music festival
Location: Usine a Gaz, Rue César Soulié 1
Link out: http://http://www.usineagaz.ch/
Start date: 9 Feb 2012
Start time: 20:00
End date: 12 Feb 2012
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The six-day passes, just 2,000 of them that the Paleo Music Festival sells in advance online, are now on sale.
Fans, move fast!
Paleo Concert-goers alert: 1-16 December you can buy six-day passes for next summer’s shows.
Aurélian Farina shows his typographical design that features on the 2012 Paleo Music Festival poster
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The Paleo music festival in Nyon has unveiled its 2012 poster, a colourful visual game that is a twin to musical fun.
This year’s poster is by 27-year-old Aurélien Farina from Geneva’s University of Applied Science – Art & Design (HEAD, HES-SO), who won the poster contest sponsored by the school with Paleo.
The festival, one of Europe’s largest open-air music festivals, runs from 22 to 26 July 2012.
It runs for six days and nighs and pulls in 230,000 people for 210 concerts, with folk music at the centre of it.
Farina, who is French, earlier studied political science.
He says of his inspiration: “Music is at the heart of his inspiration, and is an essential component for Aurélien Farina.
“Music is the basis of my work. To get tangled up, to move through different levels, to be organised, in harmony, this is all about music. Each layer of the poster could be seen as a musical component, a frequency or an instrument. The Paléo red rounds it all off, it’s a bit like the melody.”
He is keen to pull the viewer in, to make the poster an active rather than passive visual experience.
Paleo Music Festival 2012 poster released 24 November in Nyon
“I like conceiving complex, intriguing and playful projects, ones that rely on the intelligence of the public. It’s a sort of game of ping-pong between the eye and the mind and this dimension is very important to me: the poster is conceived in its relationship with the viewer, and invites those who look at it to participate.”
The geometric, systematic design solutoin he was seeking came “fairly naturally by playing around with pencils and a sheet of squared paper,” he says.
“As for the colours, I didn’t really have much choice in the end. In order for it to work, I was confronted by a number of constraints similar to those that you meet when you’re drawing a map, plans or road signs: the need to easily recognise different levels of information. Either fortuitously or unconsciously, I came up with something that looks a bit like a map of the Tube.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Hug university hospitals in Geneva late Friday pleaded for everyone involved in its lab workers strike to get the situation back to normal, in the wake of the cantonal council’s announcement Thursday that it will not intervene. At issue: work conditions but also a review of the division of labour. The Conseil d’Etat said Thursday it will not review the issues outside the framework of its Scope project, at the end of 2012. The hospital argue that it does not have the authority to review demarcation disputes over who carries out what tasks. It is taking a number of steps, however, to improve work conditions, it said in a statement released late Friday.
Novartis, near Nyon, had a surprise visit Friday from American boss Joe Jimenez, who talked to employees about efforts to keep the site open. The company announced in October that it is cutting 1,100 staff in Switzerland, including 350 at the Prangins site near Nyon, which would be closed as part of the restructuring measures.
Workers held a one-day strike Wednesday 16 November.
Jimenez Friday told the staff that his wish is to keep the site open, and he is personally involved in efforts to do so. ” He told employees that he intended to visit Prangins and would have done so earlier but for an ultimatic from the Unia union demanding that he come: “I don’t reply to ultimatums,” Jimenez is reported to have said.
“A constructive dialogue with Vaud authorities and the federal government is underway,” Jimenez said in Prangins. “Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Novartis is facing a tough future and that new cost cutting measures are needed if the company is going to maintain its strong investment in R&D.”
The first in a series of scheduled meetings takes place 21 November to seek a solution. It involves a high-level task force involving the company, its employees, the union and government authorities.
LAUSANNE / NYON, SWITZERLAND – Novartis plans to close its centre in Prangins, next to Nyon, have sparked protests by employees since the news was announced 27 October, and a new protest is planned in Nyon Friday afternoon. The company now says it sending in an expert from the US next week to explain an audit that figured in its decision. Some 350 people are employed in the company’s Prangins operations.
The Vaud cantonal council voted Thursday 3 November to back the workers and two top officials met with Novartis and union officials to explore options.
