Yves Rossier will lead the federal Department of Foreign Affairs, replacing Maurer
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Roberto Balzaretti was named Switzerland’s ambassador and head of the Swiss Mission to the European Union, based in Brussels, Wednesday 11 January.
His EU counterpart, Richard Jones (British), presented his credentials to Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf as part of the annual new year diplomatic presentations.
A key appointment was announced Wednesday: Yves Rossier, 51, is the new State Secretary in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), succeeding Peter Maurer, who has taken on the job of president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva.
Rossier began his career in the Department of Foreign Affairs but he has since worked in several government offices, holding varied positions, the most recent of which has been as director of the Federal Office of Social Security in the Department of Home Affairs.
Tourists at the Jungfrau, August 2011 - fewer of them thanks to the strong Swiss franc
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – The number of overnight stays in Switzerland fell by 6.3 percent in August, compared to a year earlier, with the number of foreign visitors’ overnight stays falling by 9.4 percent.
The continuing strength of the Swiss franc finally showed up in tourism statistics in August, after the industry appeared to hold its own for several months, despite unfavorable exchange rates. Foreigners had 2.2 million overnight stays, down by 229,000.
German, French, Belgian and UK tourists all came in smaller numbers, with drops of more than 10 percent compared to a year earlier, most likely thanks in large part to the exchange rate, notes the federal Statistical Office. US visitors were also down by more than 10 percent.
Asians provided a buffer, with Chinese tourists continuing to come in larger numbers: 34,000 more overnight stays for the Chinese (minus Hong Kong) was a 65 percent increase, the greatest of any country.
An additional blow for the tourism industry was that Ramadan fell completely during the month of August in 2011, and partly as a result overnight stays from visitors from Gulf countries was down by 65 percent.
Tourists meet the local cows, hiking down from the Jungfraujoch
BERN, SWITZERLAND – July 2011 was not the disaster for Swiss tourism that some people expected, given the high Swiss franc, but European visitors’ overnight stays were down by 3.5 percent compared to July 2010, with foreigners’ overnight stays down 4 percent.
Two of Switzerland’s traditionally largest groups of European visitors, Germans and the British, were down 11.6 and 10.5 percent respectively.
The Swiss Statistical Office attributes the drop to the combination of a very high franc and unusually cold, wet weather for mid-summer.
Chinese (without Hong Kong) tourists, while still a small part of the overall number, had a positive impact with a 61 percent increase, to 76,787 overnight stays. Germans had 527,612, the largest group.
For the first six months of the year, Chinese visitors’ overnight stays rose 42.5 percent, faster than Indian visitors’, which increased by more than 25 percent, and the Chinese are now not far behind Indians as a key tourist group.
A Chinese TV travel programme film crew shoots preparations for the 1 August national holiday celebrations at a chalet in Valais
Chinese most rapidly growing group of visitors
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss franc has been soaring, but tourists continue to visit Switzerland, the country’s latest tourism figures show.
The first six months of 2011 show a very slight slippage, down 0.2 percent compared to the same period in 2010, with foreign visitors’ overnight stays down 6.9 percent.
The numbers show some surprises, however.
The 7.6 percent drop in the number of overnight stays by Germans, Switzerland’s largest group of tourists, is blamed on the weakness of the euro, but overnight stays by US visitors were up 3.6 percent to more than 700,000 overnight stays despite the increasingly weak dollar.
Germany remains by far the biggest tourism client, with 2.75 million overnight stays from January to end-June, with the UK in second place with 923,000.
Swiss raclette cheese explained, 1 August 2011, to Chinese TV crew
But the number of Chinese tourists (minus Hong Kong) is growing more rapidly than any other group: 221,218 overnights during the first six months of the year, a 39 percent increase. And of the increase of 61,000 overnights, more than 20,000 were in the month of June alone.
China is now the 10th largest source of tourists, close on the heels of India 270,238 overnights during the same period.
China and India are the only non-European countries in the top 10 besides the US.
Virtually all tourism regions in Switzerland saw a slight increase in the first six months of the year, with Graubuenden and Valais as exceptions, but both are big ski destinations and the lack of snow in the latter part of the winter may have had an impact.
