Brady Dougan, Credit Suisse CEO
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Credit Suisse Thursday 9 February reported a net loss of CHF637 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, significantly worse than many analysts’ expectations, according to Bloomberg. Full-year figures remained in the black, with net income of CHF1.95 billion, but the profit was down by 62 percent, compared to a net profit of CHF5.2b in 2010.
Chief executive Brady Dougan summarized the result for Q4 as “disappointing”, saying “It reflects both the adverse market conditions during the period and the impact of the measures we have taken to swiftly adapt our business to the evolving market and regulatory requirements.”
It is the bank’s first quarterly loss since 2008 and in the statement issued Thursday the bank attributes it to “realignment costs of CHF414 million from cost-efficiency measures, and CHF567 million from businesses we are exiting and the reduction of risk-weighted assets in our Investment Banking fixed income business.”
The bank’s private banking business was hurt by “significantly lower levels of client activity and higher expenses for legal matters and credit provisions”.
Private banking new money continued to flow in, with net new assets of CHF40.9 billion for the year, but the last quarter was CHF7.6b, mainly from emerging markets, indicating a slowdown.
State of talks with the US government
Talks with Swiss and US government officials are ongoing, Credit Suisse notes, over allegations that the bank acted illegally with wealthy US residents who were trying to hide their money from American tax authorities. “Credit Suisse is strongly supportive of a resolution acceptable to both the US and Switzerland. Credit Suisse continues to cooperate with the authorities both in the US and Switzerland to resolve this matter in a responsible manner that complies with its legal obligations.”
Swiss and US officials have indicated this week that they are anxious to resolve the situation, which one top official not directly involved in the talks described off the record as a top area of “tension” between the two countries.
CEO says costs incurred to prepare for new world where banks face new regulatory environment
Dougan says costs incurred to re-position the bank will pay off as it cuts losses from less profitable business areas.
“In mid-2011, we decided to aggressively reduce risks and costs. This decision was rooted in our belief that the market and regulatory environment is undergoing fundamental change, and that by embracing these developments and proactively adjusting our business model, we can position Credit Suisse to succeed in the new environment. The regulatory developments and the subdued market environment in the second half of 2011 have confirmed our views. The accelerated implementation of the risk reduction plan and our measures to exit businesses that are no longer expected to deliver attractive returns in the changed regulatory environment, as well as higher charges incurred due to the rapid execution of the cost reduction programs, led to negative impact of CHF 981 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.”
Max the white stork, in early March 2009, on her snowy nest near the Swiss-German border - will she find snow again this year? (photo: Heida Buergermeister)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Max knows something the rest of us don’t: spring is on the way. Freezing temperatures throughout Switzerland for the next few days and record snowfalls make it hard to believe, but one of the first harbingers of spring, Max the stork, has started her return north from the area around Madrid in central Spain.
Max’s movements are followed by the Natural History Museum of Fribourg, which banded the bird. This is her 13th winter migration and her movements tell us much about the change in seasons. Some years Max has wintered over in North Africa, but most often she opts for Spain, often further south than this year.
Max is a Swiss-born white stork who has been tracked for longer than any other bird in the wild. She left her summer home in Tuefingen, Saturday 10 September, taking about three weeks to make the trek to her winter home in Spain. Last year she arrived 8 February and was mating a month later. Her five 2011 offspring were born around 20 April.
GenevaLunch background: Max the stork
Zurich airport
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – More morning and evening flights, but fewer flights over southern Germany from Zurich: this is the tradeoff agreed to by Switzerland and Germany, which announced Saturday 28 January they have signed an agreement to reduce noise.
The new accord is expected to go into effect in the summer of 2012.
Noise reduction in the southern German air corridor has been a contentious issue for a number of years and the two governments said in announcing the agreement that they also hope new developments in airplane technology will ease the situation.
Swiss, one of the main airlines using the corridor, has said it will be replacing half of its fleet there by 2020, according to TSR.
Switzerland has said it needs more flexibility for flights in and out of Zurich, particularly in the morning.
