GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A self-confessed suspect in a 33-year-old child disappearance case, which had provoked nationwide attention, is expected to appear in court accused of second-degree murder, Friday 25 May in New York.
Pedro Hernandez, was arrested Thursday 24 May, and admitted to killing 6-year-old Etan Patz, after a relative’s memories were revived when the case received renewed attention recently with the excavation of a basement in the boy’s neighborhood.
The disappearance of the young Manhattan resident as he walked on his own for the first time to take the bus to school, captivated American parents at the time, as it was widely felt that children’s freedom had been lost. A national campaign for missing children began soon after with image of the disappeared displayed on milk cartons.
Following the arrest, New York Police Commisioner Raymond Kelley explained that Hernandez, who was 18 at the time, had lured the boy from the bus stop “with the promise of soda”. He then took him to the basement of a grocery store, strangled him there and “disposed of the body by putting it in a plastic bag and placing it in the trash”.
Hernandez’s neighbors in the nearby town of Maple Shade, New Jersey, where he moved about three years ago, say the suspect, had lived a rather non-descript life there with his wife and teenaged daughter.
Hernandez’s court appearance takes place 33 years to the day after the disappearance.
Links to other sources: CBS, CNN, BBC, South Jersey News
Panel at FT Lausanne commodities conference predicts continuing high oil prices
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The United States is where the world’s next economic and industrial boom may occur, says Daniel Jaeggi, co-founder of Geneva-based energy trading firm Mercuria.
Jaeggi was speaking at a two-day commodities conference in Lausanne 24 April. His privately held firm trades approximately one million barrels of crude oil a day. Jaeggi encouraged investors to look at the US for the start of a new “industrial renaissance” driven by factors including the cheapest energy resources, such as oil, gas and coal, cheap and flexible labour, and a “positive population dynamic, which certainly cannot be said for Europe”.
“We have had the BRIC story since 2001, and by now you would’ve had to have been asleep for the past decade not to know what BRIC stands for”, he told GenevaLunch, referring to rapidly developing economies Brazil, Russia, India and China. “Some tectonic plates are shifting and certain things are changing. The story of the West is that the industrial manufacturing base disappearing from the West has been going on since the 1970s. You can now ask yourself seriously if we are not at the dawn of something very significant.”
Europe’s outlook negative, oil prices to remain high, say traders
A panel of energy trading executives generally agreed on a negative economic forecast for Europe at the Financial Times conference. The panel: Glencore chief of oil Alex Beard, Pierre Barbé, president at Total Oil Trading and Törbjörn Törnqvist, chairman of Gunvor.
Top oil traders handed consumers gloomy news, telling the conference that three-digit prices for oil are here to stay. The price of Brent oil, the benchmark crude, by April had remained above $100 a barrel for a record 200 consecutive days. And oil traders don’t see it slipping, thanks to growing demand and continuing tight supplies.
Ten years ago the price of Brent was $20 a barrel.
The US Department of Energy, in a 2011 report called “What drives the price of crude oil” includes the activities of the financial markets in its seven key factors.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Global military spending remained practically unchanged in 2011, but budgets saw strong increases in Russia and China, while military expenditure fell in the United States and in Europe due to austerity measures.
The Swedish think tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, (Sipri), published the figures Tuesday 17 April.
Overall spending was $1.73 trillion or 0.3 percent above 2010, the group said in its annual review.
The US remains the top military spender at $711 billion, in spite of a 1.2 percent cut, the first reduction since 1998.
Central and Western Europe military spending fell by 1.9 percent, with Germany down 3.5 percent and France 1.4 percent.
China, the world’s second biggest spender at $143 billion, increased its budget by 6.7 percent. Russia’s military budget rose a whopping 9.3 percent in 2011 to $72 billion, overtaking the United Kingdom and France, to make it the world’s third largest spender.
