Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Italy’s woes with finding a solution to the rubbish dilemma in Naples have not ended: Sunday night the government sent in military troops, for the second time in three years, to remove increasingly smelly piles from the streets. Firefighters are reported by Italian media to have put out 28 fires that started in rubbish heaps, over the weekend, which the BBC reports have been started by angry residents. AFP says 4,100 tons of uncollected garbage are sitting in the streets, although CNN says there are 2,000 tons while some Italian media say 3,000 tons.
Italy drew down the wrath of the European Commission in 2009 after failing to find a solution to the problem, which made headlines in 2007 and 2008. The EC said that if it did not literally clean up its act there would be financial repercussions.
The underlying problem is a lack of incineration facilities and overflowing landfill sites. Residents want the rubbish hauled out but no home or alternative has been found. The company that collects it argues that the problem is not collection but that once collected, there is nowhere to take it. Meanwhile, city officials are trying to disinfect the rotting heaps.
Links to other sites: BBC, Corriere del Mezzogiorno (It)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s new head of criminal police services, François Schmutz, says that the amount of heroin on offer in Geneva has risen substantially, compared to 10 years ago. The price is considerably cheaper, he points out, making Geneva an attractive destination for buyers, 70-80 percent of whom come from outside the canton.
Heroin in other French-speaking cantons in Switzerland is CHF70-100 a gram, while in France it is 1.5 times that. The per gram cost in Geneva is just CHF28, Schmutz told Le Temps newspaper in the first interview he has given.
Nobel peace prize winner reportedly “detained”
Cairo is the scene of continuing protests against the government of Hosmi Mubarak, in power for 30 years, and as protests appear to have spread to Alexandria and Suez, the government has clamped down on the Internet, severely disrupting access to it throughout the country. The government has banned crowds, but thousands are taking to the street despite the ban.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, who has opposed the government, returned to Egypt Thursday, saying he would join in the protests and Friday afternoon he is reported to have been “detained”. Media in Cairo say police are using tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, BBC, Guardian, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eric Stauffer says he will rid the streets of Geneva of beggars within 45 days of being elected to the cantonal government, if he is elected 15 November. The leader of the Mouvement des Citoyens Genevois (MCG) party which was the undeniable winner of Sunday’s 11 October elections to the cantonal parliament, or Grand Conseil, said on early morning radio 12 October that if elected to the seven-person cabinet, he will work to remove beggars from the streets.
