Vallée du Joux, Vaud (GenevaLunch) – Vaud police this week have put to work their new Infoprév programme of e-mail message alerts about break-ins, to local households. The programme is designed to encourage people to be on the alert and tighten security when the risk appears to be higher than usual. Police are using the system for a series of home robberies that began 10 July near Brassus, Sentier, Lieu. A first e-mail alerted people 10 July, within hours of six break-ins, and provided security recommendations.
A second was sent 14 July after a second series, with these details: the crimes appear to have been committed by groups of 2-6 men, coming into Switzerland from France, generally of Eastern European origin, driving cars with plates that are French, German, Austrian and Romanian. The robberies are carried out in the evening, for the most part. The public has been invited to look out for cars parked near the French border, particularly on little used roads, and to send police the license plate details: telephone 117.
Police say the pilot project will be evaluated in coming weeks and if it is seen to be effective it will be implemented throughout the canton, but not for some months.
Val d’Illiez, Valais, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – The French-Swiss border Portes-du-Soleil ski resort area may well have a second chance at modernizing its lifts, thanks to approval of a new vote in the village of Val d’Illiez. The collection of villages that make up the region voted, with the exception of Val d’Illiez in 2007, for a new plan that would completely overhaul the ski lift system, part of which is relatively old. The project came to a halt with the surprise, but close vote in Val d’Illiez. A petition for a new vote gathered enough signatures and the village announced it will hold the vote in August or September.
Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland (20 Minutes-sda/ats, Fre) The Vevey-based company Petrosvibri is hoping to start drilling for gas in Lake Geneva by 2010, pursuing a dream that dates back to the 1980s when studies showed that mineral deposits were likely to be found near Montreux. Exploring the reserves was technically too difficult to be financially viable at the time and the idea was abandoned. In an era of high oil prices, it has been revived. Petrosvirbri’s director Philippe Petitpierre told an ATS reporter that the company, which supplies natural gas in canton Vaud, hopes to find natural gas rather than petrol. It is currently preparing environmental impact reports. The company is reported to be investing CHF20 million in this first phase of the project.
Photo: Vevey Port, by overthemoon on flickr
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Vinea wine fair, Switzerland’s largest, has unveiled its 6-7 September programme, which features three special tasting sessions for those who want to go a step beyond sampling the 1,200 wines on offer.
Photo: vines above Vetroz, Valais in July show the great variety of grapes grown in the region.
The fair is now in its 15th year and is designed, not as a commercial venture, but as a means of introducing the public to the best of the 22,000 wine producers in Valais (some 100 participate). In addition to the three "Discover fine wines" workshops the festival organizes a guided 5km vineyard walks, a visit to the cantonal grape growing and wine museum, activities for children and a photography exhibit of images from around the world by South Korean Jan yng joon, "Wine is a natural emotion."
Discover fine wine workshops
Jean-Marc Amez-Droz of the Hess Group will guide a tasting session of some of the best wines from Napa Valley, whose producers were part of the famous "judgment of Paris" where California wines won over French ones.
Saturday 6 September, 10:30. Cost: CHF100.
A second Saturday workshop is a mouth-watering one, with top Italian wines paired with Piedmont’s finest cheeses. Among the names: grana padana, Barolo de Bruno Giacosa, Bolgheri Sassicaia
Tenuta San Guido, Amarone Classico
Bertoni and wines from Etna, Sardinia and Trentino. Tasting session led by two Italian food and wine stars, Giandomenico Negro, oenologue and master cheesemaker and owner of the
cheese house of Arbiora, with Gianni Fabrizio, oenologue and the
organizer of the Torino Salon du gout. Fabrizio is well known for his slow food movement.
Saturday 6 September, 14:30. Cost: CHF150.
The third workshop features the naturally sweet wines for which Valais is rapidly gaining an excellent reputation after winning numerous international prizes. The ConfidenCiel wines will be tasted, with comments by their producers.
Sunday 7 September 10:00-12:00. Cost: CHF50.
Ed. note: the places for Vinea’s workshops are limited and always fill up quickly, so register soon, if you’re interested.
Special guests for the weekend outdoor event are wines from St Emilion in France, Dézaley in canton Vaud and the wines of canton Ticino.
Geneva, Switzerland (TDG, Fre) – The Lake Parade in Geneva reportedly drew an estimated 200-300,000 people Saturday, down some 20% from 2007, thanks to rainy weather. Spirits remained high and the parade went on, according to the Tribune de Geneve.