Nyon train station, scene of attempted robbery
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Police nabbed three thieves from Lyons, France, ages 17, 27 and 28, who were caught in the act of trying to break into a safe at the Nyon train station at 03:00 Thursday morning 27 October, Vaud police announced Monday. A shot was fired accidentally in the fight between authorities and the would-be robbers, but no one was injured.
A train station employer was putting away papers when she heard a noise and spotted the trio trying to break into the area where she worked. She slipped out a back door and alerted police.
Municipal police arrived quickly and spotted one of the three, masked and carrying a lockpick, trying to leave. The police and suspect tangled and an accomplice came to the aid of the first man. At that point one of the two police offcers pulled out a gun and issued a warning. The first suspect then hit the officer in the head with a metal bar and one of the men tried to grab the police officer’s weapon, accidentally firing it in the process.
The other officer came to his colleague’s rescue, after having arrested the third suspect, and the remaining two were brought under control as police reinforcements arrived.
All three are known to the police in France, where they stole the car they were driving. Vaud police say Swiss authorities are working with their French counterparts to determine the extent of the illegal activities of the men.
The police officer who was hit in the head was hospitalized for treatment and released during the morning.
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Pharmaceutical company Novartis is closing its site in Nyon as part of a restructuration that will involve eliminating 1,100 jobs in Switzerland.
The company is cutting a total of 2,000 jobs, with most of the rest in the US. The Nyon site employs 320 persons and 770 jobs will also go in Basel, the company’s head office. The company included general information about the restructuring in its third quarter results, published Tuesday 25 October:
“Novartis is announcing today additional cost reduction activity, which will be executed over
three to five years. Elements of the activity to include: reallocation of production within the
Novartis network resulting in closure of two sites in Switzerland and one in Italy; restructuring
the development organization largely in Switzerland and the US and relocating some research
activities from Switzerland to the US.”
Novartis results show sales up 12 percent in constant currencies, from $12.6 to $14.8 million and operating income up 15 percent, from $2.6m to $3m. Net sales grew by 20 percent with the weakness of the US dollar “with a 5 percent benefit arising from the weak US dollar against most currencies,” the company noted, while “The weakness of the US dollar, combined with the strong Swiss franc, resulted in a negative currency impact of 8 percentage points” on operating income.
Marijuana bust in Nyon, several arrested
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Vaud Police say they have arrested nearly 80 people, part of a ring of drug dealers who have been supplying consumers in the St Cergue-Nyon region with marijuana and ecstasy plus some other drugs.
The ringleaders are a Swiss couple, ages 20 and 21 but the group also had some ties with the refugee centre in Nyon, which has been raided in the past for drug busts.
The group’s youngest person was 14, the oldest 57.
Marijuana crops growing in Arzier and St Cergue were uncovered, with an indoor growing centre in St Cergue financed by the mother of one of the buyers.
The investigations ran from June to December 2010, when the arrests were made.
Chateau de Chillon is one of Switzerland's most visited landmarks, but canton Vaud's other 11 major chateaus are also part of rich historical tapestry
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud’s 12 historic chateaus, open to the public, are joining together to offer a special deal at the end of September to encourage people to learn more about this aspect of local history. A single ticket will open the door to all 12 the weekend of 24-25 September, for CHF15 for adults and CHF10 for children or CHF35 for a family.
The 12 “monuments” are: Prangins, Ollon, Chillon, Oron, Coppet, Nyon, Morges, Moudon, La Sarraz, Yverdon, Grandson and Avenches. Some are privately owned, others publicly and while most are medieval, two are 18th century.
They are part of the canton’s landscape of about 200 chateaus, towers, fortified residences and lords’ seats.
They are regularly open to the public but the shared ticket has been offered only once before in the 17 years of the Vaud Chateaus Association.
Chateau de Coppet, home to the International Menuhin Music Academy (source: IMMA)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The International Menuhim Music Academy (IMMA), newly based in Coppet, Tuesday 23 August named Maestro Maxim Vengerov, “the greatest violinist of his generation”, its new music counselor.
The IMMA was founded 30 years ago in Gstaad by Yehudi Menuhin, widely considered the finest violinist of the 20th century. It has 16 students from throughout the world and its mission is to offer a three-year scholarship every year to a number of violin and other string instrument virtuosos the opportunity to perfect their education by working with maestros and professors.
Gstaad remains the centre for IMMA’s week-long “Rencontres Musicales” every summer, where students and teachers work and offer performances that are open to the public.