Zurich Airport had 20,911 “movements” of planes in December 2012, up 1.7 percent from a year earli.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Xamax, the Neuchatel football team, lost its license Wednesday 18 January, the latest in a string of major distractions off the field, for the team and Swiss football fans. Controversial club owner Bulat Chagaev has five days to appeal and show that the club is financially sound.
TSR, Swiss public television, Wednesday evening carried a series of reactions to the club’s bump from the Super League as the result of the move by the Swiss Football Association.
The license was taken away after a string of financial incidents, from unpaid supplier bills to unpaid social security bills and alleged fake statements showing that the Chechen owner has $35 milion with which to back the club.
Fox Sports reports that the license loss has prompted an ownership group to prepare “to save the publicly humiliated club from an apparently inevitable demotion of at least two divisions, and possible bankruptcy under its current Chechen owners.” TSR, Swiss public television, reports Wednesday night that
Swiss football has been suffering in recent weeks from other off-the-field fights, with Sion being fined 36 points by the Swiss Football Association, a move the club has hotly contested.
Swiss Bankers Associatio CEO Claude-Alain Margelisch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Few details have surfaced from the discussions between the US and Switzerland about a new “global solution for all banks“ that would end serial tax evasion investigations by US authorities, with both sides pledged to silence while negotiations are underway.
The head of the Swiss Bankers Association gave a rare glimpse into the talks when he said in Geneva Tuesday 22 November that his group’s role is to find a solution for “the rest of the financial sector” but not for the 11 banks under investigation by the US Justice Department.
The small group of banks, which includes Credit Suisse, is suspected by the US of helping American clients evade taxes by hiding money offshore.
Claude-Alain Margelisch, chief executive of the Swiss Bankers Association, qualified discussions with US officials as “productive”.
Margelisch, Swiss banking group head, met with int'l media in Geneva Tuesday
His group approached its members, he says, “to find solutions. I can say we’ve made progress.”
His remarks came in the context of a presentation to the Swiss Foreign Press Association on key banking events of the past year. The agreements with the UK and Germany were major accomplishments, he said, but these are not yet ratified and “we have to convince all parties” that the treaties are a compromise and the best way forward.
The group’s priority with the agreements is to see them ratified, he says. “Our view is that there can be no renegotiation”, as suggested by some German parliament members who are opposed to the treaty.
Swiss banks want to “draw a line under the past but protect the future,” he told the reporters. “Our strategy is clear: we want the clients’ [business] to remain in Switzerland and we want this business done correctly.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – It took one hour, 28 minutes and it was a tough match, but Swiss Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 2-6 6-4 Sunday 20 November for the opening match of the ATP World Tour Finals. The two faced off just a week ago when Federer beat Tsonga in the final of the ATP Masters tournament at Paris-Bercy.
Federer played a better first set and then Tsonga powered past him in the second set, breaking service twice.
The match was even in the third set until Tsonga fell apart in the final game.
Too much of a good thing means we need to cut back, says the Federal Office of Public Health
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss are known for their conservative approach to money, but one area where they are too liberal, it appears, is in adding sodium, or table salt, to their food. A study released Monday by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) shows that people consume nearly double the amount of salt they should, but it also points to ways to reduce this, starting with the food industry.
Too much salt causes health problems, with the risk of cardiovascular disease high on the list. The Chuv (university hospitals) in Lausanne was mandated to carry out the research, with questionnaires for 1,500 people followed up by tests for hypertension.
Men were found to consume more salt than women, 10.6 grams compared to 7.8g. The World Health Organization’s recommends an intake of 5g maximum.
More men had a problem with high blood pressure, 32.3 percent, than women, 19.1 percent, but the average of more than 25 percent shows a population too much at risk for cardiovascular disease, says the FOPH.
School lunches, work canteens will use less salt, more herbs and spices
Expect less, get more, could well be the motto of the future for the Swiss population, with the food industry and researchers now working with the health office to cut back on the use of salt without any loss of flavour or safety in order to help consumers boost their health.
