GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The six thermal baths resorts in canton Valais are joining forces for marketing purposes and investing CFH100 to increase Valais’s attraction as a thermal spa centre, they announced Wednesday 11 April. Two-thirds of the money will go to more hotel beds and the rest to improving the baths.
The six are: Breiten, Brigerbad, Leukerbad, Saillon, Ovronnaz and Val d’Illiez. The projects for each vary, from Brigerbad’s consstruction of an indoor centre to Ovronnaz will get a new spa and Saillon a new hotel.
Leukerbad (Loeche-les-bain in French), with 10 thermal baths, is building an apart-hotel as its share in the improvements
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the British Columbian Supreme Court in Canada wrote a 335-page decision on the province’s ban on polygamy, saying it is indeed unconstitutional and goes against society’s efforts to promote monogamous marriage, but his ruling is not likely to put the issue to rest, reports The Globe & Mail. Bauman was asked by the province to rule on the question of the constitutionality of Canada’s 114-year-old law in the light of problems with a polygamous group in Bountiful, BC, near the US border.
He argued that the law is constitutional but flawed and changes are needed to avoid the prosecution of children in some circumstances.
The group is suspected of having close ties to a Texas group that was raided in 2008. The BC group openly practices polygamy, marrying very young girls to much older men. Law enforcement and child protection agencies suspect the group of moving children across the border illegally, among other problems.
Links to other sites: CBC, Edmunton Journal, photo gallery, Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police have arrested three of the main members of a gang of youths, ages 20-25, who have been sabotaging rail lines in the Morges region and dumping apples onto cars from autoroute overpasses.
The group has been active since the spring of 2011, placing heavy objects on CFF anxd BAM rail lines, including rocks and bales of hay. They have worked mainly around Morges, Saint-Prex, Allaman, Etoy and Lonay but also in the Vallée de Joux, where they have set fire to a number of huts and other small buildings including local refuges used by residents for picnics and group parties.
Several police units from the region have worked together to find the culprits, who have put public transport users in “serious danger”, say police, and who have caused more than CHF350,000 in damages. One of the trio arrested is Italian and the other two Swiss; all live in the region.
They were caught when they dumped a load of apples on a police patrol that was checking speeders.
The three are part of a larger group whose composition appears to vary, and police are continuing their investigations to look for other members of the gang.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A 27-year-old woman who in 2006 shook a child to death, has been given a 10-year-prison sentence. She is the third person involved in a child abuse case that involved her partner and his other female companion and three of the man’s children. They were all living together as a group with religious convictions, with the man dictating severe punishments that eventually led to the incident where one of the children died.
The man and his other partner were earlier sentenced to 9.5 and 7 years for their part in the string of abuses.
TSR notes that a Swiss study showed in 2008 that there had been eight deaths and 50 hospitalizations in five years for shaking babies and young children, with the public not fully aware of the damage that can be caused to a young child by shaking it.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group among scores of other companies, and one of Britain’s best-known entrepreneurs, is reported by the Daily Telegraph in the UK to be moving Virgin Enterprises to Geneva. The move is being linked to Switzerland’s easier tax environment, compared to the UK.
Virgin Enterprises, a very small operation, is the licensing arm of the group. The newspaper quotes an unnamed Virgin official as saying that the group “has become increasingly focused on the development of the Virgin brand internationally and especially in emerging markets,” adding that “To reflect this, we are considering moving our licensing entity to Switzerland in the near future to co-ordinate our international growth and brand management.”
Source: US space agency Nasa (click on imag to view larger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The unusually high number of very severe weather events in the United States in April and May of this year will cost Zurich Re at least $295 million, for both Zurich North America and Farmers Re, the company says in a 20 June statement.
This initial estimate, net of reinsurance and pre-tax, will be recorded in its half-year results, which appear 15 August. It notes of the weather events that the “severity and frequency [were] well above past industry experience”.
Tornadoes are more common in the US than in any other country, with about 1,200 a year on average, according to Wikipedia.
Geneva office contributes a little less “British perspective” to a successful mix
Susan Clark, who heads the Geneva CEMEA office for The Economist Group
Update 10 November / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Susan Clark, who is American by passport, European resident by desire and international marketing wizard through experience, opened The Economist‘s office in Geneva in July 2009, without much noise or fanfare, British style. A year after the Swiss move she told GenevaLunch in an interview that putting down roots in Geneva has been good for the company and she’s personally been happy to move to the Lake Geneva region. Switzerland has the third largest number of continental subscribers to The Economist, after France and Germany, and a large number of advertisers are here, she confirms. Clark grew up in the eastern US and, in a comfortable dark suit, she confesses to occasional twinges of homesickness for New York City. She appears very much at home in her Geneva Old Town office, a discreetly stylish room behind an elegant old facade on Boulevard des Tranchées.
