Migros baby slippers: recalled for safety reasons
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Migros is alerting the public to blue and white baby slippers with a moose head decoration that it is recalling for quality problems: parts on the moose head can come loose and pose a safety risk to small children. The slippers have been sold since July 2010. Article number: 8923.023, price CHF12.90. Contact your nearest Migros to return them.
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.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Philippines is focusing more than usual on births and deaths with the UN declaring a girl born in Manila 30 October shortly before midnight, Danica May Camacho, 2.5 kg, to be the symbolic 7 billionth baby in the world. Meanwhile police in the city are gearing up to protect cemeteries during All Soul’s Day 1 November, according to the Manila Standard Today.
The UN Population Fund’s office in the Philippines organized media coverage to welcome the tiny girl into the world, but another special guest was the symbolic 6 billionth child, who is now 12 years old.
Some 2,000 police officers will be guarding city cemeteries and more than 1,000 others are on special traffic duties starting 31 October to ensure that All Saints Day and All Souls Day, 1 and 2 November respectively, remain crime-free, says the head of a major police district. “He made his statement even as an environmental watchdog asked the people visiting their dead on Nov. 1 and 2 to light only one or two candles and to bring their trash home to minimize pollution in the cemeteries,” reports the Standard Today.
Ed. note: Halloween, celebrated in several countries 31 October, is the eve of All Saints Day, and should not to be confused with All Souls Day, which in some churches, notably the Roman Catholic in the West, is observed 2 November 2011.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Work continues to find survivors and clear rubble five days after the area around the town of Ercis was struck 23 October by a 7.5 earthquake, but snow and freezing rain are hampering the effort and causing major problems for victims, many of whom are still reportedly without shelter. Survivors have been cheered, nevertheless, by extraordinary rescues: a 13-year-old boy was pulled out alive early Friday morning and an 18-year-old youth Thursday evening, reports Reuters. The government now officially reports 535 people have died. Aljazeera says that about 185 have been brought out of the rubble alive since Sunday. And a mother was reunited with her 18-day-old baby Thursday, reports the Telegraph, although the child’s father is yet to be found.
Xenia Minder, Loretan's companion, who survived the fall that killed the world-famous climber (TSR interview)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Erhard Loretan, Swiss climber of legendary stature, shocked the world with his death on his 52nd birthday in April 2011, in a fall climbing a mountain he knew well, the Gruenhorn, and that should have been relatively easy for him. He was roped to another climber, identified only as a client, a 38-year-old woman from Canton Bern.
The woman, Xenia Minder, who initially refused to allow her identity be known or to make a statement, came forward and talked to Le Temps and to TSR’s “Paju” (Passe-moi les jumelles) about Loretan’s death, the death of his child 10 years earlier, where he was accused of manslaughter, and of the fine line between guilt and innocence for those left behind.
Minder had been Loretan’s close companion, not just a client. She was a far less experienced climber than the man who is often called the finest mountain climber Switzerland ever produced. By age 36 he had climbed all 14 world mountains of 8,000 metres or more. He began climbing at age 11.
Loretan’s 7-month-old child died after being shaken briefly by his father, who was given a suspended sentence and a fine in 2003 for negligent homicide. Loretan then pushed for more public information about the dangers to children of being shaken.
Minder says that in her final moments she prayed not to have pain before dying, but in the end it was her guide and close companion of two years who died. He remains her guide, she says, in how to live with the guilt that you have caused someone else’s death. As a judge she says she must believe in and respect the law, but she has now been forced to reflect on how very fine is the line between guilt and innocence in some situations.
Minder says she lost her balance and dragged both of them down some 200 metres. She was injured in the fall that caused Loretan’s death but in the interviews she doesn’t speak of her own injuries, called serious by police at the time of the accident.
Minder is a judge in canton Geneva’s civil courts.
Ed. note: Club Alpin Suisse is hosting an evening in memory of Loretan 19 November in Crans-Montana, with film footage and memories shared by his close climbing companions Jean Troillet and André Georges.
TSR video (Fre)
A judge has ruled there is not enough evidence for the court to decide on a complex case in the UK that involves a request to sterilize without her agreement a mother who is referred to by the media as having “learning disabilities”. The mother, referred to only as “P”, age 21 in court cases, is scheduled to give birth by caesarean Wednesday 16 February to her second child. The mother of P has asked doctors to sterilize her daughter at the same time, because of her mental disabilities and her lack of understanding that any future children might have to be given up for adoption.
The Guardian notes that “In an unprecedented hearing – allowed in open court because of the ‘legitimate public interest’ in the case – Mrs P [P's mother] said: ‘I tried to explain that any future babies will go to a new mum and dad . . . She doesn’t understand that she won’t ever see them again. She says, “I’m the mummy”. She doesn’t understand they will get a new mum.’”