Photos: © EPFL, Alain Herzog. Click on images to view larger. View EPFL’s collection of 71 superb photos of the concrete pouring!
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - EPFL, the polytechnic institute, was the scene of an unusual all-night, all-day project over the weekend, with concrete being poured for the Rolex Learning Center: 4,300m2 of it in one go, a massive undertaking by construction standards. Another 7,000m2 has already been poured since construction began in August 2007.
Photo, Ellen Wallace: stairway to heaven: the ramp for the new building, before walls are added, offers a spectacular open view of the French Alps. June 2008.
EPFL has had one of the liveliest entrances of any school in Switzerland in recent months, with the construction of the school’s new centre taking place at the main gate. It will serve as library, meeting and work space, cafeteria and more when it opens in early 2010. The unusual design of the complex, by Japanese architectural firm Sanaa, has created a strangely busy building site, with much activity but none of the usual flat slab plus walls being raised as time has gone on. Instead, a team of 50 specialists has been testing and making elaborate preparations for the one-of-a-kind sloping and waving floors.
Another 70 journeymen will join them for the next stages of the operation.
Photos below, Ellen Wallace: construction work on a sunny day in June 2008. Mesh fences and windows for peeking in have allowed glimpses of the work in progress.
St Prex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The St Prex festival will host an intriguing blend this year of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story music, rearranged by his close friend Irwin Kostal, danced with new choreography by five members of the Lausanne-based Béjart Ballet, at night on the outdoor stage of the Grande-rue in medieval St Prex’s lakefront old town.
The event, 25-26 August with music performed by pianists André Desponds and Mischa Cheung, percussionnist Thomas Dobler and contrebassiste Rätus Flisch is one of the highlights of the festival, with music and dance, 22-31 August.
Festival details
Tickets from FNAC
GenevaLunch feature on the 2007 St Prex festival
GenevaLunch photos, 2007 St Prex festival
Moods of St Prex photos by GenevaLunch editor Ellen Wallace
Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) – An unpublished study of 130 resort towns by the Swiss land development foundation, SL-FP, on the impact of melting glaciers on tourism near them, shows that most of the 130 communities studied are unprepared for their demise, according to 24 Heures. The newspaper takes a close look at the impact on the resorts around Diablerets, Vaud.
Background, in English, on Swiss tourism and glacier change, UN Environment Programme.
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch)
- This is a fun-filled weekend of great music and dance, notably in
Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux if you want to stay close to home, with
parades, festivals and more. Check out details on the GenevaLunch events page. There are several excellent events further afield, such as the Avenches festival: RSR offers suggestions (Fre).
Photos: no phones, but plenty of croissants left at 08:00 in Sierre, Valais.
Valais and Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Six hundred people at midnight in Zurich, 400 in Geneva and smaller numbers across the country at 06:30 Friday as Swisscom shops opened early: buyers turned out in force to deplete stocks. By 08:00 in Sierre, 20 people were still waiting and sales staff were saying most would have to put their names on a list to wait for the phone. Croissants offered to customers cheered up only a few of those waiting for word on whether they would get a phone. There were still iPhones available in some shops that opened later, such as Interdiscount.
Orange, the other company selling Swiss iPhones, denounced the early openings, reports RSR. Switzerland is the rare country to have more than one carrier, contrary to early reports that Swisscom would likely have exclusive rights. Since employees are not allowed by law to work at night, the Zurich Swisscom shop was able to remain open only because Swisscom top management sold the phones.
The phenomenon was international, with New Zealanders waiting in line for days to be the first in the world to have the new phone.
Those buying the phone are 73% male and 62% are under age 35, according to CNN, although it remains to be seen if these statistics hold up outside the US, with figures not yet available.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre and 24 Heures, Fre) – Gil Roman, hired as the director of the Béjart Ballet after the death of founder Maurice Béjart in December 2007, has been at the centre of tensions in the company and, according to an internal e-mail copied to 24 Heures, the dance company’s board has ordered an external audit. According to TSR, Lausanne’s city councilor with responsibility for culture, Silvia Zamora, confirms that two dancers who left sent her their complaints about the atmosphere and problems at the company. The audit will be carried out in September.
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Farming and farms in Switzerland continue to decrease.
Federal statistics released 10 July, show the number of farms dropped from 63,600 to 61,800 in the past two years. That is a twelve per cent decrease since 2000. However, the average Swiss farm is now bigger than before. One in five farms is at least 25 hectares.
The number of small organic farms, "bio", also decreased in the Confederation at a pace similar to small regular farms which are the ones quickly disappearing.
