LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Mizué Bachelard and her seven-year-old daughter who went missing from their home in Chexbres 26 January have been found in southwestern France, thanks to the posters widely distributed along the French autoroutes by French police, according to the Vaud Police office.
A woman who had taken in the pair spotted a poster and contacted police. Mother and daughter are in good condition. Police in canton Vaud have organized for the girl to be returned to her father, in accordance with rulings by the cantonal Justice of the Peace and the Office for Child Protection.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss consumer confidence, assessed every three months in a Seco (economics ministry) survey, rose slightly in January, in two of four key areas. Households were slightly more optimistic about general economic development over the next 12 months. Their assessment of their’ personal financial situations inched up.
Seco notes that “by contrast, unemployment expectations stagnated and the appreciations of future savings opportunities only slightly improved.”
BERN, SWITZERLAND - A 46-year-old man from Zug died after he crashed while skiing in Grindelwald Tuesday afternoon 7 February. The man was coming down the First in the area of Horbach, with relatives, when he crashed, without anyone else involved. When he failed to get up, emergency help was called, but the man was declared dead on the slopes by the Rega rescue crew.
Police are investigating the cause of his death.
Photo: Swiss Federal Customs Office
BASEL / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Lower prices across the border in France thanks to the high Swiss franc don’t always mean the Swiss lose out: the Swiss Customs Office says that in 2011 its revenues rose thanks to import declarations, from CHF28.7 million to CHF39.8m.
Imported border goods remain nevertheless a small part of customs revenues, only 0.2 percent of the CHF23.47 billion, which is more than one-third of all Swiss federal revenues.
The 30 percent increase in declared goods was accompanied by revenues from those who couldn’t resist the temptation to buy more without declaring the goods, as the number of contraband merchandise cases rose by 36 percent.
Customs offices and border guards say that while contraband goods are brought in by amateurs and professionals, they focused on the second group last year and uncovered 5,800 cases, some 400 more than in 2010.
They delivered 2,960 people to the police and discovered 1,477 falsified or illegally used documents and 1,308 illegal arms.
They seized, among other drugs, 208 litres of KO drops, more than triple the quantity found in 2010 and equal to 100,000 doses. It has no smell or taste and is “regularly used in kidnappings and sexual crimes”, notes the federal office.
Seized in Bardonnex, 2011
The most popularly imported illegal drop was Viagra-type erection drugs and the most popular source country was India.
Foods remain high on the list of illegal imports: fruits and vegetables (818 tons), cereal for human consumption (41 T), spirits (32 T), Wine (24 T), Meat and meat products (28.5 T), Olive and other consumable oils (20 T), Milk and cheese products (3 T).
Update 8 February 09:00 LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 43-year-old man has died and a 44-year-old woman is in critical condition at the Hug university hospitals in Geneva after what appears to have been a carbon monoxide leak at a chalet in Rossinière, near Château-d’Oex. The man was visiting the area during the ski season, say police. A downstairs neighbour woman, age 58, went up to the first floor apartment to say she smelled something suspicious shortly after noon Tuesday 7 February, but when she discovered the two inanimate bodies she phoned police. She was also briefly hospitalized in the area.
Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
Later in the day, at 20:00, firefighters were called to route de la Frasse in Rossinière where a chalet had caught fire. No one was injured by the blaze, in an unoccupied chalet with two apartments, but the building was entirely destroyed.
St Prex, Switzerland and Lake Geneva: -10 before noon, with an icy wind, 6 February 2012
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – If you’ve been talking to friends about our Arctic weather, you should revise your description, for in recent days it’s been warmer in Svalbard, far north in the Arctic, than in Milan, Italy or Istanbul, Turkey, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. Svalbard has seen 5C in recent days while Milan can expect -10 by the end of this week.
We’re currently in a “negative Arctic Oscillation” in Europe, says the WMO, based on reports coming in from its members, national weather services around the world.
The Arctic Oscillation “is the difference in pressure between Polar areas and mid-latitude areas (where most of the population in Europe lives). At the moment there is a negative Arctic Oscillation, which favors cold conditions in Europe and relatively warmer conditions in the Arctic.”
