LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The good thing about being a police dog is that your job is to play, all the time. And you spend hours learning how to do it well, with your buddy, whom others call your “handler”.
“They don’t work, they play. That’s what dogs do, and police dogs are no different,” Jean-Christophe Sauteral, press officer for Vaud Police told GenevaLunch during a demonstration of police dog training Wednesday 25 April high in the Jura hills near Sainte-Croix.
Police from four countries come together once a year in this area for a week of intensive specialty training for dog handlers and their animals.
The dogs play hard, and their level of discipline is striking.
Each country’s police dog teams have particular skills that they share with the others, says Sauterel. They also simply get to know each other and work together, useful because the police forces call on each other when highly specialized teams are needed.
The Austrian police dog teams are particularly known for their searches for bodies and tracing human blood, says Sauterel. “And the Belgians are the best at working with fires,” he adds. Paris teams have drug-search expertise.
Swiss pioneered Sokks method for training dogs with pure molecules
The Swiss are known for their dogs’ work searching pure molecules, a relatively new field called the Sokks method, where dogs are trained to search for pure molecules, for example those in drug odours, rather than the less reliable training in specific odours. With cocaine, for example, it can become contaminated with other odours and as it degrades, the odours shift. But the underlying molecules remain the same. Switzerland adopted the Sokks method in 2004. Dogs trained with it have shown a 28 percent increase in successful detection, according to Vaud Police.
Canton Vaud has 13 dog handlers, with 5 of them and their dogs on rotating duty, 24 hours a day. The dog teams are used in Vaud on average 5-6 times a day and throughout Switzerland about 40 times a day. The handlers use down time to continue their dogs’ training.
Once a week the dogs and their trainers meet for a day of joint exercises and continuing education for the handlers.
The dogs belong to the police force, but the handlers pick out their own dogs at the kennels when they are two and a half months old, and the dogs are then assigned to the families where they spend the rest of their lives. They train until they are two years old before they are put on duty with their handlers, but they join the police patrols as early as possible, to get them used to unusual situations and noise, for example in stations, markets, restaurants.
Vaud Police’s dog unit (K9) has one Labrador, but the rest are German or Belgian shepherds (Malinois). They are all trained to perform all police dog tasks: tracking, looking for lost objects, defending their masters, searching for explosives, and looking for drugs, for example. One dog has been trained specially to work with special intervention forces, learning to remain completely calm, quiet and still for hours, but ready to instantly move into attack mode.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The possibility that the bus crash that killed 28 and injured 24 people in Sierre, Valais was caused by the driver handling a DVD has been ruled out by the chief investigator, Olivier Elsig. He and a team of investigators returned Friday 30 March to Switzerland from Belgium after interviewing several of the Belgian and Dutch children who were injured. They also examined closely a bus identical to the one that crashed. The DVD compartment was behind the driver and would have required a set of maneuvers that rule out this possibility.
The bus is still being examined to see if there were technical problems.
CHUV university hospitals in Lausanne
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The three girls at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne who have been in critical condition since the bus crash in Sierre a week ago are now out of danger, doctors said Tuesday 20 March. The hospital says in a statement that it will now be in touch with Belgian authorities about repatriating the girls in the near future.
One girl came out of her induced coma late last week and the two others have now also come out of their comas and have been able to speak to their parents. The two who suffered concussions and multiple fractures are showing “favourable signs” of neurological recovery and the girl who suffered spinal injuries is showing some movement in her toes and fingers, a positive sign, says the hospital.
All three, it says, are now at the start of a long rehabilitation road.
The other injured children from the 13 March bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre were all flown back to Belgium by the weekend.
The funerals of the children who died will be held Thursday. A contingent of Swiss officials from the police, medical and fire departments as well as city and cantonal officials, all of whom were heavily involved in the rescue operations, are flying to Belgium today to accompany the families for the next two days.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The cause of the bus crash that killed 28 people 13 March in Sierre, and injured 24 others, was most likely human error or a technical problem, the public prosecutor in charge of the case insists, despite media stories making the rounds that the driver may have been inserting a DVD or have been distracted by a teacher who brought the DVD to the front of the bus, information the chief investigator denies.
