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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – France, as viewed from just across the border, has finally bowed to the inevitable: 200 years or more of paying homage to the motto that includes “égalité” has finally resulted in women being reduced to just one label.

A man is a man is a Monsieur and now a woman is a woman is a Madame, with Mademoiselle being gently buried. The little girl/old maid title was officially dropped by the French government Tuesday 21 February by a government circular, reports Le Monde.

In these days of cautious government spending current documents with the old labels will be used before new ones that take note of the death of “Mademoiselle” are printed.

Feminist groups in France have been fighting the use of the label, particularly in official documents, arguing that it involves a subtle form of discrimination, often implying information about a woman’s marital status when it is not required.

The campaign to step up the fight began in earnest in September 2011 on the web site madameoumadame.fr, and in November 2011 Solidarity Minister Roselyne Bachelot asked Prime Minister François Fillon to ban the title of “Mademoiselle”.

“Maiden name” is being buried alongside its twin, Mademoiselle.

RIP.

Asia fastest growing area for them, but Europe remains home to most

A young Swiss attracts attention in China, one of the growing number of Swiss heading to Asia (photo, Liam Bates)

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss living abroad now make up more than 10 percent of the Swiss population, growing to 703,640 in 2011, with 62 percent of them living in Europe and 97 percent of those living in European Union countries.

France has the largest Swiss community, 183,754, accounting for about one-quarter of all the Swiss abroad. Germany has 79,050 and the US 75,637.

Three of four Swiss nationals living abroad have dual nationality.

The population abroad increased by 8,517 or 1.23 percent in 2011.

Asia saw the greatest growth, 4.49 percent, to 1,861 Swiss persons. Swiss living in the Americas grew by only 0.27 percent, or 462 persons.

The Federal Foreign Affairs Department notes that “this year for the first time the statistics on the Swiss abroad were centrally collated in Bern using a new computer programme of the Consular Directorate of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. In the past, the embassies and general consulates gathered the statistics for Swiss nationals registered with them and transmitted the information to the FDFA, which then calculated the total. The new procedure has increased the efficiency and precision of the statistics.”

Rush is on to get owners of encrypted pages to switch to new keys

EPFL's Arjen Lenstra in 2006, professor, algorithm cryptology laboratory (photo ©2012 EPFL / Alain Herzog)

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A very high percentage of secured web pages, those “https” URLs we look for when we make payments, for example, are indeed secure, 99.8 percent. But the assumptions behind the SSL certificates system may be ill-founded, a group of researchers at EPFL, the Swiss federal polytechnic institute, has shown. And that leaves many sites unprotected, according to Bit-Tech, which notes that “while a 99.8 per cent security rating may seem impressive, the RSA public key cryptography system is incredibly widespread.”

The researchers, a team led by EPFL’s Arjen Lenstra, write in their abstract, that they “performed a sanity check of public keys collected on the web. Our main goal was to test the validity of the assumption that different random choices are made each time keys are generated. We found that the vast majority of public keys work as intended. A more disconcerting finding is that two out of every one thousand RSA moduli that we collected offer no security. Our conclusion is that the validity of the assumption is questionable and that generating keys in the real world for “multiple-secrets” cryptosystems such as RSA is significantly riskier than for “single-secret” ones.”

SSL certificates work by using encryption. Verisign‘s one of the world’s main SSL certificate providers, explains how the system works at the consumer level: “Each SSL Certificate consists of a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt information and the private key is used to decipher it. When a Web browser points to a secured domain, a level of encryption is established based on the type of SSL Certificate as well as the client Web browser, operating system and host server’s capabilities.”

The findings have set alarm bells ringing in the industry. Bit-Tech reports that the system “underpins the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) used by almost every secure website in the world. It’s used by banks, online shops, digital distribution services and even voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems to protect credit card details, passwords and other personal data.”

The potential damage is huge, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that has been defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights in the digital world since 1990, before most people had heard the word digital. “The consequences of these vulnerabilities are extremely serious. In all cases, a weak key would allow an eavesdropper on the network to learn confidential information, such as passwords or the content of messages, exchanged with a vulnerable server. Secondly, unless servers were configured to use perfect forward secrecy, sophisticated attackers could extract passwords and data from stored copies of previous encrypted sessions. Thirdly, attackers could use man-in-the-middle or server impersonation attacks to inject malicious data into encrypted sessions. Given the seriousness of these problems, EFF will be working around the clock with the EPFL group to warn the operators of servers that are affected by this vulnerability, and encourage them to switch to new keys as soon as possible.”

The EPFL authors, in their report, took the precaution of pointing out the difficulty of contacting the owners of all affected pages, noting that some page owners need to take precautions.

