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Swiss Info

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 08:38:00 GMT
Swiss expect approval of Covid-19 booster by end of October
Switzerland’s medical regulator has said it expects to give the green light for the third Covid-19 jab in a matter of weeks. This comes amid growing concerns about a rising number of infections and deaths among vaccinated individuals. In an interv...

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 14:15:21 GMT
Swiss youth group demands stronger climate action
Swiss Youth for Climate (SYFC) wants to see a clear commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees at the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. The advocacy group is demanding climate policies that aim higher and deliver results fast...

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 13:54:59 GMT
Switzerland and Georgia sign climate deal
Switzerland and Georgia signed an agreement in Bern on Monday on climate protection. It is intended to develop a national programme to promote the energy efficiency of buildings in the Caucasus country. "Well-insulated houses and efficient heating s...

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 10:45:10 GMT
Multiple groups feel ‘socially excluded’ in Switzerland
Foreigners and non-German speaking Swiss citizens are particularly affected by feelings of social exclusion, according to a University of Zurich study. The study, cited by Keystone-SDA news agency on Monday, found that as many as one in five Swiss r...

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:42:00 GMT
No systematic abuse of rights in asylum centres, says investigator
An independent report into claims of violations of asylum-seekers’ rights at federal asylum centres concludes that, although there were a few instances in which security staff had reacted disproportionately, any accusation of torture was “unjusti...

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 13:37:00 GMT
Roche heirs bid goodbye to ‘unsustainable’ philanthropy
The heirs of Switzerland’s pharmaceutical company Roche are ending an era as philanthropic donors for major nature conservation projects, the NZZ am Sonntag reported. Their Mava Foundation, established 25 years ago, will shut down next year. "The ...

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 13:00:50 GMT
Switzerland ‘not at risk of truck driver shortage’
Unlike other Western European nations, Switzerland is not at risk of a supply chain crisis due to a lack of truck drivers, according to the president of a major logistics and transport company. "The situation in Switzerland is significantly better t...

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 10:24:56 GMT
Swiss companies told to brace for electricity shortages
The Swiss government has shared its vision for coping with major power outages in a brochure shared with thousands of companies, the weekly NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday. In the absence of an electricity agreement with the European Union, such a ...

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 08:40:00 GMT
Fresh protests over Covid policy mobilise thousands in Switzerland
Several Swiss cities witnessed demonstrations against the government's Covid-19 policy on Saturday, notably the recent imposition of a Covid certificate requirement to enter indoor areas like restaurants. Between 800 and 1,000 people took to the str...

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 15:50:00 GMT
Glencore opens talks with Chad on debt overhaul
Switzerland-based commodities trader Glencore has started talks with Chad over the restructuring of the nation’s more than CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) commercial debt, Reuters news agency reported on Saturday, citing a letter from the company to th...

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 11:06:36 GMT
Brain fingerprints evolve and could help us tackle Alzheimer
Everyone has a unique brainprint but - unlike fingerprints - it can change over time, according to a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). This finding, which was detailed in an Oct. 15 study published by Sc...

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 09:24:34 GMT
Hour-long tech glitch takes Swiss covid app offline
Switzerland’s Covid app went offline for an hour late Friday due to technical issues, Keystone-SDA reported. The glitch also affected the operation of EU-issued Covid certificates in Swiss territory. The Swiss digital health certificate could not ...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:51:59 GMT
New Geneva tunnel to improve city and international links
Tunnellers digging from two ends of a new tunnel in Geneva met up on Friday as part of an ambitious project to improve transport. Some 60 workers have been relaying each other since September 2017 to dig the 500-metre tunnel for an underground road ...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 15:29:42 GMT
Bern to get tougher on unauthorised Covid protesters
Participants in often violent, unauthorised weekly protests in Bern against Covid measures will now have to pay for the cost of police operations, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported on Friday. "We have now had almost a dozen unauthorised rallies in the ...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 14:47:00 GMT
Hotels and restaurants complain of lost profits due to Covid certificate
Swiss hoteliers and restaurateurs have seen turnover drop by an average of 27.6% since the introduction of the Covid certificate in mid-September, according to a survey of the sector. Some 81.3% of surveyed establishments reported a downturn in busi...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:58:00 GMT
Georgian president makes first ever state visit to Switzerland
Salome Zourabichvili met Swiss President Guy Parmelin and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Friday to talk about climate change, economic ties and security in the Caucasus. The visit to Bern was the first by a Georgian president since the country b...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:18:24 GMT
Swiss-Canadian accord aims to promote wood research
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) says a cooperation agreement on wood research with Canada’s University of British Columbia will help promote new, sustainable bioproducts. The Canadian university’s BioPr...

