BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Adrian Kohler, 53, chief executive of Ricola, the Swiss herbal sweets company, committed suicide Thursday 24 November, the company announced Friday. He sent a message to the executive committee shortly before taking his life, admitting to responsibility for accounting irregularities.
Kohler helped build Ricola's strong reputation for Swiss quality; its six herb gardens in magnificent settings around the country are popular with tourists
He joined the company 25 years ago as an accountant, then became head of finances before taking on the role of CEO in 2004.
German-language media reports are contradictory about the nature of the irregularities at the business owned by the Richterich family. Felix Richterich, board chairman, will take over the CEO duties.
Ricola’s annual turnover is CHF300,000 according to Bild.
The company told employees, who were sent home Friday, that they had lost “a popular supervisor, who was also a good colleague and a loyal friend.”
The company, in Laufen, near Basel, is one of Switzerland’s most highly regarded, often cited among the top 20 most popular brands. Its famous herb gardens in six areas around the country and linked to hiking trails, are open to the public.
Interview with Kohler at the Swiss Economic Forum in Thun in 2006, by swissinfo (Fr), about the company’s success
Room to grow: Zurich's citizen say it can go ahead with new runways and keep existing flight paths
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss voters were back at the ballot box Sunday 27 November, a month after parliamentary elections, to vote on a number of items that differed from one canton to the next.
Here are some of the highlights, as results flow in Sunday evening:
Swiss right loses most runoffs, Geneva rebuffs minimum wage
- The right-wing UDC lost heavily in cantonal runoffs for seats in the upper house of parliament
- Two key federal parliament upper house seats: in the closely watched key Zurich election Felix Gutzwiller and Verena Diener defeated Christoph Blocher; Blocher is a former federal councilor and led the UDC/SVP People’s Party to a dominant position in the last decade until he lost his seat in 2007, and in St Gallen UDC candidate and favourite to win, Tony Brunner, lost to Socialist Paul Rechsteiner
- Canton Geneva has voted against a minimum wage but Neuchatel has voted to include it in the canton’s constitution; Switzerland as a whole does not have a minimum wage
- Canton Vaud: Green Party’s Béatrice Métraux defeated UDC’s Pierre-Yves Rapaz for the cantonal upper house seat left vacant by the death of UDC councilor Jean-Claude Mermoud in September
In German-speaking ares: Zurich airport can grow, Zug taxes down and foreigners get mixed bag:
- Foreigners: they will not be given the right to vote at the communal level in Lucerne, but they were spared stiff requirements pushed by the UDC People’s Party in the city of Basel to require strong language skills in order to be naturalized, and Basel’s citizens also voted 3-1 to place the responsibility for naturalization in the hands of the local government rather than the parliament; in Schwyz, voters agreed, 2-1, to align its naturalization laws with federal law and put responsibility for this in the hands of communal commissions (TSR notes that this was necessary after a scandal in Emmen, Lucerne, where the communal council routinely turned down applications from foreigners from certain countries
- Zurich voted strongly against a motion that would have restricted the airport’s growth; it will now be able to add two new runways to and allow existing ones to be extended; the vote was a sharp rebuke to the officials from several communes who were behind a motion to limit flying over highly populated neighbourhoods and to restrict the airport’s growth
- Zug voted in a number of tax breaks, including doubling the reduction per child for families, from CHF9,000 to 18,000, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 5.75 percent from 6.5
- Lump-sum taxes for wealthy foreigners who reside in Switzerland will continue to be offered by cantons Glaris and St Gallen but the latter’s voters have chosen to tighten requirements.
- Smoking in Basel: voters rejected a proposal by restaurants to adopt less strict federal no smoking laws instead of the cantons, in a close vote with just 200 out of more than 23,000 deciding the issue.
Swiss soldiers travel on Swiss trains for free when on duty (photo: Morges station, November 2011)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The 2012 train schedule that goes into effect 11 December will offer travellers better connections for trips abroad. Some parts of the Lake Geneva region will also see improvements. But the best news for many working travellers is that mobile connections are being improved, as is the online sales service.
The CFF rail company presented highlights of the new schedule to the press Thursday 17 November.
You’ll be able to plug in and connect better in 2012
All the new trains will have electric plugs and existing intercity trains will also get them. “All the new Duplex trains on the intercity trains will be equipped with WLAN,” says Jeannine Pilloud.
A major improvement could be the installation of equipment that amplifies signals received inside and outside the train cars, giving better access to the cell phone and Internet network.
1.8 million cell phone tickets ordered and number growing
The CFF app for ordering online tickets via cell phone is proving popular, with 1.8 million users since it was introduced in 2010, and the number is growing steadily, says the rail company.
