Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss National Bank Thursday early afternoon lowered its three-month Libor target range to 0.5-1.5%, effective immediately, to increase money market liquidity. The bank noted that with lower costs for oil and raw materials, prices should come under control sooner than earlier predicted, and the central bank now expects inflation to fall below 2% before the end of the year.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland has decided to continue providing financial help in the form of donations that will not be repaid, to Burkina Faso, a country the Swiss consider an international aid priority. Since 1998 the country’s GDP has grown by 5.7% annually, thanks in large part to economic reforms and help from the World Bank, the IMF and donor countries.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - Christoph Blocher, former federal councilor, could be elected to the cabinet again if his right-wing UDC party’s discussions with parties of the centre go well, UDC leader Toni Brunner says.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland is demanding that Israel end its nearly total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has forced most humanitarian aid to the region to be stopped, it says. The work has come to a virtual standstill of two United Nations agencies, the WFP, UNRWA, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, all of whom work closely with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - The Swiss government has asked Washington, DC, host to the G20 meeting of the world’s largest economies that took place over the weekend, to include all main financial centres in talks on the reforming the global financial system. Switzerland, as the world’s 21st largest economy, did not participate in the weekend meeting, but Switzerland as a financial centre is a key player.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss foreign ministry, Micheline Calmy-Rey, said recent events such as the demolition of Palestinian houses violates international humanitarian law, and Switzerland is requesting that Israel stop its actions.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal government says it will provide tax deductions for children but that its review of the tax system in order to find a more equitable way to tax couples has not resulted in clear answers, and a basic change to the system will not be made, as expected.
Lausanne (TSR, Fre) - The region around Lausanne has been watching for some months as tensions between the head of the gendarmerie and the police chief appeared to increase, but Wednesday night the cantonal council put an end to the feud, announcing that both are leaving their posts, effective immediately.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Samuel Schmid, one of Switzerland’s seven federal councilors, resigned Wednesday afternoon, citing health concerns and political pressure. Schmid, minister for Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, also noted that at age 62, after eight years as a cabinet member and a long political service to the country, the time had come to step down and spend more time with his family. Schmid has been under attack from several directions over his management of the Swiss military programme, dating back at least to the summer of 2007. His appointment to head the Swiss armed forces, Roland Nef, came under fire then because a newspaper learned that his former companion had taken him to court for using her e-mail address in responding to sex-related classified ads online.
Lausanne, Vaud (20 Minutes, Fre) - The Vaud cantonal council Monday night voted in favour of a motion that calls for a study to determine whether or not the canton should loan the Swiss federal government CHF1 million for a third rail line and additional autoroute lane between Geneva and Lausanne, to reduce growing traffic congestion in the region. The population in Vaud alone is expected to grow by another 100,000 in the next 12 years, from its current 770,000.
Yangtze River, China: 1985. © Ellen Wallace
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Federal Councilor Moritz Leuenberger and Chen Lei, Chinese minister for water resources management, have agreed after what they described as fruitful exchanges, to push for an agreement between the two countries to work together in the area of water resources dangers, in particular related to flooding.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - Swiss federal councilor Samuel Schmid successfully underwent surgery Friday in what doctors called a “routine” emergency operation; he will be released from hospital Sunday.
Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Citizens in canton Vaud Wednesday received their ballots for a vote on smoking in closed public areas, to take place 30 November.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government Wednesday afternoon issued its latest federal revenue forecast, a surprising increase from the earlier prediction of a CHF1.1 billion surplus, up to CHF4.6b. Bern cautioned that the healthy 2008 situation will not repeat itself in 2009, in part because the recent bailout of UBS will leave the government with a deficit of CHF6.4b in exceptional expenditures.
Switzerland (Le Matin, Fre) - Swiss citizens will vote 17 May on whether or not the government should go ahead with its plans to move entirely to biometric passports and national identity cards.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The German ambassador was called in by the Swiss Government in Bern to explain his country’s stand on Swiss tax laws, after Germany’s outspoken foreign minister, Peer Steinbrück, Tuesday demanded that Switzerland be added to an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) black list of countries that are not considered to be cooperating with efforts to improve tax information exchanges.
Bern, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) - Swiss authorities say they are “zen” about new attacks this week on the Swiss tax system by the German and French finance ministers, meeting in Paris.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva’s citizens went to the polls to elect the 80 members of its
Assemblée constituante genevoise, the group that will examine and rewrite the cantonal constitution, and its aging population delivered a surprise.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - The Swiss Socialist Party is offering Parliament a plan with two options to counter the government’s rescue package for UBS, the country’s largest bank.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s finance minister, who had emergency quintuple coronary bypass surgery 20 September, will return to work 3 November.
Euro 2008 tears for police
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) - Police in Geneva, like their colleagues in Lausanne, have agreed to stop handing out fines for minor infractions in protest against the city’s decision not to pay them an expected CHF2,500 bonus for their Euro 2008 work.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Diplomacy has much to do with differing perceptions, and the 15 October meeting in Geneva to resolve the Russia-Georgia crisis provided a good example of this: either the talks were halted or they were suspended, or they ended as planned but with nothing decided and another meeting will take place in November. It all depends who you ask.
London, England and Zurich, Switzerland (FT) - The UK prime minister, Gordon Brown, is working closely with a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, which beat out several other banks including UBS, for the mandate to advise the UK government on bailing out its three biggest banks.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - A new park between Flon and Sévelin, under the Pont Chauderon, and an elevator car running from the Vallon quarter up to the University hospitals (CHUV) are among the new project proposals that Lausanne’s council will be considering in coming weeks.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - Vaud’s capital city, Lausanne, will see its debt deepen slightly, to CHF2.3 billion in 2009, if the budget proposed by Mayor Daniel Brélaz is approved.The debt has increased steadily, despite tight budget controls, while at the same time Vaud has cut its debt by one-third, reports 24 Heures, which runs a lengthy interview with Brélaz.
