The Zurich "Night-time Peace" initiative, which calls for greater protection against aircraft noise, is being withdrawn. However, there is disagreement within the initiative committee over this decision. The citizens’ organisation called Fluglärms...

A 38-year-old from Ukraine, who served a prison sentence in Switzerland, is allowed to remain in Zurich despite being ordered to leave. This was the ruling of the Zurich Administrative Court. As there is a risk of forced conscription, the chronically...

Applause rang out across Switzerland as the solar eclipse reached its peak at around 8:20pm. Armed with solar eclipse glasses, camping chairs and high spirits, many people turned out to watch the sky on Wednesday. The spectacle began in the north-eas...

The Swiss government wants to hold bank executives more accountable and prevent risks arising from high bonuses. Stricter regulations on this matter have been put out for public consultation that would also force banks to be better prepared for crise...

Eleven years after the launch of a project to reintroduce the osprey in Switzerland, a pair of these migratory birds has returned to nest for the first time since 1914. Three chicks hatched in the spring between May 25 and 29, reveals Wendy Strahm, c...

The government has set out the broad outlines of a summit on artificial intelligence (AI), which Switzerland will host in Geneva in June 2027. The event is expected to cost around CHF6 million to stage. Fabiola Gianotti, former director of the Europe...

Electricity production in Switzerland is declining because low water levels are reducing output from run-of-the-river hydropower plants. However, abundant solar power generation is helping to prevent supply bottlenecks. Unlike just a few years ago, s...

Switzerland has stopped short of declaring a state of emergency due to the ongoing drought and heatwave. The situation can currently be managed with existing structures, the government says. The government is in dialogue with the cantons and other au...

Swiss retail sales rose in the first half of 2026, with turnover increasing by 2.6% compared with the previous year, according to market research firm NielsenIQ (NIQ). Both main segments contributed to this positive performance. The food sector grew ...

The Swiss government is set to recommend that parliament rejects a popular initiative “for a sustainable and forward-looking Swiss financial centre”, without putting forward a counter-proposal. It took this decision on Wednesday, arguing that it ...

Switzerland will cover 80% of the security costs of a Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference in Lugano on December 3-4. Wide-ranging security measures will be put in place to ensure the safety of attendees, including nu...

In Switzerland, the number of corporate bankruptcies rose sharply in the first half of 2026. This increase is partly due to economic factors and partly to a change in the law. From the start of 2025, public creditors such as tax and social security a...

The Swiss summer of 2026 has already broken many of the temperature records set in 2003, the weather service Meteonews announced. The current summer has so far notched up higher temperatures, more days of extreme heat and more tropical nights in many...

Three major Swiss business organisations are backing a popular initiative to impose limits on federal staffing costs. The Swiss Business Federation economiesuisse, the Swiss Trade Association and the Swiss Employers’ Association are supporting the ...

Following the discovery of a drone laden with explosives at Leipzig airport in Germany, Europe is asking itself how to protect infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated aerial threats. Switzerland, a country at the forefront of drone research, i...

The trial of two ski tour guides has begun in Switzerland, three and a half years after a fatal avalanche accident in the Bernese Oberland. The prosecution has charged both defendents with multiple counts of manslaughter through negligence. The regio...

A rare Titan Arum is due to flower at the University of Basel’s Botanical Garden in Switzerland. The tropical plant only flowers for two days, giving off an odour of rotting flesh. The univerrsity's Tropical House opens its doors to the public on W...

According to US business magazine Forbes, former Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is no longer a billionaire, following a slump in the share price of the Swiss sports footwear manufacturer On. Forbes estimates that Federer’s net worth fell to around...

Switzerland has pledged CHF1 million in emergency aid to Colombia following a devastating earthquake. The financial support is for food, temporary accommodation and water supply. Switzerland will not be sending a search-and-rescue team with dogs to C...

Around 4,000 to 4,500 swimmers took part in the official Basel Rhine Swim in Switzerland. The 46th edition of this traditional event took place while the water level was low. The participants set off at 6pm from the Schaffhauserrheinweg at Stachelrai...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it harder for young people to land their first job, according to the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO). Weak economic growth, cautious recruitment policies, geopolitical tensions and rapid tec...

Swiss police are investigating a suspected arson attack on the Romanian embassy in Bern. It is believed that a burning object was deliberately placed near the embassy fence. The fire spread to the surrounding vegetation, as reported by the Bern canto...

The outflow of water from Lake Lugano to Italy will be increased from the current three to eight cubic metres per second for a period of ten days. This will allow more water to flow into Lake Maggiore and into the Italian rice-growing areas near Nova...

The Swiss government and parliament have rejected the food security initiative. On Tuesday, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin addressed the media in Bern to explain why the government was recommending voters reject the issue on September 27. The initia...

A new regulation allows the Swiss cross to be used on goods manufactured abroad. According to two surveys, SMEs and voters are firmly opposed to the new regulation, the Swiss Trade Association told the media in Bern. Both business owners and voters f...

In the city of Bern the shortage of protective glasses in the run-up to the solar eclipse on Wednesday has resulted in a long queue. Several hundred people were waiting outside the specialist shop Foto Zumstein Video on Tuesday afternoon. The queue, ...

Insurers have had a relatively quiet first half of 2026 in terms of natural disasters, according to estimates from the Zurich-based reinsurer Swiss Re. However, the cost could rise in the second half of the year. In the first half of 2026, the cost o...

A project straight out of a spy film is taking shape in canton Obwalden in the heart of the Central Swiss Alps. Beneath the mountains of the Brünig Pass, near the village of Lungern, entrepreneur Thomas Gasser, chairman of the board of directors at ...

Social media has only partially democratised the debate on climate change. Established players continue to dominate, and climate-sceptical voices are gaining disproportionate visibility, according to a study by the Universities of Zurich and Münster...

Raphael Hefti has won this year’s Paul Boesch Art Prize, which will be awarded at the Kunstmuseum Bern on August 25. Hefti is a visual artist whose works express a highly distinctive aesthetic language, according to the museum. It said Hefti, born ...