Bitesize News

The Swiss Tourist Office is celebrating the number of hotel stays which are now back up to the level they were before the pandemic – and US citizens are leading the charge.

Hundreds of people in the Valais ski resort of Haute-Nendaz are helping in the search for a missing man.

An elderly woman on social security payments in Geneva received a shock – a bill of more than CHF 70,000 to pay back for her care and benefits as the canton believed she was no longer living in Geneva.

The aerial aerobatic team – the Swiss Patrol – is to be scrapped.

Geneva is using a new type of radar to catch speeders, and it’s considered so accurate the margin of error is reduced.

Does the letter box law need updating to cater for online shopping?

The government is recommending people reject an initiative which calls for a standard five years residency before being able to claim citizenship.

The on-going saga on new ways to cross the lake shows no sign of going away.

Crypto assets should be included in the automatic transfer of tax information.

Migros Online is being slammed by unions for poor working conditions.

The federal government is looking to take direct control of the supply of pharmaceuticals into the country.

Police in Biel had a shock when they stopped a car being driven at extreme speed through the town.

English is becoming more and more important in Switzerland – but not to the detriment of the national languages.

Switzerland is suffering from a housing crisis, but at the same time, office spaces remain empty.

Police are warning of an email scam in French speaking Switzerland.

Police in canton Bern are investigating after a cat went missing and then its head was left on the road – perhaps in such a position it would be found by the pet’s owner.

It’s a commonly-used trick by landlords; evict the tenants so some renovation work can be done and then re-let the premises at a higher rate, even if the work was just some repainting.

More than a hundred buildings in the Jonction area are now being heated by the lake.

The individuals behind a bombing campaign against the watch company Patek Philippe say they only want the ransom money – they don’t have any other motive.

Two women, aged 68 and 49, were shot dead in their house in Zurich yesterday morning.

The Federal Court has backed canton Geneva when it told an 82-year-old taxi driver that he’s too old.

Football authorities are discussing what to do with Zurich Football Club after fans set off so many fireworks during an away game at Sion over the weekend it was likened to a New Year’s show.

The City of Geneva is planning to plant trees around the Paquis neighbourhood.

The zoo, La Garenne in Vaud, is due to take in some orphaned lynxes – but the public will never see them.

A reaction to the speech by US Vice-President, JD Vance, is putting the Swiss president, Karin Keller Sutter, under pressure.

A train breakdown in the Gotthard Base Tunnel meant passengers had to be led to safety through an emergency link between the two bores.

Following the rejection of large scale autoroute widening by voters, the government says it’s open to the idea of using more emergency lanes to alleviate bottle necks at peak times.

There could be a new dam built on the Rhône.

A national parliamentarian is calling for a change in the health laws that means restaurants and shops which fail a health test are made public.

Canton Geneva has issued a questionnaire to parents about their attitude to the current school holidays.

A report suggests Tibetans and Uygurs living in Switzerland are under surveillance by China or being encouraged to spy on their community.

Some Digitec Galaxus customers are complaining the firm is asking for more money for goods after they’ve been delivered.

In Zurich a boycott against the Swiss chip maker Zweifel is gathering pace as restaurant chains say they’ll no longer stock them.

Kitesurfers want to be free to use Lake Geneva for their sport – but there are several restrictions.

Commuters in canton Thurgau reacted with surprise after an alpaca took a train.

Canton Geneva is proposing an emergency fund of CHF 10m to help protect international Geneva from the cuts announced by the US government.

Electricity prices will come down next year after the government agreed to a new method on how much the grid can charge producers for transmission.

A man is on trial for distributing counterfeit EUR 100 notes, which authorities describe as ‘extremely high quality’.

A group of school children in Chur in canton Graubünden were injured due to a pyrotechnic device yesterday morning – thought to be a firecracker.

Authorities in the French department of Haute Savoie are warning their residents to be careful when buying CBD products in Switzerland.

