The Swiss intelligence service should not be given additional powers to monitor for signs of terrorist activity, say NGOs, trade unions and left-leaning political groups. But political parties from the centre and right have given their backing to a ...

Switzerland’s procurement of F-35A fighter jets from the United States has been declared lawful by a parliamentary audit commission. But the House of Representatives body said on Friday that some government actions during the process were “worry...

Switzerland is no closer to regaining full access to European Union science and education collaborative programmes, despite a further round of exploratory talks between the two sides on Friday. The EU first banned, and later only partially re-admitt...

A Swiss pumped-storage power station, which can both produce electricity and store power from other sources, has been officially inaugurated. The Nant de Drance hydroelectric plant in western Switzerland has been operational since July. Its turbines...

The Swiss Solidarity fund has so far collected CHF2.1 million ($2.15 million) from the public to help bring relief to the victims of serious flooding in Pakistan. Swiss Solidarity, the charitable arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, SWI swissi...

Switzerland's first pilot project for the legal sale of cannabis products has been delayed after some of the initial stock failed quality control tests. The ‘Weed Care’ experiment in the city of Basel was supposed to launch on September 15. But ...

The Swiss authorities have recommended that people aged over 16, especially the most vulnerable, get a Covid-19 booster shot to contain a new wave of infections expected this autumn and winter. After a rise in new Covid infections in June and July d...

The president of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), Thomas Jordan, says the inflation outlook is more uncertain than normal and it is premature to say prices have peaked. “You cannot say we have passed the zenith and now it is certainly heading lower,...

The number of transfers in professional football has picked up significantly this summer after two years marked by the pandemic. A total of 9,717 international transfers involving professional players were completed, an increase of 16.2% year-on-yea...

The Swiss company behind the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 has received a four-month extension to try to repay its debts. The Zug cantonal court in Switzerland, where Nord Stream 2 AG is headquartered, granted the company a second extension, a...

Women in Switzerland earn 43.2% less than men and draw less pension due to higher rates of part-time work. The Gender Overall Earnings Gap (GOEG) study, requested by parliament in 2019, showed Switzerland performed relatively poorly compared to othe...

The Swiss foreign ministry raised 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. The report published by the UN Office...

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...