Government has decided not to join EU’s Earth observation programme Copernicus for the upcoming years, despite calls from parliament to participate; the satellite system provides critical data on environmental monitoring, climate change, natural hazards

Several cantons have cancelled the traditional firework displays for the national holiday on 1 August due to fire risk, including Basel, that reinforced ban on any fire in the city except the beloved lantern parade, involving several hundred children

Draught is having multi-faced consequences in Switzerland: while in St Gallen in some cases water has to be transported to the Alps by helicopter, high temperatures and lack of rainfall seem to curb ticks and invasive beetles like Takahashia japonica

Hundreds of people queued outside Swatch shops in Switzerland in the hope of being able to buy one of the newly launched 'Royal Pop' watches; scuffles broke out in some places and the producer introduced a worldwide policy of quotas for queuers