Picture, farm near Coppet
Additional news
Migros is recalling a lawn mower, EH 40 Profi Line, sold since April 2008 (price CHF329) because of a manufacturing fault.- Tourism industry unions have negotiated a 2.9% increase in salaries starting in 2009, with the lowest-paid managers in hotels and restaurants scheduled to earn CHF6,919, while seasonal workers with no apprenticeship training will start at CHD3,383. (GenevaLunch)
- Motorcyclists were particularly affected by the increase in traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Switzerland in 2007. (BFS)
- Switzerland and Russia have entered into an economic cooperation action plan for the next two years. Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard signed the deal that calls for more bilateral trade and protection of intellectual property rights. (EDA)
- Bid on rare collectors’ Euro items and help the Red Cross! The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is auctioning t-shirts and footballs autographed by Spain’s players. An autographed Ronaldo’s t-shirt is already up to CHF50. Attention: The items on auction are in English but the actual bidding is done in German through the Swiss portal of ebay. Bidding ends 17 July.
Sports
- Broadcasting of the Euro Cup was a success in Switzerland. Men spent an average of 11.4 hours watching the games while women were glued to the tube a hefty 8.3 hours. (TDG, Fre)
- After a debated election, the new president of Swiss-Ski talks about the project to generate a new Swiss ski champion. Urs Lehmann became down-hill ski World Champion in 1993.
Arts and entertainment
- Joan Baez, the American folk singer who inspired a whole generation in history-making events such as Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock, is in Montreux and speaks to WRS about her 50-year career.
Additional news, 8 July 2008
- Two more Swiss sites join the existing seven on the Unesco World Heritage list, which includes the Lake Geneva region site of the Lavaux vineyards. New: Sardona, a mountainous zone in SE Switzerland and the Albuna and Bernina railway in Graubuenden. Switzerland is now studying how to best promote and protect these historical places. (swissinfo, Swiss government, Fre, TSR, Fre).
- The Federal Council announced Tuesday that a public referendum on banning minarets will take place, with the required minimum 100,000 signatures for a vote deposited in Bern. The cabinet made it clear it will suggest voters reject the referendum.
- New public health director for Switzerland. Andrea Arz de Falco will begin her duties on October 2008.
- The number of people wanting to enter Switzerland illegally and the amount of "khat" seized has increased. According to federal figures, Geneva’s port of entry continues to see the largest influx of undocumented immigrants and illicit drugs. (20 Minutes, Fre)
- Unruly behaviour of Swiss soldiers prompts complaints from the US embassy in Bern. Allegedly some Swiss recruits had been smoking pot while on active duty. (WRS)
Sports
- Roger Federer says he is "broken" after his loss at Wimbledon. (LeTemps, Fre)
- Stanislas Wawrinka simply wants to win a title, and train with Federer for the Olympics. (LeMatin, Fre)
Arts & entertainment
- Erykah Badu, Buddy Guy, Otis Taylor, N.E.R.D, Joe Jackson and Sheryl Crow are just a few of the artists who have performed to packed auditoriums at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Tickets can still be found online to some concerts and the festival is opening Quincy Jones anniversary concert main rehearsal to the public 14 July, 14:00-17:00 for CHF60.
Photos, Erykah Badu, left and
N.E.R.D., right. ©
Lionel Flusin © Montreux Jazz Festival Foundation, reproduced with permission
GenevaLunch never stops growing! Our resources page is filled with useful links. This week, we update our listing to bring you more of the best web addresses that can save you time, money and can help you expand your horizons and reduce your waste-line.
Bon a savoir
Consumer rights magazine provides advice on a good range of topics for consumers in Switzerland. In French only. Current issue: vacation tips, including easy to use ConvertWorld site (here, for English).
Current Concerns
Swiss-based international journal that promotes, through op-eds, public international law, human rights and humanitarian law. In English, French, German and a smaller section in Spanish.
easyWaterski.com
Waterski and wakeboard camps in neighbouring France. Based in Versoix, Switzerland, it advertises the cheapest courses around. Instruction in English possible. Open house 7-12 July.
Read about other great GenevaLunch RESOURCES. Send us your favourite and we’ll consider including it.
Pays de Gex, France (GenevaLunch) - Concerns over a shortage of regular teachers in the Pays de Gex are lingering, with school out, as parents wonder who will be there to teach their children come September. Budget cuts under the Sarkozy government mean 70 fewer teachers in the Ain Department, to which the Pays de Gex belongs, according to a story published in Le Temps today. A parents group in the region was formed in June, with a blog to keep parents informed of developments. The group says 370 days of classes without teachers were not replaced this year. Anne Glusker, who contributes to GenevaLunch and whose son attends school in Divonne, says "There’s a huge problem in the Pays de Gex with a shortage of substitutes," which led to several demonstrations by parents at the end of the school year.
