Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis has reported nine cases of tumours in children worldwide who had previously been treated with the gene therapy Zolgensma for a rare inherited muscle disorder. In two cases, there are indications of a link to the t...

In recent years, US President Donald Trump and other political leaders have attacked science, particularly during the Covid pandemic. On Friday in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it will launch a new initiative, “Together...

Princess Diana’s famous “revenge dress” will go on display in Geneva on Friday. She wore it shortly after Prince Charles publicly admitted he had been unfaithful. The dress is set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York on December 9. The so...

In the Swiss canton of Graubünden, people with protection status S are set to receive less social assistance than local residents, even after living in the canton for five years. The cantonal government has approved a policy paper proposing a corres...

According to the UN, nearly 90 million refugees and internally displaced people face the threat of devastating climate-related disasters. Ahead of COP31, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concern on Friday in Geneva that funding...

Last summer’s heatwave caused around 1,260 deaths in Switzerland between May and August, according to estimates published on Thursday by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). This provisional figure is similar to the record hi...

Geneva will not set up a new body to monitor Airbnb rentals, despite an initial proposal calling for one. On Thursday, the cantonal parliament amended the motion, arguing that a new IT system to improve monitoring would be enough. The motion, tabled ...

Switzerland is once again preparing to return asylum seekers to Italy. At a technical level, Italy has provided written assurances that the cases will be examined, Daniel Bach of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said on the Heute Morgen prog...

Moscow has placed the Russian operations of Geneva-headquartered Japan Tobacco International (JTI) under compulsory administration. According to a decree, president Vladimir Putin transferred JTI assets to the joint-stock company Promyschlennye Aktiv...

The husband of a Swiss Ebola patient has been discharged from Zurich University Hospital (USZ). He had not developed any symptoms and had therefore been transferred to a quarantine facility outside the hospital. The man, an employee of the Swiss Emba...

A 23-year-old Swiss woman has been arrested at Dallas Airport by United States immigration (ICE) agents. She is threatened with expulsion despite being married to a US national and in the process of applying for a Green Card. The woman is currently i...

Cybercriminals have turned their attention to refrigeration systems in Switzerland. A butcher’s shop in Bern was forced to temporarily close to protect food. "The electronic control systems of our refrigeration and deep-freeze units were tampered w...

Staff at Swiss media house Tamedia went on strike for an hour on Thursday morning to protest against 41 redundancies, including those of two trade union representatives within the editorial teams. The offices in Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Bern and Bas...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against Switzerland in connection with a strike at La Providence Hospital in Neuchâtel. The judges in Strasbourg found that there had been a violation of the freedoms of assembly and association. S...

Russia’s push to curtail its reliance on Western drugmakers is foundering, with sanctions-exempt foreign medicines still sucking billions from the strained state budget almost five years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. About 56% of the alm...

Swiss bank UBS has slashed about 200 positions in London in recent weeks as its integration with former rival Credit Suisse nears its end. The cuts were announced internally in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The reduction...

Four people in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino, suffering from chikungunya fever, all live in the same neighbourhood. It is possible that two of the four patients were infected by the same mosquito, the Ticino cantonal medical officer stated in r...

Switzerland will cover the medical costs of 12 Italian injury victims of the Crans-Montana fire disaster who were treated in Switzerland. Following a proposal from Italy, the governmentl has decided not to seek reimbursement of these costs from Italy...

The planned sale of Swiss technology company ABB’s robotics division to the Japanese technology group SoftBank has stalled. The Chinese authorities have blocked the takeover of the business in China, the ABB announced on Thursday. This puts the mul...

A Democratic victory in the US midterm elections could help ease trade tensions with Switzerland, reducing the likelihood of further tariff increases for Swiss exporters. With a majority in both houses of Congress, the Democrats can block President D...

The Swiss government and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), Swissinfo's parent company, have agreed a new mandate for the broadcaster's international services for 2027-2030. The budget will be cut by almost half, while the Portuguese and Japan...

China General Technology (Group) Holding is considering acquiring Kellenberger, a Swiss maker of high-precision grinding, milling and turning machines, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Chinese state-owned enterprise, known as Gen...

By the end of 2025, around a quarter of permanent residents in canton Lucerne were born abroad. The share of foreign nationals stood at 21.9%, below the Swiss average of 27.7%, according to Lucerne Statistics (Lustat) on Wednesday. At the end of 2025...

Environmental organisation Greenpeace Switzerland handed over a petition to Coop and Migros, backed by 27,170 signatures, calling for a greater share of plant-based protein products on supermarket shelves. + Swiss neutrality and food security initiat...

A group of elderly women in Switzerland, whose landmark case led to a historic ruling against Switzerland by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2024, have won the Council of Europe’s Prize for Democratic Innovation. The work of the Swiss ...

Nearly half a million people in Switzerland are living with or have previously had cancer. At the same time, treatments are continuing to improve. New figures obtained exclusively by Swiss public broadcaster SRF show that around 495,000 people in Swi...

A 16-year-old is alleged to have gained unauthorised access to an IT platform containing data on around 38,000 pupils and 3,500 teachers in the Swiss canton of Vaud. The police arrested the teenager on Saturday. It was initially unclear whether he ha...

In December the Swiss old-age compensation funds will pay out CHF9.28 billion ($11.25 billion) to pensioners. This is because, for the first time, pensioners will receive a 13th month’s payment in addition to their usual December pension. These fig...

The Swiss Armed Forces have unveiled a memorial in Lucerne dedicated to deceased members of the armed forces and civilians killed in military accidents. The memorial is intended to provide a space for personal remembrance and reflection. The winning ...

The Basel-based jazz singer Miriam Klein has died at the age of 89, her family has announced. As a woman, Klein was a pioneer of jazz in Europe and also made a name for herself internationally. Miriam Klein began her career as a singer in Paris in th...