GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A number of Swiss trains, including Intercity trains between Zurich and Basel and Zurich and Bern, have been running late for most of the day due to a break in the line at Deitikon, in canton Zurich. Trains have had to alternate on the same line in some areas, causing delays of up to 30 minutes. The main Geneva-St Gallen trains have been affected.
CFF rail company authorities say cold may be the culprit, affecting some electric lines. Monday night was Switzerland’s coldest night to date this winter.
Geneva's Escalade, with energy-efficient Christmas lights in 2011 (photo Mr Kio on flickr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva was one of the top winners in the sixth annual Swiss government Watt d’Or programme to recognize energy-saving initiatives.
It was honoured 4 January as the winner of the energy technologies category for its new LED strings of lights along the Lake Geneva waterfront.
The waterfront area has been lit up for more than 100 years, but with incandescent lighting and with new energy regulations calling for the end of this kind of lighting in 2012 the city had to scramble to find another solution. It worked to develop a “revolutionary” LED lighting system that looks like incandescent lights, but uses far less energy, the awards committee announced. Geneva in November 2010 replaced 4200 bulbs with LED light strings that were awarded a prize at the Salon des inventions de Genève. The light is as strong as with the bulbs, but energy consumption has been reduced by 90 percent.
Zermatt was another top winner, for its new rubbish disposal system, and St Gallen was given the top prize for its overall urban development and energy use system, with a new geothermal centre going into operation in 2013.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Wegelin Bank in St Gallen, possibly Switzerland’s oldest bank, made headlines back in August 2009 when it published a newsletter with the heading “Farewell America”, saying it was pulling out of the US and advising its clients to get out of US securities. This week the bank says it is prepared for a fight with the US: it confirmed to Reuters Wednesday that three of its employees, all working in Switzerland, have been charged by US authorities with helping US citizens avoid taxes by hiding their money in Switzerland.
“‘Although US law has some scope for interpretation in this case, Wegelin & Co is certain that Swiss law was not broken at any point,’” the bank is quoted by Reuters as saying in an e-mailed statement. “‘The accused employees worked for the bank within the borders of Switzerland.’”
The bank did not mince words in its criticism in 2009, on moral grounds, of the direction in which the US government is moving, noting in its August 24 Investors Newsletter lead article called “Farewell America” that “the next round of fiscal enforcement staged by the Americans will be devoted not to the American super-rich, but to non-Americans who never in their lives had any intention of evading taxes.”
The three bankers were charged in Manhattan with trying to “capture” business from UBS in 2008 and 2009 when it was famously investigated by the IRS. Switzerland’s largest bank later paid a fine of $780 million to the US.
This is the end of the ride for a small driver in Switzerland - Photo St-Gallen Police
Kaltbrunn, canton St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A precocious four-year-old is making headlines in Switzerland for taking his car for a spin on his birthday. His dad’s two-ton car, that is.
According to authorities, the child, who was celebrating his birthday 17 January, took the keys to his father’s Ford, hopped into the car, somehow managed to engage the gears, drove 200 metres—passing a school along the way—and climbed the sidewalk before hitting a tree head-on.
The child was rescued by passing neighbours who took him home to a surprised father.
Police say that with his height of just over one metre it was impossible for the little driver to see through the windshield. The small driver was probably too busy shifting gears and pushing on the gas pedal to worry about driving without seeing.
Fortunately, no one was injured during the small boy’s escapade.
Local authorities have not said if this little Schumacher wannabe or his parents will face any fines.
St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 52-year-old man who was wanted by Swiss police for 11 years for murdering his 14-year-old daughter’s teacher in St Gallen and for sexually molesting the girl, has died while in detention in the eastern Swiss city, reports news agency ATS. Police there have released no details.
The girl had confided in the teacher about the abuse at home and when her father found out, he killed the teacher. The man fled Switzerland for Kosovo in 1999 after the death, was found, pleaded guilty and in 2000 he was sentenced by Serbia to four years, two of which he served. Switzerland then tried to have him extradited but initially failed. Kosovo finally agreed to deliver him to Swiss authorities in 2009, but he was in hiding.
The man was extradited in September 2010.
St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two dogs out walking with their owners died near St Gallen Tuesday morning 19 October when a 40-year-old car thief being chased by police took a gravel road in his efforts to escape and hit the animals. The road in Abtwil, a popular spot for dog-walkers, led the man to a dead-end, where he abandoned the car, after a 10 km chase. The police caught him shortly afterwards. The pursuit by police began in residential areas of the small city, where the man was driving over 100 kph.
Police in Geneva also led a high-speed chase early Tuesday afternoon in the Plainpalais area after a 31-year-old man from Neuchatel stole a car. He crashed into a police car, part of reinforcements called in, as well as another car before he crashed into a tree in front of the primary school on the rue Barthélémy Menn. Force was required to haul the man in, and charges are being pressed against him.