Two parents of children who were injured have reportedly told media that the children say a one of the teachers had gone to the front of the bus to hand the DVD to the driver.
A team of investigators that includes a specialist in interviewing children in police cases will be traveling from Switzerland to Belgium next week to interview the children as part of the effort to understand what went wrong.
Olivier Elsig, who is heading the investigation, says that while recovering children have said they saw the menu for a movie come up on the screen shortly before the crash, there is no evidence nor does he have any reports that someone had moved to the front of the bus. Film footage from the tunnel shortly before the crash shows all the adults seated at the front of the bus.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, but Elsig Friday 16 March issued a statement making a number of points:
Technical investigations
- Investigators are completing the mapping of the scene and analyzing recovered traces of the accident
- Video footage have made it possible to follow the path of the bus: they exclude an initial crash on the left side of the tunnel as well as the involvement of another vehicle
- Several documents about the buses and their drivers have been received in Valais and are being reviewed
- Tachygraph disk scanning will allow investigators to determine the precise speed of the bus; the first images appear to show the bus going under the speed limit, which is 100kph in the tunnel
- The technical check of the bus is underway; experts are being selected who will ultimately determine if the vehicle had any defects.
Interviews
- People who were driving near the bus before the accident, and who contacted police, are still being interviewed
- A dozen of the children who were injured have been interviewed and no information has turned up that would make it possible to determine the causes(s) of the accident: this includes the theory of a moment of inattention while linked to a DVD being inserted – none of the witnesses saw the driver making such moves.
The autopsy
Partial autopsy results (further analyses are being done) show that:
- it appears the driver died from trauma injuries
- no presence of alcohol was found in his system
- no pre-existing pathology or other element has turned up to encourage the idea he may have had a sudden health problem.
Causes of the accident
Two theories remain:
- a technical cause linked to a vehicle defect
- human cause as a result of error or a moment’s inattention.
Girl at Chuv out of coma, but all three there considered still “in danger”
A Belgian armed forces plane refuels in Sion, at the foot of the mountains; smaller Rega air ambulances gathered 12 of the patients and flew them home to Belgium Friday during the day.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – In an extraordinary development Friday, all but four of the children injured in the bus crash Tuesday 13 March in a Sierre autoroute tunnel were flown back home Friday: 8 of the less injured left the hospital and were flown home Thursday and during the day Friday another 12 were taken home by Switzerland’s Rega emergency air service.
Six flights were required Friday, each lasting about an hour from Sion to Brussels, to fly home the 12 who are recovering from more serious injuries, all of them now in stable condition. Three of the Rega air ambulances (Challenger C-604 airplanes) handled the flights and doctors from the Rega organization spent Thursday night at the Sion hospital preparing the patients and briefing staff.
The children’s families accompanied them home in the air ambulances.
The skies and roads around Sion were busy Friday with numerous ambulances, helicopters and air ambulances moving patients, their families, medical teams and equipment.
Four others will need more time; three not yet out of danger
The child taken to hospital in Bern is stable and out of danger, but the three at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne are still considered to be “in danger” the Valais Hospital spokesperson said late Friday. One of the three, a girl, came out of her induced coma Thursday and is fully conscious, according to a statement from the hospital in Lausanne, but all three suffered multiple fractures and comas were induced to deal with neurological damage. The girl has spinal injuries as well.
Police officers carry the coffin of one of the 28 victims of Sierre's coach crash to load it into a Belgian military cargo aircraft at Sion airport, western Switzerland, Friday, March 16, 2012. Twenty-eight people, including 22 children, returning to Belgium from a skiing holiday died in a bus accident inside a tunnel in Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais. (©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – (#Belgium#Sierre bus crash) The bodies of the 28 people who died Tuesday 13 March in a bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais, were flown out of the small Sion airport Friday morning at 09:00.
