Bitesize News

The pressure on Geneva authorities over Sunday's anti-G7 protest is growing, with the No-G7 coalition now formally calling for the resignations of cantonal minister Carole-Anne Kast and prosecutor general Olivier Jornot.

Parliament has reversed course on new nuclear power plants.

The Swiss National Bank has kept its key interest rate at 0% for the fourth time in a row.

Geneva is taking exceptional measures as a heatwave pushes temperatures towards 37 this weekend.

Switzerland is on the brink of the knockout stage of the World Cup after a convincing 4-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Geneva and Vaud are activating their heatwave plans from today as temperatures could climb to 37 over the next couple of days.

The lower house of parliament, the National Council, has rejected the mixed-financing plan and voted only to raise VAT to fund the 13th old-age pension.

In a surprise reversal, the parliament has rejected a major free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of South American nations.

A proposal to make it easier for same-sex couples and other intended parents to adopt children born through sperm donation has hit a setback in Parliament.

The online travel agent Lastminute.com is cutting a quarter of its workforce — around 400 jobs — by the end of 2026 to restructure around artificial intelligence.

Migros has sparked an outcry after using the French number form "soixante-dix" instead of the local "septante" in a recent YouTube advert.

Geneva won’t be the venue for the signing of the US-Iran peace deal.

The council of Crans-Montana says it will not resign despite growing pressure following the New Year's night club fire that killed 40 and injured more than 100.

The battle on whether to build new nuclear power plants is hotting up - the upper house of parliament has voted to go ahead despite the lower house asking the Federal Council for more financial details.

We’re set to have a punishing heatwave this week, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 degrees in some areas.

Vaud police are warning of a wave of fake parking tickets and delivery notices using QR codes to steal bank details.

Art Basel has opened, with 290 galleries from across the world arriving in the Rhine city.

The Valais Tourist office is delighted after the American singer Olivia Rodrigo was pictured wearing a ‘I Love Valais’ tee-shirt.

The G7 summit opened in Évian yesterday with the possible peace deal between Iran and the US pushed to the top of the agenda.

The lower house of parliament, the National Council, has declined to lift the ban on building new nuclear plants, sending the proposal back to the Federal Council for financing clarification.

Political fallout continues from Sunday's anti-G7 protests in Geneva.

The upper house of Parliament in Bern has cleared the way for Geneva to introduce a 24-week parental leave, lifting the federal opposition that had blocked the cantonal scheme for nearly two years.

Four more Geneva communes — Meyrin, Carouge, Lancy and the City of Geneva - have filed a legal challenge against the canton's new swimsuit law.

We’re spending more than we can afford, mainly due to online shopping and ‘buy now, pay later’ offers.

Geneva remains on edge after anti-G7 demonstrations descended into violence ahead of the summit in neighbouring Evian yesterday evening.

The G7 summit opens today in Evian, just across Lake Geneva, with Emmanuel Macron welcoming Donald Trump and other world leaders at the Hôtel Royal.

Voters have rejected the ‘No to 10 Million’ initiative. But commentators say the strength of the yes vote is still a cause of concern for the government.

A major diplomatic breakthrough appears to have been reached in the Middle East, and a deal will be signed in Switzerland.

Geneva voters have narrowly backed two controversial measures.

Thousands of people across the country have taken part in feminist strike events calling for equal pay, an end to gender-based violence and greater rights for women.

We’re heading into our first major heatwave of the summer.

FIFA has confirmed that Switzerland's first-half penalty against Qatar in their World Cup opener was correctly awarded.

There are moves to toughen up how courts can deal with juvenile offenders, including giving more leeway to treat a young offender as an adult.

A brand-new Geneva school is already full.

Health authorities here are reporting a rise in mpox infections this year, mirroring trends seen elsewhere in Europe.

Parliament has approved a new right to debt erasure for the chronically indebted.

Cross border commuters face heavy delays from today as border checks and closures start, due to increased security measures ahead of the G7 summit.

Rail travel between Switzerland and France is facing major disruption due to industrial action by French workers.

Geneva voters head to the polls this Sunday on a proposal to ban religious symbols inside cantonal and municipal parliaments.

We’re losing confidence in the United States. A new survey shows we don’t see Washington as a reliable ally.

Swiss companies have already invested USD 27 bn in the American economy this year.

Switzerland is feeling the pressure of an unusually early European heatwave, as the continent's climate observatory warns that extreme weather is becoming the new normal.

The lynx has made a successful return but remains vulnerable, according to new research released by WWF Switzerland.

The country’s biggest employers and trade unions have joined forces against Sunday's population cap initiative, branding it the "chaos initiative".

Geneva is preparing for major road, border and lake closures as the G7 summit lands in Evian.

Non-EU travellers arriving at Swiss airports are facing much longer immigration queues, as Europe's new biometric Entry/Exit System bites.

The bank Raiffeisen has cut its Swiss growth forecast for this year and next, blaming the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Geneva police are appealing for witnesses after a driver hit a teenage girl on a zebra crossing and drove off.

Shops will not be allowed to open on more Sundays after all.

Voters go to the polls this Sunday to decide whether to cap the country's population below ten million people until 2050.