Our glacial temperatures are not even setting new records. “The long duration of the cold period, its relatively late onset and the extent of the cold area are noteworthy but not exceptional. The continental cold air extended even over the Balkan peninsula; slight ongoing frost was recorded even in northern Greece” in the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, Svalbard but also much of North America has benefited from mild air moving over the North Atlantic northwards over Iceland up to the Arctic region, according to the WMO.
Max mating back in March 2011 - Photo ©H.Burgermeister
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Keep the woolens handy, for Max the stork is sitting tight in Catalonia and she isn’t in a hurry to come home.
Groundhog shadows may give us clues to the length of winter in some countries, but in Switzerland it’s Max the stork, banded and followed by the Fribourg Natural History Museum.
She began her migration north about a week ago, from central Spain, but she is now sitting in Catalonia without appearing ready to head up to a Switzerland that is far colder than usual.
Background, Max, GenevaLunch
Fire death, drunk driver victims, high speed chase part of busy weekend emergency services work
Strong winds coupled with frigid temperatures whipped up icy flames on the lake surface Monday morning
Lake Geneva views of opposite shorelines obliterated by heavy waves and two metre high tongues of icy mists Monday 6 February
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A new record low temperature for this winter was set in canton Graubuenden’s Engadine region, in Samedan this weekend: -35.1C.
The death toll from the cold in Europe, now estimated to be over 300 people, continues to rise.
In Switzerland, the icy weekend kept police and firefighters busy, and Touring Club Suisse (TCS), the automobile club, had a record 23,000 calls to help motorists.
Trains are running slow in several areas as the CFF rail company deals with icy lines and other cold-related problems.
Burst pipes caused flooding Saturday and Sunday, notably in Geneva and Lausanne, reports TSR. The head of Swissgrid, which manages the Swiss electricity supply, told NZZ in Zurich this weekend that the country risks blackouts in coming days because the system is pushed to its limits.
A main SSR (public broadcasting) emitter on top of Säntis mountain gave way under pressure from heavy snow, according to 24 Heures, and is using emergency power.
Vernier drunk driver crashes into trio
Police in Geneva were called to Vernier Saturday night where a 25-year-old man with a two-week old grudge against a nightclub worker left the establishment on Chemin des Batailles and got into his parked car, then drove into three young customers of the club, narrowly missing the club employee.
He had been drinking in several night spots and his alcohol level was measured at 1.69 after the accident, according to Geneva police. His victims were a 20-year-old Geneva man who lives in Vernier who was treated at the nearby Hopital de la Tour and two women who were taken to the cantonal hospital. The 19-year-old woman, who is Bolivian and lives in Rolle, is being treated for several facial injuries and the 18-year-old for a broken leg.
The driver continued and crashed into a number of rental cars parked nearby. He is under arrest for attempting to cause severe bodily harm and on other charges, and his license has been lifted.
Lausanne police chase ends in three captured
A car in Lutry with four people suddenly took off Friday when police stopped it and led area police on a high-speed chase as far as Chemin Campagne Pierraz-Portay in Pully, where the passengers took off on foot. Two were caught and arrested, along with the driver, when police discovered a quantity of goods stolens from homes in the Lausanne region. The car had Belgian plates and the two Algerians and one Iraqi were from Belgium, ages 32-35. Police are looking for their partner.
One dead in Martigny fire
One person died and another was saved by firefighters from a second floor balcony of an apartment building early Saturday 4 February when a fire broke out.
The identity of the victim is being established, say canton Valais police.
The first floor apartment was unoccupied. The cause of the fire, at 01:15, is being investigated.
SION, SWITZERLAND – The sun struggled to come out early Saturday morning in the Swiss Alps, and instead left a show of frosted trees and mountainsides while temperatures fell to -20 and lower above 2,000 metres. By 11:00 a light snow was still falling and the sun was out, creating spectacular scenery.
