Update 01:00 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An accident involving a person on the rails near Roche-Aigle in canton Vaud stopped most train traffic between Martigny and Sion late Saturday night, according to a 21:45 CFF notice. Several trains were cancelled: update – service has been resumed. Link to CFF alerts
Safe from betting, at this stage
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several Swiss football clubs Monday 23 November announced internal investigations into match-fixing involving their players following revelations in Germany 19 November that 32 games with suspicious outcomes were being investigated there. Seventeen people reportedly were arrested in Germany and, according to German media Bild, over €1 million seized in cash and property.
Swiss team FC Thun suspended its Senegalese star striker, Omar Fayé, after it was announced that the police had spoken to him “as a witness.” FC Gossau announced Tuesday 24 November it had suspended a player, as well. Two people were taken into custody last week in connection with the scandal.
Twenty-two Swiss Challenge League games and six Test matches involving Swiss teams, including FC Thun, Gossau, Yverdon and Sion, are under investigation. As an example, both Bern’s Young Boys and Aarau played Bulgaria’s first division team Lokomotiv Mezdra which lost 0:5 in both cases, 13 and 17 November, reports Swiss-German paper Tagesanzeiger 24 November.
Pinot Noir grapes, basking in the sun in early September, Valais
Two weeks of sunshine will make all the difference: Valais grapes 5 September
Geneva/Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The grape harvest of 2009 has wine producers in Switzerland smiling, even though grape picking begins in earnest in Valais, the early starter and the largest wine-producing canton, only this weekend. It has been an excellent year for growers, comparable to 2005, one of the best years on record, say growers: adequate rain at just the right times and generally dry conditions in most of the country’s grapegrowing regions, with the harvest size comparable to last year’s.
Lausanne/Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Valais police are investigating an incident in which a man pulled a knife on a youth Friday night 11 September at the Sion train station. The man was buying a ticket at a machine when a group of seven youths aged between 17 and 20 approached him, acting threateningly, he told police. He pulled out a pocket knife, and in the skirmish that followed, one of the youths was hurt, and taken to hospital, according to the Valais police.
Late Saturday night 12 September, a young American student in Lausanne was attacked by two young men and four young women as he was out near Parc Montbenon. Parc Montbenon was the scene 1 September of a knifing on a young Algerian man who later died of his injuries.
Related: 20Minutes
Background: “Non-Swiss juveniles kill youth, send police to hospital in separate crimes” 07 September 2009, GenevaLunch
Yellow = medium dry, orange = very dry, red = extremely dry (image: canton Valais 20 August 2009)
Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canton Valais has had little precipitation in recent weeks and Thursday 20 August cantonal authorities banned open air fires unless they are authorized and in areas reserved for fires. Forests south of the Rhone are exceptionally dry but a red alert, meaning all fires banned, has not yet been issued.
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Take your pick: party in the Alps near Sion or on Swiss city streets
Zurich's street parade: definitely urban
Zurich and Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – You have to go out of your way to avoid festivals in Switzerland in the summer, starting with the two big July music festivals, Montreux Jazz Festival and Paleo in Nyon, with several smaller but very popular festivals around the same time. The Fêtes de Geneve is underway, with music and the region’s biggest fireworks Saturday 9 August. Zurich is also holding its big party this coming weekend, the 20th year of the colourful techno Street Parade or Switzerland’s biggest rave, whose organizers say attracted 850,000 people in 2008. On a smaller scale, but also celebrating an anniversary, its 15th, the Guinness Irish Festival in Sion features the Dubliners and the Chieftains.
new Cisalpino II train, inaugural trip July 2009, Lausanne-Sion, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The inaugural run of the new, ultra-sleek Cisalpino II trains that link Geneva to Milan, Italy via Lausanne, saw the high-speed train journey from Lausanne to Sion. The ride itself was easy compared to the latest problems faced by the company. Cisalpino was under threat of losing its contract with the Swiss rail company CFF early in 2009 because of breakdowns and delays.
Charles Bonvin & Fils in Sion celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (Le Nouvelliste, Fre) – Rouvinez, Sierre-based winery, will buy Charles Bonvin & Fils, including 20 hectares of vineyard, to become the largest private wine company in Valais. Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine-producing canton, with 40 percent of the country’s wine: 45 million litres in 2008. The sale, reportedly for some CHF10 million, will keep the oldest wine cellar in Valais in local hands.
Red Cross doubledecker blood mobile, © 2009 STS CRS
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Red Cross has specially fitted a genuine London doubledecker bus to tour Switzerland this summer to encourage blood donations. The campaign began Sunday 14 June to coincide with international blood donors day and runs through 22 August in most major Swiss cities. The bus is currently in Sion, canton of Valais. The Red Cross says it is especially difficult to obtain blood during the summer.
Fribourg, Switzerland (TSR/ats, Fre) – Supporters for the Zurich Football Club, traveling to Sion for a match, turned rowdy and attacked their own club’s security bus at the Gruyere autoroute stop in canton Fribourg Thursday evening 10 April.
