Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US taxpayers should note that while the IRS income tax deadline is 15 April, the deadline for filing Fbar statements of assets held outside the US is 30 June. See GenevaLunch article 15 April.
CORRECTION 18 NOVEMBER: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NAME OF THE PROSECUTOR IN THE CASE, BEAT MARFURT, WAS INCORRECTLY GIVEN AS THE NAME OF THE COMPANY COMMANDER. GENEVALUNCH APOLOGIZES TO MR MARFURT FOR THE ERROR.
Thun, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The company commander involved in the tragic deaths of five soldiers as they rafted down the Kander river near Wimmis in canton Bern last June 2008 has been sentenced by a military tribunal to 18 months in prison suspended and a fine of CHF100. He was dismissed from the army.
The prosecutor had asked for a ten-month suspended prison sentence and a CHF9300 fine, also suspended. The parties have five days in which to file an appeal. Neither the prosecutor nor the defending attorney made any declarations after the ruling.
Background: “Two military tribunals press charges in Kander and Jungfrau accidents“, 11 September 2009, GenevaLunch
Rhone river, Visp to Sierre, in Valais (click image to view larger)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has approved a credit of CHF169 million for initial funding that will allow flood protection work to begin on the Rhone River, from Visp to Sion in canton Valais.
The work in the area is considered a top priority due to flooding danger, in an larger 25-30 year project of “extraordinary magnitude” to contain the Rhone between the Gletsch area in Valais and Lake Geneva in Vaud, into which the Rhone spills.
The Rhone, with Visp in the distance, during a summer storm
Visp/Viege, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Rhone River is about to undergo its third realignment, or correction, near Visp, mainly to protect the town from floods. The project will last eight years and cost CHF120 million but federal studies have estimated the potential financial cost of a major flood at CHF2 billion or more, not taking into consideration the possible loss of life or injuries.
