Christoph Berger said in...

Thu, 9 Sep 2021 07:40:00 GMT
Protesters march against Covid certificate
More than 1,000 people demonstrated against extending the use of the Covid certificate in the Swiss capital, Bern, on Wednesday evening. They accused the government of introducing mandatory vaccination “through the back door”. On Wednesday the ...

Wed, 8 Sep 2021 18:41:35 GMT
Swiss start-ups thrive despite pandemic 
Start-ups delivering cutting-edge healthy food, skin tech and engineering solutions dominated the top three places in the 100 Swiss Startup Award ceremony held late Wednesday. Planted Foods – a company making vegan meat alternatives without chemi...

Wed, 8 Sep 2021 10:01:34 GMT
Swiss scale up training for international peacekeepers
The government has decided to boost Switzerland’s commitment to international peacekeeping missions. It agreed to extend an accord to support the International Peace Support Training Centre in Kenya. As part of the agreement, the agreement aims t...

Wed, 8 Sep 2021 09:45:00 GMT
Swiss boosts aid to crisis-stricken Afghanistan 
Switzerland is increasing its aid for Afghanistan which is in the grips of an acute humanitarian emergency and under the control of the Taliban after the withdrawal of US-led forces. The government on Wednesday approved an additional CHF33 million ...

Wed, 8 Sep 2021 07:16:00 GMT
Chinese artist says Swiss bank to close his foundation's account
Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei says Credit Suisse told him it was closing his foundation's bank account in Switzerland citing his "criminal record" in China, despite the activist never being convicted of a crime. One of China's most high-pro...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 16:24:10 GMT
French court reinstates crimes against humanity probe in Lafarge Syria case
Franco-Swiss cement group Lafarge-Holcim could yet be charged with crimes against humanity over its dealings in Syria, following a ruling by France’s highest appeals court. The company is under investigation in France for efforts to keep its cemen...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 14:56:08 GMT
Health experts cautious about ‘stable’ Covid situation
Experts say the number of new Covid-19 cases in Switzerland has stagnated at a high level while the situation in hospitals remains tense. Virginie Masserey of the Federal Office for Public Health said there were at total of 287 Covid patients in in...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 13:35:07 GMT
​​​​​​​Racism on the rise in Switzerland, says government report
The Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled racism and hate speech, with racial discrimination in Switzerland affecting more and more young people, says a new report. Forty percent of 15-24 year olds feel they have been discriminated against in the last five ...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 11:50:58 GMT
Unions demand financial reward for efforts during Covid crisis
The Trade Union Federation has called for a blanket salary rise for all employees as the Swiss economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis. Switzerland’s main trade union umbrella group said employees should be entitled to a salary increase of at le...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 10:40:50 GMT
Need for healthcare staff set to rise steeply, says report
The number of healthcare and support staff in Switzerland has increased by 19% since 2012, but another 70,000 people will be needed by 2029, according to a report by the Swiss Health Observatory (OBSAN). The growing need for staff reflects increasin...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 09:41:00 GMT
More cases of suspected illegal Covid payments reported
The national financial supervisory body says more than 200 Swiss firms paid dividends despite a ban as they benefited from government-backed credits during the Covid crisis. The Federal Audit Office on Monday said a total of CHF43.1 million ($47 mil...

Tue, 7 Sep 2021 07:08:00 GMT
Swiss-Kazakh diplomatic ties boosted
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and his counterpart from Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, have signed accords on diplomatic staff. They also discussed bilateral issues, including long-standing cooperation in their common voting constituencies o...

Mon, 6 Sep 2021 12:00:00 GMT
Swiss children and teens engage in more sports and exercise 
Swiss children and adolescents have significantly stepped up their physical activities between 2014 and early 2020, according to a government study. The Swiss Sport 2020 study also found the gender gap has narrowed and that the urban-rural divide w...

Mon, 6 Sep 2021 10:26:00 GMT
Successful hacking group targets Swiss towns, companies, hospitals
A group that hacked a Swiss town’s database and posted sensitive information on the Darknet has threatened to target other municipalities, companies or hospitals. The Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported on Monday that it had established contact with...

Mon, 6 Sep 2021 10:09:10 GMT
Swiss issue another green light to cull troublesome wolf pack 
The Swiss authorities have granted a third canton permission to cull a problematic wolf pack responsible for attacks on sheep. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) decided on Monday that three young wolves from the Beverin pack in the sout...