The students, who are selected based only on talent, follow individualized programmes, including master classes at the IMMA. Their academic musical studies are designed to lead to a Master of Advanced Studies, MAS, and the academy is currently working towards its programme being recognized by the HES SO and expects to offer the MAS by 2012.
Students have a second part to their education, public concerts, as part of the newly renamed Menuhin Academy Soloists chamber orchestra.
Tuition is free for the students, who live with families in the area (see Editor’s Notepad: appeal to local families).
The driver rolled his car, ran away, hid under a parked car, then when caught he climbed a fence and swam the Rhone before heading home
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Monday 17 August was a rough day for the police, starting with the media focus on safety in Geneva and ending with unusual escapes in Vaud and Valais, in one case of a detained man who threw away his crutches, in the other of a speeding driver who ran across the autoroute and swam the Rhone before heading home.
Vaud police still hunting for escaped robber
Police in Nyon were caught by surprise Monday noon when an Algerian man in custody, age 25, who was being taken to a court hearing on several charges related to breaking in, theft and drugs, threw away his crutches and ran off. He was one of three taken to court. The other two were handcuffed, but he was using crutches after a medical examination declared the man to have an injured heel, and after the hearing he made his escape.
The man is not considered dangerous but he had not been found by the end of the day Monday despite a large manhunt: he is 180cm tall, thin, has brown hair and was wearing jeans, white trainers and a navy blue shirt with a red, white and blue stripe down the sleeve. He has tatoos on his right shoulder and left hand. Anyone with information is asked to call police at +41 21 644 4444.
Wild early morning chase in Valais before youth found at his home
A 20-year-old Valais youth was driving at a high speed on the A9 autoroute near St Maurice Sunday 14 August, heading towards Martigny, when he overtook a police patrol car at 05:40. The police set off in pursuit. The young man initially appeared to obey their order and headed off the autoroute, but at the last moment got back on the autoroute and, going 200kph, he drove to a Martigny exit, where he exited, went through a stop sign on the cantonal highway and crashed his car which rolled over several times. He was uninjured and took off on foot but a second police patrol spotted him shortly after, hiding under a parked car.
The youth then escaped, despite police calls to stop, by climbing over a fence, running across the autoroute and swimming across the Rhone river.
The police, who had information about his identity, found him at home later in the day. The driver admitted to the facts.
Geneva’s historical tension, police versus political bosses, raises its head again
Geneva’s police appear to be one of the pawns in an ongoing public political debate over safety in the city, with the most recent discussions sparked by the mugging of an American youth who was visiting his parents, a US diplomatic family. The incident was initially given publicity because of the family’s status as high-profile foreigners, but the UN added fuel to the fire with a two-paragraph reminder to UN staff to take care when going out at night.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is from Geneva, then announced her concerns about safety in Geneva, emphasizing its role as an international centre with a high percentage of foreigners. Monday, the political boss of Geneva’s police, Isabel Rochat, turned the tables by saying she is glad the federal government is at last considering boosting financial aid for Geneva’s security, something she says Geneva has been demanding for several months. The two are scheduled to discuss the issue 12 September.
Geneva media have jumped into the fray, reminding citizens, who go to the polls to elect a new parliament this autumn, of long-standing tensions between Geneva police and their politically nominated leaders. Rochat has made it a priority to calm down the mud-slinging battle of previous politicians who worked with police and the security forces. The heavy media coverage, where the American youth’s mugging has served as a pretext to revive the old battlelines, has made the story one of the most widely read in the Tribune de Geneve and prompted a number of online readers to leave comments on its pages and those of Le Matin, also owned by Edipresse.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Vaud Police are seeking witnesses to and information about an accident that occurred at 07:35 Monday on the A1 autoroute between Nyon and Coppet, in the direction of Geneva. No one was injured when a car spun several times but the driver of another car, who was earlier reported to have caused the accident, left the scene.
The driver of that car has now gone to the police and they are seeking witnesses to establish what exactly happened.
The initial report from the police noted that a woman driving a beige Mazda 636 in the right lane, going 110 kph, used her signals to move into the left lane. As she did so she noticed a gray Q5 Audi Break with Vaud plates come up rapidly on her tail, flashing its lights at her. The driver swerved to the right to pass her, then swerved back into the left lane, suddenly braking “violently” according to police. The woman was also forced to brake and she lost control of her vehicle, which then spun several times, hitting the central barrier, coming to a halt facing the wrong way in the left lane.
