- News archives
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The two women’s semi-finals were totally different but ended with the same result: Williams beats Russia. Serena fought back from a set down, and match-point down, to battle past Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in the best match of the women’s tournament. Dementieva took the first set in the tie-break with precise ground strokes and an improved service. She then lost her first service game but came back to lead the set before Serena came back to take the set. The third set was hard fought with both players rising to the occasion until Serena finally won the longest ever women’s semi, at two hours 49 minutes.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The roadworks announced several weeks ago for the stretch of A9 autoroute between Vennes, above Lausanne, and Villeneuve to the east of the city, begin Monday 6 July. Traffic will be diverted to makeshift lanes for several months, slowing traffic to 100 kph for much of the stretch. Details, A9 autoroute, Fre
Fête du Bois, Lausanne school parade
Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva and most international schools in the area finished the 2008-09 school year 26 June, last Friday, but canton Vaud children are still braving hot days for their last week of school, which finishes Friday 3 July.
Lausanne’s primary schools Wednesday 1 July celebrated the end of the year with their traditional Fête du Bois parade through the city, to the cheers of parents.
Images: reproduced with permission, celestialpilgrim (see his complete parade collection on flickr). Click to view larger.
Summer music festivals begin
To our readers: GenevaLunch was unable to post any news Thursday morning due to a breakdown in the Internet lines in some parts of Vaud. Our apologies and we’ll start to catch up now that the system appears to be working again.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Roger Federer gave a lesson in how to deal with a big serving giant when he swept past Croation Ivo Karlovic in straight sets, 6-3 7-5 7-6, breaking serve twice with some superb returns of service and barely dropping a point when on serve himself.
Tommy Haas pulled off the shock of the day with a rarely seen display of serve and volley tennis that proved too much for fourth seed Novak Djokovic. His prize will be an encounter with Federerer.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva area media are sending out the alert that too many drivers are well over the speed limit in the 30 kph zones in city centres and around schools, with two accidents in a week that have put three children from Geneva in hospital, with serious injuries. Tuesday 30 June a 7-year-old boy was the latest accident victim when he was hit by a truck next to a pedestrian crossing on the rue Dancet near Plainpalais.
The first accident occurred 25 June in the St Jean district, a story broken by GenevaLunch, whose reporter Jared Bloch was one of the parents at an end-of-year primary school party that ended in tragedy: a brother and sister left the fete and were hit by a car on the crosswalk in front of the school.
Related: 20 Minutes, Tribune de Geneve (Fre)
Click on image to view larger
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss spending is showing a mixed picture, with the UBS index for May remaining well below its average: 0.91 in April, down to 0.77 in May, in contrast to its average of 1.50 covring several years. The retail sector, meeting at a conference in Zurich, says its sales rose 4.4 percent in 2008, to CHF95.6 million, reports TSR (Fre). The increase is the best since 1991. Migros and Coop, the two large supermarket chains, account for 30 percent of retailing in Switzerland.
Paris, France and Recife, Brazil (GenevaLunch) - Today marks one month since the 1 June accident that plunged an Air France Airbus 330 into the Atlantic ocean with 228 passengers and crew aboard. It was Air France’s worst accident. Its causes remain unknown. Read more…
Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) - The US Justice Department, in a document obtained by Swiss wire service ATS, is reported to be insisting that it will not relax its stance on Swiss bank UBS. A US federal court in Miami 13 July will hear a civil case brought by the IRS tax authority against the Swiss bank. The IRS says UBS must hand over the names of owners of 52,000 bank accounts. UBS and the Swiss government say it cannot do so because the bank would be breaking Swiss banking secrecy and data protection laws, and that the demand by the IRS in any event runs counter to the existing US-Swiss treaty that covers demands for assistance in criminal cases.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss bank UBS will close or transfer Wednesday 1 July, a month early, all US resident bank accounts that are not declared to US tax authorities, an unnamed official of the bank has told Swiss financial news agency AWP (20 Minutes and romandie.ch). The information could not be confirmed Tuesday evening, 30 June.
The report refers to account-holders who were earlier informed by the bank that it would close their accounts if they did not wish to transfer the money to a dollar-based account in the United States.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The women’s Wimbledon tennis semi-finals will feature Americans Venus and Serena Williams against two Russians: Dinara Safina and Elena Dementiava.
