Total investment in Swiss startups climbed to over CHF3 billion in 2021, continuing a decade-long rise, only barely dented in 2020 by the pandemic. The CHF3.06 billion ($3.29 billion) invested last year marked a 44% increase on 2020, according to th...

Researchers from Switzerland and Germany say the Omicron variant of Covid is unlikely to push the healthcare systems to breaking point. Omicron is significantly more infectious but seemingly less severe than the Delta variant, the Federal Laboratori...

The Swiss defence ministry has ordered a probe into suspected illegal practices of information gathering by the country's intelligence service. Its cyber unit allegedly collected information on hacker attacks between 2015 and 2020 without requesting...

Swiss exports climbed to record levels in 2021, with chemicals and pharma driving much of the growth. Watches, especially luxury ones, also had a good year. Exports came to a total value of CHF259.5 billion ($284.5 billion) in 2021, marking a 15.2% ...

The Swiss government has been criticised for its incoherent practice of returning the frozen assets of politically exposed persons (PEPs). The Federal Audit Office, a financial supervisory body of the government and parliament, said inconsistent rul...

Black people in Switzerland face everyday discrimination as well serious racial profiling by the police, a United Nations working group has said. After a 10-day fact-finding mission, the group said in a statement on Wednesday that it was “concerne...

The Swiss government has extended a set of compensation schemes to help companies cope with the impact of the Covid pandemic. Short-time working payments will be continued for up to 24 months for employees and companies can benefit from simplified a...

The Swiss government says it will not attend the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing due to begin next week. The pandemic situation in Switzerland and the health restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities to contain the spread of the...

The government has decided to reactivate a capital requirement buffer in an effort to fight an increasing risk on the mortgage and real estate markets. In line with a request by the country’s central bank, the government on Wednesday ordered Swiss...

Switzerland is to withdraw its financial support for a conflict settlement between Israeli and Palestinian civil societies. The foreign ministry said it decided to phase out its funding by 2024 following an external evaluation, saying the Geneva Ini...

Switzerland’s blockchain industry says it includes 14 companies with a valuation over $1 billion (CHF912 million). Worldwide there are about 900 'unicorns' – privately held start-up companies valued over $1 billion – most of them in China, the...

The Swiss government is facing renewed calls for the immediate suspension of its anti-Covid measures, notably the work-from-home and quarantine rules. However, health experts and scientists have dismissed the proposals as counter-productive and prem...

Soul of a Beast by Lorenz Merz has been nominated in a record eight categories for the Swiss Film Prize 2022. Other contenders for trophies were announced at the 57th Solothurn Film Festival on Monday night. Merz’s film was nominated for the Golde...

A Swiss court has ignored prosecution demands to jail seven environmental activists who were accused of trespass and assaulting police during a demonstration at a quarry. They were instead found guilty of lesser offences and fined. They were among d...

Rock bottom interest rates and excess cash sloshing around Swiss companies saw a three-fold increase in the value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), rising to CHF170 billion ($186 billion) last year. The corporate shopping spree was led by the pharm...

An anonymous hacker gained access to the personal data of thousands of passengers who bought tickets from Swiss Federal Railways. The embarrassing IT security weak spot in the Swisscard system, which has since been fixed, was reported to the Rundsch...

A total of 168 athletes will represent Switzerland at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing next month. Of these, 26 have already won an Olympic medal, while 93 are taking part in their first Games. The goal of Swiss Olympic is to equal the 15 medals ...

Some surplus masks sold cheap by the Swiss army pharmacy to homes, schools and cantons performed “significantly worse” in tests than a reference mask, according to a report in Swiss newspapers. It is no secret that the Swiss army is sitting on m...

The number of attempted suicides by adolescents in Bern and Zurich increased sharply last year, according to the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Experts are calling for a national register to better understand the scale of the phenomenon across the countr...

Representatives of Swiss universities and businesses have issued a joint resolution urging the government to ensure Switzerland fully participates in the European Union’s flagship Horizon Europe research funding scheme by the end of 2022. “We ar...

Over 2,000 opponents of Swiss Covid-19 restrictions took part in a demonstration in the Swiss capital Bern on Saturday afternoon. Protesters at the unofficial rally marched from Bern station to parliament square in the city centre, under the eyes o...

Switzerland’s health minister, Alain Berset, says the use of the Covid-19 certificate could soon be over, as the Alpine country appears to be “on the right track” regarding its virus response. “The [Covid-19] certificate period seems to be a...

A game warden in Switzerland has shot dead a wolf without prior permission because the animal appeared to be stalking people. The wolf was being monitored in the southeastern canton of Graubünden after its behaviour gave rise to concerns, reports S...

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) showcase annual meeting has been rescheduled to May 22-26, to be held at its traditional venue of Davos. The Covid-19 pandemic has played havoc with the gathering of global executives, political and civil society h...

The Swiss authorities are advising teenagers in the 12 to 15-year-old age group to take a mRNA booster jab. The Pfizer/Biontech vaccine is also recommended as a booster for adults who received initial doses of the Janssen viral vector vaccine. The F...

Travellers from seven southern African states will once again be allowed to enter Switzerland from January 24, following a temporary ban to limit the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. The State Secretariat for Migration tweeted on Friday that ...

Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has blamed lopsided coverage of the pandemic for the continuation of Covid-19 restrictions. Maurer was critical of the media's handling of the pandemic in an interview published in the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper on Frid...

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis says stable relations with the European Union are important for bilateral ties with its neighbouring countries. Cassis made the statement in Berlin following the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as Ch...

Voters in Switzerland are likely to have the final say in May on organ donations, the European border agency and a levy on video streaming companies. Separate committees on Thursday handed in the signatures collected over the past 100 days to force ...

Switzerland should expand labour market participation to maintain high living standards, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In a report published on Thursday, the international body recommended Switzerlan...