Links to other sources: The Guardian, Voice of Russia, Radio Canada, Washington Post
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A long-range rocket launched by North Korea Friday 13 April to mark the 100th anniversary of the regime’s founding leader exploded 90 seconds after taking off, nonetheless drawing condemnation from G-8 countries.
A joint statement from foreign ministers of the G-8, which comprises the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, condemned the action, and said they may request an “appropriate response” from the United Nations Security Council.
Switzerland also condemned the North Korean move.
The launch, which North Korea said was intended to put a satellite into orbit, has been widely seen as an attempt to test long-range missile technology forbidden by UN resolutions.
The failure of the much-lauded Unha-3 rocket was reported on national television in North Korea, in a rare demonstration of candor. A statement said that it had failed to enter orbit.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the launch.
Links to other sources: BBC, The Guardian, MSNBC
Ambassador Stephen Bosworth speaks with the press following talks between the US and North Korea - Photo Eric Bridiers US Mission
Updated: 17:32 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The second bilateral encounter between North Korea and the United States of America on de-nuclearization concluded on a somehow “positive” note.
It was “generally constructive” said outgoing US Ambassador Stephen Bosworth who responded that both governments had “narrowed differences in terms of what has to be done before [they] can both agree to a resumption of the formal negotiations.”
“We can reach a reasonable basis of departure for formal negotiations for a return to the Six-Party process,” said Bosworth.
The two-day meeting is the latest in recent months between the US and North Korea, as well as the two Koreas.
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan of North Korea met with Bosworth, Washington’s outgoing top envoy for Pyongyang, and Special Representative Glyn Davies, who will from now on be “actively engaged” in the discussions on the North Korean nuclear program.
The US Ambassador thanked the Swiss authorities for what he called “the cooperation extended” to the talks.
“I just want to say that we’ve had some very positive and I think generally constructive talks with the DPRK delegation over the course of the last two days.
We narrowed differences on several points and explored our differences on others. We came to the conclusion that we will need more time and more discussion to reach agreement in an effort to assess whether we have sufficient agreement to resume our active negotiations both bilaterally and in the Six-Party process.
Nations Brands Index: Swiss hold onto 8th place
US still number one, UK, Canada, Australia in top 10
When it comes to tourism, Switzerland is ranked 11th by the NBI (photo, Verbier)
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is still viewed by most of the world in a positive light, says the newly published 2010 Nations Brands Index, NBI, which evaluates the strength and attractiveness of 50 countries. Several countries use it to create public relations campaigns.
The United States continues to have “the world’s most valuable country brand, a top spot it obtained in 2009 after [Barack] Obama’s election,” the index shows.
The annual NBI study bases its result on six categories: governance, investments and immigration, exports, tourism, cultural heritage and population. Switzerland ranks in the top 12 in 5 of these categories.
The study shows mixed results for Switzerland.
Generally speaking, Switzerland enjoys a better image outside Europe than with its neighbours, Germany being the exception. It ranks Switzerland second.
When it comes to the category “Population”, Switzerland is viewed less than favourably by Egypt and Turkey. Turkey places Switzerland 12th.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs notes that in the 2010 index, Switzerland’s “commitment to the environment and its excellent quality of life were once again regarded as [its] greatest strengths. It also received top marks for [respecting] the political rights of its citizens,” it ranked second only to Canada.
©2010 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Image of one of the dresses worn by Vivian Leigh that need repair - From the Harry Ransom Center
Scarlett O’Hara’s dresses need mending and you could help save them.
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin (United States) is planning an exhibit in 2014 to mark the 75 anniversary of the “Gone with the Wind” film.
To do so, it must first mend the famous gowns worn by Vivian Leigh who portrayed the temperamental Scarlett O’Hara in 1939.
Thirty-thousand dollars are need to restore five gowns, buy protective housing and custom mannequins for the 2014 exhibit.
Donations are being accepted by the Centre directly on their website.
The campaign launched in Texas is trying to convince potential donors they can “help save history,” (Hollywood history that is).