Users of the small pocket timetables will find that some of the international ones are disappearing, in favour of online information, and that smaller stations’ stops are no longer listed, but are incorporated into regional listings. All details will be available online, however.
French-speaking Switzerland, especially commuters, to see significant improvements
A host of changes for trains in the Lake Geneva region will have a significant impact:
More double-decker trains will be used on the Geneva airport/Lucerne line, offering more seats
An additional InterRegio train will run between Neuchatel and Lausanne at 07:53 and the Neuchatel/La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle line will have additional service during rush hour and a pair of trains is being added to the Neuchatel to Bienne line
Canton Vaud: the S4 line is being extended from Morges to Allaman, stopping in Saint Prex and Etoy, which will now have trains every 30 minutes instead of once an hour, Monday to Friday.
Geneva: La Plaine/Geneva, more trains will run during rush hour. Coppet–Geneva–Lancy-Pont-Rouge trains, the 30-minute schedule is being extended for weekend night and trains will run every half hour on Fridays and Saturdays until the end of the day.
New international connections, travel time cut on major links
Philipp Hildebrand, SNB, now vice-chairman of the FSB in Basel
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Philipp Hildebrand, chairman of the board of governors of the Swiss National Bank, joins Canadian Mark Carney on the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, was named the new chairman and Hildebrand the vice-chairman Friday 4 Novmber at the close of the G20 meeting in Cannes, France.
The FSB is based in Basel, hosted by the Bank for International Settlements. Hildebrand has been a member of its steering committee.
The two have been appointed to three-year terms.
The FSB describes its role as coordinating “at the international level the work of national financial authorities and international standard setting bodies and to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies in the
interest of financial stability. It brings together national authorities responsible for financial stability in 24 countries and jurisdictions, international financial institutions, sector-specific international groupings of regulators and supervisors, and committees of central bank
experts.”
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Roger Federer won his fifth Swiss Indoors title, and his first tournament since winning in Doha in January, 2011 when he brushed aside the challenge of Kei Nishikori, Sunday 6 November. The Swiss star won his home-town tournament with a convincing display, outplaying the young Japanese in all aspects of the game to win 6-1 6-3. It was still a fine tournament for Nishikori (ATP 32), who pulled off the shock of the week with a win over Novak Djokovic, who is the top of the ATP rankings.
The Czech Republic beat Russia 2-3 in the final of the Fderation Cup, the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup, in Moscow.
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – A major upset at the Swiss Indoors Basel tennis tournament has the sport reeling Saturday night 5 November: number 32 in the world, Japanese wild card Kei Nishikori, defeated Novak Djokovic, who praised the winner’s game, saying his opponent was “getting impossible balls back”.
Djokovic, top player in the ATP rankings, won the first set 6-2 and was only two points from victory in the second when Nishikori won a long rally to reach a tie-break, which he won. The final set saw the Japanese rush through to win 2-6 7-6 6-0. Djokovic was playing in his first tournament since taking time off with back strain, and was twice treated for shoulder strain. Djokovic now has a 68-4 record this year, having lost to Roger Federer in the French Open and twice retiring with injury.
Roger Federer defeated his Olympic doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka in the other semi-final 7-6 6-2 and will meet Nishikori in the final, Sunday 6 November.
Links to other sites: TSR, Seattlepi
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Pharmaceutical company Novartis is closing its site in Nyon as part of a restructuration that will involve eliminating 1,100 jobs in Switzerland.
The company is cutting a total of 2,000 jobs, with most of the rest in the US. The Nyon site employs 320 persons and 770 jobs will also go in Basel, the company’s head office. The company included general information about the restructuring in its third quarter results, published Tuesday 25 October:
“Novartis is announcing today additional cost reduction activity, which will be executed over
three to five years. Elements of the activity to include: reallocation of production within the
Novartis network resulting in closure of two sites in Switzerland and one in Italy; restructuring
the development organization largely in Switzerland and the US and relocating some research
activities from Switzerland to the US.”
Novartis results show sales up 12 percent in constant currencies, from $12.6 to $14.8 million and operating income up 15 percent, from $2.6m to $3m. Net sales grew by 20 percent with the weakness of the US dollar “with a 5 percent benefit arising from the weak US dollar against most currencies,” the company noted, while “The weakness of the US dollar, combined with the strong Swiss franc, resulted in a negative currency impact of 8 percentage points” on operating income.
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – A 32-year-old woman who shot her husband in March 2011 was found guilty of homicide by negligence and sent home without sentencing. The judge declared she had suffered enough in losing her husband.
