The Swiss government should set up a crisis management team to help deal with emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, say cantons. The recommendation arises from a cantonal assessment of the response to the pandemic over the last two years. The r...

The new Swiss embassy to the Vatican at the Holy See has been inaugurated and will start operating in the coming months. Since 2014, Swiss diplomatic links with the Vatican have been conducted through the Swiss ambassador in Slovenia. On Friday, Swi...

Swiss police have seized more than 500kg of cocaine concealed in a container shipped from Brazil to the Nespresso factory in the town of Romont. The drugs were discovered by workers unloading bags of coffee beans and the police were informed on Mond...

Swiss Post has issued a special postage stamp to commemorate the national Guide and Scout Movement. With a face value of CHF1.10 ($1.10), the stamp smells of smoke and marks the National Jamboree that only takes place every 14 years, Swiss Post said...

Switzerland’s competence centre for cybersecurity says attacks on computer systems more than doubled last year compared with 2020. The sharp increase to 21,712 cases from 10,833 might be due to simplified reporting procedures, the National Cyber S...

Both the corporate tax rate and the tax rate for high income earners has declined in Switzerland over the last year according to an analysis by the tax advisory firm KPMG. Switzerland is under increasing pressure to come up with a plan to implement t...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has named Martin Schlegel to take over as vice-chair of its Governing Board, which sets interest rates in Switzerland. Schlegel will replace Fritz Zurbrügg who steps down at the end of July following health issues. Th...

The government has extended measures to support Swiss scientists unable to receive funding for the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programmes. A total of just over CHF1.2 billion ($1.2 billion) for 2021 and 2022 were earmarked to...

Brussels has proposed a phased-in ban on all imports of Russian oil as part of new sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. In Switzerland, views diverge on the potential impact of European bans on the Alpine country’s energy supplies....

A Swiss foundation and the Vatican have agreed the terms of the first phase for the renovation of the Papal Swiss Guard barracks in Rome. The agreement covers the planning stage for the modernisation of three 19th-century buildings that house Swiss ...

A Swiss canton has legal ownership of rare ancient artefacts, but only because it took possession of the collection before regulations were introduced to prevent unlawful imports of cultural objects. Therefore, the so-called Guigoz collection in wes...

Swiss biotechnology companies invested a record CHF2.6 billion ($2.7 billion) into research last year despite most concentrating their efforts away from the coronavirus pandemic. Research was instead focused on areas such as immuno-oncology, neurolo...

The UN Rapporteur for the protection of freedom of expression has criticised Switzerland's banking secrecy laws that result in self-censorship by journalists. This comes as Switzerland drops four places in the annual country ranking of freedom of the...

The number of reported suspicious financial transactions continued to rise in Switzerland in 2021, but at a lower rate than in the first year of the pandemic. Switzerland’s Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) saw a 12% increase of suspicious ...

Consumers in Switzerland are much more pessimistic about the general economic situation, with households feeling the strain as prices continue to rise, a new survey shows. April data published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on ...

Traditional May 1 celebrations have drawn thousands of demonstrators to Swiss cities. The situation in Ukraine was a key focus of demands this year. Demonstrations were planned in 50 locations across Switzerland on Sunday. The largest of which was i...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has roots in a small, picturesque farming region in central Switzerland. Using genealogy websites and local archives, historians have been able to connect Musk with the Haldimann name, which is still present in the Emmental region...

A Swiss parliamentary visit to Kyiv and an ammunition export ban last week have reignited debate in political circles about how Switzerland defines neutrality. The Sunday papers capture the key dividing lines. The fact that “neutrality needs to be...

The World Economic Forum, which will hold its annual meeting in Davos starting on May 22, has been distancing itself from Russian delegates, many of whom have been regular participants in WEF events. Swiss media reported on Sunday that the rupture be...

A Switzerland-based research team has developed a new method to track and analyse animal behaviour using Artificial Intelligence. The technology is currently being tested at the Zurich Zoo. Can a machine sense when an animal is happy, curious, or af...

Shareholders have refused to absolve Credit Suisse board members of legal liability after a series of bungles and court cases in recent years. At an annual general meeting on Friday, a proposal to formally discharge directors of their responsibiliti...

Four Swiss special forces soldiers have lost a court case for unfair dismissal after they were ejected from the elite military unit for refusing Covid-19 vaccinations. In a verdict made public on Friday, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that t...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) continues to beat off demands to fight inflation by raising interest rates and to distribute more reserves to cantons and other causes. SNB president Barbara Janom Steiner showed signs of frustration in a speech on Frid...

The first two Hermes 900 HFE reconnaissance drones have arrived in Switzerland and are expected to be operational by mid-2022. The delivery was announced by the Federal Office of Armaments (armasuisse) on Friday. The unmanned aircraft, as well as ...

President Ignazio Cassis and Prime Minister Boris Johnson inked an agreement to strengthen mutual cooperation in trade, finance, research and immigration. Cassis’s visit to the UK on Thursday underlined the willingness of both Switzerland and UK s...

A cross-party group of parliamentarians insist that their recent visit to Ukraine has not compromised Switzerland’s neutrality. The delegation has been criticised, primarily by the right-wing People’s Party, for showing support for Ukraine durin...

A team of researchers have identified a 10cm long tooth discovered in the Swiss Alps as belonging to a giant marine reptile called the Ichthyosaur. This is only the second time that such a large tooth has been attributed to an Ichthyosaur. Most of t...

A new Swiss proposal on the future of bilateral relations with the European Union faces an uphill battle in Brussels. On Wednesday, Switzerland’s chief negotiator Livia Leu met with the European Commission’s Juraj Nociar to move the discussion f...

Sexual harassment is widespread in Switzerland but reliable data about unwanted behaviour is not available, according to an expert report. Women are the victims in nine out of ten cases most cases of harassment and incidents occur mainly in the publ...

The Swiss government has approved a deal on the exchange of sensitive information with NATO. The agreement is aimed at protecting each other’s classified digital information and cyber security, according to the defence ministry. The deal allows S...