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Swiss Info

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:46:28 GMT
This July was one of the hottest on record
July 2022 in Switzerland was one of the hottest since measurements began in 1864, according to the weather service of the national broadcaster. However, it did not break any records in most regions, with the exception of Italian-speaking canton Tici...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:30:49 GMT
Christian fundamentalist sentenced for preaching homophobia
A 63-year-old Christian fundamentalist was on Friday given a suspended sentence for having delivered a homophobic "sermon" on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. He said he had only quoted the Bible. The Zurich District Court found the defendant guilty of...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:10:09 GMT
Gay community urges rapid approval of monkeypox vaccines
The gay community in Switzerland is urging the federal government to act quickly and approve vaccines for monkeypox. In Zurich, for example, a medical centre for the LGBT+ community has been diagnosing between three and five monkeypox infections a d...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 10:05:58 GMT
Switzerland must align with EU energy plan, says minister
Switzerland should align with a European Union plan for cutting energy consumption to cope with fallout from the war in Ukraine, says Swiss Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga. EU countries on Tuesday approved a plan to jointly reduce their gas cons...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:58:54 GMT
Switzerland faces shortage of air traffic controllers
Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide says it is struggling to recruit air traffic controllers, especially in French-speaking Switzerland. Only five people are starting training in September, although there are 16 posts to be filled. “Thi...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 07:35:51 GMT
Swiss National Bank reports heavy losses
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has taken a hit of CHF95.2 billion ($100 billion) for the first half of this year, mainly owing to losses on foreign currency positions. After a loss of CHF32.8 billion in the first quarter, another CHF62.4 billion was ...

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 07:27:18 GMT
UN adopts Swiss resolution demanding human right to clean environment
Switzerland's co-sponsored resolution calling for the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment will be recognised as a full human right. The resolution originally presented by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland ...

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:29:31 GMT
5G is not harmful to health, says government report
In a significant step for the deployment of 5G in Switzerland a federal study has found for the first time that the technology does not have negative health consequences. The radiation from the phones will remain moderate, it says. The values measur...

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 08:27:54 GMT
Forest fire risk results in bans on barbecues and fireworks
A heatwave and lack of rain have created a high risk of forest fires across Switzerland. Many cantons have therefore imposed bans on fires, barbecues and fireworks ahead of Swiss National Day on August 1. The “danger map” of the Federal Office f...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 17:10:45 GMT
Swiss universities to participate in European collaboration schemes
Four Swiss universities have been given a green light to participate in a European Union initiative aimed at boosting the competitiveness of European higher education. The universities concerned are Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich, the EU Commiss...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 16:10:07 GMT
Swiss sales of medicines to Russia jump during war
Swiss exports of medicines to Russia have risen sharply since the start of the Ukraine war, according to an analysis by business news agency AWP. This analysis, based on government foreign trade data, shows Swiss pharma generated record revenue of o...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 14:47:10 GMT
Animal groups call for caution during national day festivities
Traditional fireworks and open-air fires on August 1, Swiss National Day, can be a death trap for animals and cause them to panic, say animal protection groups. The Four Paws and Swiss Animal Protection organisations are now calling for measures to ...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 12:00:04 GMT
Hot weather brings more work for Swiss lifeguards
The recent hot weather has increased the number of swimmers and paddle-boarders in Swiss rivers and lakes, and this in turn has brought more work for lifeguards. A higher number of people in the water tends to bring more accidents, said Marc Audeoud...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 09:50:01 GMT
Swiss students win gold in ‘physics World Cup’
Five Swiss high school students have come first in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) in Timisoara, Romania, beating rivals from Poland and Singapore in the final. The five pupils presented their solution to the “Droplet Explo...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 09:46:56 GMT
Struggling Alpine farmers seek volunteers
Swiss charity Caritas is seeking 700 volunteers to help struggling Alpine farmers during the current high season. About 90 mountain families need help, Caritas said on Wednesday. They are struggling because of factors including illness, accidents, p...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 07:08:31 GMT
Credit Suisse appoints Ulrich Körner as new CEO
Credit Suisse has named Ulrich Körner as its new chief executive officer, replacing Thomas Gottstein in a bid to shore up confidence. At the same time Switzerland’s second-largest bank says it is conducting a “comprehensive strategic review”. ...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:24:37 GMT
Glacier melt causes dispute over Italian-Swiss border
An alpine lodge originally in Italy is now two-thirds in Switzerland thanks to global warming, reports Swiss public broadcaster RTS. This is because the border marked by the Theodul glacier is shifting northwards as it melts. The Matterhorn Guides o...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 11:49:51 GMT
Lufthansa strike to hit SWISS flights
The Swiss national carrier is cancelling around a dozen flights to Germany on Wednesday, owing to a one-day strike by ground staff at its German parent company Lufthansa. Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has cancelled flights from Geneva to Fra...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 10:32:43 GMT
Vets use fewer antibiotics to treat animals
The amount of antibiotics sold for treatment of animals continued to fall last year, amid rising awareness of antibiotic resistance, according to the Swiss government. Over a ten-year period it has more than halved from 60,000kg of antibiotics to 28...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 09:40:31 GMT
Swiss rivers hit record temperatures
Eleven river monitoring stations in Switzerland have recorded the highest temperatures since measurements began. Twenty-two further stations recorded record temperatures for July. The Aare at Thun (23.4°C) and at Bern (23.9°C) has never been hotte...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 07:57:52 GMT
Theft survey reveals habits of sticky-fingered Swiss
Four out of ten Swiss have taken public transport without buying a ticket. But many people can’t resist pinching stuff from restaurants, hotels and especially their office, according to a survey. From shoplifting to fare-dodging, the representativ...