The other driver continued down the road.
Anyone with information that will help clarify what exactly happened is asked to go to the nearest police station or call 021 644 4444.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The schedule and prices for trains during the Paleo Festival in Nyon are now out.
The CFF rail company’s RailAway plan offers 20 percent off on travel, to help reduce road bottlenecks and pollution created by the 230,000 music fans who descend on Nyon 19-24 July.
Sample prices: second class with a half-fare card, from Geneva CHF6.80, from Lausanne CHF13, from Fribourg CHF26.40.
The shuttle bus between the station and the festival grounds is free of charge.
Special night trains, one an hour in each direction, will run starting at 01:30, to Geneva and to Lausanne-Montreux.
Buses serving the region will be waiting for the trains. A special train to Fribourg is being added that leaves at 02:30, arriving shortly before 04:00.
Train tickets are available at CFF rail stations (windows and machines),via internet on the CFF Ticketshop and by phone, at Rail Service: 0900 300 300 (CHF 1.19/min from fixed line phones).
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Are you a gas-burning road hog who loves festivals and concerts? You might have to change your ways this summer, with environment and sustainable development the buzz words for Swiss festivals.
Montreux Jazz Festival, keeping an eye on electricity consumption (photo: Odile Meylan)
Montreux Jazz Festival, which runs to 16 July, is the first of the big summer festivals and it provides details about its environmental efforts on its web site. The MJF notes that it’s been given the Green ‘n Clean award from Yourope, which awards festivals that actively work to protect their impact on the environment.
Montreux turns on the lights, turns down the consumption
Two measures the MJF cites are its work with Alpiq to provide very low consumption lighting for Le Jardin and its work with e-covoiturage to reduce the number of cars coming to the festival.
Walk! World’s largest sports event encourages us to use our legs
The giant multicultural, multi-event Gymnaestrada, which has brought 20,000 gymnasts from around the world to Lausanne this week, said loud and clear at the outset that its sustainable charter was being given top priority. Walk to the events, as a starting point, it tells visitors.
Green festivals: a balancing act (photo, Gymnaestrada, 11 July group events)
The event increased the population of Lausanne by 20 percent overnight, creating rubbish and other problems, the organizers notes.
It details its green efforts on a web page, which at the end puts the onus on you and meet to make the charter work: “Help us to make this idea of sustainable development a reality! On a daily basis, travel sensibly, eat healthily, sort your rubbish and switch the lights off after you. From now on, you can support the WG-2011 by calculating your carbon footprint and committing to reduce it!”
Gymnaestrada runs until 16 July.
Paleo pushes festival-goers to reflect on transport
The Paleo Festival in Nyon opens 19 July and it will pull in more than 230,000 people by the time it ends 24 July. Paleo sent out a newsletter Tuesday 12 July about its efforts to push concert-goers in the right direction: greener travel.
The CFF rail company offers 20 percent off to anyone who goes by train, and online car-sharing options work for both Switzerland and France. RouteRank, newly improved, is a great way to find the best options for getting from your place to Paleo, and to find out your environmental impact in the process.
St Prex Classics, small is beautiful but also gentler on the environment
A late summer festival, the newly renamed St Prex Classics, takes another approach to the environment by keeping things manageable: 10 concerts over two weekends in intimate surroundings in the lakeside old town (Vieux Bourg) of St Prex (two are in Morges, this year only). The concert, now in its fifth year, runs from 16-28 August.
Nyon
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The CFF rail company will begin work in October 2011, for six months, to renovate and upgrade the Nyon train station, if its plans go through
The project was opened 5 July for public consultation. It involves renovating the facade, adding a Postomat, replacing the current Quick food area with a Polli fast food service and improving the toilets area.
Source: Paleo, ©2011 Paleo / Kiyoungmi Kim
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The Paleo Festival in Nyon is taking Amy Winehouse’s cancellation in stride as it looks for a last-minute star fill-in to replace the singer who signed on, to much fanfare, 11 April. Winehouse’s comeback European tour, after a long fight with drugs and alcohol, was off to a painful start this week in Belgrade, Serbia, and within a day the entire tour had been cancelled.
