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Swiss Info

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 18:09:07 GMT
Study finds link between climate change and river flow worldwide
An international team led by the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich analysed data from 7,250 water measuring stations around the world to find that changes in river flow in the last 40 years could only be the result of climate change. River ...

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 12:10:00 GMT
Swiss researchers develop method to extract “black gold” from fungi
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have developed a simple method to extract natural melanin from mushrooms also known as "black gold". This unlocks new opportunities to create new materials and ...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 15:38:00 GMT
Swiss watch exports will not return to pre-Covid levels until 2023
Exports of Swiss watches are unlikely to return to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels over the next couple of years according to estimates by the Vontobel private bank. The forecast is not all doom and gloom though. After taking a hit in 2020, Swiss w...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:10:00 GMT
Government plans further easing of Covid measures but with caveats
The government has begun consultations on the second phase of reopening, which includes outdoor dining, despite the “precarious” coronavirus situation. A final decision will be made on March 19. At its meeting Friday, the Federal Council (govern...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 13:13:00 GMT
Charity supports over a million Swiss residents affected by pandemic
Humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity has spent CHF40 million ($43 million) in donations on people in Switzerland left in need due to the coronavirus pandemic. In total, 1.7 million people have been supported, the organisation said on Friday. It has...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 12:45:00 GMT
Swiss private bank Rahn+Bodmer settles US tax evasion charge
Zurich’s oldest private bank has agreed to pay $22 million (CHF20 million) in penalties to defer prosecution charges by the United States tax authorities. “This venerated banking institution knowingly offered banking services that assisted its ...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:59:00 GMT
Zurich airport in the red due to Covid-19
Switzerland’s largest international airport posted a loss in 2020, hit hard by an historic slump in traffic due to the pandemic. Flughafen Zürich AG, which operates Zurich airport, said in a statement on Friday that consolidated loss for the 2020...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:07:00 GMT
Swiss firm Lonza to help produce anti-Covid nasal spray in the US
As part of its agreement with American company Altimmune, Lonza will allocate a dedicated manufacturing facility for AdCOVID nasal spray vaccine near Houston, Texas. On Friday, Altimmune announced the specific role the Swiss company will play in t...

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 08:56:51 GMT
Women account for 70% of side effects from Covid vaccines in Switzerland
Of the 597 cases of adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines reported in Switzerland, 68.7% concerned women. On Thursday the Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic released data on side effects of Covid-19 vaccines as of March 8. While women were clear...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 18:21:00 GMT
Swiss call for ‘concrete’ UN Security Council action on Myanmar
Switzerland has called for “concrete measures” by the United Nations Security Council on Myanmar during a debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. It was taking part in an “interactive dialogue” at the UN rights council w...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 14:19:00 GMT
More rare earth metals detected at Swiss wastewater plants
Rare earth metals like cerium and gadolinium, which are used in industry and hospitals, are increasingly being detected at Swiss wastewater plants, new research shows. For the first time scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 13:36:00 GMT
Switzerland lifts bird flu protection measures
The threat of avian flu infecting Swiss poultry has receded to the point that precautionary measures can be lifted along parts of the border with Germany. The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) declared the risk to be minimal on Thursd...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 11:28:00 GMT
More parcels, fewer letters: pandemic dents Swiss Post finances
The Covid-19 pandemic cost the state-owned Swiss postal service CHF139 million ($150 million) last year, which was largely responsible for driving down profits by 30%. Swiss Post delivered a record 182.7 million parcels in 2020, up nearly a quarter ...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:42:00 GMT
Swiss government expects fast economic recovery in 2021
After a weak start to the year, Switzerland’s economy should recover rapidly from a heavy coronavirus-driven slump to grow by 3% in 2021, the government said on Thursday. Gross domestic product will fall “significantly” in the first quarter of...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 09:08:00 GMT
Roche rheumatism drug does not reduce Covid-19 deaths
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche says a drug normally used to treat other medical conditions has failed to prove its effectiveness at alleviating the symptoms of Covid-19. Phase III clinical trials on Actemra/RoActemra, in combination with Veklury...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 16:48:40 GMT
Swiss urge North Korea to reopen borders for ‘crucial’ humanitarian aid
Switzerland has called on North Korea to reopen its borders for urgent humanitarian aid and Covid-19 related medical evacuations, saying this is “crucial”. Swiss number two at the UN mission in Geneva Felix Baumann told the Human Rights Council ...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 15:10:54 GMT
Ruag plans to pull out of defence and focus on space 
Ruag International has said it wants to divest its defence-related divisions to focus on the booming space market. The effect on jobs is not yet clear. "We are withdrawing from all defence-related businesses," CEO André Wall said in an interview w...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:43:44 GMT
Federal court nudges divorcees back to work
Switzerland’s highest court has clarified that each spouse should seek to support themselves financially after a divorce, a decision that particularly affects women. In a press release published on Tuesday, the federal court clarified important el...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 11:50:58 GMT
Switzerland urged to do more for Syria  
With the Syrian conflict about to enter its eleventh year, Caritas has called on Switzerland to do more for that country. At an online press conference on Wednesday, the Swiss chapter of the charity Caritas called for Swiss authorities to recognis...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 11:19:52 GMT
Swiss double Covid vaccine order from Pfizer/BioNTech
The Swiss government has signed a new deal with Pfizer/BioNTech for another three million vaccine doses, bringing the total number of doses ordered from five companies to nearly 36 million. The additional doses will be delivered to Switzerland in Ap...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 09:36:53 GMT
Parliament agrees modest tightening of anti-money laundering law
Swiss lawmakers have agreed to revise the money laundering law but have rejected new rules for lawyers, notaries and other consultants. On Wednesday, parliamentarians ironed out their remaining differences in the revision of the Anti-Money Launderin...

