Meet the teachers, see the refurbished premises, participate in a workshop and learn a lot more about the Lake Leman International School. “Come and see how much fun learning can be!”
Location: Avenue de la Gottaz 34-36, 1110 Morges
Link out: http://www.llis.ch
Date: 24 Sep 2011
Start time: 11:00
End time: 15:00
Raina Francisc Mungamba, one of six Prix de Lausanne 2010 winners (photo: ©2010 Jean-Bernard Sieber)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One of the world’s most important ballet competition for young dancers is on: the Prix de Lausanne, a hugely popular, international, ballet contest kicks off (pointy toes and all) Tuesday 1 February.
Created in 1973 as a competition for dancers aged 15 to 18, the Prix sets itself to be the driver to give “young talented dancers [a] start in their professional careers”. Winners of the contest receive one-year scholarships to attend one of the partner schools.
The largest number of young women competing in 2011 come from Japan (10), followed by the US (6) and China (5).
Baladi bread made with fortified wheat in Egypt, one of Gain's nutrition projects (photo, ©2010, GAIN)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gain (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) is the latest actor in Geneva to be granted a special status and privileges by the Swiss government that will enhance its standing as an international organization. Gain, founded in 2002, and the Swiss government 16 December signed an agreement under the Swiss Federal Act on Privileges, Immunities, Facilities and Financial Aid. The organization, based in Geneva, describes itself as “a Swiss foundation that mobilizes public-private partnerships and provides financial and technical support to deliver nutritious foods to those people most at risk of malnutrition”.
“We are very pleased by the support being provided through this agreement to Gain and our efforts to combat malnutrition,” Marc Van Ameringen, CEO, said at the signing ceremony. He noted that in 2010 Gain-supported nutrition programs are reaching close to 400 million individuals in more than 25 countries.
Bern says in a statement about the new agreement that it anchors Gain in Geneva for the long run, thus reinforcing the city’s role as an international public health centre. The World Health Organization and the Global Alliance, are two of the larger international health organizations.
Gain’s work is taking on growing importance, the Swiss government says, helping improve the health of the world’s most disadvantaged. It is having a direct impact on efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in reducing maternal mortality and improving the health of mothers.
Interview: Chris McSorley, coach and part-owner, Geneva-Servette Hockey Club
“The mission of Geneva-Servette is not to be just a hockey team but a community”
Coach and co-owner of the Geneva Servette Hockey Club, Chris McSorley
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Chris McSorley says he is determined to sell the best steak and hamburgers in town at McSorley’s Pub, and to have a top-of-the-league hockey team playing just metres away. Both of these were looking like big challenges as December crept, cold and often damp, into Geneva, and politicians, enthusiastic about their local hockey team’s needs, back in June, coughed discreetly in winter over the same sums needed to improve the Vernets arena.
Getting the right kind of meat and a chef who understands North American tastes is not easy. More critically, the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club team that came within a hair of winning the Swiss title in March 2010 hasn’t yet found its legs this season. Thirty-two matches have given an uneven result of 17 losses and 15 wins. Zug and Davos matches on the 21st and 23rd of December remain, before the Christmas holiday break.
Then again, the last two matches have brought wins, despite a Geneva team suffering from injuries: the tide could be turning.
The coach, age 46, is a man who enjoys challenges, who is used to fighting for what he wants, starting from the days when he had to be quick to get his share of dinner at a table with eight children.
McSorley barks at the team, training hard, working up a sweat on the ice.
Two loves, both at Les Vernets
Food: the steak at McSorley’s Pub and Steakhouse at the Vernets arena is en route to being the best in town, the hamburger is very good, American-style hearty, and the chips/french fries are terrific. If you are feeling glum about Geneva’s winter fog, head to the rink’s restaurant for a cup of clam chowder or the excellent piping hot chili.
Hockey: McSorley has become a Geneva household name in his nearly 10 years in town, as coach and now part-owner of the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club, where he has built a strong hometown following.
His local fame is due only in part to the game. He’s worked tirelessly to open the sport up to a wider audience and to use hockey to lace together the local community, especially the English-speaking international community.
“Forty-five percent of the fan base is women,” he says with pride. He spoke at Chavannes-de-Bogis 17 November to a local group, Executives International, one more talk in a steady string of public speaking engagements. He likes to remind visitors to GSHC’s home, the Vernets ice rink, that the team works actively with non-profit groups, running a breast cancer fundraising Pink Night, for example, that literally turns the team pink for charity.
McSorley is Canadian, born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, one of eight children in a devoutly Catholic family where hockey was nevertheless the first religion, he likes to joke.
He played professional hockey after finishing school. Younger brother Marty became a National Hockey League star, but Chris thought professional hockey was not on the books for him, after an accident, so he turned to studies. When Marty moved to the majors, big brother Chris, age 25, told himself, if he can do that, so can I!
Coaching, a dream come true
International tournament in Geneva.
Location: Geneva
Link out: http://www.coopbeachtour.ch
Start date: 24 Jun 2010
End date: 27 Jun 2010
Michael Ambuehl, Switzerland's State Secretary for International Financial and Tax Matters
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Michael Ambuehl has been named Switzerland’s State Secretary for International Financial and Tax Matters, head of a new secretariat within the Federal Finance Department. Ambuehl is probably best known as the man who negotiated the UBS arrangement with the United States Justice Department in early 2009. The new secretariat “will serve the purpose of reinforcing Switzerland’s international position in financial and tax matters,” the official announcement states.
The new office will be responsible for Switzerland’s interests in the International Monetary Fund and in the Financial Stability Board, and it will “actively participate in international efforts to combat financial crime. Moreover, it will analyze developments in the financial markets in Switzerland and abroad, and will further develop legislation concerning the financial sector.”
Ambuehl is thus charged with overseeing Switzerland’s ambitious project to play a more aggressive role in international finance and tax matters, as it tries to shed a reputation as a tax haven, which the Swiss say is largely a misperception.
Geneva, Switzerland (Genevalunch) - The Geneva Motor Show has come and gone, but it leaves in its wake a sense that environmentally friendly “green” cars finally matter to manufacturers.
An equal amount of spectator buzz surrounded the less glamorous green cars’ stands as the flashy Ferrari and Lamborghini displays. Many of the manufacturers used g/km CO2 emissions ratios (grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre driven) as their key advertising strategy, splashing the information across the hoods, doors, and roofs of their cars.
Photo: © La Poste, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The cost of shipping letters, registered letters and packages outside Switzerland will increase by 7% on 1 April 2009, when La Poste restructures its price schedule. The new prices must still be approved by Mr Price, the government’s consumer watchdog.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Geneva Centre for Security Policy Friday hosts an event to launch a major new study on peace in the Middle East. The report offers a detailed assessment of the costs as well as benefits of a potential peace settlement in the region, for the first time in 60 years of conflict.