She shot her husband in their apartment while he was showing her how to handle the gun, of which she was afraid. The previous day, while high on cannabis, he had put a bullet in the chamber, most likely unintentionally and while distracted, the court concluded. His wife was looking for documents and her husband called to her to hand him the gun that was kept in the same place. She jokingly pointed it at him and said “Hands up!” and he joined in the game, taking the pistol and holding it to his head, telling her there was nothing to be afraid of, while explaining how it worked.
He assured her the gun was empty but when, under his instructions, she pulled the trigger, it went off, killing him.
The woman told the judge she had had faith in her husband’s word, but the judge said where guns are concerned confidence in another person is not enough: pointing a gun at someone or at one’s head is an act that lacks common sense.
Zurich, one of three Swiss cities that will benefit from new jobs
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The QS World University Rankings 2011-2012, published independently since 2010 and considered one of the main global education ranking systems, show EPFL in Lausanne slipping from slot no. 32 to 35, but ETHZ in Zurich holding its no. 18 place, just behind McGill in Canada and ahead of Duke in the US.
EPFL has gone up slightly with Leiden and remained at the same level with the Shanghai rankings in recent years, while since ETHZ has held steady with QS and Shanghai but gone up with Leiden. EPFL offers 20 programmes and ETHZ 44.
Swiss state universities that are given a world ranking: The University of Geneva is ranked 71, Basel University 137, Bern 162, Zurich 101.
The QS system was originally published jointly by universities by Quacquarelli Symonds, a UK-based company, jointly with Times Higher Education (THE), but the two split in 2010 to use different methodologies for determining rankings. The new QS system should not be confused with the older THE-QS World University Rankings.
THE publishes its new rankings in October.
Other major rankings systems, most of which show some national bias: Shanghai Jiao Tong, The CHE Ranking, The Leiden Ranking, CHE EUSID, Newsweek, several Financial Times specialty rankings, and the Karriere Hochschulranking.
The Swiss education department publishes a useful web site in four languages (including English) with a searchable data base of all the rankings for comparative purposes.
Highlights of the new QS rankings include:
- Cambridge is number 1 but close behind are Harvard, MIT, Yale and Oxford for the top five
- The top 10 are all US or UK universities
- Chinese mainland universities are inching up, with two of them, Peking and Tsinghua, in the top 50
Swiss taxes varied considerably from one city to another in 2010
Swiss taxes take a bigger bite in Neuchatel than in Zug
Update 22 July (new files added at end) BERN, SWITZERLAND – That magic moment in the year is here, when Bern tells Swiss taxpayers where they were best off, living or dying, in 2010, so the rest of the holidays can be spent planning a move. There is Zug, for those who are rich and single, or if you are married and have two children and you’re living in Neuchatel, Zug but also Geneva will look very good.
Federal income tax is a small part of the three-tiered tax system, with cantonal taxes usually the largest and communal taxes varying the most widely. Zug retains its champion’s title of the cheapest place in Switzerland from a tax standpoint, while Neuchatel remains one of the most expensive, for individuals.
Sample comparisons culled from the 2010 figures, published 21 July by the Federal tax office:
Single, no children, cantonal, communal and parish (if Catholic) taxes, on income of CHF100,000
Add on CHF2,067 for federal income tax
Zurich: CHF11,637 / 9.64%
Zug: CHF6,148 / 5.08%
Bern: CHF14,982 / 14.98%
Basel: CHF16,472 / 16.47%
Lausanne: CHF16,162 /16.06%
Neuchatel: CHF18,639 / 18.64%
Geneva: CHF15’370 / 15.37%
If you make CHF200,000, tax rates range from Zug’s 9.72% to Neuchatel’s 23.71%.
Married, two children, cantonal, communal and parish (if Catholic) taxes, federal tax not included, on income of CHF100,00, one spouse working
Add on CHF907 for federal income tax
Zurich: CHF6,136 / 6.14%
Zug: CHF6,148 / 5.08%
Bern: CHF8,710 / 8.71%
Basel: CHF7,690 / 7.69%
Lausanne: CHF9,175 /9.18%
Neuchatel: CHF10,054 / 10.05%
Geneva: CHF3,202 / 3.20%
If you make CHF200,000, tax rates range from Zug’s 4.43% to Neuchatel’s 17.91%.
When both spouses work the tax rate tends to be 2-3 percentage points higher, except in Zug, where it is half the rate, and in Geneva, where it is double the rate.
Inheritance taxes: avoid Graubuenden
Swiss inheritance taxes are not collected by several cantons, but Graubuenden has the highest rate and Lausanne is the rare city to collect a communal tax in addition to the cantonal one. It’s better to be a son or daughter inheriting than to inherit from a brother or sister, and beware, nieces and nephews, you’ll have to pay more when your uncle’s lovely chalet passes into your hands.