Canton Vaud has released its plans for heightened security during the G7 summit.

A major search operation on Geneva's Rhône River ended with a happy outcome.

The ban on building new nuclear power plants could be heading for the scrapheap.

Swiss festival organisers are distancing themselves from French singer Patrick Bruel after his arrest on sexual assault allegations.

Switzerland's biggest online retailer has wiped 380,000 product reviews after uncovering coordinated fraud.

Swiss Post has fired a 60-year-old postman after he refused to leave parcels in apartment lobbies.

Emergency services are searching the Rhône in Geneva tonight for a young man who failed to resurface after jumping into the river with three friends.

Geneva is now the most congested city in the country, with Lausanne in third place.

Geneva will transfer a record CHF 411 million to France this year under the Financial Compensation scheme, up from CHF 396 million last year.

The investigation into the deadly Crans-Montana bar fire has taken a sharp new turn.

Cocaine use in Switzerland continues to rise, according to a new study by Addiction Switzerland.

Controversy has overshadowed the 87th Bol d'Or sailing competition this weekend.

The next G7 Summit will be held in Évian-les-Bains from 15 to 17 June 2026, bringing together heads of state and government from the G7 nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Geneva is bracing for next week's G7 summit in Évian, with nearly 4,000 soldiers backing up 1,500 cantonal police across Geneva, Vaud and Valais.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has named Switzerland as a possible venue for a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

A Geneva family has discovered that their son Alexandre, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver three years ago, was buried without his brain.

Travellers arriving at Swiss airports from outside the Schengen area are now waiting up to two hours at passport control, because of the EU's new Entry-Exit System.

Ticino voters head to the polls on 14 June on a proposal to create Switzerland's first compulsory cantonal dental insurance.

Swiss striker Breel Embolo has been granted a US visa and will join the World Cup squad in California on Friday evening.

A University of Zurich study shows that sperm quality among young Swiss men is holding steady.

Washington has proposed an extra 12.5% tariff on Swiss exports as part of a sweeping new offensive against 60 economies.

Support is slipping for the Swiss People's Party initiative to cap the population at 10 million, ahead of the 14 June federal vote.

The National Council has voted to widely expand the powers of Switzerland's Federal Intelligence Service, citing growing terrorist, cyber and foreign-interference threats.

Crans-Montana president Nicolas Féraud has broken 126 days of silence to confirm he will not resign over the New Year's Day disaster at the Constellation building.

Parenthood is the leading factor weighing on the mental health of adults in Switzerland - more than work or money - according to a new AXA study.

Vaud has unveiled a new plan to help teachers cope with disruptive and high-needs pupils, after rising complaints that classroom misconduct is undermining lessons.

The St George's International School in Montreux has bought a historic Belle Époque villa for CHF 40 million, planning to convert it into a prestigious boarding house.

Geneva's public sector has begun a three-day strike against the canton's proposed budget cuts.

Switzerland has been hit by violent storms, with nearly 7,500 lightning strikes recorded by yesterday evening.

The G7 summit on the French shore of Lake Geneva is set to upend daily life for thousands of cross-border travellers from 11 June.

An Australian former Formula 3 driver has gone on trial in Nyon, accused of raping a former nurse employed by the Schumacher family at the racing legend's villa in Gland in 2019.

The Geneva headquarters of commodities trader Gunvor have been searched by federal investigators over suspected corruption of foreign public officials.

Parliament is moving to tax the small parcels arriving from Chinese platforms such as Shein and Temu.

Switzerland could be forced to pay around CHF 1 billion a year under an EU reform of cross-border worker unemployment benefits.

Switzerland's cantonal police chiefs are warning that a yes vote on the SVP's "No to 10 million" initiative would seriously compromise Swiss security.

The Swiss federal railways are preparing to retire around 400 trains contaminated with asbestos or other hazardous substances.

The Swiss National Council will debate this summer whether to confiscate former army weapons that have been sitting unused in homes for more than a decade.

The 31-year-old Turkish-Swiss man suspected of last Thursday's knife attack in Winterthur has been placed in pretrial detention.

Activists planning a major counter-summit just over the French border from Geneva have called the protest off, two weeks before G7 leaders meet at Évian-les-Bains.

Vaud's prosecutor has confirmed that a 75-year-old man whose body was found in France last autumn was killed at his tenant's home in Canton Vaud.

About sixty residents of La Chaux-de-Fonds will spend the month of June without their cars, in a second edition of the city's mobility challenge.

Switzerland has lost the ice hockey world championship final to Finland in overtime, in front of 10,000 fans at Zurich's Swiss Life Arena last night.

The Federal Office for Cybersecurity is warning of a wave of fraudulent emails posing as cantonal unemployment funds.

Geneva has the least punctual buses in Switzerland, according to a new report from the Federal Office of Transport.

The Stewi - the umbrella-style rotating clothes dryer found in countless gardens around the world - has been saved from liquidation by a new owner.

Two local doctors in the Valais village of Loèche are leading the fight against Elon Musk's plan to build Europe's largest Starlink ground station there.

Geneva police are heading into a punishing fortnight of G7 duty, with unions warning officers risk dangerous fatigue.