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Swiss Info

Tue, 8 Jun 2021 16:31:00 GMT
Swiss police seize large amount of illegal erectile stimulants
The Swiss authorities confiscated 346 packages of illegal medicaments, most of them fake erectile stimulants, as part of a global crackdown last month. Investigators also uncovered 120 illegal foreign websites selling the fake medicines under a Swis...

Tue, 8 Jun 2021 13:30:04 GMT
Richard Ernst, father of the MRI, dies aged 87
Swiss scientist Richard Ernst, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991, died on Friday at the age of 87, his family said on Tuesday. He was considered the father of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Born in 1933 in Winterthur, n...

Tue, 8 Jun 2021 11:30:59 GMT
NGOs criticise lack of national strategy on protecting children
Children’s rights in Switzerland are insufficiently enforced, according to the Child Rights Network Switzerland, which has launched a campaign, “Children have rights!”, to raise awareness of the issue among the public and politicians. At the s...

Tue, 8 Jun 2021 10:04:00 GMT
Swiss research played key role in new Alzheimer’s drug
A newly approved treatment for Alzheimer’s was built on the foundations of Swiss scientific research, says the University of Zurich. On Monday the United States regulator granted fast-track approval for the drug aducanumab, which will be marketed ...

Tue, 8 Jun 2021 09:08:54 GMT
Patent Ochsner to become first Swiss band on MTV Unplugged
Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan – and now Patent Ochsner. The Bernese band, which sings in dialect, will be the first Swiss act to perform on MTV Unplugged, televised concerts where musicians play acoustic instruments. This project opens up ...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 16:36:00 GMT
Swiss send Covid aid supplies to Sri Lanka
The Swiss foreign ministry says it has shipped medical supplies to Sri Lanka to help the country combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The supplies include half a million antigen tests, 50 ventilators, 150 oxygen concentrators and testing material worth CHF...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 15:39:00 GMT
Swiss pledge funds for reconstruction in Gaza Strip
Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis says Switzerland will contribute an additional CHF3 million ($3.3 million) for reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip following last month’s military conflict with Israel. The funds will be made available to the ...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 13:16:00 GMT
Unions decry ‘lack of respect’ for women in labour market
Two years after a massive strike by women, the Trade Union Federation has criticised the perceived lack of progress on equal pay, pensions and labour conditions between men and women in Switzerland. It described as “scandalous” and “lousy” t...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 10:16:00 GMT
Checks of suspicious compensation scheme claims boosted
The Swiss authorities are stepping up checks of possible abuse of a short working hours scheme introduced last year to help soften the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the job market. Around 900 possible cases of abuse had been detected as of May,...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 09:39:16 GMT
Investment projects boom in Switzerland
Foreign direct investment in Switzerland increased last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of investment projects rose by 25% to 91, the highest level since 2011, thus bucking the general trend of decline across Europe. This put Switzerl...

Mon, 7 Jun 2021 07:34:20 GMT
First refugee parliament held in Swiss capital
Around 75 refugees from 19 cantons and 15 countries met in Bern on Sunday for the first Swiss refugee parliament. Participants discussed and put forward various proposals for improvement. Family visits in the Schengen area for provisionally admitted...

Sun, 6 Jun 2021 15:42:00 GMT
Swiss medtech feels first effects of failed talks with EU
Swiss medical technology companies have had to stop some exports to the European Union. They are among the first victims of the Swiss government’s decision last month to end talks with the EU on a framework agreement. The shock news came on June 3...

Sun, 6 Jun 2021 12:07:25 GMT
Government wants to double use of public transport by 2050
The Swiss government plans to make drivers ditch their cars and take public transport, doubling the market share of trains and buses by 2050, according to the NZZ am Sonntag. This would mean that the Swiss would cover over 40% of all passenger kilom...

Sun, 6 Jun 2021 11:17:00 GMT
Swiss secret service spied on Dürrenmatt
Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt was kept under surveillance by the Federal Intelligence Service for almost 50 years, according to the SonntagsZeitung, which has published an official file on the Bernese playwright, essayist, cartoonist and painter...

Sun, 6 Jun 2021 09:17:17 GMT
Global minimum tax deal bad for Switzerland, say experts
The decision by the leading industrial nations (G7) to support a global minimum tax of 15% for large corporations is not good news for Switzerland, according to some Swiss economists. Certain cantons in particular would come under pressure. “The t...

