Swiss Info
Sun, 11 Sep 2022 14:41:00 GMTLegendary Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner dies aged 92
The Geneva director Alain Tanner, whose first feature, Charles mort ou vif (Charles, Dead or Alive), heralded the beginning of the New Swiss Cinema upon its release in 1970, died on Sunday, an association bearing his name has announced. Tanner was p...
Sun, 11 Sep 2022 13:09:00 GMTSwiss price watchdog lays out options for slashing electricity costs
By reducing grid connection fees and municipal duties, the federal government could help to keep electricity bills down, Stefan Meierhans told Le Matin Dimanche newspaper. Meierhans said it is possible for the government to change the framework cond...
Sun, 11 Sep 2022 10:09:00 GMTFormer UBS CEO sees no need for two big Swiss banks
Having two big players like UBS and Credit Suisse provides no “compelling” economic benefit for Switzerland, Sergio Ermotti has told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. “The strength of the country’s financial centre is its diversification, which ...
Sat, 10 Sep 2022 14:40:00 GMTSite in northern Switzerland chosen for nuclear waste storage
A deep geological repository for radioactive waste will be built in the northern Lägern region straddling cantons Aargau and Zurich, not far from the German border, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (BFE) said on Saturday. The selection was confir...
Sat, 10 Sep 2022 12:45:00 GMTBern’s Creaviva wins international children’s museum award
The Children’s Museum Creaviva at the Zentrum Paul Klee, located in the Swiss capital, has won the prestigious Children in Museums Award together with a museum in Leeds, United Kingdom. The prize was presented to the two winners in Luxembourg on F...
Sat, 10 Sep 2022 10:18:00 GMTSwitzerland’s first female federal judge dies aged 89
St. Gallen native Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger, who made history in 1972 with her appointment to the Federal Supreme Court, died last Monday, her family announced on Saturday. Bigler-Eggenberger was first elected as a substitute judge to the country...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 17:16:00 GMTNGOs oppose extension of Swiss secret service powers
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 ...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 16:26:00 GMTFighter jet purchase “worrying” but legal, says Swiss audit body
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...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 14:37:00 GMTDiplomatic efforts fail to break Swiss-EU deadlock
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...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 12:39:04 GMTGiant ‘water battery’ plant inaugurated in Switzerland
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...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 11:21:00 GMTPakistan flood relief fund tops CHF2 million
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...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 10:03:00 GMTQuality issues delay sale of cannabis products in Basel pilot scheme
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 ...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 10:01:00 GMTSwiss government recommends Covid booster from mid-October
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...
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 08:07:00 GMTToo soon to say inflation has peaked, says SNB boss
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,...
Thu, 8 Sep 2022 15:42:51 GMTRecord transfers in football this summer says FIFA report
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...
Thu, 8 Sep 2022 09:43:00 GMTSwiss court gives Nord Stream 2 more time to avoid insolvency
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...
Thu, 8 Sep 2022 09:02:00 GMTSwitzerland ranks among worst European states for gender income gap
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...
Thu, 8 Sep 2022 07:19:00 GMTSwitzerland raises UN Xinjiang report with the Chinese ambassador
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...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 15:38:14 GMTGovernment wants to boost ties with NATO
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," ...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 15:01:00 GMTSwiss government sets up hydropower reserve in case of need
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...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 13:16:14 GMTSwiss government sticks to current neutrality policy
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 ...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 10:53:12 GMTBritain’s Ben Kingsley to receive Golden Icon Award in Zurich
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...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 09:52:00 GMTSwiss take in first group of Ukrainian patients
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...
Wed, 7 Sep 2022 07:28:00 GMTSwiss retail power prices to soar next year
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,...
Tue, 6 Sep 2022 16:23:32 GMTPilot project tests power backup from electric cars
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...
Tue, 6 Sep 2022 14:48:09 GMTCovid research helped Swiss response, says Science Foundation
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...
Tue, 6 Sep 2022 11:16:22 GMTRestraints still used during migrant deportation, says watchdog
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...
Tue, 6 Sep 2022 09:36:52 GMTSwiss police find 23 refugees in back of a van
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...
Tue, 6 Sep 2022 08:09:00 GMTLeading Swiss energy firm granted credit to avoid cash crisis
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...
Mon, 5 Sep 2022 14:53:00 GMTSwiss Digitals Days tackles IT talent shortage
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...