A coordinated police operation between Switzerland and Hungary has broken up a criminal network involved in trafficking women for forced sex work. Four people have been arrested, two in each country, and a number of items of value were seized by pol...

Some 5,000 soldiers and scores of armoured vehicles are winding down Switzerland’s largest military exercises since 1989. The ‘PILUM 22’ war games have been taking place in Switzerland over the last week against the backdrop of Russia’s inva...

Tens of thousands of visitors descended on Bern to celebrate the Swiss capital’s traditional ‘Zibelmärit’ onion festival. Some 30 tons of onions were sold on Monday, which is an improvement on last year but around half the amount sold in the ...

Political and humanitarian actors have called on Switzerland to sign the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Former foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and ex-interior minister Ruth Dreifuss joined the appeal on Mond...

A new 250-megawatt power plant in northern Switzerland will be functional on February 15, its operator General Electric (GE) confirmed on Monday. The reserve plant was ordered by the government in September in response to potential power shortages t...

Wet weather was responsible for the sale of 2,259 tonnes of plant protection products in Switzerland in 2021. The Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) said on Monday that farmers had increased the number of treatments to save certain crops. An add...

A correspondent of Swiss public television RTS was briefly detained by Shanghai police after a live broadcast on the anti-lockdown protests that have flared across China. Michael Peuker was reporting live from Shanghai on the RTS Sunday evening news...

Swiss apprentices have won 19 medals, including five golds, at the international WorldSkills competition, which wrapped up in Austria on Sunday evening. This put the country in third place in the medal table. "Over 55 per cent of our team made it on...

Voters in Basel City have backed a strict climate target for the canton – to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2037. They had to decide whether to support the Green party-driven “climate justice initiative”, which set the net zero...

Voters in the canton of Valais have come out in favour of a controversial law regulating palliative care and assisted suicide in the region’s care homes. The law on palliative care and the framework conditions for assisted suicide in institutions ...

Many Swiss towns and cities will use energy more sparingly for their Christmas lights and markets, according to reports. But they won’t do without the “Christmas magic” entirely. The move comes amid calls by the government for people and busin...

The head of Credit Suisse’s Swiss division says that only a few clients are actually closing accounts at the bank. His comments came after the troubled bank reported high customer fund withdrawals globally. “Some clients have withdrawn part of t...

All four candidates to succeed outgoing government ministers Simonetta Sommaruga and Ueli Mauer are now clear, after the Social Democratic Party nominated two women for Sommaruga’s job this Saturday. Environment Minister Sommaruga and Finance Mini...

Several hundred people have been demonstrating in the Swiss capital, Bern, calling on the authorities to stop the “healthcare exodus”. “We are sounding the alarm,” said the protestors, many of whom came with healthcare-related items like bed...

Swiss Football Association President Dominique Blanc has told the Swiss media that he was disappointed about world football governing body FIFA’s decision to ban the “OneLove” armband at the World Cup in Qatar. Zurich-based FIFA announced the ...

Swiss Attorney General Stefan Blättler has called for stronger action against the Italian mafia – which, as the Calabrian Ndrangheta, is suspected of operating in locations across the country. "We have to move forward now," Blättler said in an i...

The Swiss ambassador to the United Nations says Switzerland is well prepared to take its Security Council seat next year. Pascale Baeriswyl told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that other countries have recently been in closer touch with Switzerland. ...

An excavation of a 7th Century grave site in Switzerland has thrown up “spectacular” finds of jewellery and afforded valuable insight into medieval society. The 15 graves belonged to wealthy people of that time who were buried in their finery. T...

Climate protesters in canton Zurich face future policing bills for gluing themselves to roads or other forms of civil disobedience that obstruct traffic. The local government issued the warning in response to mounting pressure from some political pa...

A Catholic diocese in Switzerland, once dubbed the ‘Eldorado of exorcisms’, has decided not to fill its vacant exorcist post, as it seeks to keep up with the times. The last exorcist of Chur died in 2020 after reputedly lifting a number of posse...

Switzerland will adopt European Union regulation on the manufacture and flying of drones from the start of next year. EU rules set maximum altitudes, weight limitations and restrictions on the airspace in which drones can fly. Long range flights wil...

Switzerland is facing shortages of many medicines due to supply chain bottlenecks linked to Covid lockdowns in China and the Ukraine war. “It’s a sad situation that we’ve reached,” Enea Martinelli, a hospital pharmacist and board member of ...

The 300 richest people in Switzerland saw their cumulative wealth drop for the first time in 13 years by a mere by 0.1%. But they still have enough money to distribute CHF100 ($105) to each person on the planet. The Kamprad brothers, heirs to the Sw...

A week after two cases of bird flu were detected in Zurich, authorities have imposed national measures to come into force on Monday, November 28. The measures aim to prevent any further outbreak of the disease, and mainly focus on reducing contact b...

The little perching bird succeeds the skylark as this year’s avian champion, chosen by BirdLife Switzerland for its virtuosic singing and peerless imitation skills. The marsh warbler is even smaller than a sparrow, but it’s remarkable singing is...

The installation artist from Mexico is the 16th winner of the CHF100,000 ($106,000) prize, awarded annually by the Museum Haus Konstruktiv, where Ortega will hold a solo exhibition next year. The jury was particularly impressed by how Ortega’s met...

Swiss youths are experiencing worrying rates of online sexual harassment and cyberstalking, with girls more affected than boys, say researchers. This coincides with the steep rise in the use of video sharing apps such as TikTok. The 2022 James study...

The Swiss financial sector has made some progress in ‘greening’ its investment portfolios in recent years, but not enough, a government-backed analysis has found. Some 133 financial firms, including pension funds, banks, and insurance companies ...

The Federal Office of Culture has handed over two archaeological cultural objects to Mexico that had been confiscated on suspicion of importing illegally excavated cultural goods. One of the sculptures represents a pregnant female canine, which is t...

Swiss Solidarity, the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, received donations of more than CHF7 million ($7.4 million) on a nationwide collection day for victims of the food crisis in East Africa. The money will be used to support...