Swiss Alps, canton Valais, 4 February 2011
The path less taken, in this case through Valais pastures, is the one off-piste skiers love
Webcam from Crans-Montana at 11:35 Saturday: clearing skies, spectacular scenery and great snow conditions
Pair tracked in Paris, may have been seen on A40 in Annecy
Missing mother and daughter, spotted at Bursins autoroute gas station Thursday 26 January
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND / PARIS, FRANCE – Mizué Bachelard and her seven-year-old daughter Hanaé may have been seen in Annecy, Swiss police said Friday. The mother and child disappeared Thursday evening 26 January and have been tracked to Paris. Police in Paris have opened a “worrying disappearance” investigation and police in canton Vaud, Switzerland, have opened an investigation for “putting the life of another in danger”.
A police team from Lausanne is in Paris working closely with French police.
The mother, 35, is described by police as “psychologically fragile”.
The mother and daughter were possibly spotted Thursday 3 February at 02:30 in the morning on the A40, in an autoroute toll booth area, but they say they can’t rule out or be certain the pair seen were Bachelard and her daughter.
French police have traced the woman to Paris Friday 27 January when she appeared at Éditions Albin Michel, 34 bd Edgar Quinet in the 14th arrondissement at 08:30. She had sent the publisher a manuscript by post. At 09:40 that morning she took money from a cash machine on the rue de Sèvre in the 6th arrondissement. The mother and daughter were wearing the same clothes they had on when they were seen at a gas station in Bursins, canton Vaud, Switzerland, the night of Thursday 26 January.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Vaud police at +41 21 644 4444.
Description
Mizué Bachelard is 160cm tall, thin and “wispy”, with chestnut hair (she often wears it tied with a band) and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a pink pullover, checkered pants or pyjama-style bottoms, and a brown-beige coat.
Her daughter is 120cm tall, thin, with chestnut hair and light blue eyes.
She was wearing a red and white striped pullover, dark pants and a blue jacket with a hood.
Car: blue Nissan Micra car, Vaud license plates VD 551’987 .
Missing mother and daughter
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in two cantons have issued missing persons reports Wednesday 1 February, and they are asking the public for help finding them.
Canton Vaud police say 35-year-old Mizué Bachelard and her 7-year-old daughter Hanaé Noémi disappeared Tuesday evening 31 January from their home in Chexbres.
The mother is “psychologically fragile” say police.
They put out an alert after the mother bought petrol in Bursins, on the A1 autoroute, for her blue Nissan Micra car, Vaud license plates VD 551’987 at 19:40.
She then took money out of a bank cash machine in Versoix and at 09:00 this morning out of a machine in Paris.
Mizué Bachelard is 160cm tall, thin and wispy, with chestnut hair (she often wears it tied with a band) and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a pink pullover, checkered pants or pyjama-style bottoms, and a brown-beige coat.
Her daughter is 120cm tall, thin, with chestnut hair and light blue eyes.
She was wearing a red and white striped pullover, dark pants and a blue jacket with a hood.
Police believe the pair may be in Paris.
They ask anyone with information to phone +41 21 644 4444.
Valais youth missing from home since 26 January
Bastien Monnet, 18 years old, has not been seen since the night of 26 January in St Maurice.
Sebastien Monnet, missing from St Maurice
He is 187 cm tall, trim build, dark brown hair cut very short, brown eyes. He was last seen wearing military pants with US Army on them and very large side pockets, a black jacket with hood covered in logos, a black winter jacket with small red and gray motifs and black cloth trainers.
Police in canton Valais are asking anyone with information to contact them at +41 27 326 5656.
Electric power station in Valais; mountain dams feed the Swiss energy system
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland will be testing its alarms, all 8,200 of them, throughout the country Wednesday 1 February, from 13:30 to 15:00.
The initial test consists of all the national alarms going off for a minutes at 13:30.
These may be tested again until 14:00 if there is a need. After 14:00 alarms are tested in areas below all of Switzerland’s dams.
Max the white stork, in early March 2009, on her snowy nest near the Swiss-German border - will she find snow again this year? (photo: Heida Buergermeister)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Max knows something the rest of us don’t: spring is on the way. Freezing temperatures throughout Switzerland for the next few days and record snowfalls make it hard to believe, but one of the first harbingers of spring, Max the stork, has started her return north from the area around Madrid in central Spain.
Max’s movements are followed by the Natural History Museum of Fribourg, which banded the bird. This is her 13th winter migration and her movements tell us much about the change in seasons. Some years Max has wintered over in North Africa, but most often she opts for Spain, often further south than this year.