Vallée de Joux, Vaud, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Forecasts of sunny weekend weather fell apart in most of the Lake Geneva region Sunday, with heavy rains.
The downpour landed in the Vallée de Joux as 3-5,000 people, far short of the 40,000 expected in good weather, took to the streets for the annual Slow-up, a day to take time to enjoy the outdoors on foot, skates or by bicycle or any other non-motorized vehicle.
Photo: rain and fog covered most of the region Sunday. Here, rain arrives in the garden: Valais.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There will be plenty of private and club parties, but no parades in Geneva for the American diaspora, which today publicly celebrates its traditional Independence Day national holiday by gathering outdoors and registering voters.
The US Fourth of July celebration in Geneva is sponsored by VoteFromAbroad and Democrats Abroad and takes place 16:00-19:00 in Parc des Bastions. All US citizens interested in registering to vote should bring their passports
to request an absentee ballot. If you miss this event but would still like further information you can write to the Democrats Abroad in Geneva.
Photos: Micheline Calmy-Rey, left and Pietro Sarto with writer friend Jacques Chessex, right.
[Update, Friday, 4 July: The annual two-day "school trip" for the Federal Council took them to Vevey where they spent the night, then were awakened at 06:00 by a 21-gun salute, the traditional celebration of graduation for the town's students. Shot out of bed by Vevey's citizens, the cabinet members met for breakfast on a boat on Lake Geneva, with plans to spend the day learning from a geologist how the Alps were formed before visiting Valais for a concert and to see the Loetschenthal region. Le Temps]
St Prex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The entire seven-member Swiss cabinet descended on St Prex, town of 5,000, Thursday to visit artist Pietro Sarto and raise a glass of the local (of course) wine to him. Sarto in 2008 celebrates 60 years as an artist and his work is featured at the
Musée de Payerne until 14 September 2008.
Photos: crowd gathers in front of Pietro Sarto’s workshop. Right, one person sleeps but the others are attentive while Federal Councilor Pascal Couchepin talks.
The councilors, like children on a school trip, arrived in minibuses and a handful of police kept an eye on the throng of cheerful citizens.
Photos: Councilor Doris Leuthard in the crowd. Right, local wines, local colour.
After a visit to the artist’s workshop in the old town the government headed for the town hall to shake hands and mingle with the crowd.
Ed. note: the St Prex tourism office recently published in English its brochure (in pdf)
on the medieval village, and included a mention of Sarto’s atelier.
Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – The popularity of bicycles has grown so much in recent months that bikes parked around the train station in Lausanne are spilling over onto the sidewalks, despite a new rack for 52 bicycles. Police have been handing out polite little messages to cyclists, asking them to be more considerate of pedestrians and park their bicycles properly.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss teenagers consume less alcohol, marijuana and tobacco than before. That is the result of a study published by the ISPA, the Swiss institute for the prevention of alcohol and drug problems. It seems that higher prices, more restrictions and prevention campaigns are to thank for the results. However, alcohol, and in particular "binge drinking", continues to be the most relevant substance addiction among teens. The study shows that a smaller percentage of youngsters also continues to use sleeping pills, cocaine and other hallucinogenic substances.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Today over 4,000 restaurants, bars and other enclosed public places are officially smoke-free zones. Geneva is the first canton in French-speaking Switzerland to prohibit smoking in public spaces.
Goodbye smoke, picture @ Hance Gesell
The new ordinance approved early in the year by 80% of voters has been well accepted in some of the businesses that GenevaLunch visited today. At the Charmilles mall, in the Saint-Jean neighborhood the "no smoking" signs were placed visibly around the shopping centre, and a few smokers were going outside to light up. Customers at "El paraiso de Tina", an already smoke-free restaurant, were happy to know that their favourite spot would not be the only one offering "smoke free meals."
Bar and restaurant owners who do not enforce the new law will have to pay anywhere between CHF1,000-10,000. Patrons breaking the law can be fined CHF100-1,000.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The SIG, Geneva’s state-run industrial services, announced that it will seek
permission from the State Council to pass surging production costs along to customers in the Canton.