Unstaffed convenience shops – which opened to grand fanfare around two years ago, are closing – or putting in staff once again.

China’s best known modern artists and frequent critic of Beijing, Ai Weiwei, was denied entry into Switzerland on Monday and had to return to London.

A Geneva doctor says he was conned by his patient into writing a sick note which covered up the fact the patient was actually in prison.

The government wants to crack down on buying puppies online.

It could be classed as the ultimate garage sale.

Vaud police closed several villages to traffic in the Chablais region over the weekend in an effort to stem those drivers trying to skip jams on the A9 heading from the slopes.

Switzerland has been voted as the e smartest country in the world.

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party says it wants Switzerland to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Two communities – one in canton Vaud and the other in Ireland – are in shock after a 62 year old man was murdered.

Yet another ill-thought-out new Geneva law is causing panic and confusion.

Motoring analysts expect the price of electric cars to fall in Switzerland over the course of the year.

The Swiss sneaker brand, On, is being accused of ‘greenwashing’ and deceptive practices.

Returning students and staff at the Collège Rousseau in Geneva were shocked yesterday to find the walls and floors adorned by spraypainted penises.

The federal initiative for Environmental Responsibility has been roundly rejected by voters – as expected.

Canton Lucerne has rejected lowering the voting age to 16.

The public broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, is preparing for another wave of painful cuts.

The autoroute access ramp off the Route de Meyrin to head to Lausanne was closed for most of yesterday morning after a car drifted off, hit the crash barrier and rolled over.

Traditionally, the most expensive place to live in Switzerland has been Zurich’s so called ‘Gold Coast’ – that’s around Küsnacht and Zollikon.

The demise of FM radio continues in Switzerland.

The rise in online shopping is having a negative impact on local retailers.

A drunk driver who killed a student on the Collex Bossey road in Geneva has been convicted of murder and will serve 6 and a half years in jail.

Public transport users in Geneva are asking themselves if the TPG is adopting a new tactic to catch those travelling without a ticket.

The battle between health insurers and private clinics around the Lake Geneva region is hotting up.

After ten years of work, the Geneva University Hospital now has 29 state of the art operating theatres.

The Socialist Party in the City of Geneva is putting forward a plan to pedestrianize the Place de Neuve.

The watch maker, Patek Philippe, has received a new ransom demand.

The right-wing Geneva Citizen’s Movement is launching an initiative to ban cross border workers from senior positions within the cantonal administration.

Argentina looks set to be the next country to pull out of the Geneva based World Health Organisation., on the heels of the US.

Canton Zurich has issued an alert as measles cases are increasing.

The Federal Council has been criticised for buying a new executive jet for over a hundred million francs.

Yesterday’s siren test was successful.

It’s being described as an ‘earthquake’ in Geneva business circles.

Be ready for heavy traffic – heavier than the normally heavy traffic.

It’s the annual siren test today.

Could a political outsider from Geneva take the vacant place on the Federal Council?

Geneva was mainly overcast last year. Cantonal figures show there were 1,693 hours of sunlight in 2024 – the lowest amount for thirty years.

One of Switzerland’s most exclusive properties is up for sale.

Switzerland remains in the grip of a flu epidemic.

Women have a greater risk of dying from a heart attack than men.

A series of UBS branches in Geneva were attacked by vandals in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Property prices rose on average by around 1.7% last year in Switzerland.

A man is facing murder charges after hitting and killing a cyclist on the Collex-Bossy Road in Geneva while driving drunk.

A court has acquitted three climate activists who threw paint at a UBS branch in Geneva three years ago.

Those working in the banking sector will watching the results due this week with trepidation.

Geneva prosecutors have decided that no further action will be taken against two police officers who had two machine guns stolen from their car when it was parked in a car park.

More schools are banning phones during the day.

Left wing parties in Geneva are launching a referendum against the so called ‘corset’ laws, which are designed to restrict spending.

It’s been revealed Switzerland sold mobile phone surveillance equipment to the pro-Russian government in Serbia.

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