The study is part of the FOPH’s “Salt Strategy 2008–2012“, which aims to reduce the nation’s salt consumption. Salt Strategy is one part of the Swiss Nutrition and Physical Activity Programme 2008–2012.
Eleven categories of products have been targeted for reduced salt, with the federal government laying out recommendations for industry cutting back. Read more…
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Sonntagszeitung in Zurich has reported, citing an unnamed source, that Credit Suisse is handing over client data for 130 customers to the Swiss government, at the request of the American tax service, the IRS. The federal government, which has demanded that the bank turn over the names immediately, according to the Swiss weekly, will review the names and data, and provide them to the US tax authorities once it decides they meet the criteria required for Switzerland to provide administrative assistance to the US.
Swiss procedure allows the clients a chance to appeal, a process that could well mean it takes several months for the IRS to obtain the information.
Credit Suisse has so far not confirmed the Swiss weekly publication’s numbers. Last week it said it was informing clients who are affected by the move.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss companies share first place at the bottom of the list, but for a change this is a good thing: the list is Transparency International’s (TI) rankings of countries most likely to bribe abroad. Russia heads the list, with China close behind. The last two invested $120 billion overseas in 2010.
The Netherlands and Switzerland are the countries whose companies are the least likely to bribe. The report ranks 28 major international and regional exporting countries by the likelihood of their firms to bribe abroad, based on surveys of 3,000 business executives.
The annual report on bribery looks, for the first time, at business to business bribery rather than just bribes paid to government officials. Story continues …
Source: Transparency International, November 2011
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A number of Swiss trains are delayed, cancelled or taking different routes Friday after a Thursday evening sideswipe crash between two trains left one conductor in critical condition. The cause of the crash in Olten, a major centre for Swiss trains, with several intersecting rail lines, is not yet known.
One of the trains had left Sissach and the other Basel. Twenty people were aboard the two trains, but there were no other serious injuries. The engine was badly damaged and two cars derailed in the accident.
The Olten-Basel line is closed until at least 15:00 Friday, with the CFF announcing the following changes (updates, CFF):
Derailment: Tecknau – Olten (SBB CFF FFS)
Derailment: Between Tecknau and Olten on the Basel SBB – Olten line, no train services are operating.
The Basel SBB – Chur / Zürich HB Intercity trains are being rerouted.
Long-distance trains IR Basel SBB – Luzern are cancelled between Gelterkinden and Olten.
Long-distance trains Basel SBB – Lugano / Locarno are cancelled between Basel SBB and Olten.
The IC Zürich HB – Bern trains make an unscheduled stop in Olten.
The Basel SBB – Bern – Interlaken Ost / Brig Intercity trains are being rerouted. The trains make an unscheduled stop in Gelterkinden. Please allow for approx. 30 minutes more travel time.
S-Bahn trains S3 are cancelled between Tecknau and Olten.
S-Bahn trains S9 are cancelled between Sissach and Olten.
Replacement buses operating Olten (xx:15 / xx:30 / xx:50) – Läufelfingen – Sissach.
Replacement buses operating Sissach (xx:10 / xx:35 / xx: 55) – Läufelfingen – Olten.
Passengers travelling from Basel SBB
- to Lugano – Chiasso / Locarno or vice versa travel via Zürich HB.
- to Luzern or vice versa travel via Zürich HB.
Passengers travelling from Liestal
- to Bern should take the S-Bahn S 3 to Gelterkinden and change in Gelterkinden onto the InterCity (IC) to Brig / Interlaken Ost.
- to Olten or vice versa travel via Aarau.
Passengers travelling from Gelterkinden to Olten should take the InterCity (IC) to Brig / Interlaken Ost.
Passengers travelling from Tecknau to Olten or vice versa travel via Sissach.
Please allow for a longer travelling time.
The connections are not guaranteed.
Duration of disruption expected until 07.10.2011 15:00.