Swiss tax burden, by canton (Ger/Fre), pdf
Swiss tax burden, comparison, communes, pdf
Geneva, Switzerland, where the price of chicken and wine haven't gone up, but the franc has, compared to the dollar and euro
GENEVA / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A double whammy of bad news for people hoping Switzerland might be getting cheaper: ECA, a multi-company owned employees service provide and Numbeo, a searchable database on global living costs, both put Geneva, Basel and Zurich high on their lists for the world’s most expensive cities, in June reports.
The only consolation is that the growing number of cost of living indexes vary considerably and therefore provide only a guideline to what it really costs to live in a place, with smart consumers finding ways to cut costs. All are based on samples, with some, such as ECA, carrying out surveys.
High Swiss franc penalizes cost of living indexes, mostly in dollars
The pricey cities come as no surprise to anyone who has watched currency fluctuations in the past year because the Swiss franc has appreciated hugely against both the euro and the dollar. Cost of living indexes, and these two are examples, tend to use the dollar as their base currency, against which prices are measured. “Of the European locations surveyed cost of living has increased the most in Swiss locations,” notes ECA, which ranked Zurich sixth, Geneva 8th, Bern and Basel 10th and . “In Switzerland, where inflation is low, it is the strong Swiss franc that has contributed to pushing Zurich up to 6th position globally from 10th.”
If you haven’t left Zurich in the past year, in other words, you won’t have seen much change in your grocery bill, despite the city climbing up in world price indexes.
ECA has added a lengthy article about the impact of currency fluctuations on expats around the world, noting that although the dollar recovered slightly in May it has depreciated more than 10 percent against the euro, without mentioning that the figure is even worse against the Swiss franc. The author notes that food prices tend to have less of an impact on expats than on locals because they spend a lower percent of expendable income on it.
The detail behind cost of living
Geneva stepped up sharply its investigations into black market labour in 2010
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Social security coffers are CHF10 million the richer for a tougher approach to black market labour by Swiss federal and cantonal authorities in the past three years, Bern confirmed Tuesday 21 June.
The campaign to register illegal workers and ensure they have social security coverage saw several changes in 2010, but the year was marked in particular by a much stronger participation by cantons Geneva and Basel State, as well as the rest of French-speaking Switzerland.
The number of inspectors was increased by 9.7 to 66.9 posts. Inspectors throughout Switzerland checked 12,223 companies and 37,001 individuals for working without being registered.
Sanctions against companies, such as not being allowed state contracts or financial assistance, were used more heavily in 2010, with nearly twice as many sanctions as in 2009.
Part of the increased workload was due to frequently changing regulations since the opening of borders and free movement of labour inside Europe, under the Schengen accord, says Bern. Schengen also requires governments to share more data about workers and their movements, which puts a greater burden on cantons to provide data and information.
The federal government set up an online site with explanations and a streamlined employee registration system to help employers avoid inadvertently being outside the law.
Employers are obliged, since 2008, to declare new employees to social security authorities within 30 days of the start of work and to register them for taxation at source within eight days.
The new site had 20,000 visitors in its first month, a clear sign of interest in the matter, says Bern. The carrot and stick methods appear to have worked, with the number of employees registered via the simplified system going from 17,193 to 24,112 in one year.
Simplified registration system and information on black market labour, Swiss obligations:
Kurimanzutto at Art 42 Basel
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Artists, galleries and the public went home happy from Art Basel when the doors closed Sunday evening. The bottom line was sales, which totaled $1.8 billion. Bloomberg says that sales returned to 2008 levels, and it reports that “Mark Rothko, Maurizio Cattelan, Anish Kapoor and Bridget Riley were among artists with pieces each selling for more than $2 million” while several artworks went for higher figures.
There were some disappointments, with Galerie Krugier et Cie. from Geneva reportedly failing to sell three Picasso oil painting it had ticketed for $52m.
Art 42 Basel, the name for the 42nd annual event, was a measurable success in several ways, with a record 65,000 visitors showing up, more than 300 galleries present and selling the works of 2,500 artists and over 50 museum groups visiting, representing almost all the world’s major museums according to the organizers.
Alex Logsdail of the Lisson Gallery in London was one of several sellers who were upbeat at the end of the show. “The fair this year has been a great success in terms of both volume of sales and the diversity of artists that we have sold. By the end of the first day there were only five works left unsold on the stand. People seem to have enormous confidence in the future of both established and emerging artists, which is highly encouraging. Over all, another great year in Basel.”