The small white caskets contrasted sharply with the vivid blue skies and white peaks above as they were carried to two planes brought to Switzerland by the Belgian armed services.
A police honour guard escorted them and police officers, all of whom have been involved in the massive transport, security, identification, investigation and cleanup tasks following the accident, carried them to the planes.
Several of the officers were clearly trying to hold back tears.
Belgium mourns
Belgium is officially in mourning today, as the victims, 22 of the 28 children, were flown home.
Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is in Belgium today for meetings with European Union leaders.
In Sion and Sierre, police stood on several corners as ambulances discreetly moved patients between hospitals, with eight of the children taken to the Sion airport to fly home in a third plane provided by Belgium.
The tunnel in Sierre, in the direction of Martigny-Lausanne, remains closed for now.
(Click on images to view larger)
Police carrying coffin to the plane at Sion airport, for the return flight to Belgium (©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire)
Photos from Sion, Switzerland in canton Valais Friday morning 16 March 2012
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Mair |
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |
Swiss government to review safety of tunnel pullover emergency areas
Holy Cross Church in Sierre was filled to overflowing as the town's citizens came for special mass Thursday night, for those who died or who have been hurt
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Eight of the children injured in the 13 March bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais, that killed 28 people are heading home in specially-equipped planes, police said in a statement issued Thursday evening.
They were discreetly taken to say goodbye to their friends who remain hospitalized in Sion until they are able to travel. Three Belgian armed forces planes were given a special dispensation to land at the airport in Sion in order to pick up the children and their families.
Dr Jean-Pierre Desfarzes, who has headed the emergency medical team dealing with the accident, says that the next 48 hours will be crucial for the most seriously injured, who may suffer long-term neurological and “functional” damage due to the severity of their injuries.
Four of the eight who are heading home have been in the hospital in Visp and four in Sion. Another 10 remain in the Sion hospital, but all have now been moved out of intensive care. The three in Lausanne at the Chuv remain in critical condition and one child flown to Bern suffered multiple fractures and a severe concussion.
“In the hours following the accident we were pessimistic,” Desfarzes told GenevaLunch, “but quite a few are recovering well.”
Dr Desfarzes says that despite the small size of the towns in the area, “Valais has an amazing capacity to absorb” a large number of injured people. The Valais Hospital trauma centre status means that 16 medical disciplines must be on call 24 hours a day. During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday some 150 medical workers were part of the emergency trauma team. Valais Hospital is a collection of nine medical treatment sites throughout the canton.
Fifty operations were carried out on 16 patients, mainly in Sion, which has served as the planning and main treatment centre this week.
Valais Police Chief Christophe Varone briefs the media at the site of the crash Thursday, after the families visited it
The staff included dozens of nurses and operating room assistants, radiology technicians, 10 surgeons and 10 emergency medicine doctors, anesthetists, intensive care specialist physicians, radiologists, pediatricians and pediatric surgeons.
The small city of Sion was able to handle such a heavy burden because of good coordination, say police: Visp, Martigny and Sierre hospitals were able to promptly take in those with lesser injuries and provide them with a very high level of care.
Desfarzes told GenevaLunch that he was proud of the team’s preparedness, which involved quickly bringing together a large number of people who were off-duty or on vacation.
Valais police and the hospitals will not be allowing interviews with any of the children or their families in order to protect their privacy, they told media.
Thursday, late afternoon, more than 250 journalists were taken to visit the site of the crash, the cause of which remains unclear for now. The federal highway department told news agency ats earlier in the day that it is reviewing the “angled” (with corners) emergency areas that are the norm throughout Switzerland.
