Too many weekend night crashes and injuries, says the Swiss safety council
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Nearly half, 48 percent, of all road deaths/critical injuries from road accidents are young people ages 18-24, with 42 percent men and only 6 percent women.
Too many road accidents in Switzerland occur late at night or in the early hours of the morning after discos and bars close on weekends, with a high percentage linked to young male drivers, a study released 11 October by the Swiss safety council shows.
The group is recommending several preventive measures.
Injuries sustained in road accidents tend to be reduced in number and severity during the week, as the night continues. Weekend nights, statistics show the opposite, with a far higher risk of young men causing an accident. The most common cause is the driver losing control of his car and crashing into a stationary object.
The decade from 1999 to 2009 saw an annual average of 52 people killed on weekend nights with 410 critically injured, on Swiss roads. For every 10,000 road accident injuries, the death toll on weekends is 285, compared to 155 overall.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Lausanne will have more police on the streets weekend nights and a “white hour”, where no alcohol can be served from 05:00 to 06:30, to combat the problem of noise and disturbances of the peace.
The new measures go into effect 1 October. The later weekend opening hours affect only establishments that serve alcohol and will be enforced Saturday and Sunday mornings as well as holidays.
Melting old metals, Heraeus in Switzerland (photo, ©2011 Heraeus)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Deep in the trade figures published 20 July by the Swiss government is a note that imports were down largely because no gold was imported from Vietnam.
Switzerland melts down the gold for use mainly as bullion, although some is used by the watch industry and increasingly, by the electronics industry.
Switzerland is one of the world’s leading gold smelters, partly as a result of its currency being the last to be linked to gold, until 1999, when Switzerland joined the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
The Swiss trade surplus, the difference between exports and imports, grew by a mere 2.7 percent in the first half of 2011 despite a very strong franc that should have made imported goods cheaper, giving imports a boost. Imports in fact slipped, and Vietnam’s gold was the reason, or lack of it, was the reason, but mainly because imports earlier were very high.
Three factors played a role, says economist and spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Finance Department Sébastien Dupré: Vietnam’s export quotas, the record high price of gold, and the “immense” stocks of gold in Vietnam.
“The Vietnamese government delivered export quotas for gold at the end of 2008. Before then, gold exports were strictly forbidden. Companies that are active in the market tend to use their quotas as rapidly as possible in order to get a new one; in other words, before the government makes an about-face.” China Post this week in an article on the Swiss trade balance notes that media in Vietnam say the government is considering tightening gold trade restrictions.
The price of gold in mid-July rose to a record high of $1,600 per ounce, and has since continued to climb, with a dip Friday morning below $1,600 following news of a second bailout for Greece. The price rose 8.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared to Q1, according to the World Gold Council.
Analysts are offering varying predictions for how high it can go, reports the Financial Times 21 July in a series of interviews.
“The high price of gold has encouraged potential sellers in Vietnam to sell their gold immediately, in other words, to fill their export quotas right away,” says Dupré. “For the Vietnamese, the rise in the price of gold is made yet more attractive by the simultaneous depreciation of their currency, the dong. As a result, theincentive to sell gold is more marked in Viettnam than elsewhere.”
Vietnam has always been a huge gold importer, he notes, with 80 to 100 tons a year. “Given the longtime ban on exporting it, the gold stocks in the country have risen so that the country now has immense stocks.”
The country is reported to make massive quantities of jewelry, which can be exported, in part to get around government restrictions on exporting it in a monetary form.
Link to: wikipedia on gold, video: the making of gold ingots at Heraeus
Passive smoking falls sharply in 7 years
Strong support for smoking bans
Swiss-wide smoking ban - Photo Flickr Hance Gessell
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Twenty-eight percent of German-speaking Swiss smoked in 2009, the latest annual figures from a Swiss public health survey show, against 26 percent in Italian-speaking areas and 25 percent in French-speaking Switzerland. The rate of smoking continues to decline: from 33 to 27 percent from 2001 to 2009.
Passive smoking appears to be falling more dramatically, with 15 percent of the population exposed to other people’s smoke at least seven hours a week last year. The figure was 35 percent in 2002.
Check out Nextstop‘s brilliant list of all the trendiest night spots in Lausanne! (from Rambling Epicure, Jonell Galloway-White, on GenevaLunch)
No more of this in Vaud's restaurants
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Vaud’s no-smoking law comes into effect today 15 September, and smokers will not be allowed to smoke in public places like restaurants, bars and cafés. Restaurants may install a smoking area, but patrons cannot be served there by staff. GastroVaud, which represents 1,650 of the canton’s eating establishments has said it will analyze the effect of the ban on its members in a year’s time.
Related: 24heures
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve) — Night-time carousing, noise, fights and public drunkeness, especially by young people, on the rue Vautier in Carouge, have reached intolerable levels, the city has decided. Bar-owners and restaurateurs in the popular area of bistros and outside terraces met with Jean-Pierre Aebi, town councilor in charge of security, to implement a plan to improve the situation. Starting Friday 22 May and for the five following weekends, local police will patrol the area at night.
By T.C-M.H, Collège Voltaire
In Geneva, spring is here and with it lively, animated Geneva streets.
Everybody knows the main tourist places, the Jet d’eau, the St Pierre Cathedral, and so on. But do young people want to go there? There are many other less well-known spots that are more appealing but which remain unexplored by the tourists.
To start you off, here are four popular places:
L’Usine: the hub of alternative culture in Geneva. Young people in Geneva go here for concerts, art shows, theatre and other cultural activities. Also look at the funky BFM building, which dates from 1883. Today, it holds concerts and dance shows.
Bain des Paquis
Les Bains des Pâquis: These public baths have existed since 1872. Today, they are a favourite summer place in Geneva. You can relax in the hammam or the sauna, plunge into the lake or simply lie in the sun on a chaise longue. You can also enjoy the « buvette » and its delicious chocolate cake, salads, and (if you are old enough) a nice cold beer.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – Socialists in Lausanne are pushing to have alcohol sales start at 06:00 or 07:00 rather than the current 05:00 in some 30 outlets in the city.