Art Statements is a part of the fair that presents young gallery owners and artists. Its two Baloise Art Prizes of CHF30,000 per artist were awarded to Alejandro Cesarco and Ben Rivers. The Baloise Group will also acquire works by both artists and once again donate them to the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the MUMOK Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation in Vienna (www.artbasel.com/statements).
Lausanne train station: more to look at, with new animated large ad screens coming Monday
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Travellers will find the relatively ads-free train stations in six main Swiss cities visually busier Monday 20 June when large-screen ad boards go up.
The 1.01 x 1.80 metre screens will show silent animated high-definition advertisements, similar to screens already operating in airports.
Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Zurich will have a total of 43 boards. The CFF says that 840,000 people pass through the six RailAway stations every day.
Ad sales will be handled by e-advertising, which belongs to SGA (APG in German), Switzerland’s largest “out of home” media advertising company.
The company has a new product that was developed with Coca-Cola and Volkswagen, an interactive billboard, on display at Zurich’s main station until the end of June: the display reacts to the movements of passersby.
SION, SWITZERLAND – Sion fans were celebrating Sunday night after their team defeated Neuchatel Xamax 2-0 in a one-sided match, with Neuchatel never rising to the occasion.
It was Sion’s 12th Swiss Cup victory in 12 finals.
The train trip to Basel, site of the final, left a less positive trail, with one person injured by the crowd as it passed through Lausanne, according to ATS news agency. The train cars were heavily damaged, with two fires set in one train and windows broken. A dozen people were reportedly arrested, mainly for having fireworks.
France sends 81,000 people to work in the Lake Geneva region
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Lake Geneva region remains by far the largest in Switzerland for workers from across the border, des frontaliers, with a significant jump in numbers in the first three months of 2011. The number of workers from France rose to 81,619 by the end of March, an all-time high and up from 77,235 at the end of December.
Switzerland by the end of March had over 243,000 people crossing into the country to work, compared to 143,000 in 2000, figures released 26 by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office show.
Geneva had an increase of about 3,000 and canton Vaud about 1,000, during the first three months of 2011.
The Basel area in northwest Switzerland has the second-largest number of border-crossers, 63,995 at the end of Q3 2011, an increase of about 2,000 since the end of 2010. Ticino has just over 50,000.
Geneva’s border-crossers account for more than one-third of workers who cross into Switzerland.
Some 4,000 more women from across the border were working by the end of March, compared to December 2010, and about 6,000 more men.
Measles, photo: US Center for Disease Control
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has seen 497 cases of measles declared since the start of 2011, compared to 211 for the same period a year earlier, the weekly newsletter from Swiss public health authorities shows.
Geneva (110 cases) and Vaud (93) are feeling the impact of a major epidemic in France, while Basel, with 57 cases, is affected mainly by a group that is reluctant to vaccinate its children.
Doctors are legally obliged to report suspected measles cases rapidly to public health authorities and anyone with the contagious disease will be quarantined. The federal public health department reminds anyone who has not had a second vaccination to be sure to have one in order to be protected against the disease, which can cause severe health problems and occasionally death. A 12-year-old girl died in Geneva in a major epidemic in 2009.
Background, GenevaLunch articles on measles in Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Christies Europe will auction off an extraordinary art collection 21 and 22 June, the last of the artworks owned by Ernst Beyeler and his wife Hildy, whose collection has often been called one of the great private art collections of the 20th century.
Agency AFP reports that the collection sale will mark the close of the couple’s Basel gallery and includes work from iconic 20th century artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Roy Lichtenstein.
The sale will come just two days after Art Basel ends. The artworks will be part of a Christies evening sale in London the 21st and day sale the 22nd.
Beyeler was the founder of Art Basel, the world’s largest contemporary and modern art fair (note: which last week announced it is adding a third fair, Art Hong Kong to the main fair and a second one, Art Basel Miami Beach).
His career in art took off when he transformed and developed the antiquarian bookshop of a former employer into
Beyeler Museum (photo, ©2011 Mark Niedermann / Beyeler Foundation)
the Beyeler Gallery in Basel, which allowed him to build his personal collection.
Ernst Beyeler died, age 88, in February 2010, two years after the death of his wife and close art partner Hildy.
He left instructions for the gallery to be closed upon his death, and the private and business collections to be sold, with proceeds to go to support the Beyeler Foundation in Basel.
The Foundation was created to provide a home, the Beyeler Museum, for the collection, and its purpose is to make the collection available to the public. The museum opened in 1997 and it has become hugely popular, with 300,000 visitors a year.
A Segantini exhibition that ended 25 April had pulled in 100,000 visitors between January 16 and 20 March.