Max is a Swiss-born white stork who has been tracked for longer than any other bird in the wild. She left her summer home in Tuefingen, Saturday 10 September, taking about three weeks to make the trek to her winter home in Spain. Last year she arrived 8 February and was mating a month later. Her five 2011 offspring were born around 20 April.
GenevaLunch background: Max the stork
Monday marks one year since the crime that gripped the Lake Geneva region and beyond
Schepp twins Alessia and Livia, photo 2010
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A new multi-language missing children hotline open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day in Switzerland, goes into service Monday 30 January: 0848 116 000.
The Missing Children Foundation, which runs the hotline, was set up in October by Irina Lucidi, the mother of twins Alessia and Livia Schepp, who disappeared one year ago today. The line is open to anyone dealing with a child who has disappeared or who may have useful information about a minor who is missing. The foundation’s site currently features five missing children, two of them the Schepp twins.
Sunday 30 January 2011 Alessia and Livia Schepp, six-year-old twins from St Sulpice, left home with their father Matthias, for the last time. He led Swiss, French and Italian police on an international hunt for five days, after their mother reported them missing, before he was found dead in Italy, having committed suicide.
The father, who was upset over the breakup of his marriage t0 Irina Lucidi, sent her several messages during his flight, finally saying in one that he had killed the children, without providing details.
GenevaLunch reported at length on the fruitless-to-date search for the children, a criminal investigation that remains open, although the active phase drew to a halt last April. Vaud Police emphasize that no evidence has been found to indicate that the children are alive, nor is there any that they are dead. The mystery remains, but the family and police are still asking the public to come forward with any information that could help the investigation.
Vaud police report, latest update, April 2011 (Eng)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 30-year-old French man who lives in the Lausanne area died Sunday 29 January while diving at Rossinière, near where the Chaudanne river comes out, a Fribourg region spot popular with speleologists. Canton Vaud police say he dived alone, but when those caving with him saw air come up one immediately dived to his rescue and brought him, unconscious, to the surface. Despite first aid by the group he was with, he died at the scene of the accident, despite the arrival of an ambulance crew and emergency doctor.
Police have taken his diving equipment for the investigation.
Le Nouvelliste says man has been under medical care for psychiatric problems
SION, SWITZERLAND – A Sion judge was attacked and suffered multiple injuries Saturday night 28 January in the city centre. Le Nouvelliste reported Monday morning that a man who has been under medical treatment and who suffers severe psychiatric problems has been arrested and taken to a special detention centre. Police confirmed at 11:00 Monday that a 29-year-old Swiss German who lives in Valais sought medical treatment Sunday morning for injuries he suffered Saturday night. He told medical staff that he was the man who attacked the judge, and he then turned himself into police.
The attack appeared in some way linked to the “Luca” case that has received heavy media attention, particularly in Valais, because the attacker called out “Luca, Luca” and was reported by the judge to say he would pay the magistrate back in kind.
Luca Mongelli is a youth who was badly injured, the victim of a bizarre and vicious attack in Veysonnaz in 2002. The case received heavy media attention at the time and, recently made it back into the news. The boy, age 7 at the time, was found injured and naked, in the snow, in Veysonnaz, after taking the family dog, Rocky, for a walk with Luca’s younger brother Marco. Luca was able to say immediately after the attack that humans had done this to him, but legal and medical analyses at the time showed Rocky to be the attacker, and a drawing done by the very young Marco, as well as his words at the time, pointed to the 30 kg 7-month-old dog. The case was suspended in 2004 and the family has called publicly for further investigation. Luca today is tetraplegic as a result of his injuries.
The Valais attorney general held a press conference on the affair 26 January (details below).
Saturday’s attack was violent and wrongly evoked the Luca case
SION, SWITZERLAND – A six-year-old boy from canton Vaud is in critical condition with internal injuries following a sledding accident in the resort of Haut Nendaz Sunday shortly before noon.
The child was going down a slope and went onto a road just as a car came along. The view of the slope was hidden by 1.5 metres of snow along the edge of the road. The driver felt a bump and looking behind her, saw a child in the road.