Tourism office officials said earlier this year that it generally takes a few months for the impact of exchange rates to show in the figures, since holiday travel is generally booked ahead.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One young man has died and a second has been rescued by an emergency team on the Aiguille de Midi in the Chamonix region of France, the Tribune de Geneve reports. The newspaper was told by Chamonix police that the two 19-year-olds were climbing the north face of the Aiguille de Midi Tuesday, when they ran into trouble with the weather. They contacted the mountain patrol and were told to stay put for a second night Wednesday, due to weather conditions.
For reasons that are unclear one of them then fell 400 metres to his death and the other contacted the French patrol service Thursday with the news. A foot patrol set out to find them but failed, due to weather and it was 02:00 Thursday before the survivor was picked up by helicopter.
Details have not been provided about where the two young men are from.
WikiLeaks and criticism of Putin appear to be behind it
Luke Harding, the correspondent in Moscow for the British newspaper, the Guardian, was deported by Russian authorities Monday 7 February, without being given an explanation, he says. The reporter returned to Moscow after two months away, but upon arriving at the airport he was “detained in a cell for 45 minutes”, according to Ria Novosti. He was then put on a plane to London and once on the plane he was given back his passport, with his Russian visa cancelled.
Ria Novosti mentions that Harding reported on WikiLeaks cables, publishing at least one that was critical of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but the information is taken virtually word for word from the Guardian‘s own report. The Russian state news agency also notes, as does the Guardian, that this is the first time since 1989 that a British journalist has been expelled.
The Guardian reports that the British Foreign Office is trying to ascertain, with its Russian counterpart, what lies behind the expulsion, but no explanation has been provided yet:
“Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, said: ‘This is clearly a very troubling development with serious implications for press freedom, and it is worrying that the Russian government should now kick out reporters of whom they disapprove. Russia’s treatment of journalists – both domestic and foreign – is a cause of great concern. We are attempting to establish further details, and are in contact with the Foreign Office.’”
A British Embassy vehicle was attacked in the Yemen capital, San’a, on Wednesday 6 October, injuring three bystanders.
The armored vehicle was hit by shrapnel from a rocket but no one inside it was hurt.
The attack comes two days after British officials had been warned that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had plans to attack embassies in San’a.
This is the second attack targeting British officials. Earlier this year a suicide bomber struck near the ambassador’s vehicle convoy as it neared the compound.
Related stories, CNN: Yemen fights al-Qaeda, BBC
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met opposition leaders in the last televised debate before the upcoming elections. Brown and his rivals discussed the state of the economy in Britain. The question today is who won the debate? According to polls released 30 April, Brown was the loser in this televised battle while David Cameron was the victor of the political debate.
Three main parties are at the forefront of the general election, set to take place on May 6.
Additional details: Channel 4 news, Associated Press, the Guardian
British sledders (photo: Vanoc 2010)
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) – British bobsledders John Jackson and Dan Money walked away, battered and bruised but otherwise all right, after their two-man bobsleigh flipped on the world’s fastest track during their first heat. Money was thrown out and Jackson was trapped inside until the bob stopped. They then hugged each other in relief. The British team is out of the race. Money later told reporters that crashes are normal. “It’s bobsleigh, not ballet.”
A Canadian team also crashed on the run.
Swiss driver Daniel Schmid withdrew from the two- and four-man bobsleigh races earlier in the week for “safety reasons” after his driver Juerg Egger crashed and was flown from Whistler to a Vancouver hospital. Schmid had replaced Swiss hopeful Beat Hefti who pulled out after crashing and suffering a concussion.
Bobsleigh is Switzerland’s strongest Olympic sport after Alpine skiing, according to Swissinfo.
Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Swissinfo, Vancouver bobsleigh
The unfolding drama of the thriller-style assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, killed 20 January at the al-Bustan hotel in Dubai, leaves a growing number of questions unanswered, and Britain is now joining the investigations. Stephen Lander, the head of Serious Organized Crime Agency (Soca) and former MI5 (British secret service) boss, has been put in charge of looking into the apparent use of British passports by the team of 11 who staged the murder. Austria and France are involved in trying to track the murderers.