Swiss cities, Geneva included, are home to enormous wealth, not all of it legitimate
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – For the first time since Switzerland set up its Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) in 2002, the number of “suspicious activity reports” (Sars) passed 1,000 in a year. The Swiss Federal Police office reports 28 April that in 2010 the total number of Sars was 1,159, a 29 percent increase over 2009.
FATF assessments of Swiss action on money laundering
Switzerland has been tightening its money laundering laws and stepping up preventive measures since the late 1990s, with a review in October 2009 by the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) showing good progess made since a 2005 review pointed out a number of weak spots.
Switzerland was accepted in 2009 into the FATF system of regular two year reviews, with the next one set for October 2011. It was commended on several points, including its improvements in the system to quickly identify assets of politically exposed persons, mainly dictators.
Switzerland has been particularly sensitive on this score, and in early 2011 was quick to freeze assets of people linked to Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan regimes.
Weaknesses that were pointed out by FATF in 2009 included extending to a larger group the obligation to submit Sars: lawyers, insurance agents, real estate dealers among others.
One of Switzerland’s biggest problems, the task force said, is clearly identifying real owners when property is purchased or insurance contracts bought, with a third party acting for the owner.
Terrorism money laundering “more or less the same” in 2010 as in 2009
Terrorist financing was shown in only four cases, the new federal police reports indicates, although the number of Sars linked to terrorism jumped from 7 submissions in 2009 to 13 in 2010. Ten of these were forwarded by the MROS to the Swiss attorney general’s office, but six “had no hard evidence of terrorist financing”, the federal police say.
One complex case accounted for eight of the Sars and one case alone involved CHF19 million of the CHF23m total assets for the 13 Sars submitted. All in all, “the situation in 2010 remained more or less the same as in the previous year.”
Financial institutions reported 71% of cases
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The circumstances remain a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, surrounding the death of a senior air traffic controller, age 34, fatally stabbed early Wednesday morning 27 April in a secure area of Basel airport.
His body was found at 08:00 at the top of the elevator that leads to stairs going up to the control tower, by a fellow employee who raised the alarm. He had been stabbed in the throat, lungs and thorax, at least three times. Police say no weapon has been found.
The man, who has not been named, was the father of a four-year-old child. He was heading to work for his turn of duty, in charge of the control tower.
Traffic at the EuroAirport Bâle-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport was not interrupted. The airport is on French territory but at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland. French police say the secure area is accessible only to people with badges. Christian Reeb, who is heading the French investigation, told media he believes there is no link between the man’s death and his work.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fr), BaslerZeitung (Ge)
Seat of Swiss federal government in Bern
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The neutral Swiss had a very rare glimpse of a foreign military power on home territory Monday 21 March, as 20 British military vehicles, escorted by the Swiss army, crossed the country from Basel to Chiasso in canton Ticino.
The passage, details and the path of which were not divulged by the federal government, would only have appeared remarkable to those who spotted the soldiers because of the type and markings of the vehicles: Swiss military vehicles and soldiers from the citizen militia are a common sight in Switzerland.
The British government requested the right of passage of aeronautic equipment as part of its commitment to prevent the Qaddafi regime in Libya from using force against the civilian population there.
Geneva airport
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hainan Airlines, which will begin operating non-stop flights between Zurich and Beijing 31 May, is opening sales in Zurich 1 May with Aviareps handling bookings and service for the privately owned Chinese company.
Hainan Air will initially offer three flights a week, but this is scheduled to increase if the demand is strong enough.
Geneva to Amsterdam seats will increase by 14 percent on KLM this summer and Basel will have Swiss flights to Nice starting 1 July for an introductory fare of CHF99. Swiss is also adding 7 flights a week to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport from Basel 27 March, in addition to its current four from Zurich.
International sports, football
Anfield, Liverpool (GenevaLunch) - Liverpool may not win any titles this season but they might well have played a role in denying one to Manchester United. They deservedly beat their archrivals 3-1, with a hat-trick by Dirk Kuyt, 6 March. Man United fielded a side weakened in defense because of the absence of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, but they were comprehensively outplayed in all departments.
Arsenal could only draw 0-0 against Sunderland but are just three points behind United in the Premier League and still have a game in hand. Man City stay third after a 1-0 win over Wigan.
Tottenham travelled to Wolverhampton for the best game of the weekend: a thrilling 3-3 draw.
In the Spanish La Liga Barcelona and Real Madrid both won. Inter Milan beat Genoa 5-2 and AC Milan beat Juventus in Series A. In the Swiss Super League Basel are still on top after a 3-1 win over Zurich. Neuchatel lost 1-2 to Bellinzona while Thun-Luzern ended 3-3.
