Swiss Info
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 08:26:47 GMTLatest summer day recorded since measurements began
The mercury hit 25.4°C in Chur, in eastern Switzerland, on Sunday – the latest day ever recorded in the country with a summer temperature of more than 25°C. The MeteoNews weather service said this was due to warm air brought to the Alpine region...
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:41:20 GMTSNB reports CHF142 billion nine-month loss
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has reported a loss of CHF142.4 billion ($142.6 billion) for the first nine months of 2022 as turmoil in global currency markets took a toll on the value of its foreign-exchange portfolio. The central bank’s foreign-c...
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 14:21:00 GMTThe energy crisis is about to make your Swiss ski holiday more expensive
Swiss hotels and holiday apartments are raising their prices by around 5% this winter, largely due to higher energy prices. Ski passes are also likely to go up by a similar amount, a newspaper reports. According to a survey by the Hotelleriesuisse a...
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 13:28:00 GMTSwitzerland criticised for ‘waving through’ migrants
German authorities have criticised Switzerland for allowing migrants to transit to neighbouring countries instead of sending them back as demanded by European accords. Every week, about a thousand migrants reach Switzerland’s eastern border at Buc...
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 10:54:00 GMTMoscow protests to Bern over vandalised church in Geneva
Russia’s embassy in Switzerland has officially protested to the Swiss foreign ministry over the vandalism of a Russian Orthodox church in Geneva last week. “In the early hours of October 28, 2022, unidentified offenders committed an act of vanda...
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 10:51:00 GMTCredit Suisse to cut 540 jobs in Switzerland by 2023
The embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse plans to shed 540 jobs in Switzerland by the end of the year, Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Körner told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. In the interview he gave more details on last week’s restructuring announ...
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 15:00:00 GMTSwiss claim record for the world's longest passenger train
Switzerland’s largest private railway operator has set a new world record for the longest passenger train on a spectacular narrow gauge track through the Swiss Alps. The Rhaetian Railway train – comprising four engines and 100 carriages for a to...
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 14:24:00 GMTReport: Switzerland should get through winter without power restrictions
While Switzerland still faces an acute energy crunch, it should be able to get through winter with enough power, a new study reportedly shows. The Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper reported on Saturday that a study by the Federal Office of Energy, the...
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 10:09:00 GMTReport: German politicians criticise Switzerland over Ukraine ammo veto
Politicians in Germany have warned of consequences if the Swiss government does not allow the re-export of Swiss-made tank ammunition that Berlin wants to send to Ukraine, it has been reported. “It is completely incomprehensible that Switzerland i...
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 09:27:00 GMTSwitzerland records rise in drownings in 2022
Sixty people have drowned in Switzerland’s lakes and rivers so far this year, surpassing the annual average of 46. Between January and September 15, 60 people died in fatal water accidents, the Swiss Lifesaving Society (SSS) said on October 28. Th...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 17:07:00 GMTMeteorologists flag warmest October in Swiss history
The month just ending was the warmest ever October in Switzerland, weather forecasters said on Friday. The feeling of an Indian summer was confirmed by the weather watchers from MeteoSwiss, who said the month had surpassed everything recorded since ...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 13:59:00 GMTSwiss Catholics dwindled by record amount in 2021
Over 34,000 people left the Catholic Church in Switzerland last year, the highest ever annual figure. Protestants also dwindled. Across the country, the proportion of members who left the Catholic Church in 2021 was 1.1%, the Swiss Institute for Pas...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 13:27:00 GMTReport: solar power can reduce Swiss reliance on hydro
A study has estimated the extent to which new solar infrastructure, combined with existing Alpine dams, can help Switzerland avoid a winter energy shortage. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on Friday on a quantitative model by two energy exp...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 09:51:00 GMTSwiss-Italian author wins top French literary prize
Giuliano da Empoli has won the French Academy’s prestigious Grand Prix du Roman for “Le Mage du Kremlin” (“The Wizard of the Kremlin”), a novel about the inner workings of Vladimir Putin’s regime. The novel, published in April this year,...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 09:33:00 GMTLindt chocolate bunnies notch another legal victory
A Munich court has banned a confectionary maker from producing a range of chocolate bunnies that infringe on the patent rights of Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli. Germany’s Allgäuer Confiserie Heilemann drew protests from Lindt with its chocolate...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 08:26:00 GMTSeismic activity suggests that Mars is ‘alive’
Mars is not the geologically dead planet that has been previously assumed, according to studies of seismic activity on the Red Planet. Researchers at Switzerland’s federal technology institute ETH Zurich have found evidence that vulcanism still pl...
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 06:36:00 GMTBAT to close cigarette making factory in Switzerland
British American Tobacco (BAT) says it will shut down a factory in Switzerland and move production to other sites in Europe. The factory in Boncourt, canton Jura in northwestern Switzerland, employs more than 200 people, around half of them cross bo...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 16:33:00 GMTReport takes issue with treatment of long-term incarcerated
An anti-torture commission has criticised the fact that most “indefinitely incarcerated” people in Switzerland – i.e. those who have served their prison sentence but are not yet fit for full release – continue to be held in jail rather than i...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 14:42:00 GMTSwiss migration authorities struggling with ‘overlapping crises’
The head of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) says federal asylum centres around the country are full and that that the current refugee situation is unprecedented since World War II. Christine Schraner Burgener was reacting on Th...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 12:36:00 GMTAlpine nations aim for climate-neutral transport by 2050
Eight European countries have met in Switzerland to forge a plan of action towards net-zero emissions in passenger and freight transport in the Alps. Meeting in Brig, canton Valais as the “Simplon Alliance” (in reference to an Alpine pass linkin...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 11:02:00 GMTSwiss writers help Afghan counterparts in asylum bid
Some 40 Afghan writers and their family members have managed to flee to Switzerland since the Taliban takeover, helped by a campaign by Swiss authors. The campaign to help the intellectuals escape was driven by literature professor Sabine Haupt and ...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 08:58:00 GMTReport: Germany pressures Switzerland to re-export tank ammo to Ukraine
Switzerland is facing pressure from Germany to review its veto over the re-export of Swiss-made tank ammunition that Berlin wants to send to Ukraine to help protect grain exports, it has been reported. Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrec...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 07:39:00 GMTSwiss neutrality policy to remain unchanged
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...
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 05:29:00 GMTCredit Suisse cuts thousands of jobs to restore fortunes
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...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 17:04:00 GMTBern theatre apologises for sexual harassment by ballet employee
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...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:00:00 GMTElection barometer: Switzerland remains an island of political stability
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 ...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 13:41:00 GMTE-cigarette tax mooted in Switzerland
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...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 13:15:00 GMTSwiss federal buildings to get solar panel makeover
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...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 12:43:00 GMTSwiss pandemic costs lower than feared
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...
Wed, 26 Oct 2022 09:28:00 GMTAudi cements F1 partnership with Swiss team Sauber
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...