Winehouse was booed and jeered at the Belgrade concert where, according to a number of media reports backed up by film footage, she appeared to be too drunk to perform, despite strict post-rehab instructions not to touch alcohol. Her staff reportedly has instructions to get rid of any alcohol it finds.
The BBC reports that “many had paid up to €45 (£40) to see her in a country in which wages are some of the lowest in Europe, and their anger was clear.” The Daily Mail reported 21 June that her management says the singer will not ask to be paid for the Belgrade show.
The announcement that the tour was cancelled was gentler, and Paleo as well as some of her other concert venues has picked up the tone, noting that “Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances. Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen. Paléo addresses this talented artist their best wishes.”
The tickets for her Nyon gig will not be refunded, as per Paleo policy. The festival says it will announce her replacement as soon as one is found.
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The 16 teams that make to the Euro 2012 football cup finals will take home at least €8 million and as much as €23 million, says European football federation Uefa, which announced Friday 16 June that it has set the prize money at €196m. The finals take place in Poland and Ukraine.
Uefa also issued a statement saying Fifa, the international football body, must implement reforms within three months of the corruption scandal that has plagued it for the past month.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – London has not seen a show like this for a while, excluding the recent royal wedding: more than £17.2m million raised in one night Thursday 9 June at a party for Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), a UK-based charity, whose founding chairman is Swiss-British-French financier and social celebrity Arpad Busson, who heads EIM in Nyon.
The money will go to a series of children’s health programmes, including retro-virus vaccinations in southern Africa, to reduce the high incidence of dangerous early childhood diarrhea.
The charity had been honoured the previous day with the UK’s top award for charity, the UK Charity Awards 2011, for its work in Bulgaria.
Children might be the reason for the glamorous party, but all eyes were on the 1,000 people who paid £10,000 each to attend the fundraiser. The highlight of the evening, at least for the crowd outside, was the arrival of a stunning couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the royal newlyweds, who were attending their first official function, dressed to outshine anyone. And there were plenty of people to outshine, as the Daily Mail was at pains to point out Friday morning with a fine collection of photos to accompany its front page story.
EIM is a Swiss hedge funds company that manages some $13 billion in funds, up from $10b in October 2010, when the firm ended its distinction between alternative and other funds management, according to Swiss Bilan magazine. The recent rapid growth in the funds managed by the companies was cited by the San Francisco Chronicle as a sign that the recovery of the hedges fund industry is now well underway.
Busson is no stranger to the celebrity life, first as a student at Le Rosey in Rolle, canton Vaud, then in an early and well-publicized relationship with actress Farrah Fawcett and later during his long relationship with super-model Elle McPherson (mother to his two children) and four years with actress Uma Thurman.
Lausanne at dusk, viewed from Lake Geneva: growing number of foreigners live in the city, its suburbs
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva, with its international organizations and United Nations European seat is not likely to lose its reputation as Switzerland’s international city, but Lausanne has been creeping up on it as an international centre. From 2008 to 2010 the resident foreigners’ share of the total population in the capital of Vaud was higher than that in Geneva, and growing faster.
Figures published Monday 30 May by Badac, the Swiss cantons and cities database, show that Lausanne has had a larger percentage of foreigners than Geneva in recent years, although the two are close: Lausanne’s population in 2010 was 39.24 percent foreigners while Geneva’s was 38.58 percent, but while the increase in the foreign population in Geneva was .95 percent, Lausanne’s was 1.22 percent.
The figures take into account only the cities themselves, not their larger urban areas. Geneva’s population in 2010 was 185,958 and Lausanne’s was 125,885.
Smaller cities in the Lake Geneva region, such as some suburbs of Lausanne and Geneva, have even higher percentages of foreigners, including some of the highest rates in Switzerland: Montreux, 44.33 percent foreigners, Meyrin 33.99, Carouge 36.97, Renens 50.85, Nyon 36.39, Vevey 43.38, Morges 33.17, Versoix 33.20, Grand-Saconnex 28.40, Ecublens 43.03, Chêne-Bougeries 29.68.
Spreitenbach (50.74 percent), northwest of Zurich, and Renens (50.85), west of Lausanne, have a majority of foreigners; they are the only two Swiss cities over 10,000 where resident foreigners make up more than 50 percent of the population.
Find books and sit by the Lake to read them. A great Sunday activity.