Links to other sites: Premier League, Guardian
Neighbouring Rhone-Alps area epidemic well underway
Measles: red spots follow other symptoms that may resemble the flu, with the contagious period starting before "Koplick's" spots (photo, courtesy Center for Disease Control, USA)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva public health authorities are alerting doctors and the public of a sudden increase in the number of cases of measles, with 26 cases since the start of the year, 20 of those in the past 28 days. The first three cases arrived from Haute-Savoie, but the source of contagion of the next three could not be determined.
The Geneva public health department has warned that a major outbreak could follow the end of school holidays next week, since Geneva’s 90 percent coverage for vaccinations is not high enough to keep the disease from spreading rapidly.
Nearby Rhone-Alps in France is in the throes of an epidemic, with more than 2,000 declared cases since early December; 1,300 of those have appeared in the past month alone.
Red spots, but first cold, cough, fever
Measles are contagious before the telltale red spots appear, and many patients or parents initially confuse it with the flu. Symptoms include a cold, cough, conjunctivitis and fever, with the red spots appearing later, after the person has already been contagious. Anyone diagnosed with measles will be interviewed about all possible contacts in the recent past.
Measles are not benign, 2nd vaccination reduces risk
Measles is highly contagious and, contrary to popular belief, it is not benign. A 12-year-old girl died in Geneva in 2009 from measles. One in 1,000 cases can cause encephalitis, which can be fatal. Pneumonia is another serious risk. There is no treatment for measles.
Even in its less dangerous forms measles causes high fevers with the risk of serious side effects such as hearing loss. Adults who contract it are likely to miss three weeks of work.
Switzerland has stepped up its efforts to vaccinate the population along World Health Organization guidelines, following serious outbreaks in the past three years, related to one of the lowest rates of vaccination in Europe.
Swiss recommendations have changed several times but since 2001 they have called for children to have one dose of the vaccine at age 12 months and a followup dose at 15-24 months.
Anyone born after 1963 should check that he or she has had the second dose of vaccine.
Doctors are legally obliged to report cases to public health authorities within 24 hours. Given the highly contagious nature of the disease, people diagnosed with it in Switzerland are confined during the period of contagion.
Background, GenevaLunch
GenevaLunch has carried several stories on measles in the past, with details about symptoms, the disease itself, vaccinations and prevention
Links to other sites: Geneva public health alert to doctors, 26 January 2011
New trains will link Geneva, Lausanne to Paris in 3 hours
Next stop, Paris: 3 hours 4 minutes by December 2012
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss rail company CFF and the French SNCF will spend CHF100 million, they announced Wednesday 16 February, to buy 19 new TGV high speed trains that will be put into service in December 2012.
The buying bonanza will result in 27 daily high-speed connections between Paris and Swiss cities.
Geneva will have nine daily TGV runs to Paris instead of the current seven, making the trip in 3 hours 5 minutes, thanks to higher speeds for the new trains. Zurich to Paris will be cut by more than a half hour, with the trip taking 4 hours 3 minutes.
The new trains are being purchased by Lyria, the joint-venture between the Swiss and French rail companies. Lyria in 2010 saw its earnings rise by 17 percent to CHF340 million. The company carried 40 million passengers, some 40 percent of them on international trains.
Basel to Paris will also become faster, just over three hours, which is expected to give airlines serious competition for this run.
Mossy fiber–Purkinje cell contacts in the developing mouse cerebellum (source: PLoS Biology journal)
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Scientists have known for some time that the developing brain “learns” from its mistakes, but a research team at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel have now used advanced microscopy techniques to document the process.
Their findings were published 8 February in PLoS Biology and could have important implications for autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and other disorders that often involve motor problems.
Their work shed light more generally on the way neuronal networks, which lie behind brain functions, develop.
Peter Scheiffele’s research team in Basel, working with researchers in New York and Japan, used the techniques to study the cerebellum, a part of the brain that handles fine motor movements and emotional processing.
“Brain functions rely on highly selective neuronal networks which are assembled during development,” writes Scheiffele. “Network assembly involves targeted neuronal growth followed by recognition of the appropriate target cells and selective synapse formation.”
Through a process of elimination of inappropriate targets the brain improves its strategy during pre-natal and post-natal growth.
“How neuronal processes select their appropriate target cells from an array of interaction partners is poorly understood,” the author notes, and their study has focused on tracking this process.
He writes that in the young brain “we find that developing mossy fibers [neurons send out these fibers, called axons, to different parts of the brain] establish synaptic contacts rather promiscuously,” as they reach out to make good connections, but that “the specificity of the synaptic connections in the ponto-cerebellar circuit emerges through extensive elimination of transient synapses.”
