The Swiss government has asked the finance ministry to draft a bill to increase transparency of beneficial owners of legal entities to help tackle financial crime. The bill should introduce a central register for identifying beneficial owners and ne...

Public transport workers in Geneva went on strike Wednesday, providing only a minimum service, with their action for more pay to continue Thursday. At a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, employees belonging to the SEV and Transfair unions decided by m...

The Swiss government has added 30 people and seven organisations to its blacklist after Russia’s illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine. Those added to the sanctions list are mainly “those involved in the so-called 'referendums' organised...

The Swiss government wants fines of up to CHF1,000 ($1,000) for people who break a ban on face coverings in public places. This is part of a bill sent to parliament on Wednesday to implement the so-called “burqa ban” proposed by right-wingers, w...

Switzerland’s federal technology institute ETH Zurich remains the top university in continental Europe, according to the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Oxford University in the United Kingdom retained first place in the r...

Heidi Tagliavini, a former Swiss diplomat in Russia, says it is crucial to negotiate even with war criminals to try to end armed conflicts. Tagliavini who was also a senior negotiator for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSC...

Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter says there is no need to extend the special legal status for Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland. If the Swiss government does not revoke it, the refugees could benefit from the protection for up to five years, bef...

After weeks of talks between Swissport and union representatives, employees will get a small pay hike and a safeguard against inflation. Employees of Swissport, the world’s largest airport ground services and cargo handling company, will receive a...

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a complaint made by a Swiss widower alleging discrimination when it comes to survivor’s pension entitlement. On Tuesday the court found Switzerland guilty of unequal treatment of widowers compared to w...

A special board has been set up to ensure Swiss negotiations with the European Union reflect ground realities. The sounding board, comprising representatives from the cantons, social partners and the business community, convened for the first time ...

The Swiss government considers itself an established resettlement state for refugee despite the lack of humanitarian corridors or community sponsorship programmes. A study, carried out by the State Secretariat for Migration, compared its policy with...

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received the United Nation refugee agency’s top award in the Swiss city of Geneva. During Monday's ceremony she gave credit to the people behind the welcome of more than one million refugees, mostly from ...

Russia must pay $2.6 billion (CHF2.6 billion) to Yukos Capital after Switzerland's highest court rejected an appeal by Moscow. Russia had challenged whether a Geneva arbitration court was competent to hear the case brought by the financial arm of Yu...

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis has condemned Russia and called on it to immediately stop its "indiscriminate attacks". “Strongly condemn the attacks against residential areas in different Ukrainian cities. Switzerland calls on Russia to stop these...

A Pilatus PC-24 jet that was part of the official fleet of aircraft reserved for the governing Federal Council has been sold. The relatively new plane was sold to a private clothing company JoyVida International based in Interlaken that submitted th...

Covid-19 booster shots will be available free to Swiss residents from Monday. The Swiss authorities have recommended that people aged over 16, especially the most vulnerable, get a booster shot to contain a new wave of infections expected this autumn...

Five additional countries, including Nigeria, now benefit from an automatic exchange of banking information with Switzerland, taking the total to over 100 for the first time. On Monday, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration revealed that it had prov...

Climate activists who blocked the entrance to Switzerland’s main oil refinery, located in the northwest of the country, were arrested on Monday by police and their barricade was removed. Around a dozen activists had blocked the entrance road to th...

Russia’s Gazprombank has decided to cease operating in Switzerland after “a strategic review of various options”, it said on Monday. The bank had been one of the last remaining channels for financing trade flows between Russia and Switzerland ...

Consultancy firm PwC reckons the Swiss healthcare sector will need to recruit some 40,000 nurses by 2040, the NZZ am Sonntag reports. An annual report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which looks at the financial state of Swiss hospitals, also predi...

Since parliament passed a law easing the regulations for building high-altitude solar parks, seven big Swiss electricity companies have started looking around for options, writes the NZZ am Sonntag. The newspaper reported on Sunday that the companie...

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) plans to start using small amounts of solar fuel in its planes as of next year, the company’s CEO has said. Dieter Vranckx told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper that the airline’s goal was to reach a target of ...

The ride-hailing company says it will offer drivers the possibility of remaining independent or becoming official employees of a subcontractor firm. The “dual model” will be extended gradually across the country – with the exception of Geneva ...

The Chinese consul general in Zurich has said a trip by Swiss parliamentarians to Taiwan next year would be “disruptive” and unhelpful for Swiss-China relations. “Parliamentarians are official representatives of a country, not simple citizens,...

The first shipment of heavy equipment meant to help Ukraine deal with destroyed infrastructure has left Switzerland. Two lorries carrying four construction vehicles left for the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv on Friday. It is the first deliver...

In a 13-point joint declaration, representatives from Switzerland and the European Union have stressed the importance of maintaining good and stable relations, for the time being on a bilateral basis. There are no insurmountable political difference...

Switzerland should aim to be climate neutral by 2035 instead of 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C, say some scientists. In a study released on Friday, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) analysed Swiss commitment to reducing greenh...

More refugees are arriving in Switzerland via the Balkans and other routes. The need for civil defence facilities and multi-purpose halls to accommodate them is therefore increasing. The government assumes that 19,000 asylum applications will have b...

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis has spoken of a turning point for the continent at the first summit of the European Political Community, attended by more than 40 European leaders. “This summit is a symbol. A symbol that Europe can be strong when it...

A far-right conservative political party has called for an independent enquiry into the high mortality rate in Switzerland this year. The Federal Democratic Union said it handed in nearly 10,000 signatures collected over the past two week for a - no...