Switzerland will not change its policy of political neutrality despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government has confirmed. The seven-member Federal Council agreed that Switzerland’s current approach as defined in 1993 remains valid and sho...

Swiss bank Credit Suisse is shedding thousands of jobs, selling off parts of its business and raising billions in extra capital in a bid to reverse a downward spiral in fortunes. The bank announced on Thursday that it will slim down from a current h...

A theatre in the Swiss capital, Bern, has been forced to apologise for failing to protect members of its ballet group from sexual harassment. The Bern Theatre, which receives millions in public funding, sacked its ballet rehearsals director after tw...

One year to go before federal elections, the Swiss political landscape appears to have changed very little despite upheavals like the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a poll showing voter support for the main ...

The Swiss government has proposed amending the Tobacco Act to introduce a new tax for electronic cigarettes. Parliament has been asked to back the proposal, which is forecast to bring in around CHF13.8 million ($13.8 million) in extra tax revenues p...

The Swiss government has pledged to install solar panels on as many federal buildings as possible to help boost the production of energy from renewable sources. On Wednesday, the government said it wants solar energy generation to rise from 13 gigaw...

The coronavirus pandemic will have a lighter impact on Swiss state finances than previously feared but will still put the country’s budget in the red, the finance ministry forecasts. Measures to support companies and workers during the pandemic we...

Swiss Formula One team Sauber Motorsport has agreed a new partnership with German car manufacturer Audi to ensure it will continue racing from 2026. Sauber is Switzerland’s sole F1 brand and has been racing since 1993. It has formed partnerships w...

The conclusions of European Union countries regarding Switzerland, usually published every two years, have fallen off the radar in 2022 – reflecting the stasis in Bern-Brussels relations. At a meeting of a working group of EU states this week, con...

Rudolf Hauri, president of the cantonal doctor’s association, has said that while the current autumn wave may not yet have peaked, he is not expecting the same problems as in the past years. In an interview published by Swiss newspaper Blick on We...

Three out of five serious accidents last year occurred on two wheels. Accidents involving young people on motorbikes and e-bikes have increased in particular, according to the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU). Since last year 16- and 17-y...

The large influx of refugees has filled accommodation centres to bursting point, obliging the Swiss authorities to distribute a greater number of asylum seekers to cantons to house. Switzerland expects to see 22,000 asylum applications by the end of...

Online speech and face recognition digital systems should be better regulated to protect consumers, a Swiss technology think tank has recommended. Virtual assistants that react to voice commands, such as Alexa, can bring both benefits and hidden dan...

Switzerland will begin its two-year term at the United Nations Security Council table on January 1 sitting between Russia and the United Arab Emirates. According to a plan unveiled on Monday evening by a website specialising in Security Council proc...

The global community should formulate concrete steps to help Ukraine recover from its invasion by Russia, said Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis. Cassis, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, advocates action similar to the US Marsh...

One year after the Women’s Session 2021, an alliance of women’s organisations has drawn a positive assessment of the exercise: half of the 23 petitions submitted on that occasion have been processed or are well on the way to being processed. In ...

Two projects in the running for a future national exhibition, Nexpo and X27, have signed a declaration of cooperation, they announced on Tuesday. This opens the door to a joint bid. For the seventh national exhibition in Swiss history, “the spirit...

The Federal Audit Office has reviewed what the financial aid during the Covid pandemic has brought to the Swiss industry. It is satisfied with how the money was spent. Self-employed people received more than CHF2.5 billion ($2.5 billion) from the au...

The Swiss Film Archive in Lausanne is paying tribute to the Italian film director and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini on the centenary of his birth with the screening of five films next month. Pasolini, who was born on March 5, 1922, and murdered in myst...

Ticket prices for Swiss public transport will remain stable for 2023 for the seventh consecutive year. Only “a few tourist businesses” are planning to adjust their fares for next year, says the SwissPass Alliance. In addition, from December 11, ...

The inhabitants of Vernier, a municipality in Geneva, are set to have their say on banning advertising billboards. A referendum launched against a new law banning this form of communication has collected 2,300 signatures, the co-chairman of the refe...

More than a third (38%) of Swiss don’t follow the news. Young adults in particular are no longer interested in current affairs, according to an annual survey of the Swiss media landscape. This is a problem for democracy, as people who don’t foll...

More than a third of the extra-parliamentary activities of Swiss federal parliamentarians are paid for by companies or associations. Centre-right and right-wing politicians have significantly more paid mandates than their colleagues on the left, acc...

Credit Suisse Group and the French financial prosecution office have agreed to settle a tax fraud and money laundering case in France with a €238 million (CH234 million) payment to the state, a French court heard on Monday. The settlement still ne...

The pilots of Swiss International Air Lines have decided to drop plans for a strike to press for better working conditions. The pilots' association Aeropers and airline management reached an agreement at the latest round of negotiations over the wee...

The Art Basel art fair looks back on a successful first edition in the French capital, Paris. Around 40,000 people visited the fair at the Grand Palais Ephémère on the four public days and the preview day. The fair's management also reported "stro...

Switzerland should initiate the abolition of the major powers’ right of veto during its two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council, suggests former State Secretary Michael Ambühl. From January 1, Switzerland will be one of ten non-perma...

Leading Swiss brands have withdrawn from Russia because of the war in Ukraine. However, research by a Swiss newspaper shows that while a company can leave a country, its products often remain on shelves. “It’s a mass exodus. Since Russia invaded...

With exactly one year to go before the federal elections, the Swiss People’s Party, the Radical-Liberal Party, the Liberal Green Party and the Green Party have set out their stalls and their ambitions. The Liberal Greens and the Greens are each cl...

Retiring Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has tried to explain a controversial comment on gender-neutral people – in which he said he doesn’t want to be replaced by an “it” – by saying it was a deliberate provocation. Maurer, 71, from th...