“Publication of results undermining the security of live keys is uncommon and inappropriate, unless all affected parties have been notified. In the present case, observing the above phenomena on lab-generated test data would not be convincing and would not work either: tens of millions of thus generated RSA moduli turned out to behave as expected based on the above assumption. Therefore limited to live data, our intention was to confirm the assumption, expecting at worst a very small number of counterexamples and affected owners to be notified. The quagmire of vulnerabilities that we waded into makes it infeasible to properly inform everyone involved, though we made a best effort to inform the larger parties and contacted all email addresses recommended (such as
ssl-survey@eff.org5) or specified in valid affected certicates. The fact that most certificates do not contain adequate contact information limited our options. Our decision to make our findings public, despite our inability to directly notify everyone involved, was a judgment call.”

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Montreux Jazz Festival likes to surprise and this year’s poster will startle more than one concert-lover. American photographer Greg Gorman has created the first MJF poster to feature a photographic image since 1967, the first year of the festival.

This year’s poster, says Gorman, focuses on the contemplative experience of listening to music.

The Montreux Jazz Festival takes place 29 June to 14 July 2012.

“The model’s pose should suggest movement, as he is turning his head as if he had heard something and wants to hold onto it – a fleeting moment. It is perhaps a voice, a noise or sound. The sand dune in the background also plays an important role. The sheer height and depth of the dune evokes a sense of emptiness and in its simplicity presents a stage for contemplation, a central experience when listening to music. The open background also provides literal space for the viewer’s own interpretation. The subject is placed in a non cluttered open environment.

“The visual arts, from an illustrative point of view, are less confrontational than photography.  I believe that the decision to allow me to present a nude was a very courageous one, because nudity in photography is real and very direct. To offer a photographer carte blanche once again after so many years clearly illustrates the readiness of the festival to try out new things, to take risks and to surprise people.”

Gorman stepped into photography through his love of music. He borrowed a camera to shoot Jimi Hendrix at a 1968 concert and when he saw the image come up in a darkroom he was hooked, he says. In his 40-year career Gorman has photographed scores of musicians, including: Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Frank Zappa, Grace Jones, Elton John, George Clinton, Boy George, Tom Waits, Billy Idol, Leon Russell, Nina Hagen, Fleetwood Mac, Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Vanilla Ice, P. Diddy, RuPaul, Divine, Bette Midler, John Lee Hooker, David Bowie and Quincy Jones, Joan Jett, John Mayer, Melissa Etheridge, Debbie Harry, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Joe Cocker.

He draws a clean parallel between the discomfort yet esthetic appreciation nudes can provoke and the way music can work on us. “Nudity can be fascinating, but may also make some viewers uncomfortable, even nervous. I think music can have the same effect and I think that is one of the interesting things about this project. I love the total unexpected element of the male nude. Music can surprise, unsettle and sometimes even confuse people. A male nude even more so than a female nude, because it is still often thought of as taboo. Hopefully on a certain positive level, this image will have the same effect, but be able to break through that stigma. It is in many ways classical in nature, strong in shape and form and yet delicate and fragile in scale and balance. All of this can be referenced to the extraordinary art of listening to music.”

A Montreux poster is not just all in a day’s work

For those who think photography is a matter of snapping a shot, and for those who are dying to know who the model is, Gorman offers a few words:

“I teach photography workshops at my home in Mendocino, California, four times a year.  And that was where I first worked with the model, Jordan David Miles, a 21-year old skateboarder and graffiti artist from Southern California. The initial idea arose from a similar shooting I had done with him, the previous year. During the subsequent shooting for the festival poster, however, l became involved in a long discussion with Jordan, who did not share my vision, and we had to cancel everything the first time out in the dunes because we just weren’t on the same page. I very much value critical feedback and I took Jordan’s concerns very much to heart. I knew we had to be in sync if the concept was going to work. At the second shooting, the light was not working in our favor. It was very overcast and I could not get the contrast, which is a key element in my photography. Finally our third attempt went very well. From all of the previous work, we knew what we needed to accomplish-the exact location, the angle, the right time of day for the light to be perfect (in essence, all of the aspects that needed to go into the photograph including the model’s body language). We got the picture in the can in less than half an hour. All the previous work helped to add to a better result in the end.”

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Working couples with children who were worried when they saw the UDC People’s Party popular initiative that would give tax cuts to families with a stay-at-home parent received support today from the government. The Swiss Federal Council says it cannot back the initiative because “fiscal law must be as neutral as possible and not favour the traditional family model, as the initiative does”.

A new federal law went into effect 1 January 2011 that allows an income tax deduction for the cost of childcare by a third party as long as the costs can be proven and the child is not yet 14 years old. The maximum allowed deduction is CHF10,100 a year for the federal income tax.

