Tag Archive: Latest news

Swiss to double aid to Ukraine

2022-07-07

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2022-07-07

Switzerland will double its aid to Ukraine to CHF100 million ($104 million) by the end of 2023, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Swiss city of Lugano.

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Cartel fined for fixing price of Volkswagens

2022-07-01

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2022-07-01

A group of Volkswagen dealers in southern Switzerland has been fined CHF44 million ($46 million) by the Federal Competition Commission (Comco). The seven cartel members, including car importer AMAG, had fixed the prices of new Volkswagen cars for years.

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‘Hidden’ costs of transport total CHF14 billion

2022-06-30

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2022-06-30

Negative costs on third parties caused by transport in Switzerland amounted to CHF14 billion ($14.7 billion) in 2019. The damage mainly affects the environment and climate, but also health.

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Novartis to cut 1,400 jobs in Switzerland

2022-06-29

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2022-06-29

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is laying off more than one in ten employees in Switzerland over the next three years – 1,400 of 11,600 jobs will go. It also plans to cut 8,000 of 108,000 jobs worldwide.

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Switzerland details revenue split for global corporate tax rate

2022-06-25

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2022-06-25

Switzerland will implement from 2024 the minimum tax rate for large multinational firms under a global tax deal. The federal government will get a quarter and regional and local authorities three-quarters of revenue, it said on Thursday, outlining how the deal would be implemented.

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Swiss lower economic growth forecasts due to war and inflation

2022-06-16

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2022-06-16

The Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has downgraded its economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.6% due to the war in Ukraine and uncertainties in China.

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US tax authority asks Switzerland for client data from 26 institutions

2022-06-15

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2022-06-15

The US tax authority IRS wants further information from the Swiss authorities on account data at 26 financial institutions. The IRS has made numerous requests for information in the past.

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Tax on airline tickets wins sky-high public support

2022-06-13

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2022-06-13

Almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents to a Swiss survey are in favour of increasing the price of airline tickets for climate reasons.

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Sustainable investments boom in Switzerland

2022-06-09

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2022-06-09

The volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland increased by almost a third last year, reaching an all-time high of CHF1.98 trillion ($2 trillion). 

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Oerlikon to sell Russia business to local owners

2022-06-05

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2022-06-05

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statement released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company.

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China stalling on trade talks with Switzerland, say papers

2022-05-31

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2022-05-31

Switzerland wants to update its 2014 free trade agreement with China, but Beijing refuses to talk, owing to criticism of its human rights record, report the NZZ am Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers.

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Swiss supermarket products for children have too much sugar

2022-05-30

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2022-05-30

The overwhelming majority of products with packaging designed to appeal to children contain too much sugar, salt or fat, report Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung newspapers.

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Ukraine war hits supplies of food packaging material

2022-05-30

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2022-05-30

Switzerland is considering emergency stockpiling of plastic packaging as the Ukraine war brings a world shortage of packaging material, reports the NZZ am Sonntag.

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Switzerland and Germany seek to conclude gas solidarity deal

2022-05-26

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2022-05-26

Swiss and German ministers have agreed to negotiate a solidarity agreement to help each other with gas supply issues in an emergency. The announcement was made on the side lines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting taking place in Davos.

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Complicity in crimes against humanity: court upholds charge against Lafarge

2022-05-21

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2022-05-21

A Paris appeals court has confirmed that the cement firm Lafarge must face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity over alleged payoffs to Islamic State group and other jihadist groups during Syria's civil war. Lafarge is now part of the Swiss Holcim cement group, which says it will appeal the decision.

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Swiss government presents plans to boost gas reserves

2022-05-20

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2022-05-20

The Swiss government has outlined its plans to boost gas storage capacity in neighbouring countries to secure supplies ahead of winter. Gas makes up roughly 15% of Switzerland’s final energy consumption and is mostly used for heating and cooking. Around half of this comes from Russia.

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Germany’s Scholz and NATO’s Stoltenberg to attend Davos WEF meeting

2022-05-19

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2022-05-19

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be among the leaders at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, which starts on Sunday after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Absurdist pop pioneer Yello wins Swiss music prize

2022-05-14

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2022-05-14

The Swiss electronic duo Yello - Dieter Meier and Boris Blank – will receive the Grand Prix Music 2022, presented by the Federal Office of Culture and worth CHF100,000 ($100,400).

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Stop organic farming to help future food crisis, says Syngenta boss

2022-05-09

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2022-05-09

Erik Fyrwald, the CEO of the Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta, has called for an end to organic farming to avoid a worsening food crisis. The president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association meanwhile dismissed his arguments as “grotesque”.

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Historians trace Elon Musk’s Swiss roots to Emmental

2022-05-05

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2022-05-05

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has roots in a small, picturesque farming region in central Switzerland. Using genealogy websites and local archives, historians have been able to connect Musk with the Haldimann name, which is still present in the Emmental region today.

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