Several thousand people gathered in front of the federal government building on Saturday demanding the Swiss government take “significant measures” against the Iranian regime. The demonstrations were initiated by the Free Iran Switzerland organi...

Researchers from the University of Geneva have found that an anti-herpes drug discovered more than 50 years ago can make it easier for the immune system to attack a common and deadly bacteria. The bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae is very common in hos...

Switzerland has made progress in reforming tax rates for multinational companies but still has work to do when it comes to turning a blind eye to tax avoidance. In an interview in the French-language paper Le Temps, Paul Tang, who led a delegation o...

A Swiss citizen was among the more than 100 tourists freed a day after being taken hostage by local residents demanding action after a recent oil spill in a river in the Peruvian Amazon. On Friday, Peru's tourist minister Roberto Sanchez confirmed t...

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who also holds the rotating presidency this year, will join Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga at the COP27 climate forum in Egypt next week. Switzerland will “advocate for an effective work programme t...

Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic says there are no risks in connection with bubbles that appeared in vials of Covid-19 vaccine boosters retooled to target the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. "Laboratory analysis of the vials did not reveal any i...

Switzerland has provided CHF1.5 million ($1.48 million) in emergency aid to flood-stricken Nigeria and Chad. The two African countries have experienced devastating floods since the summer that have killed hundreds of people and left thousands displa...

Some 2,000 archeological objects, some dating back to the Stone Age, have been uncovered during a spring clean of a monastery attic in central Switzerland. The artefacts are part of a large collection assembled by Benedictine monk, Father Emmanuel S...

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has drafted digital versions of its red cross and red crescent emblems to ward off cyber attackers. The physical versions of the red cross and crescent insignia are displayed on hospitals and ambul...

FIFA, world football’s Zurich-based governing body, has urged the 32 teams preparing for the most political World Cup in the modern era to focus on the game in Qatar and avoid handing out lessons in morality. A letter urging teams to “let footba...

A Gruyère from Vorderfultigen in Bern has been named the 2022 World Champion Cheese, beating a Gorgonzola from Italy. It is the fourth time that Le Gruyère AOP, a hard cheese made from unpasteurised milk named after the town of Gruyères in Fribou...

For the first time the city of Bern has told participants of violent demonstrations to pay up. Six opponents of the government’s Covid-19 measures are to contribute between CHF200 and CHF1,000 ($198-$990) to the cost of police operations. Fines wi...

The pandemic has had an impact on the sporting habits of the Swiss population, with physical activity declining, but outdoor activity rising. The decline in sporting activity is particularly marked among young men and women aged 45 to 59, according ...

Barely two weeks ahead of the World Cup kickoff in Qatar and just days ahead of the UN climate summit, several NGOs, including a civil society group based in Switzerland, have filed complaints with consumer protection agencies alleging that global fo...

Bilingual education, especially at the upper secondary level, is widespread in Switzerland, a report has summarised. However, experts reckon the growing popularity of English could represent a threat to the national languages. The 373 bilingual prog...

The government has again rejected an appeal from Germany to allow it to re-export Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine. “Under the principle of equal treatment in neutrality law, Switzerland cannot agree to a request for the transfer of war materiel o...

A British subsidiary of Swiss mining and trading group Glencore was ordered to pay a total penalty of £276.4 million (CHF314.2 million) in a London court on Thursday for seven bribery offences in relation to its oil operations in Africa. Glencore E...

Some 85% of respondents to a poll said they left tips after eating out in a restaurant. In bars and other places, the generosity is lower, but still considerable. The main motivation for leaving tips for waiters and waitresses – although a service...

The number of wills in Switzerland has increased over the past three years, marked by the Covid-19 crisis. However, the initial sense of solidarity has disappeared, according to a survey by the Alliance for the Common Good. The pandemic has given th...

The Swiss government is sticking to its hard line and says it will not provide financial aid this winter to companies and households hit hard by surging energy prices. Neither the economic situation nor inflation justify extraordinary relief measure...

The Swiss government has come out against a bid to host the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in 2026. One of the reasons given for the withdrawal is that Australia has already expressed an interest in hosting COP31 in collaborat...

The government says it has no plans to ban the Islamist militant Hezbollah group in Switzerland as it posed no major terrorist threat. The Lebanon-based group is not very active in Switzerland and no fundraising or other financial activities are kn...

The Swiss government has promised CHF100 million ($100 million) in aid to Ukraine to help residents access drinking water and to repair energy infrastructure damaged by the war. The government on Wednesday adopted a “winter aid action plan” for ...

Switzerland has adopted European Union sanctions against an Iranian firm and three top army members for supporting the Russian war against Ukraine. The measures, against the company Shahed Aviation Industries and three senior military officers, wer...

A court in Zurich has rejected an appeal by the renowned Swiss art collector and financier Urs Schwarzenbach in two cases of tax evasion in connection with the import of works of art. The court also decided to increase from CHF8.5 million ($8.5 mill...

A top agriculture official says the risk of food shortages, while not currently pressing, is underestimated in wealthy Switzerland. Switzerland, which imports 50% of its food, is still in good shape despite international food shortages and rising pr...

Swiss healthcare insurers estimate that some CHF20 million ($20.02 million) could have been gleaned to date by scams involving fake bills for Covid tests. Swiss public television RTS reported Wednesday on numerous cases of people who noticed that th...

Five per cent of the Swiss population aged 14 and over don't eat meat and the trend is continuing, a new survey shows. The latest figures about people living vegetarian or vegan show an increase of 14% over the previous year and for the fifth time i...

Several hundred construction workers have staged a protest in the Swiss city of Basel to call for improvements to their working conditions. The crowd gathered before lunchtime near the city's main railway station on Tuesday, accusing the master buil...

Halloween night was generally quiet in Switzerland. However, there was some minor damage to property in various places, according to a survey of police operations centres. Police in Switzerland's largest city, Zurich, had more to do on Halloween nig...