She immediately stopped; the boy, who was conscious, was immediately flow to the hospital in Sion and from there later transferred to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 32-year-old man shot and killed the father of his ex-girlfriend in Vernier Saturday morning at 10:30, Geneva police say. The man arrived to pick up his daughter, born in 2009, for a weekend visit but a dispute broke out between the man, his ex and her parents, who were visiting. The younger man, a Geneva resident, then shot the older man. Police arrested the gunman in front of the apartment building and despite emergency services arriving quickly on the scene, the victim died there.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Yet another armed robbery attempt, the sixth in seven days in canton Vaud, took place Friday night at 18:50 at the Pam grocery store on the rue des Moulins in Yverdon-les-Bains. The masked thief was frightened off without getting anything after the cashier screamed repeatedly and loudly when he pointed a black gun at her and demanded the contents of the cash register.
A manhunt with several police patrols has not turned up the man, who is described by Vaud police as 170cm tall, thin, wearing dark clothes and knitted dark cagoule (mask) with three holes.
Police ask that anyone with information phone them at +41 21 644 4444.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A man with a gun held up two people in their 40s as they were closing their business Thursday evening 26 January at 18:30 on the rue de Margencel in Aigle. They gave him an undisclosed sum of money when they were threatened at gunpoint. He then fled and although police were alerted and immediately set up a manhunt, the man has not been found.
His description: he spoke French with an accent “from the East”; 170-175cm tall, thin, dressed in a white shirt with a hood and dark pants; tanned skin.
This is the fifth armed robbery in canton Vaud in one week, with the suspects on the loose in four cases. Police in Lausanne Thursday nabbed thieves who had broken into a Place ST Francois jewelry store at 12:30. A call from outside the store alerted police who arrived quickly and were able to force to the ground and handcuff “several persons” trying to flee. One client inside the shop was slightly injured by a knife.
Bolder thieves: rush hour main street robbery in Rolle
Rolle, main street supermarket robbery Wednesday
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Armed robbers in the Lake Geneva region are getting bolder, with a supermarket hold-up on the main street of Rolle at 19:00 Wednesday night the latest example.
Two masked men broke into the Grand-rue store (police do not mention the Coop at that address specifically) at 19:00, after closing hours and “violently” threatened two of the four employees at gunpoint before making off with an undisclosed sum of money. The two, ages 26 and 30, were in shock but otherwise unharmed, say police.
Two other employees were not directly involved and there were no customers in the store at the time.
The thieves fled “in an unknown direction” and have not been found, despite a significant police search. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at +41 21 644 4444.
Description: 180-190cm tall for the first, both men of average build, wearing dark clothes, with one speaking French with a North African accent.
Valais thieves nabbed
Two thieves, ages 62 and 68, who live in France, were caught in the act of breaking and entering Monday 23 January at 23:00 in Evionnaz, canton Valais. Police were phoned after someone noticed suspicious lights on in an area business, on the Route du Simplon. The building was quickly surrounded and police caught one man attempting to leave the premises and soon found a second man parked at the train station. Stolen goods from three local businesses were found: money, cameras and cell phones.
The two have police records in France, Valais police note.
Vaud, 2 other armed robberies this week: hairdresser’s shop, bank machine client
Earlier this week Vaud police reported two holdups, one Wednesday in Payerne, where a hairdresser was robbed by a man with a knife just as she was closing, and the other a woman in Gland who had just taken money from a bank machine near the post office at midday.
The 44-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint in Gland at 12:30 Saturday. His description: 20-25-year-old man, European in appearance, 175-180cm tall and thin, dressed in a black sweatshirt with hood, black scarf and gloves, black pistol. He fled in the direction of the train station and has not yet been found.
The Payerne hold-up was also carried out by a thin young man, 175cm in height, wearing dark clothes, speaking French with an accent that could not be identified. He fled the scene and despite a search with dogs and several police patrols, he has not yet been found.