Media from around the world have streamed into Sierre; today they were taken by police to visit the tunnel crash site before it re-opens
Journalists were taken to the site of the crash Thursday evening, after families of the victims had visited and left flowers and messages, including a chalk heart, on the wall that the bus hit head-on
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – All 28 people who died in a bus crash Tuesday 13 March in Sierre have now been identified, say police. The formal identifications are necessary in order for police to release the remains to families.
The bodies will now be flown back to Belgium Friday on the two airplanes made available by the Belgian army, according to canton Valais police.
Police in Sierre earlier took about 250 journalists Monday evening to the closed Geronde Tunnel where the bus crashed Tuesday 13 March.
One of the distressing bits of news as part of their update was that only 19 of the 28 bodies had been identified.
Three hours later, police said that backup personnel and “exceptional means” made available for the identifications had allowed the process to be speeded up so that all the bodies could be identified in less than 48 hours.
Three of the problems the investigators ran into were the lack of a clear list for the occupants of the bus, since the group had three buses and one list of names, but also the fact that some of those who died in the violent crash were badly “mutilated”, making identification difficult, and too few witnesses given the number of deaths and serious injuries.
The peaks above St Luc, where the children stayed, 15 March 2012: the village is nestled in the wooded area seen here, below some of Switzerland's most beautiful peaks. Famed hikers' Weisshorn hotel is visible centre-left, above the tree line
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two airplanes provided by the Belgian government are taking home the bodies of the victims of Tuesday night’s bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre but as of Wednesday not all of them have been formally identified and a forensic laboratory in Lausanne is taking on extra help to speed up the process as much as possible.
Families are visiting the morgue Thursday to identify the bodies.
Late Wednesday night the last two unidentified injured persons were identified, ending some of the uncertainty which faced families.
Investigators say an autopsy will be carried out on the driver of the bus.
The blog the group kept while on their ski trip to St Luc in the Val d’Anniviers, written by Frank Van Kerckhowe, a teacher in his 40s, with comments from the students and messages home, serves for many families as the last word from the children.
Sierre is holding a service at the Holy Cross church Thursday evening for local people to be able to pay their respects.
Updates on the crash victims, injured, from outside Switzerland
The bus drove the 21km down to Sierre via the twisting Val d'Anniviers road, visible here in the centre, lower half of the photo, then entered the tunnel via the autoroute access road seen bottom left here. The Geronde tunnel, where the bus crashed, is behind the Geronde hill, covered in vineyards, bottom centre of the photo (photo, Ellen Wallace, 15.03.12)
World media have focused on the Sierre bus crash that killed 28, including 22 children, Tuesday night 13 March, and stories are now beginning to surface about who the families are, and the last days of the children at a Swiss ski camp. We’ll regularly update this list of links to other sites that we think our readers will want to see; note that some are not in English:
Alexander en Luca overleven achter in de bus, DeMorgen, Belgium, about 11-year-old Alexander, at the back of the bus, who survived 15.03.12 (Dutch)
“Kinderen andere schoolbus hoorden nieuws op de radio”, Nieuwsblad, Belgium: children on one of the other buses, from Sint-Victorschool Beersel, heard the news on their radios while on the bus, 15.03.12 (Dutch)
SA doc’s child survives Swiss bus crash, News 24 in South Africa about the one child taken to hospital in Bern, 15.03.12
Belgium prepares to fly home bus crash victims, swissinfo, 15.03.12
Video interview with the first witness, who alerted emergency services, Swiss television RTS, 14.03.12 (in French)
Swiss, Belgian heads of state in Sion to try to understand crash, help families
World media flock to small city in mid-Alps to register the shock
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Mid-March is the time when Sierre, known as Switzerland’s sunshine city, steps out of its winter clothes. Spring is in the air despite the still snowy peaks surrounding this Alpine town. Read more…
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Belgium has a new prime minister, Elio Di Rupo, a francophone socialist, after 540 days of dispute over the country’s leadership. Di Rupo was appointed by King Albert II Monday and his new government was sworn in Tuesday 6 December. EurActiv reports that “the new team retains many of the ministers from the caretaker government of acting Prime Minister Yves Leterme, albeit in different roles.”