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - The European Union’s transport commissioner, Antonio Tajani, called for a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines, at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday morning 30 June, following the crash of a Yemeni airlines Airbus near the Comoros Islands.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The summer travel season begins in earnest 30 June and the Swiss federal government has issued its list of roads and dates when travelers can expect heavy traffic.
Les axes routiers et les jours présentant un fort risque de perturbations sont les suivants :
Autoroutes
Heading south
- A1 St Margrethen - Geneva, between Zurich and Bern, between Lausanne and Morges (roadworks), customs at Geneva/Bardonnex
- A2/E35 Basel - Chiasso - Milan: Bâle/Weil am Rhein customs, between the Belchen tunnel and the Wiggertal junction, between Erstfeld before the north end of the Saint Gotthard (see Gotthard below), the Chiasso/Brogeda customs, to the Como/Grandate toll booth
- A3 Basel - Zurich: between Basel/Saint-Louis customs and the Wiese junction
- A13 Sargans - Bellinzona: between entre Nufenen and Hinterrhein (roadworks), to the north entrance of the San Bernardino tunnel
- Ring roads around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Times when you can expect traffic jams
Fridays between 15:00 and 21:00 and Saturday from 08:00 to 16:00
Dates with particularly heavy traffic
July: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25
August: 1
Heading north
- A1 Geneva - St. Margrethen: Geneva/Bardonnex customs, betwee entre Morges and Lausanne (roadworks), between Bern and Zurich
- A2/E35 Milan - Chiasso - Basel: from the Como/Grandate toll booth to the Chiasso/Brogeda customs, between Quinto and the south entrance to the Saint-Gothard tunnel, between Reiden and the Härkingen junction, to customs at Basel/Weil am Rhein
- A3 Sargans - Zurich - Basel: between Zurich/Brunau and the end of the autoroute, Basel/Saint-Louis customs
- A4a Zoug - Sihlbrugg: between Baar and the end of the autoroute at Sihlbrugg
- A9 Martigny - Lausanne: between Bex and the Glion tunnel
- A13 Bellinzone - Coire: at the southern entrance to the San Bernardino tunnel, between Hinterrhein and Nufenen (roadworks)
- Ring roads around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Times when you can expect traffic jams
Fridays 15:00-21:00, Saturdays 10:00-20:00 and Sundays from 13:00 to 20:00
Dates with particularly heavy traffic
July: 11, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 and 31
August: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29
September: 5
Saint Gotthard tunnel
Heading south
Tailbacks are likely at the north end of the tunnel on these dates: Friday 3 July from 12:00-24:00, Saturday 4 July 05:00-18:00. The nights of 10-11 and 17-18 and 24-25 July, non-stop from Friday 12:00 to Saturday 18:00. Traffic jams are also possible Saturdays from 08:00-16:00 during August and up to mid-eptember, as well as Sundays in July from 10:00-16:00.
The entrances to the Göschenen, Monday to Thursday during July, noon to 20:00 are also likely to have traffic jams.
Heading north
Traffic jams can be expected at the south entrance to the tunnel these days: Fridays, 10-31 July from 12:00-22:00, 7-14 August from 10:00-23:00, 21 August to 4 September from 13:00-20:00, Saturdays 11-25 July from 10:00-22:00, 1 August and 8 August from 09:00-01:00, 15 August to 5 September, 10:00-21:00, Sundays, 19 July to 6 September, 11:00-21:00.
Traffic jams could occur Saturday 4 July, 10:00-18:00. From mid-July to the end of August, traffic jams can also be expected occasionally afternoons Monday to Thursday, noon to 20:00.
Main roads inside Switzerland and customs stations
Heavier traffic can be expected on the following roads within Switzerland: Spiez-Kandersteg (start of holidays), Gampel-Goppenstein (end of holidays), Bellinzona-Locarno, Wädenswil-Hirzel-Sihlbrugg, Sihlbrugg-Zurich (Sihltal), Flüelen-Brunnen (Axenstrasse), as well as on some Alpine region roads, including main Alpines passes. Expect some delays at these customs stations: Au, Koblenz, Sankt-Margrethen and Thayngen.
