Global Geneva: NuseReal: Switzerland

November 2025

Switzerland rejects compulsory service for women and tax for the super-rich (LINK) 30 November 2025

Ludwig Minelli, who founded assisted suicide nonprofit Dignitas, dies at one of his own clinics at age 92, days before his birthday: was also the founder and general secretary of the Swiss Society for the European Convention on Human Rights (LINK) 29 November 2025

Geologists rule out major landslide above Swiss village of Blatten, Grisons (LINK) 27 November 2025

Horizon Santé 2025, 28-29 November, explores the future of healthcare: UNIL and EPFL: talks, information stands, presentations, science cafés and fun workshops for children (LINK) 26 November 2025

World Aids Day 1 Decembeer 2025: Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response (LINK) 26 November 2025 — Geneva programme — (LINK)

Over 700 volunteers for Lake Geneva water project Lémanscope: a citizen-science initiative of an unprecedented scale, conducted in collaboration with Eawag, the Association pour la Sauvegarde du Léman and UNIL, aimed at measuring the clarity and colour of water across Lake Geneva in an effort to better understand seasonal variations in water quality (LINK) 25 November 2025

— "We saw a huge change in water clarity between the first and second years of the project. In 2024, flooding had drained a lot of particles into the lake and clouded the water. But in 2025, we saw exceptional clarity readings — up to 15 metres in the winter and 4 metres in the summer, whereas the usual for summer is around 2.5 metres. And in May, we recorded the unheard-of figure of 11 metres. One likely explanation for the May reading is the growing population of quagga mussels in Lake Geneva, as these organisms filter and eat phytoplankton. Another is that the deepwater renewal process was only partial in 2025, reaching just 110 metres, owing to global warming. A full renewal — that is, of the entire 307-metre depth — hasn't taken place since 2012."

— "A genuine community was created around this research project. We therefore began holding events to keep the community going, including site visits, tours of the LéXPLORE platform, information sessions, special evenings with presentations, site visits to different locations around the lake and webinars on topics picked by the volunteers themselves."

Swiss court jails two men on Kosovo-linked terror charges (LINK) 24 November 2025

— The Federal Criminal Court sentenced two men from the Balkans, the so-called "Frères de Genève" [the Geneva Brothers], to 30 and 53 months in prison for their support of the Islamic State group. However, the court acquitted them of the charge of participating in the Islamist organisation in Kosovo, the Viti Brothers.

CERN's new careers website is now live:careers.cern now has an improved interface for a more intuitive user experience for potential applicants for CERN jobs (LINK) 24 November 2025

Swiss police warn of rising violence as Turkish mafia expands: drugs, human trafficking and the increasing use of violence (LINK) 23 November 2025

Switzerland a key source of electronics found in Russian weapons (LINK) 21 November 2025

Eurovision in Basel generated CHF248 million in sales (LINK) 21 November 2025

— The event generated added value of CHF53 million in the Basel region and had 500,000 visitors. The canton's budget of CHF33.3 million fell short by CHF1.7 million. According to a survey, 95% of visitors were satisfied. The sustainability measures were also well received and 78% of visitors used public transport to get to the event, 91% within the city.

Swiss travel to US predicted to halve in 2026, already likely to have fallen by 15% (LINK) 21 November 2025

Power-to-gas demonstrator installed at the Energypolis campus in Sion will enable engineers to test promising approaches for advancing the energy transition, such as carbon capture and seasonal power storage in the form of gas (LINK) 21 November 2025

ICRC to cut 2,900 full-time positions worldwide as a result of a 17% reduction in its budget for 2026 (LINK) 20 November 2025

UBS boss dismisses Swiss exodus rumours as 'absurd' (LINK) 20 November 2025

Swiss Félix Vallotton remains a cult favorite among collectors and now an institutional darling (LINK) 20 November 2025

— A work by the French-Swiss artist went under the hammer for $2.8 million on Thursday at Sotheby's in New York. His sly scenes of domestic life and sparsely populated landscapes, immaculate still-lifes, and strikingly modern, monochromatic woodcuts, are being celebrated with a suite of exhibitions across Switzerland to mark the centenary of Vallotton's death in 1925. Vallotton's auction record currently sits at nearly $4.5 million.

