Thirty-four firefighters set off from Geneva on Saturday, heading for Bordeaux. They are to assist their French counterparts who are fighting the fires in the Gironde. Bern is also considering sending four helicopters. It was the Geneva Fire and Resc...

Forgotten for twenty years in a customs warehouse, an engraving by Marc Chagall has finally found its place in a French museum. “The Acrobat with the Violin”, created in 1924, will be on display from September at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Besa...

The current drought is forcing many local authorities to restrict water consumption. No problems are expected with regard to drinking water, despite the heatwave forecast for next week. The situation is more difficult when it comes to water for agric...

The tense geopolitical situation in Europe is prompting the Swiss defence ministry to reassess the importance of old, disused bunkers. The requirements regarding protection, resilience and decentralisation of the Swiss army have increased, and the ne...

UBS economists have confirmed their growth forecasts for Switzerland following the announcement of new US tariffs. UBS economists still forecast growth in gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for sporting events, of 0.7% this year and 1.4% year. Wh...

Severe forest fires are currently raging in popular tourist destinations on the west coast of France. Dozens of holidaymakers from Switzerland have had to be evacuated from the area around Cap-Ferret. Around 65 members of the Touring Club Switzerland...

Venus is geologically active even though researchers had assumed the opposite. Swiss researchers have managed to find evidence of active volcanoes on Earth’s sister planet. Venus is an inhospitable place where temperatures reach several hundred deg...

Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli will have to answer to the US courts over a child labour complaint. The activist law firm International Rights Advocates has criticised the Zurich-based chocolate manufacturer for misleadingly presenting its ef...

A mountaineer fell on Thursday on the Schreckhorn in the Bernese Oberland. He was rescued by a rescue helicopter in difficult windy conditions and then taken to hospital. According to the Air-Glaciers rescue service, the mountaineer, who was accompan...

Lucerne-based lingerie and night wear manufacturer Calida announced the sale of its US lingerie brand, Cosabella to the New York-based investment firm Crown Brands Group. However, Calida’s statement does not specify the value of the transaction. Co...

Switzerland remains on the US monitoring list for currency manipulation, along with nine other countries. However, Switzerland could be removed from the list in the next edition of the report. In the report, published every six months, the US Treasur...

The Chinese online retail platform Temu and the Swiss SME (small- and medium-sized enterprise) Association aim to support Swiss companies in entering the online retail market. To this end, the two partners have signed a memorandum of understanding. T...

Switzerland is among 60 countries that face new US tariffs on Friday for allegedly not doing enough to combat forced labour. A 12.5% tariff has been imposed on Swiss goods. The new tariffs, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, will apply from 6:01am in Switzer...

Switzerland’s last remaining tie manufacturer has felt the effects ties going out of fashion. Bachmann Krawatten AG, based in Zurich, is now closing down after 70 years in business. Eleven employees will lose their jobs. In the past, wearing a tie ...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has criticised Swiss authorities and courts for denying a man the right to visit his pregnant partner whilst she was in pre-trial detention. In its ruling on Thursday, the Court declared the appeal lodged by ...

Switzerland has stepped up its efforts to combat the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is providing the World Health Organisation (WHO) with a further CHF1.6 million ($1.96 million). This brings the total Swiss aid since the ...

The persistent heat and drought could have a detrimental effect on ticks and the larvae of Japanese beetles. According to experts, as heatwaves become more frequent, their behaviour could change. Ticks do not like heat or dry conditions. They are the...

Green Party President Lisa Mazzone has called for Environment Minister Albert Rösti to be stripped of his portfolio for failing to protect the population from the heatwave. Under Rösti’s leadership, there have been setbacks in climate policy, the...

China is courting Swiss start-ups with offers that sound too good to be true such as interest-free funding, free office space for years on end, accelerator programmes and a business-friendly regulatory environment. But according to historian Ariane K...

The Swiss food giant is setting up a joint venture called Peranel with the US private equity firm Platinum Equity. It will be based in Paris. The deal values the business, which includes brands such as Perrier and San Pellegrino, at €4.9 billion eu...

After a summer increase in drug use in public spaces, Zurich has responded with more intensive police checks and social work initiatives. The Swiss city said there has been an increase in the number of people seen using drugs, particularly around the...

The authorities on the Thai island of Phuket have arrested a Swiss national. He is accused of luring a 14-year-old boy and sexually abusing him. The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed the arrest of a Swiss national in Thailand. The embassy in Bangkok i...

In June 2026, the Swiss hotel industry recorded a decline in overnight stays for the fourth month running. This was once again due to a fall in the number of foreign guests. The number of overnight stays fell by 2.2% in June compared with the same mo...

Zurich city council has defended the decision to eschew toys in kindergartens for several weeks. In the "Toy-Free Kindergarten" project, the children have access only to boxes, cloths, chairs, tables, ropes, planks and natural objects. All convention...

For the time being, bathers are still permitted to wear full-body swimwear and burkinis at public swimming pools in the canton of Geneva. The Geneva courts have provisionally suspended the ban. The Constitutional Chamber of the Geneva Court of Justic...

The construction of the first Roman camp wall in Vindonissa (present day Windisch) is thought to have taken place during the early years of Emperor Tiberius’s reign. Tiberius was Roman Emperor from 14 to 37 AD. According to the Aargau Cantonal Arch...

For the fifth year running, the Franco-Swiss artist Saype has taken to the hills above Villars-sur-Ollon. He has created two new giant, temporary frescoes, painted on the grass using biodegradable paint. On arriving on July 8, Saype chose two sites w...

Generic drugs giant Sandoz said on Wednesday that it had “taken note” of Washington’s announcements regarding new tariffs on this type of medication, adding that it was “still too early” to assess the implications. “At this stage, it is t...

At least 15 people have died in swimming accidents over the past 30 days. This figure is higher than last year’s. Up to July 21, the number of deaths was higher than in 2024 and 2025, but still lower than in 2022 and 2023, according to a spokespers...

Swiss food manufacturer Nestlé plans to close a Hungarian factory specialising in the production of hollow chocolate figures, such as those sold at Christmas or Easter. This type of confectionery, which is also sold in Switzerland, will in future be...