Bitesize News

It’s widely acknowledged the private sector in Switzerland benefits enormously from foreign workers – but an investigation by the Blick newspaper points out that only 5% of the 43,000 workforce for the federal government are foreign. A figure that hasn’t changed in years.

Unemployment in Switzerland rose slightly in October.

Staff at Swiss public broadcaster RTS are breaking their silence ahead of the March 8 vote on the “200 francs is enough” initiative.

After complaints that many of the street lights in the centre of Geneva are broken, the city is admitting it has a problem.

Your favourite Christmas tunes will soon fill the air on Geneva’s terraces.

The Swiss education system is being praised by two visiting US state governors.

More details are now emerging of a meeting in Washington with Donald Trump and Swiss business leaders.

The leaders of two business groups in the region are coming out strongly against the ‘For the Future’ initiative which is proposing a 50% tax on all inheritances over CHF 50m.

Federal Councillor Martin Pfister faced loud protests at the University of Geneva yesterday evening.

A gruesome cross-border investigation is unfolding between Switzerland and France.

A Geneva cyclist who was badly injured after her tyre was caught in a tram line has been given something else to be sore about – a large fine.

In Switzerland, a child is abducted every two to three days, according to official statistics.

Climate change will have a major impact on Switzerland, according to new climate scenarios from MeteoSwiss and ETH Zurich.

US president Donald Trump says he’s held talks with senior Swiss officials about trade and the ongoing trade imbalance.

The road deaths in Switzerland are rising, bucking a general European trend.

Graduates are finding the job market increasingly tough – even for those with advanced degrees.

Craft beer fans in Geneva may feel they’re being loyal by choosing locally produced beer - such as Calvinus or La Meltingpote – but they’re not actually brewed in the canton.

A Geneva court has ordered a winemaker to remove 75,000 bottles of wine he had been storing in an underground car park. The bottles took up 300 square meters of space.

Migros has lost the top slot of the leading Swiss retailer to Coop.

The top pay of health insurance executives should be capped – says the National Council Social Security and Health Committee.

Switzerland will hold its first-ever nationwide crisis exercise at the end of this week, testing how federal, cantonal, and local authorities respond to a hybrid threat.

President Trump’s tariffs on more than 100 countries, including Switzerland, are under fire from within his own party.

Around 2,000 construction workers took to the streets of Geneva yesterday, answering a two-day strike call by local unions.

A heated dispute is unfolding in Basel over parking fees.

Swiss ammunition makers are feeling the squeeze of tight export laws.

Two years after the Swiss administration decided to move its entire IT system to Microsoft’s cloud, opposition is growing.

The Perrier district of Annemasse in neighbouring France, was the scene of another violent incident Friday night.

Violence against railway staff in Switzerland is reaching alarming levels - around ten attacks every day, according to Swiss Federal Railways.

Controversy is surrounding the Russian singer Anna Netrebko’s five performances at the Zurich Opera House, which started yesterday.

Geneva could soon ban smoking on restaurant and café terraces during mealtimes.

As winter draws in, several mountain passes are now closing. Some have been closed for the last couple of weeks, due to snowfall, but could reopen.

Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are rapidly changing how people in Switzerland use the internet.

An initiative launched by the Geneva Citizens Movement to limit state jobs to those who live in the canton has been partially invalidated by the State Council.

Social media is about to get a lot less lawless in Switzerland.

The City of Geneva has given the green light to greening the Pâquis district.

A new direct night train from Basel to the Swedish city of Malmö is set to roll out in mid-April 2026, if Parliament approves the budget.

From Saturday, winter tyres are compulsory in the neighbouring French departments.

With the uncertain security situation in Europe, Switzerland is bringing back some cold war facilities and stopping the decommissioning of bunkers and fortifications.

The potential re-development of the Chateau de Divonne has been called off, angering the town’s mayor.

Should speed cameras be removed during roadworks?

Switzerland and France are tweaking their shared border a little.

An amateur football club in France has had enough of its own fans.

Gamekeepers in canton Fribourg are hunting down the person who shot and killed a female lynx.

Switzerland has been named the world’s most competitive country in a new global ranking by consulting firm Eight Advisory.

A tragic incident in Schaffhausen has deeply shaken the local community.

The chairman of a local Swiss People’s Party branch in canton Bern has quit his post after being attacked by fellow party members for ‘not being a real Swiss’ due to the fact his partner is black.

