Swiss pharma firm Novartis has said it plans to spin off its generics and biosimilars division Sandoz into a separate entity to allow both companies to pursue their own growth strategies. The decision was in the best interest of shareholders, said N...

The Swiss government has set a voluntary reduction target for the winter to safeguard against potential gas shortages in Europe. On Wednesday, the Federal Council announced that it wants demand for gas to be reduced by 15% from October 2022 to the ...

The government has decided to purchase 100,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, as well as 1,000 units of a treatment for the infectious disease. The decision on a centralised procurement was made by Federal Council on Wednesday. The monkeypox vacci...

Between 85,000 and 120,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine could be living in Switzerland by the end of the year. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) shared its projection via Twitter on Wednesday. However, this forecast is still uncertain...

Six months on from the Russian invasion, the Swiss Solidarity charity has financed 54 projects to the tune of CHF30 million ($31.1 million) to help people affected in and around Ukraine. The total numbers of those in Ukraine who have received some f...

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has again called for Russia to end hostilities and withdraw from Ukraine, including the Crimea territory it has occupied for eight years. In a video address on the Crimea Platform, Cassis condemned Russia’s in...

The Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) has laid out plans to hold back hydropower reserves to help compensate for anticipated energy shortages this winter. Elcom wants hydropower operators to hold back up to 666 gigawatt hours of electrici...

Switzerland’s busiest airport has posted a CHF55 million ($57 million) net profit for the first six months of the year as post-pandemic air travel picks up. By comparison, Zurich airport made a CHF45 million loss in the corresponding period of 202...

Swimmable “practically everywhere”, but in some places still too many chemical traces: a national study of Swiss water paints a largely positive picture. Thanks to measures taken over the past decades, notably in waste-water treatment, only a mi...

Of the 1,400 job cuts announced by the pharma giant in Switzerland, up to half of them will involve staff in leadership positions, the company said on Monday. For these executive roles, the consultation process has been finalised, and the first indi...

Switzerland’s glaciers lost half of their volume between 1931 and 2016, according to analysis of historical national survey photographs. Researchers at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow an...

A Dutch national has been charged by federal prosecutors for going equipped to blow up cash machines in Switzerland. The 51-year-old was stopped by customs officers last November whilst driving a stolen car into Switzerland from the Netherlands via ...

The threat of energy shortages in Switzerland this winter should not be over-dramatised, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin has said in response to growing calls at the weekend for government action. A number of business groups and left-leaning politic...

Six months after the Russian invasion, the commitment of Swiss citizens who took in Ukrainian refugees is proving more persistent than expected, a media report says. Quoting an estimate by the inter-cantonal social services body, Tamedia publication...

A petition calling for Switzerland to take more action against monkeypox, including vaccinating against the disease, has gathered more than 5,500 signatures, Swiss public television SRF reported on Sunday. Switzerland has recorded almost 400 cases o...

The demand for the morning-after pill has doubled in Switzerland within four years, figures seen by the SonntagsZeitung show. In 2021, pharmacies sold more than 105,000 of the emergency birth control contraception, compared with 52,000 pills in 2017...

Several European countries have relaxed their blood donation restrictions, but Switzerland still lags behind, reports Swiss public broadcaster, RTS. Change may be ahead, however. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a blood shortage in many countri...

Leading voices from business and politics have called on the Swiss government – and in particular economy minister Guy Parmelin – to do more about possible energy and gas shortages over the winter. The energy shortage is “imminent”, Roger No...

A teenager has been diagnosed with a form of diphtheria at a centre for asylum seekers in canton Neuchâtel – the latest in a series of diphtheria cases in Switzerland this August. Medical tests were undertaken on the adolescent in the Boudry asyl...

The Swiss government and cantons are aiming to be prepared for “extreme scenarios” in the face of possible energy shortages this winter, a top cantonal security official says. For example, a power grid shutdown or blackout would have far-reachin...

Swiss and German virologists working on a nasal vaccine for Covid-19 say such a technique could be much more effective against the virus, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reports on Friday. The ideal 100% immunity is almost impossible to achieve with vi...

Some 788,000 Swiss nationals were registered with Swiss representations abroad in 2021, a number that has grown in recent years, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). If the Swiss abroad community were a canton, it would be Switzerland�...

The Andermatt Swiss Alps (ASA) company, majority owned by Egyptian financier Samih Sawiris, is to build a new 1,800-bed Alpine resort in the Sedrun region in southeast Switzerland. The complex in an undeveloped area of Dieni village will include 13 ...

The southwestern Swiss canton of Valais has become the first to pay producers to film its landscapes and villages. Valais is ready to pay up to CHF100,000 ($104,000) per project, Swiss public broadcaster RTS reports on Friday. The Valais Film Commis...

The Stäfa-based multinational has acquired one of the largest chains of audiological care clinics in China. Announcing the acquisition on Friday, Sonova said it would allow the Swiss firm to expand its footprint in China, as HYSOUND has around 200...

For the fourth consecutive year, organisers of the Geneva International Motor Show have decided to shelve the event owing to external factors. The announcement to cancel the event, scheduled for February 14-19 at the Geneva Palexpo Centre, was made...

A civil rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Switzerland over the alleged attack of a Swiss journalist by Russian troops in Ukraine. The Ukrainian NGO Truth Hounds said on Thursday that it has submitted evidence of a war crime with the Swi...

Swiss companies have urged the authorities to help them hire more Ukrainian refugees by granting more flexible work permits and offering language courses. Some 60,000 Ukrainians have been awarded special S status permits giving them refuge from the ...

Switzerland’s target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a massive undertaking that will require coordinated action by politicians, industry and the public, according to the Swiss Academy of Sciences. The body representing all scienc...

The first Swiss project on the legal sale of cannabis in pharmacies will start on September 15 in canton Basel City. Hemp users over 18 can now register to take part, with the number of participants limited to 370. Six cannabinoid products – four ...