On Saturday morning, around 60 people demonstrated in Amsteg against through traffic and holiday traffic. They crossed a pedestrian crossing in single file, thereby blocking the traffic. The demonstrators held up placards bearing slogans such as “W...

Start-ups led by women continue to have a limited presence in the Swiss venture capital market. In the first half of 2026, just over 7% of venture capital was channelled to companies with female CEOs. The proportion of funding allocated to women-led ...

In the run-up to the Locarno Film Festival, its artistic director, Giona Nazzaro, has called for cinema to be accessible to the general public. There should be no divide between arthouse filmmakers and the wider audience, he says in an interview with...

A bolt of lightning killed 97 blacknose sheep on an alp in the Swiss canton of Valais on Thursday night. Around 80 animals survived the lightning strike during a night-time thunderstorm on the Eggerhorn alp in the Binntal valley. One of the sheep far...

Switzerland has extradited a member of the 'Ndrangheta organised crime gang, who was arrested at the end of January, to Italy. The Federal Office of Justice stated, in response to an enquiry, that the person is currently in Italy. The authorities the...

Most people fined under Zurich’s face-covering ban are masked football fans rather than women wearing burkas or niqabs. Swiss voters approved the so-called 'burka ban' in 2021, introducing clothing regulations into the federal constitution for the ...

Swiss energy firm Romande Energie has acquired a minority stake in the Finnish company Hyperion Robotics for an undisclosed sum. "This investment marks the seventh in Romande Energie’s corporate venture capital portfolio and the first to be made ou...

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich has transferred 100 petabytes of climate and environmental data from NASA cloud servers to the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano. The volume is enormous: 100 petabytes is roughl...

Bob Dylan is coming to Zurich’s Hallenstadion for a concert on November 1. Advance ticket sales for this one-off performance will begin next Wednesday. The legendary singer-songwriter’s current tour kicks off in the United States on Saturday and ...

Switzerland has taken note of European Commission plans for reducing CO2 emissions, which were outlined on Friday. The EC is proposing a revision of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2030 onwards. The target of reducing CO2 emissions b...

Switzerland has joined a NATO partnership for the joint procurement of ammunition. The aim of the cooperation is to reduce costs and shorten delivery times, said the Federal Office for Defence Procurement (Armasuisse). According to Armasuisse, Switze...

Swiss customs officers stopped a delivery van carrying 40 bee colonies. The insect cargo was refused entry into Switzerland as it had no import licence. The driver was fined several hundred Swiss francs by customs officials in Tägerwilen, near to th...

In 2023, transport in Switzerland generated costs of around CHF117 billion. At the same time, traffic volumes have risen significantly since 2000, with the car remaining the dominant mode of transport. The figures come from a report published by the ...

Swiss reservoirs have significantly less water than usual for this time of year. They have not been this empty at any point in the last 20 years. But the government sees no short or long-term threat to Switzerland’s energy security. The reservoir l...

Swiss security policy experts from left-wing parties and the Swiss People’s Party are challenging plans to decommission F/A-18 fighter jets as planned from 2030 onwards. Starting next year, the first US F-35 stealth fighter jets are to be delivered...

Severe weather hit several regions of Switzerland on Thursday evening and overnight. In canton Zurich, the fire service was called out 268 times, according to a tally posted by the Zurich emergency services on the X social media platform. Most of the...

Swiss aviator and renewable energy pioneer Bertrand Piccard has secured the support of the European Commission to fly around the world in a hydrogen-powered aeroplane, non-stop and with zero CO₂ emissions. The new project by the Swiss explorer, cal...

House martins, barn swallows, common swifts and bats living are in sharp decline in urban Swiss areas. Yverdon-les-Bains has launched a protection plan. The plan proposes three main objectives: to promote the development of existing colonies, to comp...

Forty five bee colonies have been poisoned by a plant protection insecticide in southeastern Switzerland. Some colonies have been severely weakened, the canton Graubünden veterinary officer stated. + Switzerland’s battle of the bees The bee coloni...

An off-duty Swiss police officer fired a shot during a break-in of a gun shop. There are no reports injuries and the perpetrators managed to escape. A search has been launched in canton Solothurn in northern Switzerland. No details regarding stolen g...

Significantly fewer asylum applications were submitted in Switzerland in the first half of 2026 than in the same period last year. Some 9,734 people applied for asylum - a drop of 16%. In June 2026, 1,777 asylum applications were lodged, the State Se...

Twenty-two Japanese beetles have been caught in the Swiss city of Zug and its neighbouring municipality of Baar. To prevent the pest from spreading further, measures have been put in place across large parts of the canton. To determine whether and wh...

Last year, the Swiss mortgage market grew at an above-average rate for the first time since 2022. However, this does not automatically mean better business for lenders, as margins remain under pressure. According to the 2025 Mortgage Market Study pub...

Swiss railway equipment manufacturer Stadler has agreed to deliver 21 trams to the Texan operator Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), with an option for a further 19 trams. The Citylink-type trams, which can carry 240 passengers, will be built at Stadl...

A new study reveals that extreme floods in the Swiss Alps will become more intense and frequent by the end of the century. For every degree the Earth warms, heavy rainfall becomes more intense. This has an impact on flooding, according to a statement...

The European Court of Human Rights has partially upheld a complaint lodged by two Swiss vegans who say they were given inappropriate food in detention facilities. In a ruling published on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switze...

A campaign to raise awareness among tourists about rules of conduct in Switzerland is receiving a positive reception from the tourism sector. Several regions are promoting this initiative, and initial feedback is encouraging. In April, the Swiss tour...

Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB is looking to strengthen its automation business by launching a takeover bid for British flow control solutions specialist, Rotork. The Zurich-based group is offering Rotork shareholders 505 pence per share. The dea...

A four-day-old baby gorilla has died after being bitten by its silverback father at Basel Zoo. This is the second death in the Swiss zoo gorilla group within a few days. The infant was killed during a dispute between its mother and the 14-year-old si...

Several drones have triggered a police operation at the Gösgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland. It remains unclear why the drones were flying over the plant. A resident alerted police on Sunday evening after spotting at least seven drones flying ...