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 11:38:33 GMT
Swiss victims of Next-Gen scam to be reimbursed
More than 1,000 people in Switzerland who lost money to a prize scam operated by US company Next-Gen will be refunded some of their money. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has notified the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of a refu...

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 09:25:57 GMT
Conspiracy theorists dwindle despite Covid crisis
Belief in conspiracy theories has decreased markedly in Switzerland during the pandemic, according to a study. But those who stick with them are likely to become more radical, reckons one expert. Conspiracy theories boomed during the pandemic – fa...

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 08:45:51 GMT
Zero-degree line climbs to record level
The current hot spell has pushed the zero-degree line – the height at which the temperature goes into the minus – far above the highest Alpine peak. On Sunday night it reached 5,184 metres above sea level, a new record. The old record, 5,117 met...

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:49:28 GMT
Swiss minister grounded because French misread plane ID
French aviation authorities reportedly mistook a letter in the registration number of the Cessna being flown by Swiss Interior Minister Alain Berset over a restricted military area. As a result Berset did not react to French warnings, triggering a mi...

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 12:20:11 GMT
Herpes virus claims third elephant at Zurich zoo
A female elephant died from the herpes virus at Zoo Zurich on Saturday making it the third such fatality in a month. Ruwani, a five-year-old elephant, showed no signs of illness until Friday, the zoo said on Saturday. In the last few days, her vira...

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 09:18:54 GMT
Mountain guides renounce Jungfrau ascent due to rock fall
For the first time in over 100 years, Swiss mountain guides will no longer be accompanying alpinists on the classic route to the summit of Jungfrau. A crevasse has opened up transforming into an ice wall that can only be climbed with special equipm...

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 17:01:00 GMT
Switzerland condemns Russia strike on Ukraine port
A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port of Odesa has been condemned by Switzerland as a “blatant disregard for the looming food insecurity worldwide”. Explosions damaged the Black Sea port on July 23, just a day after Russia agreed a deal...

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 13:57:00 GMT
Huge scout camp kicks off in Switzerland
Around 30,000 children, youths and adult supervisors started congregating in Switzerland at the weekend for the start of a huge scout camp. Most of the participants, some 20,000 scouts aged between 12 and 17, arrived at the camp in the alpine Goms r...

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 10:54:00 GMT
Lastminute.com founder detained in Swiss Covid fraud probe
The founder of successful online travel booking platform Lastminute.com has been detained by Swiss prosecutors investigating the suspected misuse of pandemic bailout funds. Italian national Fabio Cannavale, who is CEO of the Swiss stock market liste...



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