A budget supermarket has been told it can sell its own version of the Nespresso coffee capsules.

A trade tribunal in the canton of St Gallen has ruled that Denner can keep its cheaper version of Nestlé’s trademarked capsules on its shelves.

The ruling states that Denner’s capsules do not infringe on Nestlé’s trademark, as the two products can be easily differentiated.

Vaud-based Nestlé has been trying to stop Denner selling the capsules for the past two years.

In a statement, the coffee giant said it was disappointed and would be waiting before deciding on next steps.

From June, consumers will have to pay more for dairy products.

That’s partly due to dwindling supplies of milk.

Prolonged winter weather has resulted in poor quality fodder and cows are producing less milk.

Furthermore, many farmers don’t consider dairy farming a viable business anymore.

Some experts even fear Switzerland may have to import milk to make up for the shortfall in domestic production.

Martin Haab of the rural markets group BIGM is one expert who is concerned: “The problem is not being resolved. Therefore lots of dairy farmers are choosing to leave the industry. I’m concerned about the future and whether sufficient supplies of milk will be available in Switzerland to produce our dairy products.”

Negotiations to establish a higher minimum wage for workers in the watch-making industry have just come to a close.

Six months of sometimes fraught negotiations have successfully ended with good news for industry workers.

Depending on region, a minimum wage increase of between 0.85 and 2 percent was agreed.

Workers in the lowest paid regions will see the sharpest increases.

Trade union officials were satisfied when employers in the canton of Jura—said to be the lowest-paying region—agreed to almost double salaries.

Trade union Unia reports that the new pay scale will come into effect on June 1.

However, they maintain wages in general are too low, particularly given the buoyancy of the Swiss watch-making industry.

They intend to launch further wage negotiations in October 2014.

Increasing numbers of people from German-speaking Switzerland are choosing to cross the border and eat abroad.

The statistics come from market research group Link Institut which surveyed 700 people in the east of the country.

They found a third eat in neighbouring countries on a regular basis while a further third eat abroad at least once a year.

Experts say cheaper prices are the primary draw.

Josef Müller, president of catering group Gastro St Gallen, points out that the Patagonia in Gaissau, Austria, takes 70 percent of their trade from Swiss customers.

Swiss restauraters are calling for farmers and suppliers to lower prices so restaurants can offer more competitive rates.

A new asylum centre is to open in the canton of Graubünden—but far from causing a storm of controversy, the move’s being welcomed by locals.

Eighty asylum seekers will be housed in a former underground barracks in the village of Medel from June.

During a public consultation, none of the 400 residents present raised objections.

Asylum seekers will join work plans, involving farming and forestry maintenance and social events are also being drawn up.

It takes a lead from other centres where similar activities were found to benefit both asylum seekers and the local community.

Belgian news media are reporting that parents of the 22 children killed in the Valais bus tragedy aren’t happy with the verdict by prosecutor Olivier Elsig.

Olivier Elsig travelled to Belgium on Monday to meet with parents whose children were killed in the bus crash on March 13 last year.

According to Belgian news media the trip did not go well.

Parents were especially critical of the time it took Swiss emergency services to show up at the crash scene in a tunnel on the A9 motorway.

Belgian lawyer Dirk Vanden Boer said a re-opening of the inquiry may be necessary.

Elsig ruled yesterday that the bus driver was responsible for the crash but it couldn’t be proven whether careless driving or illness was to blame.

An autopsy revealed he had a rare heart condition and it’s speculated he may have suffered a heart attack, causing him to lose control of the vehicle.

No respite for the country’s bees this summer—the government’s temporary ban on three specific insecticides which have been proven to be fatal for bees won’t go into effect until December.

The Federal Office for Agriculture says farmers can use the treatments for canola and corn as usual this summer.

The ban on the three insecticides will bring Switzerland in line with the European Union. 

The chemicals are produced by Swiss company Syngenta and German company Bayer.

The official verdict into the bus crash which killed 22 children and six adults in Sierre in 2012 has been delivered.

Prosecutor Olivier Elsig found the driver of the bus was to blame but whether the accident was caused by inattention or illness cannot be proved.

An autopsy on the bus driver showed he had heart problems. He was also taking anti-depressants daily.

While Elsig didn’t rule out a combination of these may have caused a dizzy spell, he felt it unlikely given that the man had been taking the medication for two years.

Elsig has just returned from a trip to Brussels where he informed victims’ families of the accident inquiry’s findings.

The number of tuberculosis cases reported in Switzerland per year is below the European average.

That’s according to a new report released from the World Health Organization.

Seven in every 100,000 people suffer from the illness in Switzerland compared to the European average of 15.7.

Furthermore, the multi-drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis is less prevalent in Switzerland than anywhere else.

The report concludes however by saying that tuberculosis remains a problem in Switzerland.

This is partly due to costly treatment and the relatively infrequent cases means fewer doctors are trained in its treatment.

The band that represented Switzerland in last week’s Eurovision contest is facing hundreds of francs in fines for a so-called unauthorized concert.

The Salvation Army band, renamed Takasa for the Eurovision song contest, gave a concert outside of the Zurich train station on May 3. 

Residents complained to police about the noise—and police found that the six-person band hadn’t asked for authorization.

The band was eliminated in the semi-finals of the song contest in Malmo last week.