Geneva police arrest 3 on several charges after Sunday night high-speed chase
Police in Geneva have three men, ages 19-23, under arrest following a high-speed chase late Sunday. All three reside in Geneva but are Kosovar, Serbian and Macedonian. The stolen car they were traveling in was spotted by police at the intersection of rue Lect and the routes du Nant-d’Avril and Satigny at 22:00. The driver of the car, instead of stopping when the patrol car put on its flashing lights, took off and led police on a high-speed chase. The car was finally stopped in Meyrin and the men taken into custody, where they admitted to a series of local crimes:
- the car was stolen 14 January when they were stopped by a police officer while they were stealing copper from a Lignon construction site; they escaped in the car, which the police officer managed to photograph, after one of them showed the office a Swiss passport, which turned out to be stolen
- the person whose passport was stolen reported it to Geneva police 16 January, showing a complaint filed earlier in Vaud: his house in canton Vaud had been broken into 3 January and he had filed a complaint with police there for the stolen passport and jewels
- the stolen car was reported by Vaud police in connection with unpaid petrol at a station in Yverdon 20 January
- two of the three held up a woman earlier Sunday evening, at a Vernier car wash, where one said he was a policeman and demanded her wallet; they then fled with the wallet, including her identity papers, which police found when they stopped the men. When they phoned the woman she said she had not yet had a chance to report the theft to police
- the man who had posed as a police officer admitted it and said that he had been driving the stolen car daily, without a license, and that on his own he had robbed a number of villas in Lausanne, Morges, Nyon and Fribourg.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Geneva have arrested a 78-year-old man in the Old Town of the city after he shot and wounded a young man at 04:30 Wednesday 25 January. The 28-year-old victim was hospitalized after being hit in the stomach by a bullet. The shooting occurred after a dispute over noise near a discotheque, with the elderly man shooting from the window of his apartment near Place des Trois-Perdrix.
Drunk driver left scene of Montreux-Vevey accident; 78-year-old woman killed
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 78-year-old woman died in hospital Saturday night 21 January shortly after an accident at 22:00 on the A9 autoroute between Vevey and Montreux, in the direction of Vileneuve. The lake side of the road was closed to traffic until 07:15 Sunday for the investigation.
The driver of the second car noticed the car ahead of him too late and despite braking hard he rear-ended the car violently, say canton Vaud police. The two cars ended up crosswise on the highway.
The victim, who lived in north Vaud, was driving a gray Toyota wagon, and police are looking for witnesses or anyone with information, in particular drivers who may have passed her car. She was taken to the Chuv university hospitals, where she died.
The man who crashed into her car is 26 years old, Portuguese and his driver’s license was already suspended. He fled the scene of the accident but turned himself in later. His alcohol level was measured at 1.08.
Anyone with information is asked to go to the nearest police station or to phone +41 21 644 4444.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Interpol‘s new red notices and “diffusions”, issued for criminals wanted internationally, grew dramatically in 2011 to 26,000, compared to 16,000 in 2010, bringing the total number of current “wanted” criminals in the system to some 75,000.
Ria Novosti, Russia’s state news service, quotes Interpol head Ronald Noble as saying that the agency, which works with police in most countries, has become much more public in its work, and today about half of the notices are published, compared to just 5 percent in 2000.
Red notices call for the person’s immediate detention for subsequent extradition. A diffusion is an informal arrest warrant, posted on Interpol’s system, to which police worldwide have access.
Update, 15 January weather forecast for the week, for skiers:
Dawn in Zermatt 12 January (photo ©2012 William Olenick)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – If you’re able to ski during the week, concentrate on getting up to the slopes at the start of this week, with temperatures hovering around zero, some cloudiness mornings but clear skies and sunshine in the afternoons.
By late Wednesday some rain is likely in warmer areas, with intermittent light snow in the mountains and the snow line at 1,000 metres, highs of 4C.
Thursday: expect winds to pick up, rain and snow with the snow line moving up to 1,500 metres before falling to 600 metres on Friday, with the high Friday around 1C and gusting winds.
Jura skiing, 13 January, a half-hour from Geneva
The huge piles of snow dumped on Switzerland and neighbouring France are turning ski resorts into winter wonderlands and there is an amazing mix of things to do.
Our Jura correspondent, Shirley Curran, was skiing on the mountains you pass over as you fly into Geneva, Friday afternoon, and she says the weather was good (just a few clouds), the snow fantastic, and too few people in Geneva seem to realize that fast chairs, excellent snow and very good slopes are just 20-30 minutes from home.
