As the Covid vaccination campaign continues to stagnate in Switzerland, increasingly polarised attitudes about the pandemic are a major cause for concern, a new survey has revealed. The poll carried out by the Sotomo research centre on behalf of SRG...

Switzerland and the European Union have taken a first step towards the resumption of a political dialogue, with the announcement of a high-level meeting in Brussels on November 15. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Twitter on Friday that...

Australia will reopen its embassy in the Swiss capital Bern in 2022 after a 30-year break, the two countries announced on Friday. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis shared the news on Twitter, saying that it was a “significant step on the occas...

A two-day session of parliament has opened in Bern on Friday attended by 246 women to mark 50 years of suffrage in Switzerland. The female-only session will discuss various issues from equality and violence against women to science and digitalisation...

The violent storms that hit Switzerland this summer will cost the country’s insurance sector CHF2.2 billion ($2.4 billion), according to the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA). This represents the second largest payout since 2005. Natural disaster...

Immigration to the wealthy nations that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) fell by nearly a third in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decline was less pronounced in Switzerland, where foreign profession...

One in three Swiss workers were over the age of 50 in 2020, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The unemployment rate for people in the 50-64 age bracket is lower than those between 25 and 49. In 2020, 1.65 million employees aged 50 o...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB)’s mission is not to make the world greener but to meet monetary policy goals, a top central bank official has declared. The Swiss central bank is regularly accused of lagging behind in green investments. But board mem...

Switzerland has not developed enough renewable energy over the past ten years, according to Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga. The country should be obliged to store more energy in winter to prevent future power outages, she said in an intervi...

The government plans to continue a number of measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic next year. It called on parliament to extend the legal basis for the current policy beyond the end of this year, notably for the health sector, labour protection, ...

More than 1,000 unexploded ordnance objects were found in Switzerland in 2020, a rise of 60% on previous years. The pandemic – in a roundabout way – was behind the figures, the army says. Due to the boom in outdoor activities inspired by Covid-1...

Certified health workers in Switzerland say their jobs are often not compatible with family life. They also ask for more regular shift work and more flexible working conditions, according to a long-term study by the Zurich college of applied science...

People with a high risk of developing serious complications from Covid-19 may now receive a third vaccine booster jab, the Swiss medicines regulator has stated. Swissmedic cleared the use of boosters from vaccine makers Moderna (Spikevax) and Pfizer...

Less than 2% of all movies watched on video on demand (VoD) platforms in Switzerland were Swiss productions, according to official statistics released on Tuesday. Swiss films only made up 5% of the total 29,000 movies on offer by VoD providers in 20...

The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened gender inequalities in the world of work, according to an annual survey. Women are “significantly less satisfied” than men in all six categories that are monitored; four years ago this was the case only for stre...

A parliamentary sub-committee will examine the role of the police and judiciary in prosecuting a woman for attempting to blackmail Swiss interior minister Alain Berset. Parliamentarians will determine whether prosecutors acted appropriately or if th...

The Covid-19 pandemic has made consumers of media more sensitive to the dangers of false or misleading information, according to a survey of the Swiss media landscape. The latest edition of the annual Yearbook Quality of the Media by the fög resear...

A Swiss nickel mining project is the flashpoint of tumultuous protests in northeast Guatemala that led the government to declare a state of emergency in that region on Sunday. The imposition of a dawn-to-dusk curfew in coastal province of Izabal com...

Four out of five firms surveyed by the Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse) have complained of problems in getting hold of raw materials and essential parts for their goods. The cost of the worsening supply chain conditions is starting to be p...

In the fight against Covid-19 a high vaccination rate and a new vaccination offensive is the only option, says Swiss Interior Minister Alain Berset. He has also warned of problems when travelling abroad if voters reject the Covid law next month. The...

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused life expectancy in Switzerland to fall for the first time in decades. For males born in 2020 it decreased by 0.9 years to 81.0 years, and for females by 0.5 years to 85.1 years. The last time such a decline occurred ...

The head of Swissmedic has dismissed criticism that the agency has been hesitant to approve booster shots, noting that the pharmaceutical companies submitted applications later in Switzerland than the European Union. “Swissmedic is anything but sl...

Concerns are mounting over the ripple effects of supply chain issues brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Swiss president Guy Parmelin warns that the country may need to cut back on work hours as employers wait for deliveries. In an interview in the...

Several thousand people have gathered in Bern for the latest rally of opponents of government measures to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. On Saturday afternoon, protestors filled the square in front of the parliament building chanting “freedom” and ...

A Swiss court has upheld the appeal of Geneva-based Proton, a provider of secure and anonymous email services, limiting its obligation to monitor traffic and retain data for surveillance purposes. On Friday, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court up...

Data scientists from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) have found only a few people live on in our collective memory with the exception of those who create a cultural legacy. Why are some people remembered long after they die an...

Swiss authorities can resume the practice of sending rejected asylum-seeker families back to Italy, a federal court has ruled. The question had been on hold due to concerns about child welfare. The ruling on Friday related to a mother and her undera...

Several thousand have marched in Swiss cities, notably the capital Bern, calling for more climate protection measures. The demonstration in Bern, coordinated by the Swiss Climate Strike movement, assembled some 3,500 people, estimated the Keystone-S...

From January Croatians will have the same rights to live and work in Switzerland as all other EU citizens, although the government can temporarily limit their numbers. The unrestricted opening to Croatia, under Switzerland’s participation in the F...

The Swiss Sports Museum, which closed to the public in 2019 after funding dried up, has managed to sell much of its collection for just under CHF1 million ($1.1 million). The objects were bought by 66 other museums and organisations in Switzerland a...