For further information, please call free SBB hotline at 0800 99 66 33.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss police and gendarme training school in Savatan has signed an agreement with the French national Gendarmerie to boost mutual training and continuing education projects. One of the key goals will be to improve cross-border collaboration, increasingly important given growing policing problems in urban France and the Lake Geneva region that require rapid responses, say canton Vaud police, who are closely involved in the project.
Theft and violent crime in the Lake Geneva region, often with the criminals coming from French urban areas, has increased in recent years.
New police academy projects will focus on improving joint work methods and greater use of technology.
Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Faster than a speeding bullet, faster even than the speed of light, neutrinos flying in beams sent through the Earth’s crust the 730km between Cern in Geneva and the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy are astonishing the world scientific community. Initial measurements of the neutrinos have given scientists startling results, showing them to travel at 20 parts per million above “the world’s cosmic speed limit”, the speed of light.
Neutrinos are elementary particles that are electrically neutral.
The Opera project, which has thus far measured some 15,000 neutrino events, has prompted Cern to open access to other scientists to better understand the results, the Geneva group says in a statement Friday, linked to a seminar on the results. The surprising results, which fly in the face of accepted science, must be independently verified, says Cern. Checks for faulty equipment and methodology have turned up nothing.
“The Opera measurement is at odds with well-established laws of nature, though science frequently progresses by overthrowing the established paradigms,” Cern notes in its Friday statement. “For this reason, many searches have been made for deviations from Einstein’s theory of relativity, so far not finding any such evidence. The strong constraints arising from these observations makes an interpretation of the Opera measurement in terms of modification of Einstein’s theory unlikely, and give further strong reason to seek new independent measurements.”
“This result comes as a complete surprise,” said Opera spokesperson, Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern. “After many months of studies and cross checks we have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement. While Opera researchers will continue their studies, we are also looking forward to independent measurements to fully assess the nature of this observation.”
“When an experiment finds an apparently unbelievable result and can find no artefact of the measurement to account for it, it’s normal procedure to invite broader scrutiny, and this is exactly what the OPERA collaboration is doing, it’s good scientific practice,” says Cern’s research director Sergio Bertolucci.
Vaud sailor Bernard Stamm's Cheminee Poujoulet was in 5th place Sunday in what the organizers call the "fearsome" Fastnet race (photo, ©2011 Gwendal Danguy)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss sailors were in a strong position at the end of Sunday in the 608 nautical miles Fastnet race, often called a “mythical” sailing event, in part because 15 people died during the storms that battered the race in 1979.
The 2011 race began Sunday 14 August on the Isle of Wight under what the event organizers called perfect conditions, with a record number of entries, 314. A line of clouds on the horizon suggested dramatic sailing might lie ahead.
The race runs along the south coast of the UK, across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, before returning around the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.
Several of the boats, including Steve Ravussin’s (Swiss) Race For Water, were over the line early and had to turn around for a re-start, adding to the day’s drama.
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – The unemployment rate in Switzerland held steady at 2.8 percent in July, figures released Monday 8 August show. The number of jobless was down slightly, by 1,178 from May and down by more than 33,000, or 23.3 percent, compared to a year earlier.
The Swiss/foreign makeup of the unemployed has gone back to 2007 levels, with 2.1 percent of Swiss unemployed and 5.2 percent of foreigners registered. The figures had risen, in 2009, to 2.7 percent and 7.2 percent. French citizens and those from the western Balkans had the highest rates of unemployment, over 5 percent, in July, among foreigners.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The three anarchists, or “ecoterrorists”, who were caught just 3 km short of their bombing target, a new IBM nano research centre near Zurich, were handed the maximum sentences Friday by the high court in Bellinzona, Ticino. Two Italians in their 30s and a 26-year-old Swiss man were sentenced to more than three-and-a-half years each, although the time they have spent in preventive custody since April 2010 can be counted as part of their time.
