Swiss politicians have come out in favour of the idea of lowering the official voting age to 16. Such a reform, which would involve a constitution change, would have to face a public ballot before ever becoming reality. A majority of 99 against 90 d...

The Swiss government has pledged CHF14.5 million ($15.5 million) in financial support for aid operations in war-torn Yemen. The money is to go towards activities of humanitarian organisations including the International Committee of the Red Cross (I...

Switzerland has extended its list of sanctions against individuals and entities over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The economics ministry said a further 206 names had been added to an existing sanctions list in connection with the war in Ukraine. ...

A Thai man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 57-year-old Swiss tourist on the island of Phuket last year. The sentence on Wednesday comes after the 27-year-old strangled the Swiss woman before stealing 300 baht (CHF8.50) fr...

Switzerland has extended economic sanctions against Belarus in line with a decision by the European Union. The government said the provision of public financing or financial assistance for trade with or investment in Belarus is prohibited as of midd...

The head of the US air force met with his Swiss counterpart on Tuesday after a three-day visit to the Alpine nation. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Peter Merz appeared before the media at the Payerne air base in western Switzerland, where they stressed th...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned the Swiss government for its overly restrictive banning of protests during the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020. In a ruling published on Tuesday, the court said the ban on public demonstrations ...

The Senate has rejected a proposal to re-introduce the option to apply for asylum at Swiss embassies abroad. Ten years after parliament decided to suspend the right to apply for asylum status at a Swiss embassy, the Senate on Tuesday clearly dismiss...

Swiss banks hold between CHF150 billion and CHF200 billion ($160-$214 billion) in assets belonging to Russian clients, according to the Swiss Bankers Association. The president of the association, Marcel Rohner, made the estimate at the group's annu...

Switzerland’s national railway operator suffered a CHF325 million ($347 million) loss last year due to the Covid pandemic. The state-run railways said about one third fewer customers used their trains in 2021, while the cargo unit experienced a st...

The Swiss economics ministry has downgraded its growth forecast for 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. But it still predicts a solid post-pandemic upswing. After a couple of years impacted by Covid-19, 2022 should yet see Swiss gross domestic product (...

United States sanctions have targeted a yacht and an aircraft belonging to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who is resident in Switzerland. The US Treasury Department said on Friday that Vekselberg, who has an estimated $6 billion (CHF5.6 bill...

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) is planning to set up online registration for Ukrainian refugees, after long queues at federal asylum centres at the weekend. “We are sorry that refugees have had to wait outside for hours," SEM head Chris...

Officials and relatives have been attending a ceremony in Switzerland to mark the tenth anniversary of a fatal coach accident in which 28 people died, including 22 Belgian and Dutch children. A commemorative plaque to the accident, one of the worst ...

Leading epidemiologist Marcel Salathé has urged the Swiss government to wait before lifting the remaining pandemic measures. The rapid rise in coronavirus cases is worrying, he said in a newspaper interview. “Corona is not over. And I fear that t...

Renouncing Russian oil and gas would have serious consequences for the Swiss economy, an expert from the KOF Swiss Economic Institute has told a Sunday newspaper. If imports were to be cut off, for example in the wake of tougher sanctions against Ru...

Swiss federal asylum centres have reported extremely high numbers of refugees from Ukraine registering for protected S status, a day after the move was officially approved in Switzerland. State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) spokesman Daniel Bach t...

Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin has warned of the global consequences should sanctions be imposed on Russia for the commodities trade. “I am against taking measures that lead to fresh problems elsewhere and further aggravate the global crisi...

Switzerland is buying at least 14 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for 2023, in order to provide for its population of 8.7 million “under all pandemic scenarios”. Seven million of the jabs will be purchased from the Moderna company and seven mi...

Ukrainians fleeing the war will be eligible for a temporary S permit to live and immediately work in Switzerland. The permit, initially valid for a year, has never before been activated. In announcing the introduction of the S permit as of tomorrow ...

Switzerland looks set to miss a deadline for implementing a minimum 15% rate of tax on large companies, but is planning stop-gap measures to meet agreed international standards. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development...

The foreign ministry has advised Swiss citizens in Russia to leave the country, unless they have an urgent reason to stay. The attack on Ukraine and subsequent war has led to an “increasingly unpredictable” situation in Russia, the foreign minis...

The Swiss government has boosted its humanitarian support to victims of the war in Ukraine. On Friday it approved CHF80 million ($86 million) as an “expression of its solidarity with Ukrainians in need”. “Around 12 million people are dependent...

Between 50,000-60,000 Ukrainians could seek protection in Switzerland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Swiss justice minister. Karin Keller-Sutter told Blick TV on Thursday that it was hard to give precise estimates on the ...

The world’s fastest animal, the peregrine falcon, has been put back on the red list of “vulnerable” species by the Swiss Ornithological Association. Having made a comeback since near extinction in the 1970s, the falcon has seen its numbers dro...

The Swiss Post Office more than doubled profits to CHF457 million ($493 million) last year as it was less affected by pandemic restrictions. The group’s financial arm, PostFinance, recorded a CHF272 million result, up from CHF162 million in 2020. ...

Swiss universities should re-examine their scientific collaborations with universities in Russia and suspend them if necessary, the sector’s umbrella body has said. “When political agreements and rules of diplomacy are unilaterally overridden, m...

Opponents of Switzerland's bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council have suffered a setback in parliament. The House of Representatives clearly rejected a call by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party for the government to...

Switzerland has condemned the bombing of a children's hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, calling it an "inconceivable act of inhumanity". Ukraine accused Russia of carrying out genocide, while the Kremlin said the bombing claim was fake “i...

The humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity has raised over CHF82.6 million ($89.1 million) as part of a public fundraising effort for victims of the war in Ukraine. The Swiss public donated over CHF51.5 million on Wednesday and over CHF30 million on...