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Swiss Info

Sat, 5 Mar 2022 18:23:00 GMT
Swiss public broadcaster no longer has staff in Moscow
Following the introduction of strict new information laws in Russia, the Swiss public broadcaster SRF no longer has journalists reporting directly from Moscow. “Due to the restrictive conditions for correspondents and the threatening consequences ...

Sat, 5 Mar 2022 17:44:00 GMT
Demonstrations for peace draw thousands in Swiss cities
Huge numbers have marched for the second weekend in a row in Swiss cities to protest against the ongoing war in Ukraine. The biggest demonstration on Saturday was in the morning in Zurich, Switzerland’s biggest city, where organisers estimated tha...

Sat, 5 Mar 2022 11:35:00 GMT
Finance watchdog orders ‘protective measures’ at Sberbank Switzerland
The Swiss financial regulator has ordered protective measures to mitigate a risk of “liquidity problems” at the Zurich-based subsidiary of Russian bank Sberbank. The measures, which include a 60-day deferral of the bank’s obligations from depo...

Fri, 4 Mar 2022 16:51:00 GMT
Switzerland simplifies process of employing foreign workers
Moves to cut red tape for non-EU foreign workers in Switzerland will not necessarily lead to more work visas being issued. On Friday, the government announced measures to make it easier to hire skilled workers from such countries as India, Britain, ...

Fri, 4 Mar 2022 12:43:18 GMT
UN Human Rights Council backs Ukraine Commission of Inquiry
The UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva has passed a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling for the “swift and verifiable” withdrawal of Russian troops and setting up a commission of inquiry on violations of human ri...

Fri, 4 Mar 2022 11:28:00 GMT
Geneva science-diplomacy project gets more government backing
The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), a project that aims to pre-empt the societal impacts of technological change, has won the financial support of the Swiss government for the next 10 years. After a three-year pilot phase, the foun...

Fri, 4 Mar 2022 09:14:00 GMT
Credit Suisse denies hiding assets of oligarchs
Swiss bank Credit Suisse says a request for investors to destroy certain documents is “in no way linked to the recent implementation of additional sanctions” on Russia. The statement by Credit Suisse comes after a report by the Financial Times e...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 17:57:00 GMT
Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine laments “human stupidity” of war
Claude Wild, who was evacuated from Kyiv earlier this week, has also given more details about the diplomatic pull out. “I’m sad for the Ukrainians, for my colleagues and for the country,” Claude Wild said in an interview given to the Blick-TV ...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 16:24:00 GMT
Audit finds systemic failures at Geneva autism school
Various cases of mistreatment at a Geneva school for young people with autism were the result of systemic failures in how the institution was set up, an external audit has found. The school at Mancy just outside Geneva, which opened in 2018, has bee...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 12:29:00 GMT
Swiss minister in Brussels to discuss rules for displaced Ukrainians
Before a meeting of European Union ministers in Brussels on Thursday, Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter repeated her plan to activate a special permit for Ukrainians fleeing their country due to war. The Swiss S permit, for “people in nee...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 11:16:00 GMT
Sberbank says Swiss operations unaffected by sanctions
Russian bank Sberbank will function as normal in Switzerland despite other parts of the group pulling out of the rest of Europe. The Zurich-based subsidiary is not part of Sberbank Europe Group that has been hit with sanctions from the European Unio...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 11:07:57 GMT
Binge-drinking and psychological stress up among young Swiss
Young people in Switzerland are generally satisfied with their lives. However, their habits have changed over the past ten years: they smoke less, have moved to the left politically and are less homophobic and racist. On the other hand, they drink mo...

Thu, 3 Mar 2022 09:01:50 GMT
SWISS cuts losses but remains in the red
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has posted an operating loss of CHF427.7 million ($465 million) for 2021. However, this is a third less than the CHF653.8 million lost in 2020. “The repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic substantially depr...

Wed, 2 Mar 2022 17:45:00 GMT
Further Swiss donations and help pledged to Ukraine
After the announcement yesterday of an official package of CHF8 million ($8.68 million), which includes relief supplies for the Ukrainian population, today some Swiss cantons, institutions and public announced further support. Cantons Bern and Zuric...

Wed, 2 Mar 2022 15:09:23 GMT
Swiss publisher suspends former German top politician over Ukraine conflict
A leading Swiss-based publishing group, Ringier, has suspended its cooperation with Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. It said the measure was taken “by mutual agreement” and with immediate effect, according to a short statement p...