Canton Zurich is responsible for overseeing their prison time.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 14-year-old girl is reported by the Tribune de Geneve to be in serious condition after being shot in the stomach accidentally at 21:30 during a small party held Thursday evening at an apartment on the rue Robert-de-Traz in Florissant. The flat reportedly belongs to French-Swiss actor Alain Delon. The party was held by the 17-year-old son of the actor. All evidence appears to point to an accident, according to the Tribune, with the young people unaware that a gun in the home was loaded.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - Hainan Airlines, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the industry and China’s fourth largest, starts three-times weekly flights between Zurich and Beijing Tuesday 31 May, the beginning of what promises to be stronger aviation ties between Switzerland and China.
Swiss is reportedly targeting Zurich-Beijing as one of its next offers, possibly linked to Swiss’s purchase of five new planes.
Photo: bridgestochina.com (Life in Beijing)
Hainan Air’s non-stop service will used an Airbus A330 with 34 business class and 179 economy seats. The flight runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday in each direction. Flights leave Zurich at 13:20 and arrive at Beijing International Airport at 05:20 local time the next morning. The departing time from Beijing is 01:50 local time, landing at Zurich Airport at 7:05 the same day. Both arrival times offer the possibility of good connections for further travel, says Hainan Air, China’s largest private airline.
“The frequency is much likely to be increased if the market demand is higher,” notes Hainan in a press release about the new line. It also notes that with code-sharing with its partner Air Berlin for Zurich-Berlin flights that connect with Berlin-Beijing on Hainan, Switzerland and China now have nearly daily connections between their capitals, on Hainan.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – French and French-language Swiss media have added a new angle to the weekend revelation that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, was arrested on attempted rape and related charges: Tristane Banon, a young French journalist who said in 2007 that a senior political figure tried to rape her in 2002, has resurfaced. The man was named as DSK, the French media nickname for Strauss-Kahn.
Banon, who interviewed Strauss-Kahn for a book she was writing when she was 22 years old, told a French TV interviewer in 2007 that she had had to fight off a political figure, whose name she mentioned, but it was beeped from the show. The TV team, however, was aware of who the man was. She later said she had seen lawyers and put together a legal complaint of sexual aggression which she did not file, dissuaded in part by her mother, who is a senior politician in France. “I didn’t want to be known as the girl who had a problem with a French politician.”
Her mother confirmed the information in an interview Monday 16 May with Paris-Normandie. Anne Mansouret, the mother, is a Socialist candidate for the French presidency in the primaries set for September, as is Strauss-Kahn.
A Swiss rubbish shed
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss may have a reputation for being among the world’s tidiest people, but the Federal Environment Department argues there is room for improvement.
It has just completed the first-ever calculation of how much it costs to clean up the country’s litter and the tally is CHF200 million, of which CHF50m is for rubbish left on public transport vehicles and the rest for rubbish left in public areas.
The cost comes to nearly CHF30 a person per year to sweep up cigarette butts, beverage and food containers and wrappers, which make up the bulk of the mess.
Taxes and public transport charges generally cover the cost, but the government once a year since 2008 has been holding a roundtable discussion to find creative solutions. It invites communes, cantons, manufacturers and industries such as the restaurant and food store businesses to take part. This year’s session will have not only precise figures to work with but clearly defined problem areas pinpointed, such as train station environs and public parks.
Swiss Alpine bee (photo ©2011 Ellen Wallace)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss love their bees, to the point where there is a waiting list to rent one through a project to help the bees survive a global bee disease problem whose origins remain murky.
Swiss Rentabee is a project was started by Thomas Eberhard three years ago. “After all the bad news about bees dying all over the world, I realized that there are many people who would like to help, who would like to do something for the bees. Bees are well-liked animals, making a well-liked product! I also wanted to motivate beekeepers and show them that they are not alone in their struggle against the bee diseases.”
Eberhard’s interest was also personal and rentabee.ch is part of a non-profit association. ‘I am a bee-keeper myself, my bees fly in the middle of the city of Bern.”
World’s bee population continues to fall
The death of bees has been news for the past five years. ABC News in the US a year ago wrote:
“In 2009 almost 29 percent of the bee colonies in the United States collapsed, say scientists who surveyed commercial beekeepers and brokers. That’s slightly less than the 36 percent loss in 2008 and the 32 percent counted in 2007, but an informal survey just finished suggests that the die-off continues.”