Sat, 5 Jun 2021 14:46:00 GMT
Test sporting event with 2,000 runners held in Switzerland
The Swiss Canyon Trail, one of the first European sporting events of its size to take place since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, started on Saturday in Couvet, western Switzerland. Organisers were given permission to hold three races of 650...

Sat, 5 Jun 2021 09:53:00 GMT
Samih Sawiris granted honorary citizenship of canton Uri
Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris has been given a certificate of honorary citizenship by canton Uri in central Switzerland for his achievements for tourism in the resort of Andermatt. The 64-year-old billionaire was actually granted honorary citizens...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 15:07:00 GMT
Switzerland wants to extend giant radio telescope cooperation
The Swiss government wants to increase Switzerland’s involvement in the building of the world’s largest-ever radio telescope. The “Square Kilometer Array Observatory” (SKAO) project involves 13 countries and is intended to unravel certain mys...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 14:49:00 GMT
Switzerland clears Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds
The Swiss health regulator Swissmedic has approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children aged as young as 12. Tests have shown the vaccine to be close to 100% effective at giving protection against Covid-19 for 12 to 15-year-olds, the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 14:00:00 GMT
First paedophile therapy centre opens in Switzerland
Canton Zurich has launched Switzerland’s first centre aimed at preventing paedophiles from carrying out sexual assaults on children. The Clinic of Forensic Psychology at the University of Zurich has been commissioned to set up the centre, it was a...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 13:27:00 GMT
Switzerland to launch Covid certificates from June 7
Switzerland will start issuing forgery-proof “Covid-19 certificates” next Monday to people who have been vaccinated, tested negative or who have recovered from an infection. The cantons will start making available the first Covid certificates - ...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 12:50:00 GMT
Pandemic costs Swiss hospitals CHF1.5 billion
The coronavirus pandemic forced hospitals to cancel non-emergency surgery, resulting in up to CHF1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in lost income last year, according to one evaluation. Most of the losses were incurred during the first lockdown in the spri...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 11:40:00 GMT
Swiss government seeks to unfreeze EU cohesion payment
The Swiss government will ask parliament this year to unblock a CHF1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) payment to the European Union cohesion fund. In 2019, parliament refused to release the payment - intended to reduce economic and social inequalities betwe...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 10:40:00 GMT
Swiss defence contractor denies second hack claims
The Swiss government-owned defence contractor RUAG International says it has found no evidence of a second major hack but does admit uncovering “serious security flaws” in its IT system. In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, ...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 08:49:00 GMT
Red Cross president meets Myanmar junta leader
The head of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) held talks with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday as the coup-stricken nation enters its fifth month of crippling unrest. Peter Maurer travelled to the Myanm...

Fri, 4 Jun 2021 07:20:00 GMT
Switzerland-US to hold bilateral talks in Geneva
US President Joe Biden will meet with Swiss President Guy Parmelin and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis ahead of his highly anticipated summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Geneva. Parmelin tweeted on Thursday that he and his colleague from the Fed...

Thu, 3 Jun 2021 15:39:00 GMT
Electricity watchdog sounds warning on Swiss energy security
The Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) has again voiced concern about Switzerland’s ability to secure sufficient power supplies in the coming years. While there is no immediate danger of shortfalls in the Alpine state, the electricity watchdog...

Thu, 3 Jun 2021 12:39:00 GMT
Zurich airport plans runway upgrades
The operators of Switzerland’s main airport, in Zurich, have presented plans to extend two runways, re-igniting a controversy over noise pollution. Zurich airport says extending two runways would increase safety and simplify landing and take-off t...

Thu, 3 Jun 2021 11:28:00 GMT
3D printer produces Swiss compostable battery
Swiss scientists have developed a biodegradable battery that can be thrown into the compost after use. The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) used a 3D printer to produce the battery made from carbon, cellulose, g...

Thu, 3 Jun 2021 09:27:00 GMT
Switzerland among best countries for children’s rights
A new ranking of states’ compliance with the international Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) puts Switzerland in second place, in a year in which children around the world were hard hit by Covid-19 restrictions. Iceland topped the annual...



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