Later this week he will attend his first European Summit.
Update 18:05 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland in 2010 exported CHF640.5 million in “war materials” to 69 countries, down 12 percent from the previous year (CHF727.7m), compared to overall Swiss export, which rose by 8 percent, Bern announced Tuesday 22 February.
Arms exports accounted last year for less than half a percent of the country’s exports, 0.32 percent but with governments in several Arab nations using arms against their own citizens, observers in Switzerland are likely to look more closely this year at the details of Swiss arms exports.
Bern is putting the accent on transparency, pointing out that it remains high on the annual barometer for transparency established by the Small Arms Survey, which is attached to Geneva’s Graduate Institute. Small arms and light weapons account for only about CHF24 million of the total CHF640.5m arms exported by Switzerland last year, however. They fall under legislation covering arms and war materials.
Change in Swiss arms exports, 1983-2010 (source, Seco)
Top, Swiss arms exports in francs. Bottom, Swiss arms exports as a percentage of all exports. Source: Seco (click on image to view larger)
Air defense system sold to Saudi Arabia in 2006 covered 2010 delivery
One of the largest arms exports in 2010 was to Saudi Arabia, a partial delivery of an air defense system worth CHF132.6, which Bern is quick to point out was authorized in 2006.
Belgium will have been without a government one complete year by the end of March, if action is not taken soon. Sunday 23 January the country’s citizens took to the streets of the capital Brussels, to show their unhappiness. Some 30,000-50,000 people took part in the “Shame!” march but it’s not yet clear, or at least visible, if an initiative by a popular actor will have the same success. He is calling for men not to shave until a new government has formed.
The current impasse owes much to the tensions between political parties over the issue of unity between the mainly French-speaking southern part of the country and Dutch-speaking northern Belgium. The country has been run by a caretaker government for 200 days.
More snow!
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Christmas snow has begun to fall steadily, and up to 10cm are expected on the plain, with 20cm at higher altitudes, but early afternoon 24 December showed relatively few signs of the winter weather snarls neighbouring France and Germany are experiencing. Geneva’s Cointrin Airport recommends that travellers arrive at least two hours before departure for all flights, given that up to 56,000 passengers are expected on Sunday, with traffic building up from the 20,000 travellers handled by the airport on a normal day.
Flights, trains and road traffic in France are all snarled by fresh snow on Christmas Eve day, throughout the country, with repercussions in neighbouring countries. Flights from Paris to Switzerland in the early afternoon were cancelled, although some later flights are still displayed as operating. Train stations are expected to handle some two million people over the Christmas weekend, with 800,000 Friday 24 December alone. Areas along the eastern borders with Germany and Switzerland as well as mountain regions further south are on orange alert for icy, snowy roads. Traffic at noon Friday was disrupted particularly in the Calais area and Charles-de-Gaulles Roissy
German train service was disrupted between Berlin and Hannover for several hours late Thursday when lines were iced over, stopping five intercity trains for five hours. Rail delays are expected to continue throughout Friday. Germany has also seen several highway accidents due to ice, with North Rhine Westphalia recording 1,734 accidents in 24 hours, according to The Local, Germany. A 24km tailback was formed, heading into Munich, after a spectacular pileup that involved 51 vehicles on the A9 motorway.
Belgium is also experiencing traffic problems due to snow, with flights from Brussels airport delayed and in some cases cancelled.
Roads in the UK are mostly cleared, according to the Guardian, allowing motorists a chance to get away for Chistmas, but it points to a reminder from the Automobile Association that stopping takes 10 times longer on icy, snowy roads than under normal conditions, so leave plenty of space between cars.
