The Swiss foreign ministry summoned China’s ambassador in Bern to raise concerns following the publication of a long-awaited United Nations report on human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in western China, the government said on Wednesday...

Switzerland must strengthen its military cooperation with NATO in view of the war in Ukraine, while respecting its neutrality, according to a government report published on Wednesday. "Switzerland must be able to defend itself as much as possible," ...

Switzerland is to set up a hydropower reserve at the cost of consumers to insure against possible electricity shortages at the end of the winter, according to a decree adopted on Wednesday by the government. Power plants will have to store a certain...

The Swiss government believes current neutrality policy as defined in 1993 remains valid and gives Switzerland enough room for manoeuvre, it said on Wednesday. The policy implemented since 1993 “leaves Switzerland sufficient room for manoeuvre to ...

British actor Ben Kingsley will be awarded the Golden Icon Award at the upcoming Zurich Film Festival in a ceremony on September 29, the festival organisers said on Wednesday. This award, "given to personalities who have left a lasting mark on cinem...

A first group of patients from Ukraine has arrived for hospital treatment in Switzerland, according to the Swiss air rescue organisation Rega. The five civilians, who suffer from serious illnesses, were admitted to the university hospitals in Zurich...

Swiss households are set to see power bills rise by around 27% in 2023, with wide swings depending on municipality. "A typical household with consumption of 4,500 kWh will pay 27 centimes per kilowatt hour next year, 5.8 centimes more than in 2022,�...

An innovative pilot project testing the potential of electric cars to stabilise the power grid has been launched in Switzerland. For one year, the power of 50 electric vehicles will be fed back into the grid from their batteries when they are not ru...

The National Science Foundation's CHF45 million ($45.8 million) support to Covid-19 research in Switzerland has made an important contribution to tackling the pandemic so far, it said on Tuesday. Despite high pressure and sometimes difficult working...

Swiss authorities are still using restraints during forced repatriations of migrants, regrets the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT). In a report published on Tuesday, the commission said that staff carrying out the forced remo...

Swiss police have arrested a man for suspected people smuggling, after they found 23 refugees in a van in central Switzerland. The refugees from Afghanistan, India, Syria and Bangladesh were very tightly packed together but alive, police in canton N...

The government has agreed to give Axpo a maximum CHF4 billion ($4.1 billion) credit line in a bid to prevent a looming liquidity crisis for Switzerland’s leading energy company amid surging prices. Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the loan...

The 2022 edition of the annual Swiss Digital Days national tour will this year attempt to foster greater enthusiasm for IT skills among school children. The IT industry and education sector has long identified a shortage of young IT talent as a prob...

Some 80% of all electricity flowing from Swiss sockets originated from renewable energy sources last year, compared to 76% in 2020. Most renewable electricity came from hydropower plants (68%), followed by photovoltaics (11%), wind and biomass, acco...

Switzerland’s economic output slowed to 0.3% between April and the end of June, compared to the first quarter of the year. The manufacturing, construction, trade and financial services sectors all showed signs of weakening in the face of energy sh...

The Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank has been sold to the Geneva-based m3 Groupe Holding company, freeing the bank from intensive supervision by Swiss financial regulator. Sberbank Switzerland was not directly sanctioned by the European Union, bu...

A 14-year-old Italian boy died on Sunday while hiking in the Blenio Valley mountain region in southern Switzerland. Two other teenagers who tried to save him were seriously injured. The Ticino cantonal police said the accident occurred shortly befor...

Europe’s energy crisis is threatening to slow fundamental particle physics experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), located near Geneva, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The newspaper reported on Sunday that...

High energy prices have forced a steel mill in Switzerland to prepare for short-time working to avoid layoffs. The Stahl Gerlafingen steel plant in the canton of Solothurn has been granted permission to resort to short-time working from October t...

Over the past 20 years, fees charged by the banks have doubled making Swiss clients one of the worst off worldwide. In an interview published in the NZZ am Sonntag on Sunday, price watchdog Stefan Meierhans said he receives dozens of complaints abou...

Janus, a two-headed Greek tortoise and mascot of the Geneva Natural History Museum, is 25 years old. The tortoise has two heads, two hearts, two pairs of lungs and two stomachs. It is the oldest known double-headed tortoise in the world. “Even in...

The Swiss government has commandeered eight mobile gas turbines to strengthen the country's energy security. The procurement is the first contract signed under the governing Federal Council's recent agreement to provide for back-up power plants. Th...

While ski resort visits and turnover reached record levels last season, inflation and lifting of Covid restrictions may hurt the Swiss ski industry. For the first time in ten years, Swiss ski resorts recorded more than 25 million skier-days last se...

Pharmaceutical giant Roche inaugurated Switzerland’s tallest building on Friday. The 205-metre-tall structure in Basel, known as Building 2, will house 3,500 workers. The new high rise surpasses the firm’s nearby tower – Building 1 – which s...

Regular doses of a widely used fertility drug may help to boost cognitive skills in people with Down’s syndrome, a pilot study led by researchers from France and Switzerland has suggested. In a small-scale trial, researchers fitted seven men who h...

Swiss medical regulator Swissmedic has approved Novavax’s Nuvaxovid Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12-18 years. The greenlight has also been given for its use as a booster for adults, ahead of an anticipated rise in infections this winter. “...

Swiss trade unions are calling on employers to increase real wages in response to rising inflation and higher energy prices. On Friday, Pierre-Yves Maillard, President of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (USS), told reporters that increasing wages i...

The United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva has found “credible evidence” of torture and sexual violence against the Uyghur minority in western China. The Chinese government has rejected the findings calling them a “farce”. The “exten...

The original doctoral certificate belonging to Albert Einstein has returned to the University of Zurich thanks to a donation. The theoretical physicist’s certificate, dating from 1906, is now on display in the entrance hall of university’s main ...

Embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse is planning to cut around 10% of its workforce as part of a major cost cutting drive, according to several media reports. Reuters reported on Thursday that someone with direct knowledge of the matter indicated that...