Roger Federer picks the match from his career he wants to replay the most, 'I should have won': the only Grand Slam final lost to a player not named Djokovic or Nadal: the 2009 US Open final against Juan Martin del Potro, (LINK) 20 November 2025

Roger Federer elected to International Tennis Hall of Fame (LINK) 19 November 2025

— Federer's 20 Grand Slam count eventually was surpassed by Nadal, who got to 22 before retiring last year at age 38, and Djokovic, who has 24 and is still active at 38.TV announcer and journalist Mary Carillo, who also was a player, was elected in the contributor category. Carillo was the first woman to regularly commentate on tennis broadcasts and was a correspondent for HBO's "Real Sports". She won six Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2018. The induction ceremony is in August.

PR: The most underrated train journeys in Switzerland (LINK) 19 November 2025

"Nestlé adds sugar to baby cereals sold in Africa but not Europe" — Swiss NGO Publlic Eye (LINK) — ground.news: 17 media reports (LINK) 18 November 2025

Remains of 35-year-old man who vanished 31 years ago found by climbers on glacier at Ober Gabelhorn in Switzerland (LINK) 17 November 2025

US agrees deal to slash Swiss tariffs to 15% after golden charm offensive: Switzerland will invest $200bn (£150bn) in the US (LINK) 14 November 2025

Swiss Gruyère crowned world's best cheese: the 18-month old cheese Vorderfultigen Spezial presented by Swiss cheese maker Hitz Pius from the Vorderfultigen cheese company, beat more than 5,000 rivals from 46 countries at the competition in Bern at the 37th edition of the World Cheese Awards (LINK) 13 November 2025

— AFP: The winning cheese came from a mountain dairy in the pre-Alps region of Gantrisch, just south of Bern. Grand final judge Perry Wakeman said it was the kind of cheese "that would make people get excited about cheese." "It's a big old cheese — there's a lot going on. The texture is beautiful: it's flinty as you break it apart; the crystalline in there are so delicate," he said. "It is massive. It makes an impact." It was the first time that the contest, created by the British-based Guild of Fine Food in 1988, has been staged in cheese-loving Switzerland — though Gruyère cheeses have scooped the top prize five times before.

UBS loses a $6B team, gains a recruiting head from Morgan Stanley (LINK) 14 November 2025

Huge potential for Swiss 3D landslide simulation model: predicted Blatten but researchers couldn't believe it (LINK) 12 November 2025

Report on Geneva watches fall auctions 2025: the small pool of bidders seemed to have one thing in common: they were all focused on a "trophy" watch. (LINK) 12 November 2025

— The peaks ranged from multiple F.P. Journe watches to a diamond-set Patek Philippe ref. 3424/1 "Gilbert Albert" to the Breguet four-minute tourbillon pocket watch from 1809 to the Instagram-ready Patek Philippe ref. 3970 in "salmon" with Breguet numerals. The headline result was for a vintage watch: the Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in steel that sold for CHF14.2 million, or about US$17.6 million. The number was just shy of the reputed price that the other ref. 1518 in steel sold for a few days before at Monaco Legend.

Switzerland reported nearing deal to cut US tariffs to 15% after business push (LINK) 11 November 2025

— Matches the rate levied on the EU’s exports to the US. Exports account for more than 70 per cent of Switzerland's GDP. Switzerland itself has already abolished all industrial tariffs and the US is the country's top export market for goods including watches, chocolate and machinery.

Switzerland nears US trade deal after Trump receives engraved gold bar (LINK) 10 November 2025

— A group of Swiss business delegates last week presented Mr Trump with a Rolex watch for the presidential library and a customized gold bar.

