Bitesize News

Swiss Federal Railways CEO Vincent Ducrot has been placed under protection after receiving death threats linked to a major contract award.

While the new trade agreement between Switzerland and the United States to reduce tariffs to 15% was initially hailed – many are now wondering what Switzerland has given away.

As health insurance premiums continue to rise, many more people are falling into debt.

A public backlash has forced the organisers of the Christmas market at Zurich train station into a U-turn.

Swiss cantons remain divided over a federal proposal that would allow up to twelve new Sunday business openings each year.

The Fondue World Championship returned to the tiny village of Tartegnin in Vaud on Saturday, drawing nearly 200 competitors from Switzerland and abroad.

It looks like Geneva won’t have a budget for next year.

A citizens’ initiative to curb air traffic growth and boost public transport is being prepared for next year.

Switzerland’s birth rate has reached a historic low. New figures from the Federal Statistical Office show women had an average of just 1.29 children in 2024 — the lowest level ever recorded.

Christmas on the Quai returns to Geneva’s Quai du Mont-Blanc from November 20th to December 24th.

It turns out Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had Swiss roots.

The financial news service Bloomberg says that Switzerland is in the verge of a new trade deal with the United States.

Six teenage girls have been sentenced for a violent assault on another girl in Oensingen, Solothurn, last January.

A sign of austerity in Bern: the Federal Department of Finance has cancelled its traditional Christmas party.

A bad battery is being blamed for a fire in a bike shop in canton Neuchâtel.

A new study suggests where you live might affect sperm quality.

Customers will not be able to use cash at the upcoming Christmas Market at Zurich main train station.

Thousands of Geneva civil servants took to the streets yesterday afternoon, fighting budget cuts.

The prisons are full – but not with criminals.

After months of tension, Geneva and its French neighbours are moving toward closer cooperation.

Parliament looks set to close a loophole that allows hundreds of people to escape military service.

Divers working near the Bains des Pâquis made a strange discovery - a World War One shell.

Swiss Federal Railways is under increasing political – and press - criticism after it awarded a massive contract for new rolling stock to a German company and not a Swiss one.

Major disruptions are expected in Geneva this afternoon as state and subsidized sector employees go on strike.

Thousands of EU citizens living in Switzerland could get the right of permanent residence under new rules.

Authorities say they had no choice but to euthanize 120 dogs they found on a farm in canton Solothurn.

The Mont-Blanc Tunnel needs major renovation – but authorities are battling with the best way of doing it.

Does Lausanne deserve the label of the most dangerous city in the country?

Selling disposable e-cigarettes in Geneva are now illegal.

Swiss Federal Railways has awarded a major CHF 2bn contract to the German company Siemens Mobility for 116 new double-decker trains.

An easyJet flight from Geneva to Bordeaux had to fly the entire distance with its landing gear down to burn fuel as it has been overfilled in Geneva.

In Zermatt, the housing shortage has reached crisis levels.

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.

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

**** 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