Links to other sites: Geneva Airport departures and arrivals, Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), The Local (Ger), TSR (Fre)
Police in Belgium raided offices of the Catholic Church Thursday, sparking a storm of protest. “The Church’s headquarters, the Palace of the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, was sealed off, while officers searched for related material. Bishops meeting there were barred from leaving the premises or telephoning outside for several hours,” reports the BBC. Several other offices were included in the raid, part of continuing investigations into sexual abuse and pedophile crimes by Church clergy. The Bishops Conference, which is conducting its own investigation, was a target, and spokesperson Eric de Beukelaer protested afterwards that its work was compromised by the raid, given the confidential nature of some of the information given it by victims.
Roger Vangheluwe, the bishop of Bruges, resigned in March after saying he had sexually abused a boy 20 years earlier.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, New York Times
Belgium could end up with as many as eight parties in a coalition government, after the NVA Flemish Separatist party appears to have won at least 27 of 150 seats in parliament, 30 percent of the vote, as ballot counting draws to a close. The strong result gives the party more seats than any other, but outspoken NVA leader Bart de Wever looks likely to have to tone down his rhetoric to participate in a coalition government of several parties.
A court in Belgium will rule on a case brought by a Congolese man to ban sales in the country of the 1920s book by cartoonist Hergé, Tintin in the Congo. The book has long been criticized for its racist images and dialogue, and even the cartoonist referred to it years later as “a youthful sin which reflected the prejudices of the time”, according to the BBC. The UK’s Commission for Racial Equality at one point asked for the book to be banned, but it is now often sold in Britain with a wrapper saying the contents may be offensive.
Yves LeTerme, Belgium’s prime minister, has handed his resignation to King Albert after the Flemish liberal Party, VLD, withdrew from LeTerme’s coalition government in a long-running dispute about the rights of French-speakers in Dutch-speaking areas. The resignation, which has reportedly not yet been accepted by the king, follows an emergency cabinet meeting Thursday evening.
France to follow suit
Update 23 April 10:00 The Belgian parliament was to vote Thurday 22 April on a ban on clothing that does not allow the wearer to be fully identified. If approved, Belgium would become the first European country to ban full-face veils such as the niqab and the burqa in public places. The vote was set aside, however, when the prime minister resigned after a key member of his coalition government pulled out.
Although the measure is supported by the parliament, critics say the ban is an attack on human and civil rights. If approved, the ban would become law in July 2010.
The vote comes a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered legislation to prohibit such clothing in public spaces in France. Sarkozy told a cabinet meeting 21 April that the veil “hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society.”
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera English, BBC Video
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Eurostar will not be running trains in or out of Brussels, Belgium for a second day, following the train crash near Brussels Monday 15 February that killed 18 people. Passengers with tickets are asked to exchange them for a later date or they can ask for a refund. Paris trains are operating normally and Lille service is suffering some delays. Contact: Eurostar.
Details are still coming in of a rush-hour commuter train crash outside Brussels Monday morning 15 February: at least 20 people have died, according to the mayor of Halle, 15 km southwest of Brussels. A large number of cars are over-turned and spilling off the tracks, TV footage shows. One witness said one of the trains did not brake at all, but the cause of the crash is not yet known. Service in and out of Brussels by rail is seriously disrupted, with power lines reportedly affected by the collision.
Links to other sites: AFP, France2 (Fre) TV, La Libre Belgique (Fre) with live coverage, NPR
Hero Rats learn sociability at a young age (photo: ©2009 Apopo)
Hero Rat (photo: ©2009 Apopo)
Ed. note: GenevaLunch was on the ground this week in Cartagena, Colombia where the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining joined the Colombian Government in welcoming heads of state for the Summit on a Mine-Free World
GenevaLunch background stories
by Jared Bloch
Cartagena, Colombia (GenevaLunch) - The Apopo organization was among the myriad governments and NGOs on hand to review progress made in the past four years in implementing the Ottawa Convention to ban use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines. Apopo is notable for its innovative use of rats in the field of mine detection.