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 09:13:00 GMT
EPFL develops algorithm to rate scenic landscapes
Researchers behind an algorithm to measure how scenic a region is say it could have benefits for environmental and conservation efforts. The research by the Swiss Federal Technology Institute Lausanne EPFL and Wageningen University in the Netherland...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 16:15:00 GMT
Covid: Swiss private banks ‘got off relatively lightly’
Swiss private banks managed to increase their assets under management to CHF2.9 trillion ($3.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 2.8% on 2019. “The year 2020 was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, yet the Swiss private banking sector still got...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:19:57 GMT
Global tax deal approval ‘to take at least a year’, says president
Switzerland will need at least a year to gain domestic approval for new tax measures to conform with a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate, according to Guy Parmelin, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year. The Swiss finance ministry ca...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 14:13:00 GMT
More Swiss are getting cancer, but fewer are dying from it
The number of cancer patients in Switzerland is increasing, mainly due to the ageing population. But the risk of dying from the disease has decreased for both men and women. Some 23,100 men and 19,650 women were diagnosed with cancer every year betw...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:32:06 GMT
Crowds allowed to return to Swiss ski races
World Cup events for snow sports will again be open to spectators in Switzerland. Access for the 2021-2022 season will be restricted to people with a Covid certificate. “The primary objective of Swiss-Ski and the Swiss World Cup organisers – in ...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:40:00 GMT
Switzerland launches platform to track Covid variants
The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) has launched a centralised platform to collect genetic sequences of the new coronavirus in Switzerland to ensure better monitoring of variants and boost international research efforts. The Swiss Pathogen S...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 11:39:00 GMT
Tour de France to return to Switzerland in 2022
Switzerland will host two of the 21 stages of the 2022 Tour de France, it has been confirmed. At a presentation of the route for the 2022 edition, officials said on Thursday that stage eight (July 9) would see riders leave Dole in the French Jura re...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:07:06 GMT
Pandemic weighs on optimism and financial confidence
The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the mood of people in Switzerland: only 30% are still unconditionally optimistic about the future, a third less than last year, according to a survey by insurer Swiss Life. The proportion of people who often feel s...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:27:00 GMT
Swiss scientist selected for WHO pathogen panel
Kathrin Summermatter, head of the Biosafety Centre at the Institute of Infectious Diseases at the University of Bern, is one of 26 experts chosen to be part of a World Health Organization (WHO) panel on the origins of new pathogens. The Geneva-based...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 14:25:00 GMT
Information drive but no vouchers to boost Covid jab campaign
The Swiss government is stepping up efforts to convince residents to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus. It has decided to launch a week-long information campaign in several languages across the country next month in a bid to speed up vaccina...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:57:00 GMT
Montreux Jazz Festival cofounder dies aged 96
René Langel, cofounder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died on Tuesday in Lausanne. The former jazz journalist would have turned 97 next month, his family said. Born in Neuchâtel, Langel worked for various media in French-speaking Switzerland, in p...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:25:38 GMT
Accidents with wild animals cause CHF50 million in damage
Every year road accidents involving wild animals such as deer cause around CHF50 million ($54 million) in damage throughout Switzerland. What’s more, thousands of animals are injured, according to insurer Axa Winterthur. Axa itself is notified of ...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 12:38:00 GMT
Geneva climate activist found guilty by top court
Switzerland’s highest court has found guilty a climate activist who was caught painting a bank building in the city of Geneva three years ago. The judges said the defendant had no right to justify his action by citing a climate emergency as the th...



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