Links to article on AP / Yahoo News and to the Harry Ransom Center
A US District Judge has repealed an Arizona immigration law that allowed the state and municipal law-enforcement officials and agencies, to determine the immigration status of any person.
Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix, indicated that federal immigration law supersedes state law.
The injunction blocked Arizona from implementing the new law, less than 24 hours before it was to have taken effect. The decision backs President Obama’s argument that the state would be interfering with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws.
It was an important first victory for the federal government but the case may not be fully settled until it is reviewed by the US Supreme Court.
Additional details: Arizona central news, the Washington Post (video)
2010 Amnesty International report is out
[Video] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 2010 Amnesty International report is out, and Switzerland, and many powerful countries including China and the United States, do not fare well.
The report which compiles reported abuses in over 150 nations, criticizes some parts of Europe and Central Asia where “space for independent voices and civil society have shrunk.” It also considers xenopobia, intolerance and racism to be on the rise in Europe.
Switzerland’s initiative to ban the construction of new minarets is heavily criticized in the report, as is police violence. The report calls for the Swiss confederation to do more to prevent police-sponsored abuses.
The 2010 report also points to higher levels of what it calls “unlawful killings” in Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, and criticizes the United States for its persisting “violations related to counter-terrorism.”
Update 27 January Washington, DC / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US Justice Department has handed over to the Geneva and Swiss governments a man of Uzbek nationality who was detained at Guantanamo Bay, Washington announced Tuesday 26 January. It thanked the canton and Switzerland for their efforts to help the US close the detention centre in Cuba, but it provided no details of the transfer, including when it took place. “The identity of the individual is being withheld at the request of the Swiss government, in the interest of protecting the individual’s privacy and facilitating his transition to life in Switzerland,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
The Swiss government later in the day announced that the man had arrived in Switzerland in mid-January and tghat he has promised to learn French and to work to cover his keep.
The man’s release leaves 192 detainees at the centre. Another 570 have been released since 2002.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Russia and the US are close to signing a new treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which expires Saturday 5 December, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reports late Friday, although it is unlikely the pact will be signed before the end of the year. The agency sites Russian military sources and says the two sides will meet again Saturday in Geneva. According to Ria Novosti, “The chief of the Russian General Staff said earlier that the ongoing talks had run into disagreements on inspection and verification procedures.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland has taken over the top position in the annual rankings by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) in its Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, leaving the United States in second place for the first time in a number of years. The WEF says the lower spot for the US is due primarily to “weakening in its financial markets and macroeconomic stability.”
Singapore, Sweden and Denmark are the other top five countries, and European countries dominate the top 10, with Japan and Canada as 8 and 9 respectively. The UK has slipped to 13th place.
The report is compiled by combining publicly available data with an opinion survey of executives around the world.
Switzerland receives high praise in several areas:
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice announced to the UN Security Council 5 August that the US would pay its accumulated debts with the organization’s peacekeeping operations. Arrears date from 2005 and the total bill comes to $2.2 billion. The US is the UN’s biggest contributor and pays about one-quarter of the UN’s peacekeeping budget of $8 billion per year. UN peacekeepers deploy some 115,000 soldiers on 17 official peacekeeping missions around the world. Reuters, Yahoo News
The number of questions is growing about former US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s orders to the CIA to hide some of their activities from Congress. By law, congressional subcommittees must be informed of covert activities but CIA Director Leon Panetta testified to the Senate and House intelligence committees that he had been directed by Cheney to withhold information. Diane Feinstein, who chairs the Senate committee, confirmed Sunday 12 July on Fox News that Panetta had testified, CNN reports in its latest update on the unfolding story, which was broken late last week by the New York Times. Cheney has not been available for comment. Bloomberg
The United States, ranked number 14 in world football (soccer), defeated top-ranked Spain 2-0 to make it to the finals of the Confederation Cup in Bloemfontain, South Africa. As Sports Illustrated aptly puts it: “The world will surely take notice of this.” Spain, the European champion with 15 straight wins, lost to a team who now moves into its first Fifa (international football association) final since 1916. El Pais calls it the end of the Spanish dream. Guardian, UK
US Charge d’Affaires Mark C. Storella and Ambassador Martin Umohoibhi
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The United States Friday 19 June put in its first day of a three-year term as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the day after the US Senate formally apologized to African Americans for decades of slavery. The US House passed a similar motion in 2008.