Bart Weetjens, Apopo founder and conference delegate, told GenevaLunch that rats are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to rid the world of the risks posed by anti-personnel land mines. Weetjens is a product design engineer by training, and a Buddhist monk. He founded Apopo 12 years ago in response to the need for accessible, low technology innovations for humanitarian demining.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Brussels, Belgium Friday, where she has traveled to explain the new US policy on Afghanistan to European leaders. She is expected to seek support from fellow Nato members. She told reporters on her plane en route to Brussels that in intensive talks with other foreign ministers this week she received strong words of support. Clinton says she expects announcements to be made in the next few days of additional troops sent by other governments, although she concedes that for some, the timing is politically delicate.
Links to other sites: BBC, New York Times, Reuters/Yahoo, Times, UK
Rom Houben, a 46 year-old Belgian man who was diagnosed as being in a coma after a car accident in 1983, has been discovered to have normal brain functions after a scan was performed in 2006. In the beginning, “I cried out, but nothing came out”, he says. The day his brain was discovered to be intact was like “being born again.” He says he eventually learned to live with the opinion that others had of him. His mother has said that she always believed her son could communicate.
Houben, though paralyzed, now communicates with a specially adapted computer keyboard, and is writing a book on his experiences.
(Reuters video) The European Union has two new leaders, in posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, which goes into effect 1 December 2009 following final approval by Ireland and the Czech Republic. Herman van Rompuy, Belgian prime minister, was named President of the European Council, a two-and-a-half year job. He was elected by a majority vote by the 27 members states. A key part of his job is to chair meetings of the European Commission. Catherine Ashton was made EU high representative for foreign affairs. She has been the EU’s trade commissioner for the past year.
The election of the pair, both of whom have relatively low profiles in international affairs, has been praised by the US, France and Germany but those who were hoping to see the first European president play a strong role are expressing disappointment. Turkey’s leaders are unhappy with Rompuy, who resisted Turkish membership and the UK media reaction has been more puzzled than enthusiastic.
Links to other sites: BBC, Die Welt (Ger), Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), Le Temps (Fre), Times, UK
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - Kimi Raikkönen drove his Ferrari to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix after a pile-up on the first lap knocked four cars out of the race, including last year’s champion Lewis Hamilton and this season’s leader, Jenson Button.
Alrosa, a giant Russian diamond mining company in trouble because of the lack of demand in the world’s gem industry, is to receive help worth $1 billion to allow it to service debts totaling $3.6b. The help is in the form of purchases of rough diamonds from the State Precious Metals and Gems Repository, Gokhran. Alrosa is based in Sakha (Yakutia), and produces almost 20 percent of the world’s gems and almost all of Russia’s production of rough diamonds. Gokhran sells diamonds to the US, Belgium, and Israel. The announcement came as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Mirny, Sakh Republic, which is home to the company’s largest mine. A week previously, Alrosa announced that it was selling oil and gas assets for $600 million. Moscow Times, Reuters
A 61-year-old pilot died of natural causes during a Continental Airlines flight from Brussels, Belgium to Newark, New Jersey, USA. The plane commands were taken over by two other pilots on board and it has landed safely in Newark. It was carrying 247 passengers. Yahoo News
Morges tulip festival
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Mother’s day in Switzerland is coming up on Sunday 10 May. Many special activities will be taking place over the weekend that could be ideal for celebrating. The CGN lake boats company offers a special Mother’s day lunchtime cruise on Lake Geneva where mothers are the guests of honour. The final day of the Morges Tulip festival also falls on 10 May.
Russian government officials revoked the diplomatic accreditation of two Canadian diplomats working in Nato’s Moscow office. This action was in response to the dismissal of two Russian envoys working in Nato’s headquarters in Brussels. The diplomatic quarrel stems from Nato’s military exercises in Georgia that the Russians see as a provocation, according to a BBC report.