Wed, 2 Mar 2022 12:42:00 GMT
Russia sanctions: Nord Stream 2 fires more than 140 people in Zug
Swiss-based company Nord Stream 2, which is in charge of the gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany, has made employees redundant as a result of sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. More than 140 people have lost their jobs a...

Wed, 2 Mar 2022 10:34:15 GMT
Swiss ambassador to Kyiv leaves Ukraine
Switzerland has evacuated its remaining diplomatic staff in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The foreign ministry said the move was necessary because of the deteriorating security situation. The ambassador and four other diplomatic staff had left Ukrai...

Wed, 2 Mar 2022 08:48:00 GMT
Swiss army to beef up cyber defence with command centre
Parliament has given the green light to create a cyber command centre for the Swiss armed forces. As part of an overhaul of the country’s cyber defence, the centre will be upgraded and staffed with up to 575 members by 2026. This is more than twic...

Tue, 1 Mar 2022 17:18:00 GMT
Ukraine war prompts outpouring of sympathy from Swiss civil society
Several thousand people in Switzerland have again protested against Russia’s attack on Ukraine, amid calls to take in refugees fleeing the conflict. An estimated 20,000 demonstrators in the city of Zurich, including the mayor, Corine Mauch, accuse...

Tue, 1 Mar 2022 15:48:00 GMT
Holocaust memorial wins approval by Swiss parliament
Parliament has called on the government to set the legal basis for an official memorial site for Swiss victims of Germany’s Nazi regime. The Senate on Tuesday followed the House of Representatives to tacitly approve a demand for a Holocaust memori...

Tue, 1 Mar 2022 13:25:00 GMT
Aid agencies launch campaign to help Ukraine war victims
Swiss-based Red Cross agencies have appealed for CHF250 million ($273 million) to provide food, water and shelter to millions of people in Ukraine, where the humanitarian situation is "deteriorating rapidly", and to those who have fled abroad. The I...

Tue, 1 Mar 2022 09:11:05 GMT
Pandemic boosts demand for organic food in Switzerland
Retail sales of organic foods in Switzerland rose 17% to CHF3.24 billion ($3.54 billion) in 2020, reaching a market share of around 11% as the Covid-19 pandemic boosted demand, according to a government report. Just over a third of people polled for...

Tue, 1 Mar 2022 07:40:32 GMT
SWISS cancels flights to Russia until end of March
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will not fly to Russia with immediate effect until the end of March. It said it had taken the decision owing to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Until now, SWISS flew five times a week from Zurich to Moscow and t...

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 10:54:06 GMT
Healthcare kept price watchdog busy in 2021
Costs for the health sector, gas and digital payment transactions all ended up in the cross hairs of the Swiss price supervisor last year. The Covid-19 pandemic also left its mark. Price watchdog Stefan Meierhans said on Monday, in a statement accom...

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 07:34:35 GMT
Switzerland poised to freeze Russian assets, says president
It is “very probable” that neutral Switzerland will follow the European Union on Monday in sanctioning Russia and freezing Russian assets, according to Ignazio Cassis, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year. Cassis, interviewed on Sun...

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 10:38:33 GMT
Defence minister unsure other countries would help Switzerland if attacked
Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd says neutral Switzerland must ensure its own security, since there’s no guarantee defence alliance NATO would help non-member Switzerland in the event of a Russian attack. “We could ask other countries for sup...

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 15:22:50 GMT
Ukraine: Up to 20,000 people march in Bern for peace
Between 10,000 and 20,000 people have demonstrated in Bern against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The motto of the rally was “Peace for Ukraine and all of Europe”. Saturday’s authorised demonstration was called by a broad alliance of movement...

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 11:13:50 GMT
Up to 2,000 Ukrainians could seek refuge in Switzerland
While the crisis in Ukraine has not yet led to any migration to Switzerland, depending on the duration and intensity of the war, a few hundred or up to 2,000 people could seek refuge in Switzerland, according to current government estimates. In the ...

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 10:37:06 GMT
Swiss skier awarded Olympic bronze after appeal
Swiss skier Fanny Smith will be awarded the women’s ski cross bronze medal after her disqualification in the controversial final at the recent Winter Olympics was overturned by an appeals commission. Smith, a bronze medallist at Pyeongchang in 201...

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 13:07:00 GMT
More staff leave Swiss embassy in Kyiv
Switzerland has partially evacuated its embassy in Kyiv as Russian forces close in on the Ukrainian capital. This means that only six or seven staff remain at the embassy, the minimum for it to function, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on...



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