Clark and 23 Geneva employees are part of one of the media world’s rare success stories today: The Economist Group in 2009 had revenues of £313 million and a £56m profit. The Economist newspaper, as the group refers to the weekly publication, was profitable, “and we’re very proud of that”, says Clark.
This in a year characterized by the Newspaper Association of America as its worst-ever, with US newspaper revenues down 27.2 percent from 2008, previously the worst-ever year since the Depression in the 1930s. Even the grand old American lady, the New York Times, lost millions in 2009.
Clark has been the managing director of the CEMEA (continental Europe, Middle East and Africa) office since 2007; she is also the group marketing director, a title she’s had since 2008. She was previously marketing director for The Economist. She joined the group in 2005 after working for the Meridien Hotel Group.
The Geneva office head is upbeat, both about the company she works for and the future of journalism, based on what she argues is the world’s continuing desire for quality news. She is also a believer in asking readers to pay for news, which The Economist does.”People want to be well-informed. We act as a filter. Once a week we give you what we think you need to know. We talk about it as the weekly package, the thread that runs through the news.”
She is referring to the flagship publication, of course, The Economist, created in 1843 by a hat manufacturer in Scotland, James Wilson, as part of his campaign against the protectionist British Corn Laws. The affection for free trade has remained a pillar of the publication, despite the disappearance of the Corn Laws three years after Wilson’s new venture began.
Only 8-11 percent of the readers are economists, despite the title.
Nicholas Hayek turned a staid watchmaking industry on its head, left entrepreneurial legacy
[swissinfo video] Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The most startling thing about the death Monday of Nicholas Hayek, founder of Swatch, might be the extent to which it caught everyone by surprise, despite the fact he was 82 years old. Politicians, business leaders and many people who knew Hayek well have made comments about how his death was so unexpected. But two days later talk is turning to the legacy he left: a Lebanese by birth who not only turned around a flailing watch industry in the 1970s but who gave Switzerland a new way of looking at business and who wedged notions about entrepreneurship into the country’s business life.
What French-speaking Switzerland is saying about Hayek
Swatch Group shares fell Tuesday by 5.6 percent to CHF307.20, the largest drop in eight months according to Bloomberg, over speculation about who will now chair the board, which meets Wednesday 30 June to decide. Bilanz ran an article saying that Hayek’s son Nick is a shoe-in for the job, but the company denied the information Tuesday.
L’Hebdo magazine: online, a notice about Hayek’s public memorial service Saturday at 14:00 in Bern. Expect heavy coverage in the print edition.
Swissinfo: Hayek’s departure will have a real impact on the watch industry, which he held together during a period of strong growth, but the impact of the economic crisis and the re-balancing of the world’s economies might mean change will come soon.
Le Temps: the Geneva newspaper carries a recapitulation of how Hayek saved the watch industry, pointing out that the creation in 1983 of Swatch and its subsequent growth as a maker of trendy items is only one part of the story. A key to the success of the Swatch Group, has been the bundling of Swiss watch component parts production. Le Temps also carries a good photo display showing the history of Swatch watches.
TSR television: Swiss public television has carried a number of reports on Hayek’s death, but also him impact on the economy and his anger at banks in recent months. “I’m furious about this mentality in the financial community, about. . . making money, making money and nothing but making money.” He was a huge supporter of loyalty, on the part of workers to their companies, but also companies to their workers.
Tribune de Geneve: The Geneva newspaper focuses on what happens next at Swatch in terms of the family empire, who will take over, what the impact will be of the 65 percent of shares held by the family and close friends.
Title: Saleve Sunday group hikes
Location: Geneva and Saleve
Link out: Click here
Description: Starts from Veyrier-douane no. 8 bus final stop, free, for good hikers, 5-8 hours, 800 metre climb. Every Sunday, no advance registration necessary.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2010-01-03
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Julius Baer Group has agreed to buy ING Bank (Switzerland) Ltd, based in Geneva, for CHF520 million, the Swiss bank announced 7 October. The ING bank will be folded into Bank Julius Baer. The combined assets under management (end August 2009 figures) will be CHF160 billion, with the Dutch bank subsidiary’s CHF15 billion under management providing Julius Baer with a 10 percent boost to assests under management. Julius Baer’s position as the top Swiss wealth management bank is thus ensured.
ING has 310 employees, of which 80 are relationship managers, and the its addition will double the presence of Julius Baer in Geneva. The wholly-owned ING subsidiary’s business in Monaco and Jersey are included in the deal, which is expected to go into effect in early January pending regulatory approval. ING Bank is strongly capitalized, the Baer Group says, and it has a net asset value of about CHF 380 million.
Links to other sites: Julius Baer press release, Bloomberg, Financial Times