Tue, 9 Mar 2021 23:15:00 GMT
More mountain rescues than ever in 2020
Despite lockdowns and travel restrictions, 2020 was a record year for rescue missions in the Swiss Alps and Jura mountain ranges. A total of 3,471 people last year got into difficulty and had to be rescued, said the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) on Tuesda...

Tue, 9 Mar 2021 13:18:00 GMT
UN calls Swiss burka ban ‘restriction of fundamental freedoms’
The United Nations has condemned the recent Swiss vote to outlaw face-covering headgear – otherwise known as the burka ban – as discriminatory and “regrettable”. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the politi...

Tue, 9 Mar 2021 11:21:00 GMT
Swiss-based pharma group to produce Sputnik vaccine in Italy
The Lugano-headquartered Adienne pharma company has agreed to produce the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in its northern Italy plant, the Italian-Russian chamber of commerce has said. If the agreement between the Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth...

Tue, 9 Mar 2021 11:16:00 GMT
More Swiss weapons exported despite general trade malaise
Exports of Swiss armaments and munitions increased in value by nearly a quarter last year, bucking the trend of a slowdown in international trade across all industry sectors. Swiss companies exported war material worth CHF901.2 million ($965 million...

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 17:51:00 GMT
Zurich snowman set to explode live on television
Zurich’s Sechseläuten spring parade has been cancelled owing to Covid-19 for the second year in a row, but the burning of the Böögg will this year go ahead – without spectators but with live television coverage. The Böögg is a snowman-like ...

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 17:02:25 GMT
Swiss initiative supports women peacebuilders
The Swiss foreign ministry has chosen International Women’s Day to launch the “Swiss Women in Peace Processes” (SWiPP) network. The 15 Swiss women who will be part of the first iteration of the network come from various professional background...

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 14:14:42 GMT
Most Swiss support coronavirus measures
A majority of Swiss people questioned in a survey agreed with the measures taken by the government against Covid-19. In French-speaking Switzerland the proportion of those who disapprove of the measures is significantly higher than in the German-spea...

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 13:49:00 GMT
Covid-19 has forced Swiss events sector onto ‘edge of a precipice’
The Swiss events sector contracted by almost two-thirds last year due to the cancellation of over 17,000 projects as a result of the pandemic, a survey has revealed. It also caused almost 4,500 job losses. As in many other countries, the people runn...

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 11:05:00 GMT
Swiss army looks at how to attract more women
A defence ministry report has outlined measures to encourage the integration in the Swiss army of more women, who currently hold 0.9% of military roles. To mark International Women’s Day on Monday, the ministry published a long-awaited report enti...



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