The study is significant, according to Science Daily, in part because “Dr Scheiffele’s group has discovered that a protein traditionally associated with bone development is responsible for correcting errors while neurons connect to their correct partners in the cerebellum.” The protein, Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), was not previously known to have a functional in stabilizing the neuronal network but the group has shown it to eliminate unwanted connections within a week, when develop is normal.
Ed. note: Science Daily’s report on the newly published research provides an accessible layman’s explanation of the work.
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Police seek information on father Matthias Schepp's whereabouts from 1-3 February
Lausanne / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Matthias Schepp, the dead father of Alessia and Livia Schepp, twins who have been missing since Sunday 30 January from their hometown of St Sulpice, near Lausanne, was seen in Corsica Tuesday morning 31 January, Vaud police have confirmed. New elements turned up by police in Marseille, France confirm that the father, who committed suicide near Bari, Italy late last Thursday, took the late Monday overnight ferry to the island.
There is no evidence yet whether or not he had the six-year-old twins with him.
Police have been able to pin down his movements in Switzerland more clearly: he was seen with the girls in Saint Sulpice at 13:30 Sunday 30 January, and he was in Morges at 15:50, cell phone records show. He then drove to Geneva and on to Annecy, crossing the border into France at 18:15 Sunday.
The police also confirmed that the girls’ mother has received several packets of money, in €50 bills, mailed by her estranged husband, but the total received to date is €4,400, slightly less than the amount mentioned earlier today by the girls’ uncle.
The postal stamps show they were mailed from Bari, Italy.
Vaud police say they are not yet in a position to discuss other information or details in their possession, in order not to prejudice the investigation.
Alessia and Livia continue to be the focus of a large, three-country manhunt. Police are particularly anxious to have information on the father’s whereabouts between Tuesday morning 1 February, when he was seen in Corsica, and noon Thursday 3 February, when he was near Naples.
Police in canton Vaud, who have been leading an intensive three-country search for the girls, held a press conference Tuesday evening 8 February.
Police number if you have information +41 21 644 82 31, or go to the nearest police station
Update 5, 12:00 6 February / Lausanne and Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two six-year-olds, Alessia and Livia, remain missing Saturday morning 5 February, and police are asking the public for any news that might help find them, following their father’s suicide shortly before midnight Thursday 3 February. The girls are perfectly trilingual in French, Italian and Swiss-German, Vaud police told GenevaLunch. The family is Swiss: correction – police now say that although the father was born in Canada he did not hold Canadian citizenship.
Read more…
Three out of five Swiss residences are single-family homes
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has counted the country’s homes, officially, for the first time. The new Federal Register of Buildings and Dwellings statistics show that at the end of December 2009 the number of buildings with residential use in Switzerland was 1,623,000 with a total of 4,008,400 dwellings.
Switzerland has a population of 7.4 million, giving it on average 1.85 persons per dwelling.
More houses than apartments, and homes are getting larger
Three out of five dwellings are individual homes, surprisingly almost as many in urban areas, 57 percent, as in rural, 59 percent. But houses supply only 25 percent of lodgings. Three- and four-room apartments account for 53 percent of all residential living space.
The five largest cities vary, with Zurich having not quite twice as many individual houses as apartments, while Geneva has three times as many houses.
Source: Swiss Federal Register of Buildings and Dwellings, 2009 figures. Left to right: total buildings, total housing, individual homes, multi-dwelling housing
The study does not look at the number of square metres of dwellings but in terms of the number of rooms, apartments have been getting larger.
More than 60 percent of apartments built after 1990 have four or five rooms, with a steady fall in the number of three-room apartments. Geneva is the only city to have more five- and six-room apartments (combined) figure than four-room ones.
Number of dwellings, by the number of rooms, Swiss-wide, 2009 (source: Federal Statistical Office)
The figures for the first housing tally are limited, based on figures gathered on the basis of the 2000 census, but the register will be expanded in coming years.
It is part of the new federal approach to gathering annual statistics for a more comprehensive government data base in the place of a census every 10 years.
Easyjet and the Saleve near Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Easyjet, which easily leads the pack at Geneva’s Cointrin Airport, where it has 36 percent of the traffic, saw the number of its passengers flying of out Switzerland rise by 13.7 percent in 2010.
The company had 4.3m departures from Geneva and 1.9m from Basel, where it accounts for 45 percent of the airport’s traffic.
Numbers were up despite numerous delays, some but not all of which were due to natural disasters such as heavy snow and volcanic ash.