The monthly residential bill, based on 1,000 kw/hour, would rise an average 19 percent. Residential bills might increase 10% to 15% while commercial bills might go up 25% to 30%. If approved, the proposed increase would take effect 1 January. SIG provides Genevans with water, gas, electricity and rubbish collection services, among others.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -
Advertising in Switzerland rose by a hefty 8.4% on an annual basis for
the month of May, according to figures published by Media Focus. A
large part of the boost comes from heavy spending on ads for drinks, probably linked to the Euro 2008 football
matches, the media observer notes.
Nyon, Vaud, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Daniel Rossellat will be running as an independent but with support from the Green and Socialist parties in Nyon’s elections 28 September for its city council. Rosselat is the founder and head of the very popular Paleo music festival, and an ardent ecologist who earlier this year upset local political parties when he announced he might run for the administrative post. He has since paid for a poll of 400 citizens to get a better picture of how he is viewed and how he might improve, and he says he will spend about CHF20,000 of his own money for his campaign.
The council has seven members, one of whom is elected "syndic," or city manager. Rossellat is making it clear that he is interested in the top job. Council members’ posts are 40% jobs and the syndic’s is 60%. Rossellat says that if he is elected he will remain with the festival but begin to prepare the path for his successor.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of foreigners living in Switzerland as of April 2008 has increased and, according to federal figures, most of the incoming population is from countries that are members of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Europeans who are members of EU/EFTA, residing in Switzerland during a 12-month period, increased in number by 7.7%. The number of foreign residents from non-member countries decreased by 0.5%. These statistics count only foreigners who receive a work permit and
not asylum seekers, international civil servants, diplomats and their
families.
Interesting facts:
- Largest number of foreigners to take residency in Switzerland are: Germans, Portuguese, French, British and Austrians
- There has been a decrease in the number of Serbians, Spaniards, Bosnians, Croatians and people from other non-European countries, notably Sri-Lankans
- In total, 21.1% of the population is foreigners, an increase of only 0.7% by comparison with the year before (for this figure, all foreigners are counted).
Zurich, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The trial opens today in Zurich of a Somalian couple, age 35, who admit to having incised their daughter, then age two, 10 years ago. It is the first such court case in Switzerland, according to Unicef, which has been actively fighting female genital mutilation worldwide. The case comes two weeks after a woman was given a suspended sentence for her role in having a girl incised, but outside Switzerland. The couple on trial now risk 10 years in prison.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Patrick Chappatte‘s popular cartoons from the International Herald Tribune are the newest addition to GenevaLunch news coverage. Starting today, 25 June, Chappatte’s editorial cartoons will appear twice weekly and you’ll be able to search the collection that appears here. He also works in French and German, for Le Temps and NZZ am Sonntag.
Chappatte is the author of two successful cartoon books in English that collect some of his best newspaper work, Globalized, published in February 2007 and Another World, 2004.
His view of the world will resonate for many Lake Geneva region readers in part because he shares the kind of international background that many of us have. In his own words he "is an editorial cartoonist. He is also a curious blend of Swiss and Lebanese origins, born in Pakistan, raised in Singapore and in Switzerland, and he now lives in Geneva after three years spent in New York. He has an equal passion for World Affairs and dark bitter chocolate." He also has an extraordinary talent for condensing into a concise cartoon message the strong emotions that world events provoke for many of us.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – If you’ve given your pet the perfect home, the government wants to know about it, as long as your pet is a hamster, guinea pig, canary, rabbit, parrot or one of four other creatures. A contest to find the best home-makers for these friends kicks off today and runs to 14 August, with a week-long family trip to Graubunden as the main prize. Details are on the federal veterinary site and on a site by sponsor Coop supermarket.
(Photo: you don’t have to be free to be happy. Click on image to enlarge.)
Get out your cameras and video cameras, for the rules are easy: upload five photos or one video, maximum three minutes, showing your pet’s life at its happiest and fill in a short online form (Fre, Ger, Ita) about the size of your pet’s enclosure. There’s also a form to fill out. Your images will join the gallery of photos – which is empty today, so if you rush to be the first the world will see your pet!
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The Note Dame nursing home in Paquis has become the seventh one in the canton to fall foul of the ICF, cantonal financial investigators, reports Le Temps. The investigators have been going over nursing home accounts in the canton with a finetooth comb for the past two years, since lax management of homes by the canton’s service for older people came to light. Le Temps says that in a confidential report issued 5 June the home, which has room for 51 residents, is accused of using residents’ pocket money to pay part of their room and board and of grossly overstating the home’s debt to its owner, among other financial irregularities. The home denied the accusations and responded to the newspaper’s questions by pointing it towards the cantonal office for older people.