The BBC in 2010 reported that Manx bees, queens from the Isle of Man, could be the secret to keep Britain’s bee population, down 15 percent in the previous two years, from being decimated in the face of the little-understood problem.
“The bloodsucking Varroa virus and other infections have been blamed for the decline, which has infiltrated many colonies across the world,” the BBC writes in one report, while quoting experts in another who blame changing agricultural practices.
How Swiss Rentabee works
Photo, ©2011 Swissmilk
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss have outdone themselves as cheese-eaters, climbing from their world leader position in 2009, when consumption was a record-breaking 21.4 kilos per inhabitant, to 21.55 in 2010.
The new figures, published by Swissmilk, show the Swiss eating more fresh cheese in particular, but also semi-hard and very hard cheese.
The news is not all good for Swiss cheesemakers, with the total increase of 170 grams including an increase of 300 grams of imported cheese.
Foreign cheeses account for 27.2 percent of the market in Switzerland.
Mozzarella remains the most popular cheese by far, followed by Gruyere, but Appenzeller and Emmental are gaining in popularity.
Source: Swissmilk 2011
Seat of Swiss federal government in Bern
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The neutral Swiss had a very rare glimpse of a foreign military power on home territory Monday 21 March, as 20 British military vehicles, escorted by the Swiss army, crossed the country from Basel to Chiasso in canton Ticino.
The passage, details and the path of which were not divulged by the federal government, would only have appeared remarkable to those who spotted the soldiers because of the type and markings of the vehicles: Swiss military vehicles and soldiers from the citizen militia are a common sight in Switzerland.
The British government requested the right of passage of aeronautic equipment as part of its commitment to prevent the Qaddafi regime in Libya from using force against the civilian population there.
Geneva airport
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hainan Airlines, which will begin operating non-stop flights between Zurich and Beijing 31 May, is opening sales in Zurich 1 May with Aviareps handling bookings and service for the privately owned Chinese company.
Hainan Air will initially offer three flights a week, but this is scheduled to increase if the demand is strong enough.
Geneva to Amsterdam seats will increase by 14 percent on KLM this summer and Basel will have Swiss flights to Nice starting 1 July for an introductory fare of CHF99. Swiss is also adding 7 flights a week to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport from Basel 27 March, in addition to its current four from Zurich.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss was the best-performing of Lufthansa Group’s carriers in 2010, Air Transport World reports 21 March. The airline group 17 March published its annual report for 2010, showing Swiss in a much stronger position than in 2009.
It carried 14 million passengers, the highest number in its history and had a load capacity of 82.4, above the industry average: Europe averaged 79. in 2010 and North America 82.2, according to Iata (industry association) figures.
Financially, Swiss had profits of of €298 million, up from €93m in 2009. Revenues rose 25 percent to €3.46 billion. The figures exclude Edelweiss.
The company has increased traffic by about 50 percent a year for the past five years, since its partnership with Lufthansa, and it has hired 1,000 new staff.
The strong 2010 performance “is due largely to effective cost management, but also to strong demand and the upswing in intercontinental and freight business, as well as strong sales in the domestic Swiss market”, the company said in a message to shareholders.
The Swiss economy outperformed Europe in 2010.
Alessia and Livia Schepp, missing Swiss twins, in the summer of 2010
Update 16:05 Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Family, friends and those who have been involved in the search for missing twins Alessia and Livia Schepp gathered at the Pierrette beach in Saint Sulpice, near Lausanne, at 15:00 Wednesday 23 February for an hour-long solidarity walk.
The missing girls’ mother, Irina, met briefly with the 100 or so people who gathered, to thank them for their support and to accept white flowers from two little girls, before she returned to her apartment in tears (photos: 20 Minutes).
Mother describes the girls’ contrasting personalities
She granted an interview to Italian newspaper Corriere della sera, which appeared Tuesday evening. She told the journalist that she “absolutely must find” the girls, that this has now become her life. She talked about sleeping little and waking up to the pain every day, taking painkillers and sleeping pills.
