Switzerland have brushed aside Bulgaria 4-0 to secure a place at next year’s controversial World Cup in Qatar. Playing in Lucerne on Monday night, Switzerland qualified for a fifth successive World Cup in some style, having also hit the post twice...

A British biotech firm is set to start clinical trials in Switzerland of a skin patch vaccine against Covid-19 that uses T-cells and could offer longer-lasting immunity than existing vaccines. Emergex announced on Monday that it had received the gre...

A drive by the Swiss authorities last week to convince more people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 met with some success, but not as much as was hoped. The Federal Office of Public Health said on Monday that 104,689 doses were administered compar...

Zurich looks set to become the second Swiss canton to allow 16-year-olds to vote on local matters – provided the parliamentary decision is also accepted by a referendum. The cantonal parliament passed the motion on Monday despite opposition from s...

The European Union says it wants to establish a concrete plan to re-open bilateral talks with Switzerland next year. Maroš Šefčovic, the European Commission Vice-President responsible for Swiss relations and for Brexit, said the two sides would �...

Swiss child and youth support agency Pro Juventute has received 40% more calls from young people with suicidal thoughts during the pandemic. The non-profit foundation speaks to around 700 children and youths every day, which is far more than during ...

Being excluded from the European Union’s flagship research funding programme Horizon Europe has increased the risks of a brain drain of scientists and young start-ups from Switzerland, top university officials have warned. “We will of course dev...

The Glasgow climate agreement secured at the COP26 conference late on Saturday has delivered a mixed bag, say Swiss media. Uncertainty remains a leitmotif in many papers. “The outcome of Glasgow is delicate in that it turned out ambivalent,” wro...

Lukas Gloor, the director of the Bührle Foundation - from which the controversial Bührle art collection comes - will step down at the end of the year. The collection is currently at the centre of a row about its origins. Around 200 artworks from t...

The Covid-19 vaccine booster may be available to younger people this year, according to interviews in the Sunday press. Meanwhile, the head of the Swiss National Covid-19 Science Task Force has warned that more must be done to fight the present Covid...

Switzerland’s president Guy Parmelin is to visit the United States to cement cooperation on vocational education and training (VET). The move is part of a wider effort to intensify bilateral relations in the areas of business, education, research a...

Several leading Swiss epidemiologists have expressed reservations about tightening the scope of the Covid certificate, as has happened in neighbouring Austria. The Swiss Covid certificate, compulsory since September 13 for admission to restaurants, ...

Some 3,000 people opposed to the Swiss government’s anti-coronavirus measures gathered near Bern on Friday in a peaceful protest that had been authorised by the city authorities. Police were present but did not intervene. Speakers included Robert ...

Geneva’s cantonal parliament has approved a law to reduce outside lighting at night in an environmental move. But there are exceptions, and not everyone is happy. The law, approved on Thursday, limits the use of illuminated outdoor signs and night...

Swiss President Guy Parmelin has drawn a mixed assessment of the national “vaccination” week now drawing to a close. In an interview on Friday with public broadcaster RTS, he said he was “sad” that some of the free concerts organised as part...

Switzerland’s justice minister, Karin Keller-Sutter, has called for humanitarian aid for migrants stuck at the European Union’s eastern border but says Europe must not give in to blackmail by Belarus. In an interview with the Friday edition of t...

The organisers of the annual Baselworld watch fair, which was cancelled the past two years due to the pandemic, have again postponed the 2022 spring edition. The relaunch of Baselworld, the world’s largest and oldest watch and jewellery trade fair...

Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga has praised a surprise US-China declaration on climate change made this week at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. "If the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases want to work together, that's a good...

As of Friday morning, trains are running again with a reduced service on the Geneva to Lausanne rail line. The line had been suspended since Tuesday afternoon after land collapsed near the tracks. The first passenger trains were able to circulate on...

Switzerland has cancelled plans to erect a marketing and meeting venue in Beijing at the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in light of expected Covid-19 restrictions. The Swiss foreign ministry had already been forced to mothball plans to host a H...

The Swiss authorities do not expect a sustained wave of Afghan refugees despite large numbers crossing the border in recent months, mostly illegally. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) calculates that more than 1,500 Afghan refugees have ente...

The Swiss federal authorities can proceed with awarding a cloud computing contract to five US and Chinese companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Alibaba, after Google dropped an appeal against the decision to leave it out of the project. “The ...

Economics Minister Guy Parmelin has presented a government strategy to make the Swiss tourism sector more sustainable. He said the policy approach would remain unchanged but take into account the impact of the Covid-19 crisis to keep a competitive e...

The government has appointed Christian Dussey as new chief of the Swiss intelligence service. The 55-year-old diplomat will take up his post next April and replace Jean-Philipp Gaudin who stepped down last August. Dussey has been Swiss ambassador t...

The number of victims of anti-personnel landmines around the world increased by more than 20% last year, according to a non-governmental organsiation based in Geneva. The latest Landmine Monitor, published by the research arm of the International Ca...

The diamond jewels once worn by the guillotined queen were sold within five minutes in Geneva, at a price well above expected. During the French Revolution, which would lead to her and her husband King Louis XVI being executed in 1793, Marie-Antoine...

The Swiss heath system is still one of the best among OECD countries. But the country is lagging behind with its Covid vaccinations, an international report says. Health status is high in Switzerland, with life expectancy among the highest among the...

Swiss federal prosecutors are set to drop a criminal investigation into Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal. There is not a strong enough case to file charges, they said on Tuesday. The Office of the Attorney General said that it had informed the ...

Switzerland has dropped one spot, to 15th, in an annual league table that ranks countries according to their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate experts have blamed the failure of the CO2 law at the ballot box. The Climate Change Per...

Some 42% of women in Switzerland have experienced domestic violence – and 24% of men, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The representative study, conducted by the Sotomo research centre in autumn 2021 for an umbrella organisation of women...