Location: Nyon, Vaud
Link out: http://www.quartierderive.ch
Date: 12 Jun 2011
Rangers FC was quick to get the bad news to fans
Update 22:00 Geneva / Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Scotland’s Rangers football club has been handed a 40,000 euros fine and its fans have been banned from the team’s next away match, by the European football union, Nyon-based Uefa, Thursday 28 April. The Uefa decision noted that the fine and sanctions come “as a result of the discriminatory behaviour of fans in a tie against PSV Eindhoven.”
The team expressed bitter disappointment at the decision, after putting forth the case that it has made clear it does not support and tries to weed out fans who sing “sectarian songs” at matches, such as the Glasgow anti-Catholic and anti-Irish version of “Billy Boy”. The club has argued that it is being singled out unfairly, since the practice of racist or otherwise discriminatory singing is widespread, but to little avail.
Martin Bain, chief executive, said in a statement, “To be clear, we condemn sectarianism and there is no doubt the mindless behaviour of an element of our support has exposed the Club to a very serious situation. The people who engage in this type of behaviour are damaging the Club they claim to support. It is abundantly clear from this decision that if there is any sectarian singing at future matches the suspended bans will take effect. Those fans who engage in such activity need to take that message on board.”
A second away-game ban was issued, but suspended, as was a home game fans ban with additional 40,000 euros fine, which now hang over the club.
Links to other sites: Guardian, The Scotsman, Sky Sports, Rangers site
An example of Geneva airport's new name and logo, unveiled 18 April
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – GVA is still there as the destination if you’re looking to book a flight to Geneva, but the airport’s name has changed and it has a new logo.
Genève Aéroport – note the accent and airport in French – was unveiled at a press conference Monday morning 18 April, where 2010 financial figures for the airport were shared.
The airport formerly known as Cointrin International Airport now boasts the name of its home base city, Genève, with a decision to use French to insist on the airport’s strong francophone ties.
Genève Aéroport spent CHF30,000 for the name and look change, to Atelier Zuppinger, the winner out of the six pre-selected communications agencies that bid on the job.
New signage will be put up throughout 2011.
English speakers, here’s a helping hand for pronouncing the new name of the airport correctly, but with a slight English accent!
Amy Winehouse, at Paleo 23 July, in Nyon
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Amy Winehouse is Paleo’s “surprise guest”, the top billing for the July music festival in Nyon, the organization announced Mondayy 11 April.
Soul queen Winehouse, who was until recently out of the limelight for several months recovering from health problems and drug addiction, will be doing a European tour this summer.
She’ll appear Sunday 23 July at Paleo. The festival’s excitement at adding her to the billing was tangible in its press release: “Amy Winehouse: an extraordinary voice, a true charisma and powerful, emotion-laden melodies. In the company of a deliciously vintage backing group, this rare artist can be discovered live on stage this summer at the Festival!”
Tickets for Paleo go on sale Wednesday 13 April, online and in outlets listed on the festival site.
http://www.dailymotion.com/videox3jtjiIsraeli Arab filmmaker was murdered 4 April
Visions du Réel runs 7-13 April in Nyon
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The Nyon documentary film festival opens Thursday on a somber note, with a tribute to Juliano Mer Khamis, an Israeli Arab filmmaker and actor who was murdered 4 April in the West Bank. His film “Arna’s Children” was awarded the prize of the Jury du Jeune Public of Visions du Réel in 2004.
This is a year of change for the Nyon festival, with Luciano Barisone, its new director, taking charge for the first time. On a more practical level for festival-goers, a new electronic ticketing system is in place.
The festival opens Thursday 7 April, with some 50 films making their world or European debuts at this festival that has grown in scope and importance to the film industry in recent years. Films fall into three categories: long, medium-long and short.
Mad rush for tickets: Tuesday 13 April
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s largest open-air music festival promises another 5 days of hot music 19-24 July 2011, as it has done every summer for the past 35 years,
The lineup has now been announced and includes: Jack Johnson, James Blunt, The Chemical Brothers, The Strokes, Robert Plant, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Eddy Mitchell, Jamel, Jean-Louis Aubert, Cali, Katerine, Patrice and The National.
The guest of honour this year is the Caribbean for the Village du Monde, so expect some warm beats, with a range of flavours from the region.