More electonic voting should make it easier for more Swiss abroad to have their say
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Five additional cantons will be able to offer electronic voting to their citizens in November 2010 federal elections, bringing the total number to 12 cantons, nearly half of the country. The Swiss federal electoral commission announced the decision 8 September. The November ballots take electronic voting, in which Switzerland is a world leader, a step further: this is the first time a popular initiative or citizens-created referendum item, will be voted on.
Some 190,000 voters abroad, or 4.1 percent of the voting population, will be able to vote electronically. Voting from abroad has long posed a problem for the nearly 700,00 (close to 10 percent of the total population) Swiss citizens abroad because ballots are mailed three weeks before votes, which in many cases does not allow enough time to forward the material and have the voter return it for the deadline.
The cantons with electronic voting options in November are:
Avalanches in several cantons catch snowboarders, hikers, skiers Sunday 31 January
Grimentz is in the Val d'Anniviers, Valais
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 24-year-old Vaud man was killed by an avalanche Sunday 31 January while snowboarding off-piste in Grimentz with three friends. They were just 100 metres from a groomed piste when the avalanche caught and buried him. The other three were not hit by the avalanche.
St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A driver caught speeding at 137km per hour in an 80km zone in St Gallen has been sentenced to pay a CHF300,000 fine, calculated as a 130-day fine at CHF2,300 a day. The daily rate is based on his income. Half must be paid up front, and the other half is linked to good behaviour during a two-year suspended sentence.
Swiss voters in 2002 approved a system that went into effect in 2007, which replaces prison terms for certain crimes, such as speeding, with “day fines” based on income. The system has come under fire for not being sufficiently dissuasive, particularly where suspended sentences are used.
Then they grow up and become rowdies
St. Gallen and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Hooligans disrupted trains between Zurich and Basel Wednesday night 28 October after the FC Zurich-FC Basel match in Zurich. Police had to use rubber pellets and pepper spray to try to subdue the rowdies who occupied the Altstetten train station railway tracks, causing transport chaos until just after midnight. A police officer was injured by kicks to the head. The match ended drawn 2-2.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Quickmail SA, based in St Gallen and specialized in mail order deliveries, has been given a license to deliver letters and packages of 50 grams or larger. It is the fourth company to be awarded a license since the privatization process for La Poste began to allow private deliveries for mail under 100 grams, in July 2009. Switzerland now has 24 private companies making deliveries, but most have licenses only for larger deliveries.
See also: part 2 – Taxes overboard! Americans reconsider the IRS at the Geneva T party
and part 1: US-Swiss treaty details may not come in time to help US citizens abroad
[Update 3, 21 September: note that the IRS has announced it will delay the deadline to 15 October 2009, from 23 September - details here; correction added to point 5 below] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US citizens and greencard holders living outside the US should be aware of new tax rules, but also new enforcement procedures, according to several groups and tax experts who organized a taxpayers’ information evening 2 September in Geneva: American Citizens Abroad, Democrats Abroad and Republicans abroad. Many US taxpayers living in Switzerland and elsewhere have only gradually become aware during 2009 that the IRS (US tax authority) has imposed new rules, a six-month amnesty that ends 23 September and it is taking a tougher stance with “non-compliant” taxpayers. Rumours have been thick on the ground, but hard facts few.
See also: part 1 – US-Swiss treaty details may not come in time to help US citizens
part 3 – What has changed for US taxpayers living abroad
[Update 3, 21 September: note that the IRS has announced it will delay the deadline to 15 October 2009, from 23 September - details here]
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Many US taxpayers living in Switzerland and elsewhere have only gradually become aware during 2009 that the IRS (US tax authority) has imposed new rules, a six-month amnesty that ends 15 October and it is taking a tougher stance with “non-compliant” taxpayers. Rumours have been thick on the ground, but hard facts few.
The Geneva T for taxes party
The situation came to a head at a highly emotional meeting in Geneva Wednesday evening 2 September, when 200 American expatriates, citizens and green card holders, gathered at Webster University to learn about recent shifts in the tax situation, what has brought it about and what the implications are.
See also: part 2 – Taxes overboard! Americans reconsider the IRS at the Geneva T party
part 3 – What has changed for US taxpayers living abroad
[Update 3, 21 September: note that the IRS has announced it will delay the deadline to 15 October 2009, from 23 September - details here]
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government announced Friday 11 September that it is authorizing its finance and foreign affairs ministries to sign a new double taxation agreement with the US to replace the current one, which dates back to 1996. The step may ease nervousness among some Americans in Switzerland and elsewhere outside the US – as long as it means that details of the new treaty are published soon.
A Swiss government spokesperson told GenevaLunch 11 September that it’s impossible to know when the two Swiss departments will actually sign the treaty. Parliament retains the right to vote on it, as well, once the departments sign, and as yet there is no clear indication if parliament will or will not exercise this right.
Some US citizens and greencard holders who live overseas know that they are considered non-compliant under IRS (US tax authority) rules which are being more stringently enforced in 2009, and they are debating coming in from the cold. Others are only becoming aware they may not be fulfilling their US tax obligations, even though they assumed they were.