The US was elected to the council 13 May, after years of keeping its distance. US Charge d’Affaires Mark Storella told the Geneva-based council Friday “For our part, the United States hopes to reinforce the ability of this Council to speak with one voice about situations that are an affront to human dignity.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland and the United States “initialed” a revised double taxation agreement (DTA) in Washington, DC 18 June. According to the US government, “Official signing of the protocol is expected in the next few months.” A new agreement was necessary following the Swiss government’s decision 13 March to adopt the OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Model Convention standard under which countries provide each other with tax assistance.
The decision followed pressure on Switzerland from other OECD member countries to ease its strict banking secrecy laws. The OECD has told Switzerland it must have 12 new bilateral tax agreements in place by the end of 2009 if it does not want to appear on a “gray list” of countries that are considered non-compliant.
Update 17:45 FULL TEXT of Obama speech (pdf) US President Barack Obama is set to speak to the Muslim world from Cairo University in Egypt today 4 June in a major speech months in the crafting. US officials are playing down the speech’s importance, saying that years of misunderstandings between the US and the Muslim world could not be set right overnight. Obama spent yesterday with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, saying “I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began.”
Al Jazeera broadcast what it said was an audio tape from Osama bin Laden 3 June, which condemned US policies in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. His deputy, Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in another tape recording called on Egyptians to reject the Obama visit. In Jerusalem, officials said they would be watching the speech carefully. Tensions have risen recently between Israel and Washington on the subject of continuing West Bank settlements.
The US government has set up a special site for people to send in SMS comments on the speech, which the State Deptartment will translate into 13 languages. NYT, BBC, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post
US President Barack Obama has nominated US appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by David Souter, who is retiring. The US Senate must confirm the nomination. Sotomayor would be the first Supreme Court judge of Hispanic descent, and only the third woman to serve on the court. BBC, Reuters
Governor John E. Baldacci of Maine, US signed a same-sex marriage bill into law Wednesday 6 May, making him the first governor in the country to approve gay marriage without being forced by a court decision. New Hampshire approved their gay-marriage law the same day making a total of five states in the New England region to allow same-sex marriages. Boston Globe
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The WHO (World Health Organization) now has a web site with regular updates that include official figures from countries with confirmed cases. Monday afternoon, 27 April, the WHO raised its alert level to 4, “sustained human to human transmission.” A disease is considered to reach the pandemic stage at levels 5-6. The organization is not recommending that countries impose travel bans or close borders but it does suggest that anyone who is ill refrain from traveling and anyone who develops flu symtoms after traveling should promptly seek treatment.
Official WHO swine flu figures, 27 April
Two American reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, will face trial in North Korea on charges of illegal entry and perpetrating hostile acts against the communist state. The reporters were arrested five weeks ago at the Chinese border after reporting on North Korean refugees living in China. North Korea is likely to use the trial as political leverage against the United States, according to the International Herald Tribune.
Chart: UNHCR, "Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries, 2008"
Geneva, Switzerland (Genevalunch) – Political turmoil in Afghanistan and Somalia increased the number of asylum seekers in 2008 for the second year running, according to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Iraq provided the largest number of applicants for asylum, 40,500, a 10 percent decrease from 2007.
Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) – Talks Friday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could be a follow-up to what the New York Times calls a “secret letter” from US President Barack Obama to Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, hand-delivered in mid-February. The newspaper’s Tuesday 3 March edition says that the letter suggested the US would not need to continue building a defense shield in eastern Europe if Iran could be persuaded not to continue building nuclear warheads and missiles.
