Bitesize News

Geneva residents are being warned a five-year programme of works to spread geothermal energy starts next year.

Is the much-maligned tax that home owners have to pay on the way out – or not?

A young boy was killed in canton Vaud on Tuesday evening after he was hit by a bus.

The invasive quagga mussel is continuing to spread.

A police woman has been pardoned for a speeding offence dating from 2017.

Shops in Geneva will be open this Sunday.

Forecasters are lowering economic growth projections for Switzerland – all due to anaemic activity in Europe, mainly France and Germany.

The upper house of parliament, the Council of States, has overwhelming voted for stalking or harassment to be a specific offence.

Swiss Federal Railways says all electricity it uses for powering its trains will come from sustainable sources from January.

Swiss Federal Railways is apologising to a woman after her locker at Zug train station failed to open, so she was forced to sleep at an ex-boyfriend’s apartment.

The vast majority of people want phones banned in schools – even a majority of school aged kids.

Swiss Federal Railways says the first working day of the new timetable went well yesterday. But for many commuters, it’s a deterioration.

Unions are unhappy at recent pay negotiations and says the pay rises offered are not enough to keep up with the soaring cost of living.

The French premium TV channel ,Canal+, says watching pirated content in Switzerland is rife, compared to other countries.

A sign has been up in Vessy in Geneva promising a ski slope ‘coming soon’ it says in English.

The first guests for next year’s World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos have been revealed.

Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was in Lugano over the weekend.

Two Ukrainian feminist activists took a chainsaw to the broken chair in Geneva on Friday, damaging the anti-landmine landmark.

The new 2025 train timetable is now in effect – and there are some welcome changes around the Geneva region.

A Geneva tram hit a fire truck and overturned it yesterday morning.

The Geneva Grand Council has voted to lift many restrictions on fitting solar panels on roofs.

The world’s steepest cable car opened over the weekend after three years of work.

The Swiss National Bank slashed interest rates by half a percent yesterday to 0.5% – a far bigger cut than the markets were expecting.

A prolific child abuser has been given the maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.

Geneva remains one of the worst cantons for drink driving.

What worries people the most in Switzerland? For the 48th year, the annual UBS Worry Barometer reveals our biggest fears.

The number of women seeking breast reduction surgery in Switzerland has doubled in the last 20 years – with the greatest increase in demand over the last few years.

The Federal Council has seemingly had a change of opinion and looks set to demand that all cats in the country are chipped.

Switzerland winning the Eurovision song contest this year grabbed our attention, it seems.

Canton Geneva has unveiled its ambitious plans for rail transport over the next 25 years.

The State Secretariat for Migration is clarifying the status of Syrian asylum seekers in the country.

The Geneva Population Office is being slammed by the oversight body, the Court of Auditors.

The Swiss population struggle to understand what’s being told to them by the media.

The Geneva Tax Commission has come up with a plan to mitigate the worst effects of the new car tax.

The franc is continuing to strengthen against the euro.

Job hunters in Switzerland should be able to find employment in the first quarter of next year, unless they’re in Ticino.

The Federal Polytechnic, ETH Zurich, says it made a breakthrough on how to direct a drug to the affected part of the body – bypassing areas it’s not needed.

Geneva is embarking on a wholescale renovation of its traffic light system.

Switzerland is suspending asylum proceedings for Syrian applicants. The same decision has already been made by other countries, such as France and the UK.

A woman was killed on the A1 autoroute on Saturday evening near the Morges-East exit.

The highly respected Swiss train network has just missed out on being named the best railway company in Europe.

The sensitive issue of nipple tattoos is being discussed in Bern – with the Federal Council being told by parliament to review the situation.

Health insurance companies are taking a highly imaginative approach to find new customers since the ban on cold calling.

The former military airfield in Dübendorf in canton Zurich could be at the forefront of the next space race.

A record number of people turned out this weekend for the Escalade races.

The new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, former Federal Councillor, Alain Berset, says he will appoint an envoy charged with making sure the rights of Ukrainian children are upheld anywhere in the world.

The argument about Geneva shops being allowed to open on Sunday December 22nd could be going to the federal courts, but a decision may come too late.

Hundreds turned out in Zurich to support 105 tenants who have been told they have to leave their homes by the end of March.

Emergency services responded in force after a group of diners fell ill while dining in a large tent at a restaurant in the town of Giswil in canton Obwalden on Saturday evening.

It may be worth checking that old jar full of coins you have sitting around. An old 5-franc coin, dating from 1928, has sold at auction for CHF 30,000.

The nuclear power plant in canton Aargau, Beznau, is the oldest operating plant in the world and it will now run until 2033.

More are exploring the possibility of becoming compost after their death, but it’s proving to be a legal quagmire.

The popular Bioparc in Geneva will be closed for the next few days as the canton has said the trees are dangerous and have ordered some felling.

We will spend CHF 300 on average on Christmas preset this year - the same as last year – but still down from 2022, when we spent closer to CHF 350.

Switzerland wants to spend more money on the army – and it’s international aid that will take the hit.

The economy is growing faster than expected – according to the latest figures from the OECD.

The French government has abandoned plans to cut the amount of unemployment benefits to be paid to out of work frontaliers.

Last year, nearly a 1,000 same sex couples married, according to government numbers. That down from 1,700 during the first year after the law changed in 2022.

Parliament has voted to pay the 13th month pension payment once a year in December from 2026.

Last weekend, the French speaking cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Fribourg got together to run the Saturday Sharing programme – and collected a record amount of food.

Black Friday sales have been a disappointment – but sales during the week were up.

Swiss inflation rose less than expected in November, raising hopes of an interest rate cut by the Swiss National Bank next week.

Geneva shops will not be open on Sunday 22nd December.

The woman hit by a tram in Servette on Monday evening has died.

A pilot project has been launched in Neuchâtel to help elderly victims of fraud.

The Escalade races are on in Geneva this weekend. Organisers hope a slightly modified schedule will mean a more relaxed and better spread-out weekend – and new rules will also make it more environmentally friendly.

The commodity trading company Trafigura and three executives are on trial for alleged corruption.

A trial has started relating to a murder of an Egyptian diplomat in Geneva in 1995.

A woman was seriously inured last night after being hit by a tram in Servette in Geneva.

Five years after the launch of the Léman Express, there’s a clear impact on the number of commuters using their car to get to work.

Doctors at the Geneva University Hospital are urging more people to come forward and give blood – especially those under 30.

More and more electricity used in Switzerland is coming from solar power.

Swiss law enforcement agencies are demanding more resources to fight the smuggling of cocaine.

A man was killed by a gun shot during a hunting trip in canton Vaud on Friday.

Swiss homeowners are returning to oil and gas heating and turning away from heat pumps, discouraged by the rise in electricity prices.

Unexchanged old bank bills means the Swiss National Bank can distribute CHF 1bn to the cantons.

Bluetongue disease is spreading through bison in Switzerland.

France has ended an agreement with Switzerland that allowed highly paid executives in big French companies not to pay into the French healthcare system, but could optout and pay for Swiss Insurance instead.

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