Cantons are awash with lottery money and they don’t know what to do with it.

Sedentary lifestyles are in the spotlight this year thanks to a rather bold awareness campaign by medical students at the University of Geneva.

A “Silent March” against anti-Semitism and in support of Israel planned for today in Geneva has been called off.

As autumn sets in, coughs, colds - and covid - are on the rise again in Switzerland and should you get vaccinated again?

Switzerland is seeing a boom in data centres - more than 15 new ones are under construction, partly to power artificial intelligence.

Burglaries in Switzerland are on the rise again.

A growing number of people in Switzerland are turning away from traditional news, and that’s bad news for democracy, says a new study from the University of Zurich.

A male Swiss Army recruit has been convicted of sexual assault, gross traffic violations, and failing to follow service rules.

Swiss motorcyclist Noah Dettwiler has had a life-threatening crash at the Motorcycle Grand Prix event in Sepang, Malaysia this weekend. 

In tennis news, the Swiss Indoors Basel came to an end on Sunday with 19-year old Brazilian Joao Fonseca winning his second career title.

Fewer children are learning to ride a bike in Switzerland. Roger Bader, Head of traffic instruction at the Solothurn Cantonal Police is raising the alarm.

An extraordinary rescue operation took place in Schaffhausen early Sunday morning. A 20-year-old man climbed onto a 30-meter-high construction crane, with a climbing harness, and became trapped.

Western parts of the country are picking up the pieces after storm Benjamin swept through the region yesterday.

Two gun shops in the Lausanne area have been hit by French robbers within a week.

Skiers in Switzerland will pay a little more this winter.

In Switzerland, about 15% of adults struggle with basic reading, math, and problem-solving skills - that’s roughly 850,000 people.

A shocking video from a Swiss barracks in Lenzburg, canton Aargau, has sparked outrage.

Clocks change at the end of the week - and it could be dangerous - as it sends more people to hospital.

The Swiss Farmers’ Union has come out in principle in favour of the new package of agreements between Switzerland and the European Union, but it still has reservations.

We’re drowning in unwanted clothes and change is finally coming.

Chinese tech giant Baidu is bringing its driverless taxis to Switzerland.

The Jet d’Eau will soon take a break.

Ireland has officially joined CERN as an Associate Member State.

Too many potatoes and not enough storage, that’s the problem facing Bernese farmers this autumn.

If you’ve found the wind strong these past few days, brace yourself, as it’s about to get worse.

The franc has hit record highs against the euro – 93 centimes will buy one euro.

The outlook for the Swiss economy is turning gloomy, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

In Switzerland, organ donation is currently not practiced after assisted suicide - unlike in countries such as Spain, Belgium, or the Netherlands.

Switzerland must build its own drone industry, warns Thomas Rothacher, deputy director general at armasuisse.

A bus driver had a narrow escape Monday afternoon in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois.

Geneva is expanding its subsidy program for electric vehicles.

The federal government is still owed CHF 6bn from Covid loans to businesses.

More people are leaving Switzerland than at any time in the past decade.

The City of Carouge has banned bicycles, e-bikes, and electric scooters in part of Old-Carouge.

Mushroom picking is becoming increasingly popular in Switzerland - especially among young people.

Eating a balanced diet just got simpler, at least according to Bern.

The snow in the Alps is getting thinner.

The Green Party beat the Swiss People’s Party in yesterday’s run-off election for a seat on the Geneva Council of State.

In a major blow for humanitarian Geneva - the International Committee of the Red Cross is cutting 240 jobs at its Geneva headquarters.

Nearly 2,000 people marched through Geneva yesterday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration calling for multinational corporations to be held accountable for their role in what protesters described as genocide in Palestine.

The Swiss Radical-Liberal Party has come out in favour of the new package of agreements between Switzerland and the European Union.

For many of us heading to the Haute-Savoie ski resorts, the familiar stop at the A40 toll booths will soon be a thing of the past.

British pop star Robbie Williams has taken a major financial hit on his Geneva property.

**** APRIL FOOL**** Many thanks for all your comments!

Residents in the threatened village of Brienz in Graubünden were allowed to visit their homes briefly yesterday.

Courtesy of the Interlaken tourist office, you can win 2 nights for two people at the Hotel Metropole in Interlaken with fantastic views of the Jungfrau.

WRS normal programming back in January