“Where are my children? There is such wickedness, such cruelty in what Matthias did that I still cannot believe it, Irina says.
Coach and co-owner of the Geneva Servette Hockey Club, Chris McSorley
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Christophe Stucki joined the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club Monday 14 February as the company’s new general director, with responsibility for the staff, monitoring revenue and developing game operations, according to Chris McSorley, one of the club’s two owners.
The move by club President Hugh Quennec comes shortly after the team hit a rough spot in the 2010-2011 season, with several crippling injuries and the loss of top player Thomas Déruns in order to keep the club’s finances healthy.
The team has slipped slightly in Swiss A league club rankings to 6 out of 12 teams, but it has made it to the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years. McSorley says that while he expected this, he is proud of the club’s efforts despite what he calls “an abnormal amount of injuries”.
The team has won 17 of 46 matches this season.
Stucki’s addition will not deplete the hockey team budget, which is separate from that for administration. It’s the latest in a step-by-step effort to professionalize the entire operation, says McSorley, moving beyond previous director Philippe Kneubuehler, who left in 2009 after four years and Louis Christoffel, former director.
“Our ambition is to be one of the biggest, best-run sports franchises in Europe,” McSorley says, noted “for the quality of the administration and the players on the ice.”
Stucki’s background is in finance, most recently in the jewelry industry, and includes a stint as a senior auditor for PriceWaterhouseCooper. He was head of finance and administration for Cartier Joaillerie, a branch of the Geneva Richemont group, until 2008, and he has worked as an independent consultant since then.
“We’re not only the owners, but it’s an owner-managed company,” says McSorley of his role and that of Quennec, his partner. “Hugh is involved as a poliltician, in the renovation project at Les Vernets, the new arena project and monitoring the programme of the foundation. I still have my hockey club responsibilities. I’m both manager and coach, two fulltime jobs in one.”
Le Temps and NZZ will be publishing US cables on Switzerland, from WikiLeaks
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss newspapers Le Temps (registration required) and NZZ will publish, in French and in German starting next week, selected cables from the 5,814 that WikiLeaks collected. The two negotiated an agreement to receive the entire collection and several journalists from the two publications are meeting this weekend to determine which to publish.
The cables cover the period from 1978 to 28 February 2010.
Le Temps explains its decision: “It normally takes several decades for the reality, on which we want to shed some light, to surface.
More money found in Italian mailboxes as searches continue in three countries
Mother appeals on Swiss television to thank the public
Click on images to view larger
Alessia and Livia Schepp, photos taken last summer - the twins turned 6 in October
Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Missing twins Alessia and Livia Schepp were last seen for certain on the ferry that took them to Corsica from Marseille, police in canton Vaud said at an evening press conference Wednesday 9 February.
French police have now confirmed to their Swiss colleagues that several people saw the children in a play area on the boat and the woman in the adjoining cabin heard children crying during the night. A man who saw the father leave the boat with two small girls was able to positively identify the father, but not the children.
Reports that the girls were later sighted in Italy have not been confirmed, however, they insist, referring in particular to the owner of a bar in Italy who has come forward as a witness. Interviews with witnesses are taped and reviewed by police involved in the investigation. The police have received a large number of calls from potential witnesses, they say, all of which are being followed up.
Two more envelopes containing money, mailed by the girls’ father to his wife, have been found in mailboxes near the Cerignola train station, one containing €950 and the other €550.
Alessia and Livia Schepp, missing Swiss twins, in the summer of 2010
Three Italian police officers from a mobile unit in Bari, Italy, visited the Vaud police headquarters in Lausanne Wednesday to exchange information “useful to our investigations” said Jean-Christophe Sauterel, head of Vaud police communications, but they declined to provide further information in order not to prejudice the investigation.
New photos of the girls were also distributed to the media.
Searches, including the use of bloodhounds continues in three countries: Switzerland, Italy and France.
The mother of the girls, Irina Lucidi, has agreed to appear, live, on Swiss public television TSR Wednesday evening at 19:30.
