Notice re: GenevaLunch rss and email feeds

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – If you subscribe to GenevaLunch.com by email, you will probably receive a double dose of our news for a couple days as we switch to a new email feed. My apologies for the inconvenience, but we want to make sure all of our fans make the move over to the new system. [...]

Mysterious case of the not-missing banker

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / EDITOR’S NOTEPAD – RTS and the Times in London carried stories one week ago about one of the more baffling (to the public) police cases of the moment, that of a Coutts banker, Swiss, age 55, who was arrested in the US when he landed in New York, moved to Florida, held [...]

Swiss, EU, sign to reinforce competition

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The European Union and Switzerland are strengthening their ties to combat cartels and other efforts to skirt competitive pricing, with a new agreement that the Federal Council approved Wednesday 22 May. The year-long negotiations for the agreement led to a deal whereby authorities from each will have better access to documents and [...]

Kellenberger, former Red Cross head, to lead Swisspeace

Jakob Kellenberger (photo, ICRC/T. Gassmann (ICRC Geneva)

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Jakob Kellenberger, who headed the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) until June 2012, has been named president of swisspeace (Swiss Peace Foundation), effective 10 September. The independent research organization, based in Bern, is funded mainly by the Swiss Confederation’s foreign office, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the UN. It [...]

WEF’s Sheeran to head Asia Society

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Josette Sheeran, vice-chair at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, has  been named president of the Asia Society, a non-profit organization based in New York that aims to strengthen ties between the US and Asia, through educational means. She takes up the post 10 June. Sheeran headed the World Food Program before [...]

Swiss hockey gets stamped, nicely

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BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post was cheering on the Swiss hockey team last weekend, it seems, when they tied their skates for the semi-finals and finals of the World Cup. Now there’s a new stamp to celebrate the feat. From Swiss Post today: “The members of Switzerland’s national ice hockey team made Swiss sporting history [...]

Geneva packed out for major int’l meetings

Geneva air video

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – International Geneva is having an ultra-busy week, with several thousand more visitors in town than usual, so if English sounds like the city’s language, don’t be surprised. The World Health Organization Monday 20 May opened its 66th World Health Assembly, a week-long meeting of members to review the budget and debate pressing [...]

Fire at winery warehouse in Rolle

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A warehouse loading dock in Rolle that belongs to Schenk, one of Switzerland’s largest wineries that is also the country’s largest wine importer and wholesaler, caught fire Tuesday evening at 20:15. The warehouse is next to the A1 autoroute and the loading dock, on the lake side of the building, is just [...]

French minister rebuffs efforts to tax wine

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Alain Juppé, mayor of Bordeaux and French foreign minister from 2011 to 2012, has come out strongly against a French Senate pre-project to tax wine in order to develop programmes against alcohol abuse. Juppé spoke up at a press conference 21 May after the national organization of Young Farmers protested Friday against [...]

Sierre 2012 bus crash: driver inattention or taken ill

SWITZERLAND TUNNEL BUS CRASH

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – All the tunnel cameras, police investigations and medical expertise were not enough in the end to say conclusively what caused the March 2012 bus crashed in a tunnel in Sierre, Switzerland that killed 28 people and injured 24, three of them critically. The final report from Olivier Elsig, prosecutor for the case, [...]