For traffic updates
• Telephone in French, German and Italian: Viasuisse (No 163 - 50 cts/call+50 cts/min)
• Radio DRS/RSR/RSI
• web sites: www.tcs.ch, www.cff.ch, www.teletext.ch (rail: p 486/487, road: p 491 - 497), www.bls.ch.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Forty people lost their lives in accidents in 2008 that were linked to public transport: three of them in buses, one in a tram accident and the other 36 in accidents that involved “unauthorized” crossings or inattention at crossings of trains and trams. Switzerland has one of the world’s lowest rates of accidents linked to public transport systems, but the government, in its annual report on public transport safety, notes that more needs to be done to protect crossings.
The figures show a 33 percent increase over 2007 figures, but Bern notes that 2008 figures were lower than those for every year since 2001 except 2007.
Chablais, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A wolf has killed at least 22 sheep in Valais, in the area near Vérossaz, and several others have been injured. The new killings bring to 37 the number of animals killed since mid-May. Cantons are authorized to hunt the predator if more than 15 animals have been killed in 30 days and Valais has requested the counsel of the Swiss inter-cantonal commission that makes recommendations on shooting wolves.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government has adopted new regulations for fighting the A(H1N1) swine flu pandemic, effective Wednesday 1 July, that put a greater burden on doctors and laboratories to more rapidly report suspected cases to cantonal public health authorities.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray fought his way past Swiss number two Stanislav Wawrinski in a five-set thriller that lasted more than four hours, taking advantage of the new retractable roof that allowed play to continue until the finish at 22:39.
La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchatel (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss watchmaking centres of La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle was the scene of a celebrations in the street Saturday night after the news was announced that theit is one of 11 new Unesco World Heritage cultural sites. Italy’s Dolomites in the north of the country, near Switzerland, were named one of two new natural sites, and, for only the second time, a site was remove from the list. Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley has lost its title because of a four-lane highway being built through the centre of the site.
The description of La Chaux-de-Fonds, from the Unesco list:
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland has adapted its laws for travelers crossing the Swiss border to reflect new needs with the A(H1N1) swine flu spreading. The new rules go into effect 1 July.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss work productivity fell by a record 3.3 percent during the first three months of 2009, compared to the same period a year earlier, reports wire service ATS, which mandated a study by BAK Basel Economics Institute. The sharp fall is explained by the sudden slowdown in Swiss industry while the number of employees remained relatively unchanged, as companies were just beginning to react to the global economic slowdown.
Related: Le Temps, Fre
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Libya withdrew more than CHF5 billion in assets held in Swiss bank accounts in 2008, wire service ATS reports, in a story carried by several Swiss papers. The sharp scaledown in holdings plus the fact that the new Swiss charge d’affaires has not been able allowed to present his credentials in Tripoli could mean that Libya is carrying out threats it made in July 2008 after Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of the country’s leader, was arrested in Geneva. In October 2008 the Libyan wire service published a report saying that Libya was removing the cash it had in Swiss accounts, which it estimated to be CHF7 billion.
Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - “The largest such operation ever, in Switzerland” is how the Vaud police officer in charge of the case described it to Le Matin Dimanche newspaper: a child pornography ring, tipped off by Interpol, that involved piggybacking on a hip-hop music web site whose owner was completely unaware that thousands of pornographic images of children were being uploaded to the site by people in eastern Europe, thanks to a security breach. The affair, which reportedly involves more than 2,000 computers in 32 countries, appears to have occurred some time ago, with several individuals arrested and already judged, outside Switzerland. One man was arrested in eastern Switzerland, reports TSR.
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - Schalk Burger, the South African flanker, was given an eight-week ban, considered a lenient punishment, for gouging the eye of British and Irish Lions winger Luke Fitzgerald in the first minute of the test match on Saturday.
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The USA team dominated a scrappy Brazil side for the first half of the Confederations Cup Final, deserving the 2-0 lead with goals from Dempsey and Donovan. It was a different story in the second half as Brazil struck back with two goals from Fabiano and one from Lucio. Kaka won the Golden Shoe award for best player of the tournament. Details, The Sun, UK
Wimbledon, UK (GenevaLunch) - Wimbledon had a day off for the “middle Sunday” and has not yet had to test the new roof after an unusual absence of rain. In the mens’ draw the dream final of Roger Federer, in search of a record 15th Grand Slam title, against Andy Murray in search of his first, is looking likely.
