Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s unemployment rate continued to move downwards, falling to 3.1 percent in April from 3.4 percent in March, a decline of more than 22 percent compared to April 2010.
Zurich accounted for the largest share, 18.4 percent of all unemployed in Switzerland, followed by Vaud with 13.1 percent and Geneva with 11.2 percent of the nation’s total.
Geneva remains the canton with the highest rate, followed by Neuchatel with a jobless rate of 5 percent.
The unemployment rate in the three fell from March to April:
- Zurich, 3.5 in March to 3.1 in April
- Vaud, 5.2 to 4.9
- Geneva, 6.6 to 6.3.
Northern Ireland had what many say will be its final march to remember Bloody Sunday, one of the darkest days in the long history of religious and social strife in the region, when 14 people were killed during a civil rights march in 1972 in Londonderry. Derry, as many locals call the town, was the scene Sunday of one of the largest demonstrations the city has seen. They marched from the Creggan area but instead of stopping at Free Derry Corner, as has usually happened in the past, they walked on to Guildhall, which many observers read as a sign that Protestants and Catholics are at last able to live together.
This year’s march, which the organizers have called the last, follows the Saville Report publication by the UK government in June 2010, which blamed British forces for the deaths. Some of the participants were angry that this was declared the final march, but discussions are underway in the communities involved to find another way to commemorate the event in the future.
Links to other sites: BBC, Belfast Telegraph, Irish Times
More than 140 people were injured Sunday 10 October when protesters attacked police trying to allow the Serbia’s second Gay Pride march to go ahead, in Belgrade. Molotov cocktails and rocks were thrown at police, with 124 police officers injured. Serbia has put in a bid to join the European Union and politicians in Serbia who support the bid were concerned late Sunday that the riot would mar that effort. Scores were arrested.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, New Zealand Herald
Tourism up strongly, unemployment down slightly, retail sales slip
Geneva continues to have highest jobless rate
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss economic indicators this week are showing a mixed picture, with several federal statistics published Friday. Overnight stays rose by 5 percent overall and by 6 percent for foreign visitors in March, compared to March 2009, an increase of 153,000 stays for the month.
The good news continues with unemployment, which fell from 4.2 percent in March to 4.0 percent in April, representing 7,462 fewer people on the unemployment office books, but the figure is still 16 percent higher than a year earlier. Geneva and Vaud both saw an improvement, with Neuchatel showing one of the greatest drops, from 7 percent to 6.5, but all three continue to have higher rates than the rest of the country. Geneva’s rate, at 7.2 percent, remains the highest cantonal unemployment rate in Switzerland.
Less positive were figures for retail sales, down 0.9 percent for the month of March compared to February.
Expect tight security around the WTO buildings, but mainly at the CICG where the conference takes place
Several thousand in Geneva for WTO meeting, demonstration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The barriers were being readied in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Thursday 26 November along the lake road in Geneva, and security measures around the area began to move into place for the start of the Seventh Ministerial Conference Monday 30 November, with several thousand people expected to take part.
Hotels have little space, but for local residents the main sign of the global talks will be disrupted traffic.
Detours and road closings begin Saturday 28 November, when 3,000-5,000 demonstrators are expected to take part in an anti-WTO march that starts at 14:30 at the Place Neuve.
Anti-WTO march Saturday after in centre of Geneva
The Vengeron exit (where the road split before the airport) on the A1 autoroute into Geneva, coming from Lausanne, will be closed early Saturday 28 November until the end of the march late afternoon. Traffic will be directed to the airport exit.
The march itinerary supplied by Geneva police:
Federal square, Bern, 19 Sept. Photo © Peter Eichenberger Berne
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Some 30,000 people marched in Bern Saturday 19 September to protest against as the economic crisis and what the organizers describe as misguided government rescue measures. It was the capital’s biggest demonstration since 2003.
Tens of thousands of people, according to Al Jazeera wire service, marched in Naples 21 March to demand an end to organized crime and violence attributed to the Mafia, as well as to commemorate some 900 Mafia victims.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – One-third of schools in canton Vaud were affected Tuesday as civil servants took to the streets again to protest the new salary grid. The crowd, estimated by TSR at 8-10,000 people, is one of the largest in the series of protests that began in January 2008.
St Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The end of the day, the end of the week from St Prex, home to GenevaLunch, included Swiss Tibetans taking a pause during a march from Bern to Vaud, and views of Lausanne being invaded by black clouds.
Beware stormy weekend weather! (click on images to view larger)