The detailed music lineup is now on the Paleo site. Tickets can be purchased online or at outlets listed on the site, but plan ahead to queue for the tickets, which disappear very rapidly every year.
The 2011 poster competition was wone by Kyoungmi Kim, a graphic artist and third-year student at the Geneva High School for Art and Design (Head).
The competition is organized jointly by Paléo and the University of Applied Science of Western Switzerland (HES-SO).
Kim said of her winning design, “I didn’t want to go the way of over-serious abstract graphics. It seemed important to highlight the festive dimension of the event.”
Geneva, Lausanne and Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A French man in his 30s died Friday morning when he lost control of his car on a bend on the St Cergues road, Vaud police say. He was travelling from La Cure to St Cergue when he missed a left bend at Cheseaux, about 10:15. The car hit a rocky bank and rolled over, landing on its roof.
The driver was unconscious when emergency services arrived and he died shortly afterwards.
The victim was a resident of France.
The St Cergue road was closed from 10:30 to 14:00 for the police investigation.
Geneva youth’s scooter was hit by truck
A 20-year-old on a scooter died Thursday evening after he was hit by a truck near 7, Route des Jeunes in Geneva. He died at the scene of the accident. He was heading towards Jonction, after the Etoile junction, when the truck, which was using the delivery quai at number 7, hit the scooter.
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A man in his mid-20s was found dead at Evam, the Nyon Welcome Centre for Migrants Tuesday morning 8 March. Canton Vaud police and a medical examiner were called. Police say that foul play is not suspected, but an investigation into the man’s death has been opened. Police say they do not, for now, know his nationality or country of origin.
He was found about 11:30, lifeless, in his bed, by his roommate. The centre’s staff were immediately alerted but could do nothing more than confirm his death. The body was taken to the Legal Medicine Centre for French-speaking Switzerland, in Lausanne, for an autopsy.
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Some CHF7,000 in cash, 1.5kg of marijuana and 93 packets (85 grams) of cocaine were seized by authorities in canton Vaud Tuesday 22 February when they accompanied staff from the Nyon refugee centre, Établissement vaudois d’accueil des migrants (EVAM), on a search of the premises.
Forty-seven of the 101 single men who live in the centre were checked during the search, which EVAM is allowed to carry out, without advance warning, under Swiss law.
Police note in a statement issued after the 14:00 search that it was undertaken after complaints from people in the area and following several incidents at the centre earlier this year. Violence has broken out on occasion, including one incident where 90 residents of the centre were involved in a fight, apparently over money, in early January. One man was knifed during the brawl.
The calm streets of Nyon
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Almost 90 asylum seekers at Nyon’s migrants’ reception centre EVAM became involved in a heated dispute concerning the disappearance of a sum of money, according to Vaud Cantonal Police.
The dispute pitted some 40 residents against another they accused of having taken money from a locker late 4 January. The centre’s administrator tried to calm things down and separate the groups but the alleged thief was stabbed in the thigh several times.
When 15 police patrol cars arrived, police had to face down the resolute opposition of the residents who threw stones and fire extinguishers at them. Police resorted to pepper spray in order to arrest the person accused of the knifing. Three policemen were wounded. The victim was taken to hospital and is not in danger.
This is the second time in less than two months that violence has erupted in one of the country’s refugee centres. In November 2010, seven people were sent to hospital following a violent dispute in Onex.
Background: GenevaLunch
Wave of break-ins where thieves remove lock cylinders
Thieves are particularly fond of removing locks in Nyon, perferably around dawn in winter
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nyon has been a particularly popular target for thieves who break into homes by removing the door lock cylinders, say Vaud police, who warn residents of an increase in the number of burglaries since October.
Close to 100 burglaries have been recorded in most weeks, nearly double the figures for earlier in the year.
The Greater Lausanne area has seen a significant rise in break-ins, say police, with thieves striking mainly at dawn, forcing their way in through windows and glass doors but also by lifting door lock cylinders. Nyon is the real centre for the latter, with 28 of the 30 reported cases recently occurring in or around the town.
Police suggest taking the following protective measures:
- simulate a presence in your home by using timed lighting
- install outside lighting that automatically detects bodies
- add a tamper-proof cover to the visible part of the lock cylinder
- keep all building entrances locked
- empty and lock all vehicles
- hide away any valuables and don’t leave anything of value in the entryway, or in jacket and coat pockets.
