The Swiss government has set up a working group to examine whether measures are needed to relieve the burden on households caused by rising energy prices. “[The government] is observing the development very closely in order to clarify whether supp...

Most Swiss want to see closer cooperation with intergovernmental defence alliance NATO, according to a representative survey. However, they do not want to become a member. Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 35% of respondents su...

Lausanne director Tizian Büchi has won the Grand Prix at the Visions du Réel international film festival for his film L’Îlot (Like an Island). It is the first time a Swiss film has won the main prize in the International Competition since 2013. ...

Switzerland is demanding that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) exclude Russian and Belarusian officials from top positions in international sports federations. The Swiss Minister of Sport, Viola Amherd, sent a letter to IOC President Thoma...

The Alpine nation consumed 2.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) more electricity in 2021, equivalent to the annual consumption of 479,800 households. “In addition to the pandemic-related 'compensatory effects' in the second quarter, general economic ...

The Swiss medical regulator has approved the Nuvaxovid vaccine for adults making it the fourth Covid-19 vaccine authorised in the country. Swissmedic announced its approval on Wednesday making Nuvaxovid the first protein-based vaccine to be license...

The Swiss justice authorities have opened criminal proceedings for alleged smuggling of gasoil belonging to a Libyan state-owned company. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on Thursday confirmed that it has launched formal investigations into ...

The government has decided to prepare a bail-out plan for Switzerland’s main electricity companies to prevent an energy shortage. The aim is to ensure financial liquidity for companies trading energy on an international scale and to avoid an elect...

Switzerland’s armed forces plan to invest up to CHF2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) over the next few years to boost the country’s cyber defence. Presenting a long-term planning document, Defence Minister Viola Amherd stressed the need to beef up prot...

The Swiss government has adopted a new set of European Union trade and finance sanctions against Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine. Economics Minister Guy Parmelin said his ministry also extended travel and financial restrictions on a furth...

A Swiss court has sentenced former Raiffeisen bank chief Pierin Vincenz to almost four years in prison for fraud, forgery of documents and criminal mismanagement. The judge on Wednesday handed down a jail sentence of 45 months as well as a suspended...

After a decade-long investigation, Swiss prosecutors have shelved an inquiry into various high-ranking Egyptians linked to money laundering and organised crime. Some CHF400 million in frozen funds are to be released. The investigation dates from 201...

The government has decided to boost financial support to protect Jewish and Muslim minorities in Switzerland. For the next four years, the government has earmarked CHF2.5 million ($2.7 million) annually to be spent on technical and construction meas...

Switzerland spent CHF3.59 billion ($3.85 billion) on official development aid in 2021, or 0.51% of gross national income (GNI), the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The figure marks an increase of CHF243 million on the previous year, which had in t...

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA President Michel Platini will stand before the Federal Criminal Court to face corruption charges over a CHF2 million payment made by FIFA to Platini in 2011. Both Blatter and Platini have repeatedly den...

The Russian foreign ministry has criticised what it labels the “arbitrary” understanding of history of Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, as well as Switzerland’s neutral position on the Ukraine war. In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday by...

The national financial watchdog has renewed calls for closer inspections of public funds paid to companies hit by government restrictions during the Covid pandemic. In its latest report, the Federal Audit Office said it noted “a high number” of ...

A survey by Amnesty International Switzerland has found wider backing for the benefits of the affirmative consent principle for sexual relations, rather than placing the onus on people to say “no”. Some 45% of all respondents said the “yes mea...

Ex-Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty has been under armed guard for nearly a year-and-a-half following death threats he believes originate from Serbia. In an interview with Swiss public broadcaster RTS on Sunday, Marty said he had armed protection officer...

Exports to the United States have tripled over the past 20 years, reaching CHF47 billion ($50.4 billion) in 2021. This makes it the most important export market for Switzerland. Foreign trade between the US and Switzerland is booming. Between 2001 a...

The Swiss migration office has issued guidelines to help Ukrainian refugees avoid falling prey to human traffickers. More than 28,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine have so far arrived in Switzerland, with many more expected to follow. The State...

Switzerland’s two federal institutes of technology have helped launch an $100 million (CHF93 million) information technology research centre in Bulgaria. The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) was opene...

Switzerland has narrowly missed its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns and an unusually warm winter. The Alpine state had set itself the target of reducing harmful emissions by 20% compared to 1990 leve...

French President Emmanuel Macron will face far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in a winner-takes-all runoff for the French presidency on April 24. Victory for Macron, like in the previous presidential duel against Le Pen in 2017, is far from guarantee...

Switzerland is not setting a maximum limit on how many Ukrainian refugees it accepts, says the Swiss justice minister. Karin Keller-Sutter told Swiss public television, RTS, on Sunday that no cap had been set on the number of people who would be all...

A prominent Swiss health official, who was kidnapped and threatened last month, has downplayed media reports that the perpetrator may have been motivated by anti-vaccine sentiments. Christoph Berger, head of Switzerland’s Federal Vaccine Commissio...

The Ukrainian and United States ambassadors to Bern have called on Switzerland to redouble its efforts to enforce sanctions against Russian individuals and entities. The Swiss authorities have adopted European Union sanctions, so far seizing CHF7.5 ...

Switzerland has formally protested the bombing of the Kramatorsk railway station in Ukraine to the Russian ambassador to Bern. At least 50 people are reported killed and many more left injured by Friday’s missile strike on the train station in the...

Switzerland has delivered a first consignment of food supplies to the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, as part of a series of aid shipments to the country’s “suffering civilian population”, it said on Friday. “In cooperation with its Ukrainia...

Switzerland needs “quick and unbureaucratic solutions” to cope with the influx of refugees from Ukraine, Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said on Friday. Speaking to journalists in the north-eastern Swiss city of St. Gallen, she stressed the...