Police at the Vaud head office were surprised to hear she would be appearing live, shortly before the TSR programme, but Sauterel told GenevaLunch that the family is free to talk to media and others: it’s important to remember that this is not a criminal investigation.
The relations between the family and Vaud police are excellent, “and in an extremely difficult context. And in an emotionally charged situation,” says Sauterel. Nothing happens fast enough for them, of course, he points out, and yet they understand, but it means continual highs and lows as information comes in.
“The family has been very lucky to have Irina’s brother, Valerio Lucidi, as a buffer between the immediate family” and the world’s media, who have followed the story closely, he notes. “He’s a doctor and he’s got strong shoulders – they are very lucky to have him there.”
Related stories on GenevaLunch
Livia and Livia Schepp, not identical twins
Witness makes unconfirmed report girls seen in Italy day father died
Update 13:25 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French authorities say Wednesday morning 9 February that missing Swiss twins Alessia and Livia Schepp were seen on the ferry to Corsica 31 January. The information has not yet been confirmed by Vaud police, who are leading the three-country investigation, but it appears the search for the girls may now intensify in and around Corsica.
An Italian witness has come forward to say she saw the father and his daughters in Cerignola, the town where the father committed suicide, the day of his death. Italian newspapers carry an interview with a bar/cafe owner in the town who says the father asked her if his daughters could use the toilets. Video camera footage reportedly shows him, but not the girls, although she says they, too, were there. If police accept her as a credible witness, it would be the first time they were seen in Italy.
French public defender Jacques Dallest told a Wednesday morning press conference in Marseille that witnesses have now come forth who say they heard and saw the girls: the woman with the cabin next door to the trio heard them in their room and later saw the girls in the ferry’s play area. She has positively identified one of them.
The person who saw them Tuesday morning, getting off the ferry, has been identified as an elderly man who couldn’t see the girls clearly, but who saw a man and two children.
Vaud police, at a Tuesday evening press conference, stated that the father has never been been violent, correcting information that has appeared in some media reports. “There wasn’t any reason to think the lives of his daughters were at risk,” before the girls disappeared, said Jean-Christophe Sauterel, head of press and communications for the Vaud Cantonal Police.
The girls’ uncle, who has been talking to media from outside the mother’s home in St Sulpice, has said he will no longer be available to the press.
Reminder, girls’ appearance: when last seen in St Sulpice the two blond six-year-olds, who wear titanium-rimmed glasses, orange and bordeaux were dressed as follows: Alessia was in blue jeans, with a striped T-shirt and white jacket, Livia had a purple ski jacket and was wearing pink and white sports shoes.
click on image to view larger: father and daughters were last seen together Monday 31 January and police are seeking more recent sightings: police number +41 21 644 8231
Update 15:15 Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Vaud who are leading the investigation into the disappearance of two six-year-olds, missing for a week, Tuesday provided details of the massive manhunt that is on in Switzerland as well as France and Italy, to find the children.
They issued a correction to their Monday report, saying it is now known that the father himself stamped a ticket to take a ferry to Corsica from Marseille Monday evening 31 January, but there is no confirmation that the girls, Alessia and Livia Schepp, were seen together at a travel agency in Marseille one week ago. It is not known if the father actually took the ferry.
The last time the girls were seen alive, with certainty, was Sunday 30 January at 13:00, when they were seen near their father’s place in St Sulpice.
The father, Matthias Schepp, committed suicide Thursday 3 February.
Swiss boats, lake, rivers, roads, gas stations have provided no leads
Canton Vaud police now have 40 officers investigating the girls’ disappearance. They have searched the homes, inside and out, three times, of both parents, who were living apart in Saint Sulpice, near Lausanne. Eighty households in 60 buildings in the area have been interviewed. Four boats docked in Morges and Vidy, which belong to Philip Morris, Matthias Schepp’s employer and to which he could have had access, have been searched with a finetooth comb, as have been ports in the area.
All service stations between St Sulpice and Geneva have been contacted.
