GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Jean Musy’s polite open letter, as the director of Radio Zones (93.8FM), asking for help from his new neighbour the Dalai Lama, holds some surprising details, including the information that the land and building that is home to the new Shedrub Choekhor Ling in Monnetier-Mornex, Haute Savoie, was purchased for the centre by a Russian politician whose is a major arms and petroleum investor and his wife. The couple recently converted to Buddhism, according to Geneva newspaper Le Temps.
Radio Zones is a non-profit public service community radio station in neighbouring France which began to have problems transmitting in 2010 after a Russian couple, Svetlana Kapusta and her husband, Rafael Gimalov, bought the property where the station’s antennas, next door to the then-future Dalai Lama centre, for their own use. Some of the radio equipment is on rooftops on the property the couple bought.
According to Musy, the couple put one emitter out of commission and seriously damaged a second when they began work on the buildings, and he has had no luck in trying to discuss the problems with the owners.
Musy is now taking the couple to court to recover euros 40,000 plus interest in damages. Le Temps reports that the Russian couple are taking Musy to court as well, to get him to move the radio equipment rapidly despite a tenant’s contract that is valid until October 2011. Musy told a group of reporters that the efforts to evict overlook French legal requirements for broadcasters, which prevent any quick moves.
The new Buddhist centre opened in September 2010 and the Dalai Lama visited Friday 12 August to consecrate the new buildings.
Rafael Gimalov, as the owner of Motovilikhino factories, in turn owned by Russian investment company Rus, has made his money in arms manufacturing from a base in Perm.
Theft, high-speed chase prompt cross-border police cooperation: three men arrested
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two masked men who robbed a Tamoil station at gunpoint on the Pont-de-la-Fin in Croix-de-Rozon, canton Geneva, were arrested in France, along with a third man who served as the driver. The three were spotted when they passed, at high speed, an unmarked police car shortly after the robbery, as they were heading towards the French border.
Geneva police asked for the car, with French plates, to be identified. They promptly signalled the robbery to border guards and French police, using the Épervier 74 plan, which automatically alerts police and the gendarmerie (road patrols) in neighbouring Haute-Savoie and Ain.
The three, driving what was later identified as a stolen black Renault Mégane, crashed through a Viry toll booth at 120 kph but were not caught at that point. They were spotted soon after at Beynost in Ain and later in the morning at Villeurbanne, reports Le Dauphine French newspaper. A high-speed chase ensued and the three were caught. All are French, from the Lyons region and in their early 20s.
Geneva authorities have opened an investigation into the robbery, in which one of the cashiers was slightly wounded.
The three men, driving what turned out to be a stolen black Renault
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four skiers were killed and one person rescued when the group was struck by an avalanche in the Haute Savoie France resort of Val d’Isère. The massive avalanche, which was set off at 2,800 metres and continued down to 2,100 metres, occurred in a popular off-piste area, the Grand Vallon. Local police noted that avalanches are always a risk this time of year, but the estimated risk was 3 on the scale of 5.
The group of seven set off the avalanche when they went through the area, according to local mountain rescue authorities. They wwere led by a ski guide who, with one other person, escaped the avalanche and alerted rescuers. The four who died were: two French people, one British person and one Swede. A fifth person was caught by the avalanche but was pulled out, according to Le Dauphine regional newspaper.
The members of the group were all equipped with avalanche detectors.
A Swedish skier died a year ago, 18 January 2010, in the same area, when an avalanche was set off.
Unemployment and population growth in the Haute Savoie-Ain-Geneva-Vaud region
View of the Vaud-France border from Geneva
France and Lake Geneva region (GenevaLunch) - Although unemployment is growing in the France-Vaud-Geneva region, the most affected areas are the French border departments, says a new study published 5 October by the Cross-border Observatory.
According to the report, unemployment in the France-Vaud-Geneva region jumped from 5.6% to 7.5%; during the same period the rate reached 8.5% in the French region that borders Geneva.
The number of unemployment claims presented by workers whose last job was in Switzerland, in the French departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie, reached 6,000 in 2009; that is twice as many as the number of claims presented in 2008.
Cash to make the paddles go round
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The three cantons that subsidize Compagnie Générale de Navigation (CGN) operations on Lake Geneva have advanced funding for the 2010 budget to the tune of some CHF7 million, reports Le Temps 4 November. CGN issued a terse press release in which it said only that its CEO Kurt Oesch had met the government ministers from Vaud, Geneva and Valais who are responsible for funding the boat transport company. (The French département of Haute Savoie contributes about CHF1m a year as well).
Le Temps reports that one of the solutions being mooted may include financial help from the Swiss government.
Commandos on Swiss Raid. © 2009 Swiss Raid Commando
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Elite commandos from 19 countries and Switzerland will test their military skills against each other and against the elements in the 2009 edition of Swiss Raid Commando, starting today 24 September in the Chablais region of Valais, Vaud and Haute Savoie, neigbouring France. In all, 80 four-person troops (there is one all-woman troop), each led by an officer or non-commissioned officer, compete in tests of physical prowess, technical abilities and mastery of tactics.
CGN - no need for life boats
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Compagnie Générale de Navigation (CGN), which operates pleasure boats and regular boat service on Lake Geneva is not close to bankruptcy, says its managing director, Luc-Antoine Baehni. There is, he states, no reason to suggest the company is going through financially difficult times. “There is no crisis”, he told GenevaLunch, when asked about a report in Le Matin Dimanche 13 September that suggests CGN might be going under, as Swissair did.
The newspaper bases its conclusions on an audit of the company made at the request of the three cantons that subsidize CGN operations: Geneva, Valais and Vaud. The audit was an investigation of the company’s administration.
Annecy, France (Dauphiné Liberé, Fre) – Households in the department of Haute Savoie are facing increasing debt levels, according to the regional office of the Bank of France. Lay-offs, “technical” unemployment, and reduced overtime have contributed to a 30 percent increase in the number of cases of excessive levels of household debt in the first quarter of 2009, he says. This compares with a 16 percent increase nationwide in France.
Loans to consumers have increased dramatically in recent years, especially among lower-income households who are particularly affected by the deteriorating employment situation in the region.
Destination-Montagne has a regular series of snowshoe afternoons and evenings to a wide range of locations in the Lake Geneva region. Their programme runs virtually year-round. The snowshoe treks are usually three to five hour walks, with their moonlight walks as a special feature. They also offer some hikes and Nordic walking trips. Prices start at about CHF32.
Geneva, Switzerland and Annecy, France (GenevaLunch) – Annecy and Geneva will be 10 minutes closer 18 December, thanks to the new Aliane strip of the A41 North autoroute in France, which is being inaugurated today. More significant to the cross-border workers and weekend trippers who travel this route regularly, the new road should reduce frequent traffic jams.
