An international eye on Swiss news collated by Peter Hulm for NuseReal

October 2025

Smarter operations at Geneva Airport transforms passenger journeys (LINK) 14 October 2025

— The new system covers everything from managing aircraft movements and parking stands to planning check-in counters, boarding gates, and baggage belts, as well as sharing flight information across screens and mobile apps. Passengers are also feeling the benefits of self-service bag drop, first deployed at the end of 2023 and now enhanced with new features that make check-in faster and more intuitive. With all counters available for self-service, queues are significantly reduced, something already valued by travellers, whose satisfaction was increased by 70%. This upgrade is helping to cut wait times and improve satisfaction at one of Europe's busiest mid-sized hubs.

Boat services between Switzerland and France to be reduced from 2026 (LINK) 10 October 2025

— Évian–Lausanne line set to lose weekend sailings and have fewer boats operating overall. The biggest cuts will hit the Lausanne–Thonon-les-Bains route, where crossings will be halved and no boats will run at weekends. The Yvoire route will also see fewer sailings, but peak-time services will stay in place to ensure cross-border commuters can still get to work.

— swissinfo: "The adjustments follow the renewal of a cross-border agreement between canton Vaud and French local authorities. France had refused to extend the deal under its current terms, which involved splitting costs equally. After months of negotiations, both sides have agreed to continue sharing the costs of services not covered by ticket sales, but with a scaled-back timetable."

Gear Patrol: "This new Swiss [Tissot] automatic just blew up my expectations for a $500 watch: this kind of accuracy for this little money is basically unheard of" (LINK) 11 October 2025 2025

Nobel-winning economists Duflo and Banerjee will leave US for Switzerland (LINK) 10 October 2025 2025

— The University of Zurich said that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, known for their work in development economics, will move from the US to Switzerland, amid Donald Trump's attacks on universities. Now at MIT, they will establish a new center for development economics.

— The couple will each have an endowed professorship at UZH funded by the Lemann Foundation, the university said. They will also establish and co-lead the new Lemann Center for Development, Education and Public Policy, with an aim to foster policy-relevant research and connect researchers and education policymakers around the world, it added. "We are delighted that two of the world's most influential economists are joining UZH," university president Michael Schaepman said. Duflo said the new Lemann Center would enable the couple, who will retain part-time positions at MIT, to "build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship and real-world policy impact."

Select Swiss airports to roll out new entry-exit system on Monday (LINK) 9 October 2025

— It will allow third-country nationals to be registered electronically, replacing the current manual stamping of travel documents. First in Basel and Geneva on October 12, while in Zurich the date chosen is November 17.

EPFL study: "In the future, [Swiss] dams will serve a variety of purposes" (LINK) 9 October 2025

TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5: Top 5 design elements that set Swiss smartwatches apart (LINK) 9 October 2025

Nouvelliste: Gault & Millau: 10 Valais restaurant chefs in the guide: top is Franck Reynaud of the Hostellerie du Pas-de-l'Ours in Crans-Montana (18 points out of 20)(in French) (LINK) 8 October 2025

Hiking accidents in Switzerland double in 15 years to average of 9,000 a year (LINK) 7 October 2025

— In more than eight out of ten accidents, the people involved tripped, slipped, fell or took a wrong step. Most often, these accidents are due to unsuitable equipment, lack of attention or overestimated physical fitness, officials said.

UNHCR cuts close to 5,000 jobs amid funding shortfall (LINK) 6 October 2025

UNCHR sets up investigative mechanism on Afghanistan (LINK) 6 October 2025

Ukraine says Swiss components found in Russian drones (LINK) 6 October 2025

Pope Leo XIV attends swearing-in of Swiss Guard, first for a pope in nearly 60 years (LINK) 4 October 2025

Vatican's Swiss Guard debuts new uniform (LINK) 2 October 2025

— The new non-ceremonial uniform will be for events outside the Vatican, such as embassy parties and official dinners. This uniform, featuring a yellow and white striped belt and gold buttons, is a revival of a style worn by the guards up until the 1970s. Visitors to the Vatican will still see the guards in their traditional Renaissance-style ceremonial uniforms. More than two dozen new recruits will be sworn into the Swiss Guard this Saturday, following the election of Pope Leo XIV. The Swiss Vatican Guards were stablished in 1506 to guard and protect the pope and his official residence, the Apostolic Palace, as well as cardinals who gather during the papal conclave.

The 135 Swiss Guards don the new uniforms for the first time : The Swiss-made garments were paid for by a benefactor and cost 2,000 euros (around $2,300) apiece. isnce the election of Pope Leo, the guards have noticed "an increase in objects being thrown" at the pope, the information officer told a press confernce, and "it bothers us a bit". — (LINK)

If Earth had not collided with Theia 4.5 billion years ago to create the moon, you would not be reading this, say Berne scientists (LINK) 3 October 2025

— Scientists timed Earth's early formation using a short-lived radioactive marker, manganese-53, which decays into chromium-53. Using this chronometer, the team reached age estimates with an accuracy better than one million years – razor sharp for the dawn of planet-building. Without the delivery of a crucial payload of water and other ingredients, Earth could have remained a rocky world with little water, even while orbiting within the Sun’s so-called habitable zone. Publication in Science Advances, 1 August 2025.