Sun, 5 Sep 2021 15:00:00 GMT
Swiss traditional open-air voting resumes after pandemic hiatus
Canton Glarus’s traditional open-air assembly (Landsgemeinde), the oldest form of direct democracy in Switzerland, resumed on Sunday after a long hiatus on account of the coronavirus pandemic. Voters gathered in the ring on Zaunplatz at the canton...

Sun, 5 Sep 2021 13:19:24 GMT
Swiss send large aid convoy to eastern Ukraine
Switzerland is carrying out its largest ever aid operation in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine, the government announced Sunday. Switzerland is providing 2,300 tonnes of aid including water treatment chemicals, hospital equipment and medical mat...

Sun, 5 Sep 2021 11:39:51 GMT
Swiss climate experts propose personal CO2 budget
Swiss climate experts propose the introduction of an individual CO2 budget so Switzerland can reach its goal of “net zero greenhouse gas emissions” by 2050. The radical proposal for Swiss climate policy was presented in the Sunday weekly newspap...

Sun, 5 Sep 2021 09:56:11 GMT
Swiss finance minister skeptical about wider use of Covid certificate
Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has reservations on the use of a mandatory heath certificate for daily life in Switzerland. In an interview with the SonntagsBlick newspaper published on Sunday, he said it would be “difficult” to require the populat...

Sun, 5 Sep 2021 08:43:50 GMT
After the summer break, Swiss schools see a spike in Covid cases
Schools in German-speaking Switzerland registered a spike in the number of people infected with the coronavirus after the summer vacations. The weekly SonntagsZeitung conducted a survey of the 13 German-speaking cantons and found almost all register...

Sat, 4 Sep 2021 15:03:28 GMT
Swiss defence chief stands by fighter jet choice
Defence Minister Viola Amherd is standing by the government’s decision to buy F-35A jets despite pushback from a left-wing coalition. "I am convinced of the decision because we made a very serious, good evaluation," the defence minister told Swiss...

Sat, 4 Sep 2021 09:30:00 GMT
Swiss plan to repatriate critical Covid-19 patients
Switzerland plans to repatriate around 80 people currently suffering from Covid-19, a health official confirmed on Saturday. The Armed Forces Medical Service informed the cantons about the plan on Friday. About half of those affected fell ill while ...

Sat, 4 Sep 2021 09:00:00 GMT
ETH Zurich researchers pin down top learning strategy
Learning strategies and teaching models trigger fierce debates among educators. Researchers at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich have concluded that tackling a problem independently before receiving instruction delivers the best outcomes. T...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 15:49:41 GMT
Award-winning Swiss musician Michel Corboz dies at 87
Music lovers are paying tribute to Swiss conductor and choirmaster Michel Corboz who has died at 87. The charismatic musician, specialized in the vocal arts and sacred music, died on Thursday of heart failure following an operation, his wife said on...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 13:45:00 GMT
Trade unions call for demo against Swiss pension reforms
A dispute over reforms to the Swiss old-age pension scheme continues. Trade unions have rejected recent proposals and call for a national demonstration in Bern on September 18. Reforms of the state old-age pension scheme that are on the table are an...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 12:28:00 GMT
Covid-19: Swiss court gives mixed ruling on political gathering limits
The Federal Court, Switzerland’s highest court, on Friday ruled that a 15-person limit on political gatherings in Bern during the pandemic was unconstitutional, but it admitted a limit of 300, introduced by canton Uri. The Federal Court was ruling...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 10:40:16 GMT
Organic farming has lower yield but is better for the environment 
Yields from organic farming are more than 20% lower than with conventional methods, but organic farming is twice as environmentally friendly, a Swiss study has found. A field that is farmed organically has 230% more plant species diversity than a c...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 10:29:00 GMT
Swiss railway technician tampered with hundreds of train brakes
Rail passengers were put in “the greatest” danger after a Swiss Federal Railways (CFF/SBB) technician tampered with hundreds of brake controls last year, it has been revealed. A ruling by the Federal Administrative Court, published on Friday by ...

Fri, 3 Sep 2021 09:03:00 GMT
Half of Swiss employees back hybrid work model
Almost half of Swiss workers would like to continue spending part of their working week at home, slightly below the global average, a new survey shows. The Covid-19 pandemic caused a shift to remote working. Firms are now grappling with their back-t...



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