It is unclear if passports were forged, stolen, or valid documents. Israeli spy agency Moussad appears to be a strong suspect as the organization behind the killing, but Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday 17 February that there is no proof of this, while not denying that Israel may have been involved. Rafi Eitan, a high-ranking Mossad official, denies any involvement by the group, according to Haaretz.
Confusion over the passports reigns, with Ireland and Britain saying they believed passports for their countries were likely forged. Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that “Men with the same names as seven of the 11 suspects whose European passport photos were distributed by Dubai this week reside in Israel, and those reached by reporters insisted their identities had been stolen and noted the pictures were not a match.
“Six of the men are Britons who immigrated to Israel. The seventh is an American Israeli, whose name Dubai said was on a German passport used by one of the assassins.” The Jerusalem Post says the Israeli immigrants were astonished to find their names on the list of suspects issued by Dubai.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, Times, UK and timeline issued by Dubai police on Channel 4 TV, Belfast
Alexandria, Virginia, USA (GenevaLunch) - Details are emerging of the case of Dr Andrew Silva, who pleaded guilty 16 February in US District Court in Virginia to “conspiring to impede the United States” and to making false statements. Silva inherited $250,000 from him mother in 1997. The money, never declared to the US tax authorities, the IRS, was in a British-owned bank in Switzerland. The money grew to $268,000 by the time he tried to take the money out in 2009 when the bank said it was closing his account, a time when a number of banks in Switzerland began to close accounts held by US citizens both outside and in Switzerland. to avoid problems with US authorities.
The US Justice Department Tuesday issued a press release on his case, noting that Silva, a nose and throat specialist and surgeon, could face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000. He was released on his own recognizance.
“We are capable of thwarting offshore banking schemes because of the increased cooperation among ICE, Postal Service, and the IRS,” says Neil MacBride, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia says in the Justice Department release. “The tax charges in this case came to light because agents caught Mr Silva structuring cash to avoid reporting requirements, and that kind of coordination is making it possible for us to discover Americans who conceal their wealth overseas and make them pay for their actions.” Structuring cash is a term that describes bundling a large amount into several smaller ones, all under $10,000, to slip them into the US to avoid detection or without having to declare the money to customs authorities.
The Justice Department points out that “United States law prohibits individuals from structuring mailings of US currency into the United States in amounts less than $10,000 if the purpose of the structuring was to evade the requirement to file a CMIR.” The CMIR form’s longer name is: FinCen Form 105, Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments, and it must be filed with the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
The government’s description of how Silva tried to get the money out of Switzerland:
A 19-year-old British backpacker, Jamie Neale of North London, has been found after 12 days in the Australian Blue Mountains, safe but dehydrated and suffering from exposure. He had gone out for a day trip, leaving behind his passport and cell phone, and when he failed to return a search was undertaken. An Australian official says the youth was “very, very lucky” to survive. BBC, The Age
(GenevaLunch) – France scored a rare but entirely justified victory over the All Blacks, their first in New Zealand since 1994. The win was built around a solid defence that took advantage of their younger opponents, combined with rapid couter-attacking in traditional French style. France soon moved into a 17-3 lead but the New Zealanders fought back to 17-17 before conceding a try from an interception by Maxine Médard that allowed the French to win 22-27.
A British ship seized in the Gulf of Aden and a Taiwanese ship taken in the Seychelles are the two latest ships seized by Somali pirates, making the number five international cargo ships in just three days. In 2008 a total of 108 ships were taken, according to the BBC.
Two-thirds of British universities are pushing for an increase in annual fees that could raise them by £4,000-20,000. Fee structures are up for government review this year. Students currently pay maximum fees of £3,500 a year. The National Union of Students argues that if fees rise to even £7,000 students will face a debt of £32,000 on graduation. Higher Education Minister David Lammy warns that “There is an important debate to be had now, which is about how we maintain the world class status of our higher education sector.”
Epalinges, Vaud (24 Heures, Fre) – Jeannie de Kaennel, the British woman whose husband was battered to death by two thieves at their home in Epalinges 29 December, talksed to 24 Heures last weekend about her plans for the future, now that police have arrested two men for the crime. She says she has no pity for them and hopes they are given a heavy sentence. For now, she has no plans to leave her home of several years, despite the memory as well as injuries she herself sustained.
