SwissInfo

New provisions have applied to old-age pensions since January 1, 2024. The new regulations offer opportunities for a more flexible lifestyle, but they also pose challenges. These are the most important changes since January 1, 2024: - Expansion of the flexibility of pension payments - Incentives for gainful employment after 65 - Raising the retirement age (now called the reference age) for women to 65 (from January 1, 2025) On September 25, 2022, the Swiss electorate approved the reform package to stabilise the pension scheme. Читать дальше...

The student pro-Palestine protest has reached the University of Bern. On Sunday evening, about 60 people occupied the University's Unitobler building in the Länggass neighbourhood, as reported by a correspondent for the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to a spokesperson, most of the occupiers were students from the University of Bern. However, all other people are also invited to take part in the protest. In a statement, the occupiers accuse the management of the university of having taken a clear... Читать дальше...

Over 300 participants founded the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) at its congress in Burgdorf in canton Bern at the weekend. This means that Switzerland once again has a communist party after it had been banned in 1940. The founding congress took place from Friday to Sunday. It is high time for the return of revolutionary communism, said political secretary Dersu Heri, according to a statement from the RKP. A new generation has drawn revolutionary conclusions from the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, "imperialist wars, and inflation".

Visibly exhausted but overjoyed, Nemo arrived in Zurich on Sunday evening. It all doesn't feel real yet, said the 24-year-old music talent late in the evening at his first media event. Nemo was happy that there would be no appointments on Monday. "I'm going to go into the garden at my parents' house, lie down and try to calm down a bit." According to Nemo, they now need a few days to get their head round the whole thing - and above all a lot of sleep. "Completely crazy" "Suddenly becoming a thing... Читать дальше...

Swiss musician Nemo, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland on Saturday, is fuelling the debate about a third gender entry. Barbara Steinemann, a parliamentarian from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, believes this is unnecessary. The issue: After winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Nemo called for more acceptance and rights for non-binary people, including the possibility of choosing a third option when registering one’s gender. The Swiss musician, who doesn’t identify with either... Читать дальше...

As multilateral diplomacy and Swiss neutrality come under pressure, Geneva’s reputation as a place of peace is also at risk. “Geneva, capital of peace.” The slogan is well known to journalists accredited to the Palais des Nations, the United Nations (UN) office in Geneva. But is it still relevant today? “It’s been a few years since we saw any negotiations here,” laments a colleague, whose work frequently takes him to the Palais. Until 2022, the international press went regularly to the UN’s European... Читать дальше...

André Simonazzi, spokesman for the governing Federal Council and Vice Chancellor, has died. Simonazzi died on Friday at the age of 55 after collapsing while hiking, the Federal Chancellery announced on Saturday. Born in 1968 in Monthey in canton Valais, Simonazzi was appointed Vice-Chancellor and spokesman of the Federal Council in November 2008. Since 2009, he has taken part in and kept the minutes of Federal Council meetings and has been responsible for their communications. The location of the fatal hike was not specified. Читать дальше...

The Centre Party wants to curb spiralling healthcare spending with a proposed mechanism to limit cost increases – citizens will vote on June 9. The Swiss healthcare system is one of the most expensive in the world. Spending in the sector has risen steadily since the 1990s; it now accounts for 11.8% of GDP. The spiralling costs have invariably led to significant annual hikes in the cost of health insurance premiums, putting a heavy strain on lower-income households. Surveys have shown that health... Читать дальше...

Nemo wins the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with their song The Code. Swiss rapper and singer Nemo won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with The Code, a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock tune about Nemo's journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person. Switzerland won the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano in 1956 and in 1988 with then 20-year-old Céline Dion’s victory for Switzerland. Translated from German by DeepL/amva How we work This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. Читать дальше...

Swiss International Airlines’ new Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach wants to reduce the number of leased flights from Helvetic Airways and Air Baltic. This practice, referred to in technical jargon as 'wet leasing', currently accounts for around a third of SWISS summer flights in Europe. "We currently have a large number of wet lease aircraft in service," said the 57-year-old German executive this week at a press meeting at SWISS headquarters in Kloten. The reason for this recourse to other... Читать дальше...