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Swiss Info

Wed, 9 Mar 2022 09:05:07 GMT
Major investor coalition presses Credit Suisse on climate risks
A group of 11 investors with more than CHF2.2 trillion ($2.4 trillion) in assets has filed a shareholder resolution calling on Credit Suisse to cut its lending to fossil fuel assets. Among the investors is Europe’s largest asset manager, Amundi, a...

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 18:28:00 GMT
Switzerland mobilises for International Women’s Day
A series of events and rallies are being held across Switzerland to demand an end to violence against women and for enhanced rights on International Women’s Day. More than 1,000 people demonstrated in the Swiss capital, Bern, on Tuesday. They dema...

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 17:42:00 GMT
Switzerland condemns Russian attacks on press
The Swiss foreign ministry has berated Russia for targeting the media during its invasion of Ukraine. Several reporters have complained of being attacked by Russian forces, including a Swiss journalist who was injured and robbed this week. Russia ha...

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 16:15:00 GMT
Politicians call for Mussolini’s Swiss academic award to be revoked
In January 1937, the University of Lausanne (UNIL) awarded Benito Mussolini an honorary doctorate. A group of Vaud politicians on Tuesday called for the academic title to be revoked. Mussolini was awarded the university honorary doctorate “for hav...

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 14:18:00 GMT
Swiss parliament paves way for genome editing
The Swiss parliament has decided to ease restrictions on genetic engineering in agriculture, while extending in principle a moratorium for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until 2025. The Senate on Tuesday asked the government to propose detail...

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT
Switzerland listed as ‘unfriendly’ country by Russia
Russia has drawn up a list of around 50 countries, including Switzerland, that have committed “unfriendly actions” against Russia, its companies and citizens, in the wake of severe economic sanctions over the war in Ukraine, the Russian state med...

Mon, 7 Mar 2022 15:39:46 GMT
Switzerland makes available 5,000 places for Ukrainian refugees
The government has allocated 5,000 places in Swiss federal asylum centres for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. The decision was announced by the State Secretary for Migration Christine Schraner Burgener at a press conference in Zurich on Monday. ...

Mon, 7 Mar 2022 13:45:36 GMT
Swiss journalist injured in attack in southern Ukraine
A Swiss freelance journalist has been injured and robbed in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine. According to the online media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda, the journalist was in a car travelling towards the city of Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea, whe...

Mon, 7 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT
Swiss National Bank ready to put the brakes on rising franc
Switzerland’s central bank has renewed its pledge to intervene in the currency markets to halt a rise in the franc after safe-haven inflows caused by the war in Ukraine briefly pushed the currency above parity with the euro. The euro/franc exchang...

Mon, 7 Mar 2022 10:11:00 GMT
Basel’s Fasnacht carnival lights up the city again
The Fasnacht – Switzerland’s largest carnival – began in the northwest city on Monday after a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The long-standing tradition began as always on the first Monday after Ash Wednesday. Festivities started...

Mon, 7 Mar 2022 08:28:22 GMT
Swiss emergency relief supplies arrive in Ukraine
Around 35 tonnes of emergency aid, including medical equipment and tents, sent from Switzerland to help victims of the war in Ukraine have arrived in the capital, Kyiv. “The aid is urgently needed for hospitals serving the Ukrainian population,”...

Sun, 6 Mar 2022 17:37:00 GMT
‘Last-resort’ antibiotics used widely to treat Swiss chickens
Millions of chickens on Swiss farms are treated with the types of antibiotics which, in human cases, are only used in exceptional cases. Some 5.2 million chickens were treated with ‘last-resort’ antibiotics in 2020 alone, write the SonntagsZeitu...

Sun, 6 Mar 2022 16:20:00 GMT
Swiss defence minister repeats calls for stronger army
The Swiss armed forces need to be boosted and better prepared, and not just in the short term, argues Defence Minister Viola Amherd. Nato membership however is “not an option”. The promotion of peace internationally is “an important task for t...

Sun, 6 Mar 2022 13:02:00 GMT
Justice Minister: Switzerland preparing for Ukrainian refugees
Switzerland is activating emergency planning among national and cantonal authorities, as well as counting on the help of private citizens, to prepare for the arrival of Ukrainians fleeing the war, Karin Keller-Sutter has said. The justice minister t...

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 no longer has journalists reporting directly from Moscow. “Due to the restrictive conditions for correspondents and the threatening consequences for ...

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...



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