Links to other sites: Guardian, NPR (AP)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/15/forced-sterilisation-mother-court-plea
Sophia Loren, new grandmother (photo, 2009 - wikipedia)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Long-time Geneva resident and Italian actress Sophia Loren, 76, has a new grandson. The boy was born to her son, director/writer Edoardo Ponti and his wife, actress Sasha Alexander, who stars in the US television comedy series, Rizzoli & Isles. Leonardo Fortunato Ponti was born shortly before Christmas in Geneva.
He is the third grandchild for Loren, whose husband Carlo Ponti died in 2007 after 41 years o f marriage and two sons. The boys grew up in the family home in the centre of Geneva.
The couple have a daughter, age 4, Lucia Sofia, four, and Loren’s oldest son, Carlo Ponti, Jr, has a three year old, Vittorio.
Edoardo Ponti’s second film, Between Strangers (2002), starred his mother.
Loren will be one of the hosts 17 January for the Golden Globes film awards.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, and his wife Samantha, were surprised by the early birth of a daughter Tuesday 24 August. The girl, who as yet has no name, was born a month early, during the family vacation in Cornwall. She is the first child in 20 years to be born to a prime minister in office and the previous such birth was in 1848, according to the Telegraph. The couple have two other children; their first-son, Ivan, died at the age of six in early 2009 from complications related to cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Every mother-to-be’s worst dream, of not getting to the hospital on time, came true at 07:00 Tuesday for a mother who, with her two young children, was walking to the Chuv (university hospitals) to give birth, reports Lausanne daily 24 Heures (Fre). And, every mother-to-be’s hopes, in case that should happen, also came true: a passerby promptly called for emergency help, kept the two children calm, called on neighbours who arrived quickly with warm coats and blankets.
Within 30 minutes mother and newborn were being treated at the hospital maternity unit: both are in good shape, although the new mother is said to be somewhat embarrassed by her very public birth in the city centre, according to a doctor quoted by 24 Heures.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston are expecting a child, they announced on their web site Wednesday 19 May. Travolta, 56 and his wife, 47, have a 10-year-old daughter. Their son Jett, age 16, died in January 2009 after having a seizure. Travolta said after their son’s death that the boy was autistic. The actor has not been seen in public often since his son’s death.
Title: Learn how to massage a baby
Location: Crassier, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: This is a how-to course for parents. Taught in French.
Start Date: 2010-04-14
End Date: 2010-05-12
image: ch.ch
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A small baby who died last week is Switzerland’s first death related to the A/H1N1 flu, authorities in canton Basel Land have confirmed. No details about the child or the exact cause of death have been released. The federal health department says the flu is now growing more rapidly, exponentially, with 773 cases, twice the number of the previous week.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Swiss Federal Health Office web site on A/H1N1 pandemic, in English
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A couple racing to the hospital for the birth of their child were caught in rush-hour traffic in Zurich Monday at 18:30, ats/romandie reports. The husband phoned the police who managed to reach them, and one of the police officers took over at the wheel, since the woman was unable to get out of the car, and with sirens blaring he followed the police car to the hospital. A boy was born at 18:37, who was still nameless Tuesday.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - First there was one (actually two), and then there were three: Swiss tennis star Stanislas Wawrinka, from canton Vaud, has annouced that he and his long-time companion Ilham Vuilloud are expecting a baby in February 2010. The announcement by Wawrinka, 24 and Vuilloud, 35 comes shortly after fellow Swiss tennisman Roger Federer and his wife Mirka had twin girls.
An 11-month-old girl has died in France after her father left her in the family 4×4 SUV car with tinted windows and went to work instead of dropping her off at the daycare centre. The temperature was 21C and the child died of heat and dehydration. Her mother found the baby in the car after work. Police are ruling it a “regrettable accident” and are not investigating the parents for maltreatment. A similar death occurred in October 2008 in southern France. AFP, Fre
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer and longtime companion Mirka Vavrinec were married in a small, intimate ceremony in Basel Saturday 11 April, the Swiss tennis star announced on his web site. The two met in 2000 and have been a steady couple since, but they caught even local media by surprise. The Federers are expecting their first child this summer. Federer’s guestbook on his web sites had dozens of messages from wellwishers by midday Sunday.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and his companion of several years, Mirka Vavrinec, are expecting their first child in summer, the tennis champion announced on his official web site 12 March.
Vavrinec, who emigrated from Slovakia to Switzerland as a small child, is 31, three years older than Federer. They met in 2000, when both were competing in tennis for Switzerland, in Australia.
Strasbourg, France (Le Temps, Fre) – A couple, both 21 years old, have been given suspended one-year sentences for a fraud that involved trying to sell to a Belgian couple what they claimed was their unborn child – and later the woman’s eggs, when it turned out she was not pregnant.
Family fun at the Fetes de Geneve
Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – Four parties on the left, two on the right: the combined political forces Monday announced their plan to push for a six-month maternity/paternity leave for new parents.