Weather forecast should send you to the hills
Temperatures hovering around 0C with some cloudiness in the mornings in the mountains and on the plains, sun in the afternoon Saturday and Sunday in the Alps. Gusting winds are a possibility in the Jura.
For those interested in Swiss mountain life, two bits of news are worth checking out.
Avalanche update
Gland child rape suspect, police sketch
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police have dropped their extradition request for a French man held by police in Annemasse, over the border from Geneva, on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old in Gland 14 April 2011.
French police arrested the man 30 November, and he is still being held by them, but further investigations in Switzerland have failed to back up initial suspicions he could be the perpetrator of the sexual assault.
The man who accosted the girl inside her apartment building is still being sought by Vaud police, who say that a number of leads are being pursued actively.
The police drawing has been updated, but 1 December police said it is possible he has shaved his beard and made other changes to his appearance.
The man was European in look, with light-coloured eyes, white-blond hair and spoke French, possibly with a slight, indistinguishable accent. He was wearing wireframed glasses. Height 170-180cm, weight average although with a slight belly.
He was seen driving away from the scene of the crime in a turquoise (green or blue) car with Geneva plates.
A week later they issued samples of the colour of his car. These can be viewed on the web page devoted to the crime, which is a Vaud police priority case, along with that of missing six-year-old twins Alessia and Livia.
The public has responded strongly to the police request for help, the cantonal office says. Anyone with information is asked to contact the nearest police station or phone +41 21 644 4444.
Basel Zoo's new red titi monkey
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – The Basel Zoo has announced the birth of its latest monkey, a little red or coppery titi, born 27 December to mother Chica, age 9 and father Gunther, age 6.
The pair already have two offspring, unusual for red titis, not often born in captivity.
But as exciting as the news is, equally exciting is the zoo’s observation that the newborn’s two older brothers are carrying him on their backs.
The father traditionally carries his offspring on his back, but Hijo, age 2 and Hermoso, age 1, have been seen sporting their little sibling on their backs. It’s not yet known if the little one is female or male.
The zoo supports a research programme to study the animals in their natural habitat, in Peru.
Hazelnut, Basel, 3 January 2012 (photo: MeteoSwiss pollen forecasts)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Massive amounts of snow cover the Jura and Alps, but on the Lake Geneva region plains the weather has been clement, and for hay fever sufferers that translates into the hazelnut trees budding. Where the air is dry, pollen is already being released.
The amounts are small but measurable near Geneva, MeteoSwiss’s pollen map shows, but by tomorrow in Ticino, with flowering already occurring Thursday 12 January, the rating will go up to “average”, as they have done in some very locally confined areas, such as Buchs in eastern Switzerland.
Flowering of troublesome pollen-bearing plants has been happening earlier since the 1990s, says the national weather service but traditionally this happens anywhere from December to March depending on the combination of a number of factors. Hazelnuts are now forecast to flower 24 January in Geneva and Lausanne, a full two weeks earlier than the average.
MeteoSwiss is now offering a daily pollen forecasting service, in French, German and Italian, with maps showing the daily situation for the main varieties that cause problems. A smart-phone application is free of charge.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is settling into a more stable weather pattern, with western areas having lows just below zero and highs of 4C and a cloud cover alternating with some sunshine. Canton Valais will be slightly warmer, with highs of 5C and sunny skies for the next few days. The shift from last week’s storms has brought colourful skies. Below, an egret watches the sun set behind Lake Geneva, Allaman, Rolle and the Jura mountains, before flying over with the French Alps for a backdrop.
Egret, sunset over the Jura hills, near Etoy, Switzerland
Egret at sunset, French Alps seen from Swiss side of the lake
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police are seeking the driver of a dark VW Golf following an accident at 09:00 Monday morning 9 January on the A1 autoroute between Rolle and Gland, in the direction of Geneva. A metallic gray Skoda was in the left lane, just before the La Côte layby, passing a truck, when the driver was surprised by the Golf, which suddenly moved towards the left lane. The two cars scraped their sides, but continued to the Gland exit, where the VW Golf driver continued without stopping or reporting the accident to police.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them by phone at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
