Swiss food and drink cost you a little more in September 2009.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s inflation rate fell slightly in September, down 0.9 percent, to an annual rate of 2.9 percent. The Consumer Price Index remained stable but the overall CPI is the result of a balance between imports,which have gone down in price and Swiss-made goods and services, which have risen slightly. It also hides differences that include falling prices for housing, energy and transport but rising prices for teaching, communications, food and drink, healthcare.
Subway trains in London, England are likely to come to a halt for two days, with drivers on strike from 19:00 Tuesday 9 June until late Thursday. Their union is calling for higher pay. PR-Inside
British Airways last week told staff that it is seeking 2,000 voluntary redundancies among the 14,000 flight crew members, raising fears of a strike by airline staff this summer, according to the Times. The company announced a £401 pre-tax loss 22 May, the worst in the company’s history, due to a mix of falling business travel, a high pound and high fuel costs. Guardian
Hans Erni, age 100, in front of earlier self-portrait
Lucerne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Articulate, still handsome, far more interested in debating the state of the world than in basking in the recognition that has at last come to him: this is Hans Erni at the ripe age of 100. Visitors tend to walk up to him, awestruck by his age, and walk away from him having forgotten his age because he gives them too many other things to think about.
A career spanning 80 years, the globe – with peace an enduring theme
Erni is one of Switzerland’s finest 20th (and 21st) century artists, but he has only relatively recently been acknowledged as fully as he deserves. His career, spanning nearly 80 years, was celebrated in February with a major retrospective in Martigny at the Gianadda Foundation. The Kunstmuseum in Lucerne 24 May opened the first public museum showing of his work since 1979 with a collection that traces the development of the artist.
Erni was honoured in Geneva Saturday 6 June: his most recent project, a 60-metre peace fresco at the entrance to the United Nations building, the Palais des Nations, was unveiled at an outdoor ceremony open to the public. The year 2009 is a series of such events, throughout Switzerland – and Erni finds the energy to travel and participate in several of them.
Politics took their toll
It is not that Erni is an unknown artist: quite the opposite. He has a large popular following, his work is housed in the Hans Erni museum in Lucerne (an extension of the country’s most popular museum, the Transportation Museum) since 1979, and for decades he has been the guest of governments around the world.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared to the last quarter of 2008. The drop was 2.4 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Foreign trade was the main culprit, says the federal government: exports of goods fells by 6.6 percent and of services by 2.3 percent.
Electric bike manufacturers exhibit products, Neuchatel
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland is setting a successful example for its “soft mobility” meeting zones, with more than 500 in cities and towns across the country, according to Matthieu Chenal, spokesperson for SwissEnergie, which is co-hosting with the city of Neuchatel the second National Mobility Fair, 15-16 May. Chenal, in a lengthy interview with Le Temps, talks about objections to and ultimate success of the zones.
The fair brings together experts in the field of environmentally-friendly transport and exhibitors who display a range of eco-mobility products. A highlight will be the Saturday exhibition of low-fuel use vehicles. The fair also brings together companies and communes in an effort to encourage businesses to be involved in finding eco-friendly solutions for the company’s but also its employees’ transport needs.
Update, 20:25 Tom Daschle withdraws, saying the health job is too big for someone who is a distraction. US President Obama said Tuesday he regrets but accepts Daschle’s withdrawal as the nominee to lead the health department. Tom Daschle has come under fire over his income tax record. Other US appointments, NPR The US Senate 2 February voted for Eric Holder as attorney general, making him the first African-American to hold the key post, and giving him responsibility to decide which prisoners will leave Guantanamo Bay, when and to go where.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Funding has been approved for 16 urgent urban agglomeration transport projects, just in time to meet a 31 December deadline for federal monies to be freed for them. The list includes several key Lake Geneva region projects.
After four days of protests over the death of a boy shot by police, a general strike has further “crippled” Greece, with airlines “severely affected” and public transport virtually at a stop. The strike, planned before the boy’s death and the protests, was called for increased pay and to object to planned government spending cuts. International Herald Tribune