2022 fire at Glacier 3000: restaurant owner acquitted (LINK) 11 November 2025

— The prosecution argued that the accused had not properly trained her staff to handle the new stoves and that, as a result, one employee had stacked a stove with a plastic tank on top of another stove that had not been turned off, causing the fire. It requested a 30-day suspended fine of CHF50 ($63). The fire destroyed the self-service restaurant on the third floor, the restaurant on the fourth floor and the lift machinery.

Hiker found a bamboo cart emerging from ice at Splügen Pass on 2 November: Swiss scientists are now asking the public for help to solve mystery (LINK) 9 November 2025

Swiss Greens' vote for compulsory solar panels clears signature hurdle (LINK) 7 November 2025

Blatten danger zones revised: half territory (14.3ha) can be used for settlement but only 6.8ha in village instead of previous 30ha. Ried completely unrecoverable. 2029 before Blatten inhabitants can return. (LINK in French) 7 November 2025

Switzerland lowers prices of 300 drugs by an average of 12% (LINK) 6 November 2025

Switzerland advances from crypto experimentation to adoption: from Crypto Valley to Institutional Centre (LINK) 6 November 2025

— Zürcher Kantonalbank, Julius Baer, PostFinance and several private banks now offer regulated crypto custody and execution services. SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the digital arm of the Swiss stock exchange, has launched a fully regulated digital securities marketplace, with trading and settlement operating on blockchain rails but under established financial licence structures.

Swiss economic forecast for improvement despite tariffs (LINK) 5 November 2025

— The indicator has once again reached the level of July, i.e. the level prior to the US tariff increase on Swiss imports. "Overall, expectations have never been so positive since the beginning of the year. The Swiss economy is regaining momentum," said KOF. The recovery is particularly evident in the industrial sector.

Trump holds trade talks with Switzerland — (LINK)

— United States President Donald Trump has met with high-ranking representatives of Switzerland to discuss trade issues. Trump announced the talks on his Truth Social platform. It was initially unclear where and in what setting the meeting took place and who took part. The Swiss authorities did not initially provide any information on this either. At the beginning of August, Trump announced punitive tariffs of 39% on numerous Swiss products – one of the highest rates worldwide that the US has imposed on its trading partners.

IonQ and Swiss Consortium launch first citywide dedicated quantum network — in Geneva (LINK) 5 November 2025

— Landmark public-private initiative includes CERN, Rolex SA, Swiss government and academic institutions. Delivers world-class quantum infrastructure to support research, collaboration, and quantum tech awareness.

Swiss seeking UNESCO recognition for yodeling on list of intangible cultural heritage (LINK) 5 November 2025

— The Swiss government says at least 12,000 yodelers take part through about 780 groups of the Swiss Yodeling Association. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), which became the first Swiss university to teach yodeling about seven years ago. Some 20 Swiss school teachers know how to yodel and are trying it with their classes. UNESCO is expected to deliver a decision by year-end.

PostBus Switzerland will be trialing self-driving cars around Altstätten in canton St Gallen in December as new public transport service (LINK) 5 November 2025

Switzerland more exposed to climate change than expected, compared with average global warming, says latest federal report (LINK) 4 November 2025

— While the global temperature has risen by 1.3°C, the warming compared with the pre-industrial era has already reached 2.9°C in Switzerland. According to the researchers’ calculations, in a world with a temperature rise of 1.5°C, Switzerland would experience a rise of 2.9°C. The rise in temperature will even reach 4.9°C if the planet warms up by 3°C. These figures represent an increase of 10-15% compared with previous climate scenarios for 2018. According to the report, this warming will mean more heatwaves, more droughts, heavier rainfall and less snow.

An international eye on Swiss news

collated by Peter Hulm for NuseReal

Tourism events in Switzerland — myswitzerland — (LINK)

News events in Switzerland — swissinfo — (LINK)

Loetschental, Valais: Blatten avalanche and aftermath summary (LINK)

Moving away? swissinfo's guide