Voters in Switzerland’s biggest city have decided to introduce an identity card for local residents, including illegal immigrants. In a local referendum on Sunday, 51.7% of voters confirmed a plan for the so-called ‘Züri City Card’. Parliame...

Proponents of youth suffrage in Switzerland have suffered another setback following a vote in canton Zurich. Final results from Sunday show 64.8% of voters rejected a proposal by the Zurich cantonal parliament to introduce the right to vote from the...

Canton Aargau has decided to extend the recall right to members of the government and parliament. An initiative launched in 2019 by the former Conservative Democratic Party (now merged with the Christian Democrats to form The Centre) won 84.3% of vo...

Several thousand people in Switzerland have called for safe bicycle routes as part of international family bike ride events. The week-end of protests began in Basel on Saturday followed by similar activities in seven other Swiss cities and towns as ...

Defence Minister Viola Amherd has held talks with United States government representatives on international security cooperation. Amherd said the Russian invasions of Ukraine made it clear that Switzerland should seek closer cooperation, including t...

Social media account holders are not legally responsible for monitoring comments that others make on their posts, a Swiss court has decided. The verdict came during a test case against former rightwing parliamentarian Yvan Perrin, whose Facebook pos...

Switzerland has already consumed its fair share of the planet’s natural resources for the entire year, according to an NGO that compares the performance of numerous countries. From May 13, Switzerland is taking more biocapacity than planet Earth c...

The Swiss medical regulator Swissmedic has approved Moderna’s Spikevax Covid-19 vaccine for use by children aged 6 to 11 years. The approval is for the vaccine’s two-dose series of 50 micrograms per dose, Moderna added. These are administered at...

The Swiss Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by a former UBS banker who had been convicted of industrial espionage and other charges for passing secret bank data about wealthy clients to the German tax authorities. The former employee was sentenc...

The Swiss government has confirmed that CHF6.3 billion ($6.33 billion) worth of Russian assets remain frozen under sanctions to punish Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. This represents a drop from early April as CHF3.4 billion in provisionally blocked as...

Swiss-German speakers are known to converse in distinctive regional dialects, but the phenomenon has now been found to extend to marmots – a rodent commonly found in alpine regions. A study of different marmot groups in cantons Bern and Graubünde...

Swiss prosecutors should re-examine a money laundering case linked to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, says the British-US financier Bill Browder who brought the original complaint. Browder accuses the Swiss Attorney General of turning ...

Swiss opinion over the expansion of the 5G telecommunications network is still split down the middle, according to the latest survey on the subject. The Swiss government is convinced that the new technology poses minimal health risks and is committe...

The Swiss electronic duo Yello - Dieter Meier and Boris Blank - will receive the Grand Prix Music 2022, presented by the Federal Office of Culture and worth CHF100,000 ($100,400). The pioneering band, best known for their 1985 hit Oh Yeah (which fea...

Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who have fled the war-torn country have contacted Swiss universities to attend classes. The University of Zurich confirmed to the Keystone-SDA News Agency on Wednesday that “several hundred” Ukrainian refugees had...

Switzerland and Georgia have agreed a declaration of intent for a partnership on migration. On a visit to Tbilisi, Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to govern various aspects of the planned cooper...

Plans for an independent commission to judge looted Nazi art have won initial backing from the Swiss parliament. The House of Representatives unanimously agreed to call on the government to set up a panel, which issues recommendations in cases of cu...

The European Union has asked Switzerland to send written responses to a series of open questions as talks seem unable to resolve the current political impasse and to advance negotiations on individual agreements. According to Swiss public broadcaste...

Switzerland has announced it will contribute another CHF60 million ($60.5 million) in humanitarian aid to Syria and its neighbouring countries in the Middle East. The money is destined for projects to protect the civilian populations, give people ea...

The Swiss parliament has agreed in principle to boost the right of individuals to block potentially damaging publications. The House of Representatives on Tuesday followed the Senate in approving a reform of the code of civil procedure. It foresees...

Courts in Switzerland dealt with 68 major cases of white-collar crime last year causing losses of CHF567 million ($571 million), according to a new survey by a leading consultancy firm. That’s a 30% increase in the number of cases compared with 20...

Andy Warhol’s 1964 “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” has become the most expensive painting from the 20th century ever auctioned. The iconic work previously belonged in the collection of Swiss art dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann. The painting, one of a...

Swiss military spending should increase from CHF5.6 billion ($5.7 billion) a year to around CHF7 billion, according to one of Switzerland’s parliamentary chambers. The House of Representatives on Monday voted to increase the budget to at least one...

Switzerland won’t receive any preferential treatment over European Union member states warned the EU ambassador to Switzerland, Petros Mavromichalis. “The single market is a key strength of the EU. We would weaken the internal market if we allow...

Erik Fyrwald, the CEO of the Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta, has called for an end to organic farming to avoid a worsening food crisis. The president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association meanwhile dismissed his arguments as “grotesque”. ...

The former Russian banker Oleg Schigajew, who has been fighting extradition from Switzerland to Russia on embezzlement charges, can stay in the Alpine country as legal proceedings against him have been stopped. On Sunday, the NZZ am Sonntag confirme...

The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has warned of the negative consequences if Swiss citizens vote against raising Switzerland’s contribution to Frontex, the European border agency. A nationwide vote is planned on the issue ...

Despite earlier criticism from a United Nations expert and campaign groups, a Swiss parliamentary committee on Friday blocked an attempt to overhaul strict Swiss banking secrecy rules. An addition to Article 47 of Switzerland’s Banking Act makes i...

Swiss police have seized more than 500kg of cocaine concealed in a container shipped from Brazil to the Nespresso factory in the town of Romont in western Switzerland. The drugs were discovered by workers unloading bags of coffee beans on May 2 and ...

The Swiss government should set up a crisis management team to help deal with emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, say cantons. The recommendation arises from a cantonal assessment of the response to the pandemic over the last two years. The r...