International sports, football
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – England walked away from Basel with the first European Cup qualifying match securely in its pocket after defeating a Swiss team that really only rallied late in the second half. England was in control for most of the game, although Switzerland’s game was strong enough to make England work, particularly after injuries began to take a toll.
The score remained 0-1 in England’s favour until well into the second half, when the Swiss scored their only point. England’s Darren Bent scored his first international goal and sealed Switzerland’s fate in the 88th minute of the game.
England and Montenegro each now have 6 points in the 2012 UEFA Euro Cup qualifying matches, after Montenegro defeated Bulgaria 7 September.
Switzerland faces Montenegro in early October and if it loses that match, it is out of the cup.
Links to other sites: Daily Mail, Guardian, Le Matin (Fre)
Switzerland frees funds for joint projects as part of bilateral agreements
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s ruling Federal Council agreed to sign framework bilateral agreements with Bulgaria and Roumania Wednesday 23 June. The immediate impact of the decision will be to free funds for joint projects, CHF181 million for Bulgaria and CHF76m for Roumania, part of Switzerland’s contribution to the European Union’s newest countries to help redress the balance between rich and poorer EU nations. The projects will be selected and undertaken at the end of 2010.
Bulgaria may opt out of the Russian pipeline that will carry crude oil to Greece, saying people living along the Black Sea don’t want it and fear that the project is not environmentally sound, reports the Moscow Times. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov made the announcement after a meeting with European Union officials, but other members of the government hastened to point out that Sofia had not officially decided not to participate. The government press office later said Borisov would wait for an environmental assessment of the 300 km project.
Links to other sites: Novinite, Bulgaria, Radio Free Europe
Safe from betting, at this stage
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several Swiss football clubs Monday 23 November announced internal investigations into match-fixing involving their players following revelations in Germany 19 November that 32 games with suspicious outcomes were being investigated there. Seventeen people reportedly were arrested in Germany and, according to German media Bild, over €1 million seized in cash and property.
Swiss team FC Thun suspended its Senegalese star striker, Omar Fayé, after it was announced that the police had spoken to him “as a witness.” FC Gossau announced Tuesday 24 November it had suspended a player, as well. Two people were taken into custody last week in connection with the scandal.
Twenty-two Swiss Challenge League games and six Test matches involving Swiss teams, including FC Thun, Gossau, Yverdon and Sion, are under investigation. As an example, both Bern’s Young Boys and Aarau played Bulgaria’s first division team Lokomotiv Mezdra which lost 0:5 in both cases, 13 and 17 November, reports Swiss-German paper Tagesanzeiger 24 November.
Irina Bokova, a diplomat from Bulgaria, has been named director-general of Unesco, the first woman to hold the post. She is currently Bulgaria’s ambassador to France and Monaco. Bokova was selected by Unesco’s executive board over Egypt’s culture minister, Farouk Hosny, after five rounds of ballots in September 2009. The organization’s general conference voted to confirm her appointment Thursday evening 15 October. She studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia and the University of Maryland and Harvard in the US, and she is fluent in five languages. Libya, just days before the election, had threatened to boycott Unesco if she were elected, because of the case of Bulgarian nurses and a doctor who found guilty in Libya of intentionally infecting children with HIV/Aids.
Links to other sites: Bokova’s personal web page, Sofia Echo, Unesco, Xinhua
Updated 22:20 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland went to the polls Sunday and voted an overwhelming yes to a federal initiative to extend indefinitely the country’s agreement with the European Union (EU) on the free movement of labour. In a vote that some media are calling a surprise (Le Temps, Fre), Zurich voters have abolished flat fee taxes for wealthy foreigners. According to swissinfo, 137 foreigners currently have agreements with the canton to pay a set fee instead of being taxed at normal rates.
