Swiss Saturday around the web

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Too cold for gardening early Saturday morning, so it’s time for coffee and Internet browsing. Some of my favourite Swiss-related snippets from this morning’s look-around: Nuts to US taxes Okay, the Swiss link here might seem kind of weak, unless you’re an American or US green card holder with a Swiss connection [...]

Luxembourg, Austria want EU deal with Swiss before tax changes

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Luxembourg insisted after an EU summit 22 May in Brussels that a revision of the European Union’s tax agreement on cross-border savings must wait until the EU has negotiated deals on information exchanges with Switzerland and other countries, reports Bloomberg. The duchy recently agreed to some automatic information exchanges by 2015, giving [...]

Court says day of vote applies to second home bans

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LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Tribunal is reviewing today, 22 May, the application of a law approved by Swiss voters 11 March 2012, to limit the construction of new second homes. In a first ruling Wednesday the court says the law is officially applicable 11 March 2012, in other words immediately after the vote. [...]

Swiss, EU, sign to reinforce competition

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The European Union and Switzerland are strengthening their ties to combat cartels and other efforts to skirt competitive pricing, with a new agreement that the Federal Council approved Wednesday 22 May. The year-long negotiations for the agreement led to a deal whereby authorities from each will have better access to documents and [...]

WEF’s Sheeran to head Asia Society

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Josette Sheeran, vice-chair at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, has  been named president of the Asia Society, a non-profit organization based in New York that aims to strengthen ties between the US and Asia, through educational means. She takes up the post 10 June. Sheeran headed the World Food Program before [...]

Geneva packed out for major int’l meetings

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – International Geneva is having an ultra-busy week, with several thousand more visitors in town than usual, so if English sounds like the city’s language, don’t be surprised. The World Health Organization Monday 20 May opened its 66th World Health Assembly, a week-long meeting of members to review the budget and debate pressing [...]

Fire at winery warehouse in Rolle

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A warehouse loading dock in Rolle that belongs to Schenk, one of Switzerland’s largest wineries that is also the country’s largest wine importer and wholesaler, caught fire Tuesday evening at 20:15. The warehouse is next to the A1 autoroute and the loading dock, on the lake side of the building, is just [...]

Robert Spencer retires,18 years at Webster Geneva

A crowd representing a wide range of groups turned out for Spencer's retirement

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Robert Spencer’s retirement party at Webster University in Bellevue, Geneva Thursday evening 16 May brought together several hundred people: politicians, diplomats, former and current students and professors who marked 18 years that have transformed the school into a major part of international Geneva. Spencer has worked at the Geneva campus since 1995, [...]

Swiss invoke “safeguard” clause for EU permits

TPG costs to up

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland will limit the number of B permits available to members of the EU-17 nations, starting 1 June. A quota of 53,700 will be allowed up to 31 May 2014, Bern said Wednesday 15 May. The Federal Council’s earlier decision to invoke the safeguard clause that is part of Switzerland’s agreement with [...]

Bern takes steps to let wine stocks flow

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BERN, SWITZERLAND – Lower wine consumption in most markets, over-production in 2011, a high Swiss franc and stocks of wine that aren’t moving lie behind a decision by Bern to allow AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) wines to be sold as table wines. The extraordinary measure starts 1 June and will be in effect until the [...]