Modernized Super Pumas delivered to Swiss air force
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The first two Puma TH06 helicopters that are part of a modernization programme for the Swiss air force’s helicopter fleet were officially received in Emmen Monday 2 April by Armasuissse. The new choppers are equipped with: a modern Flight Management System, two global position systems (GPS), inertia navigation system, modern digital card system, anti-collision alert system, and new radio (police, encryption and satellite transmission) systems.
The two are part of a fleet of 15 that is being re-equipped over three years. They were bought in two batches, from 1987-89 and 1991-93, but once modernized the fleet will be equipped to last another 15 years and should be comparable to the Cougar transport helicopters also used by Armasuisse.
The fleet has been used for armed forces transport needs, but also for civilian emergencies abroad, and the modernization project is designed to meet the needs associated with the varied uses of the helicopters. They have been used in Albania, in Sumatra when Indonesia suffered heavy flooding, in the Balkans and to help put out fires in Israel.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – ‘Tis the season for cool exhibits and Geneva has an intriguing new one based on population movements as measured by cell phones.
You can’t miss it if you’re near the train station: a large-screen display above the entrance to the Metro Shopping area is the linchpin for the display called “Genève, ville vivante“, which includes 8 large explanatory panels along the rue du Mont-Blanc.
The large screen shows 15 million “movements” that are measurable from 2 million cell phone calls made on the Swisscom system during one day in the city. Geneva’s point in showcasing this is that the measurable urban movements provide a wealth of information that can be exploited to help residents or to help the city plan and to give companies useful information.
But the city points out that there is a flip side to this and the exhibition, which is linked to the 22-24 February Lift conference (theme: “What can the future do for you?”), is also designed to provoke reflection and discussion on privacy issues. “This data prompts the question of its impact in terms of data protection and privacy. It’s clear that the population is legitimately worried, with people feeling they are being watched, even if, in this case, for example, the data used is totally anonymous.”
Laurent Haug, the founder of Lift, commented on the show on Facebook, “Geneva is the first Swiss city to research how people are really using its public space, one of the first in the world. Check the data and the vizualizations, it is seriously amazing.”
The project was carried out with the city, Swisscom, Interactive Things and the Lift conference joining forces.
Possible links to two women not confirmed
Twins reportedly did not arrive in Italy with father
Missing Swiss twins, Alessia and Livia Schwepp, age 6, 115 cm tall, blond hair
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The paucity of confirmed information continues in the search for missing Swiss twins Alessia and Livia Schepp, as Italian police in the Foggia district tell Italian media that the father’s GPS car navigation system has provided no new clues. The GPS was found in pieces around the train tracks in Cerignola, southern Italy, some 150 metres from where the girls’ father, Matthias Schepp,committed suicide.
Italian news agency Ansa reports that Italian prosecutor Vincenzo Russo confirmed that initial research to piece together information from the GPS has turned up nothing, but the bits and pieces have now been sent to the manufacturer in the hope of discovering more about the father’s travels.
Russo also told Ansa that he can now confirm the children did not accompany their father when he arrived in Italy. He provided no details but says that despite the mother’s conviction the girls are alive, hope is fading.
Swiss police say no link to rumoured connections with missing woman
Alessia and Livia Schepp, missing Swiss twins, in the summer of 2010
Mother flies over Corsican coast with police
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The mother of missing twins Alessia and Livia Schepp flew to Corsica in a private plane Saturday 13 February to help with the investigation there. Shortly after her arrival she flew over several of the island’s beach areas with two Swiss police inspectors and a French police team, reports TF1, French television.
She gave a press conference, looking exhausted, at the end of the flight, saying that the day had been long and fatiguing but that she still hopes her daughters are alive, and given that they were seen on Corsica, she appealed again to the public to provide police with leads.
TF1 ran a lengthy report Saturday morning on the French police investigation.
The two Swiss investigators sent to Corsica, with their French counterparts, used helicopters to check two beaches in the Porto Vecchio area Saturday, for three hours: Santa Giulia and Palombaggia, reports TF1. The request to check the beaches came from Swiss police.
Girls may have been seen with father and 45-yr-old woman on Corsica
Several French media report Saturday that, according to “a person close to the investigation”, which generally signifies a police leak in France, a witness who identified the father and two daughters 1 February in Propriano, Corsica, is being taken seriously by police there.
The woman, Olga Omeck, says she saw the twins eating croissants or pains au chocolat, then walking ahead of the pair, who were discussing something, as if they knew each other.
The woman appeared to be about age 45, with chestnut coloured hair with light streaks.
Search based in northern Corsica
Italian news agency Ansa said Saturday morning that police are basing their activities in Macinaggio, at the northern tip of Corsica, as they try to reconstruct the father’s flight.
French police provided no further details except to say that they are trying to locate all the places on the island that may have been known to the father, Matthias, from previous professional trips but also visits there with his wife.
Italian police hunt for GPS
Italian police said Saturday they have stepped up the search for the GPS used by the father, Matthias Schepp, given the possibility that he may have thrown it away shortly before committing suicide in the south of Italy, throwing himself in front of a train.
The GPS navigation system could provide valuable clues about where he drove, in Corsica and/or in Italy.
Matthias Schepp took his own life in Italy 3 February and sent a letter to his wife, Irina Lucidi Schepp that day, which arrived five days later in Switzerland, to say that he had killed their two six-year-old twins.
The mother was interviewed by news agency Ansa Friday and she said that she believes, in her mother’s heart, that the girls are still alive. She begged for people to continue looking for them.
Related articles, GenevaLunch
Swisstopo's iPhone Swiss map app
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government’s mapmaking enterprise, Swisstopo, has won the country’s 2009 mapmaking award for its iPhone application that allows users to access maps for the entire country at these scales: 1:25 000, 1:100 000, 1:500 000 and 1:1 million. Swisstopo will now represent Switzerland at the International Cartographers Associaton awards in Santiago Chile 15 November.
Map detail, photo Sean Ecker
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography announced that maps of Switzerland at 1:25,000 and 1:100,000 detail are available for cell phones with the Windows mobile and Symbian S60 operating systems. Mobile telephones equipped with a GPS receiver and the Swiss Map mobile software will never get lost again. The software works much as Google maps does, but with the cartographic details of the Swiss maps. The addition of the two mobile platforms means that Swiss Map mobile now exists for the the iPhone, Sony-Ericsson and Nokia smartphones, as well as Windows mobile phones.
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – General practitioners in cantons Vaud and Geneva have closed their offices Tuesday 24 March in protest against new conditions under which laboratory fees are reimbursed.
Ed. note: emergency coverage is provided, as always – tel. 144 and other numbers are provided below.