Cantons have until 1 January 2013 to adapt their legislation to allow the deduction, and they are free to set their own ceilings for cantonal taxes.

The federal tax system does not allow parents who care for children at home to deduct the cost, although cantons Zug and Lucerne do, but the UDC’s agenda calls for promoting the traditional family.

President, head of bankers’ association, say road ahead rough for bank competivity

Swiss President and Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss financial industry is facing tough times which are not likely to soon be easier, two financial leaders said at separate press conferences Thursday.

Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Sclumpf, who is also the country’s finance minister, met with journalists 12 January in Geneva to talk about the future, but the press conference not surprisingly turned to her hectic first 12 days in office.

The Swiss National Bank’s chairman resigned following a scandal, parliament moved into its new session, tax treaty talks with the US are back on the agenda after a holiday break and diplomatic posts were assigned as new ambassadors, including the European Union one, arrived to present their papers.

The financial sector will be a 2012 priority for the government

Widmer-Schlumpf says one of her top priorities is to ensure the stability and sound reputation of the financial sector. The resignation Monday of Philipp Hildebrand as central banker also left Switzerland without its important seat on the Financial Stability Board, an international body of key central bankers who have great influence over world financial policy.

Germany and the UK initialed tax treaties with Switzerland in 2011, as did several other countries (Uruguay and Taiwan in the past two weeks), and one is under discussion with Italy. The European Union opposes such bilateral agreements and has threatened to fight them. The Swiss president said Thursday that Switzerland is ready to review some of the technical issues.

US tax treaty talks: main points sorted out, more discussion needed

The most difficult discussions may be those with the US. Little information has come from either side about the status of the talks, but Widmer-Schlumpf said today that while the main points have been sorted out more discussions are needed. She qualified the talks today: “They are not easy partners, we know that, but still they are constructive.” She added that she hopes the situation can be resolved while respecting Swiss law.

The US Department of Justice is currently investigating 11 Swiss banks for possibly helping wealthy Americans in the US hide money from the IRS (tax arm) and it appears the US is putting pressure on Swiss banks in other ways, with the latest twist reportedly, according to some Swiss media, a demand for the names of all Swiss bankers who have had dealings with US citizens.

The tax talks are taking place in parallel with another Swiss-US set of negotiations, over American requests for access to Swiss police records as part of the US fight against terrorism.

Private bankers and clients face “tsunami of regulations”

Meanwhile, in Bern, the Swiss Privates Bankers Association held its annual day with the press, where President Nicolas Pictet noted that the financial industry in general and wealth management in particular are facing a “tsunami of regulations” that will increase costs and create a number of problems. Penalizing the entire profession “for the mistakes of a few” must come to an end, he argues. “We must stop making it impossible for clients to have room to breathe” – they are the first to suffer when an excess of regulations exists, with the pretext of protecting them.

Pictet did not comment on the specifics of the bank cases under review by the US. He emphasized, however, that while Swiss banks, like any other, must respect the laws of the countries in which they operate, “applying these outside a country is an unacceptable threat for a small export nation” such as Switzerland.

He was echoing concerns voiced by Widmer-Schlumpf 31 December, on the eve of her presidency, who in a radio interview offered a reminder that while banks the Swiss banks embroiled in problems with the US have not broken any Swiss laws, nor committed any moral wrong-doing, those that have broken US law will have to deal with the consequences of that. Part of discussions between the two countries involves clarifying the legal situation.

Pictet’s talk (Fre), pdf

Basel Zoo's new red titi monkey

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – The Basel Zoo has announced the birth of its latest monkey, a little red or coppery titi, born 27 December to mother Chica, age 9 and father Gunther, age 6.

The pair already have two offspring, unusual for red titis, not often born in captivity.

But as exciting as the news is, equally exciting is the zoo’s observation that the newborn’s two older brothers are carrying him on their backs.

The father traditionally carries his offspring on his back, but Hijo, age 2 and Hermoso, age 1, have been seen sporting their little sibling on their backs. It’s not yet known if the little one is female or male.

The zoo supports a research programme to study the animals in their natural habitat, in Peru.

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Migration Office’s current backlog of some 3,000 applications must be completed and applications brought up to date by 2013, former Swiss Federal Judge Michel Féraud concluded as part of his final report on applications for asylum in Switzerland.

But the most damning part of his report covers applications from Iraqis at the Swiss embassies in Egypt and Syria, from 2006 to 2008: the judge writes that a Swiss Justice and Police Department decision in November 2006 to not handle the applications was not in line with procedures defined by law, and it violated constitutional guarantees.

Rigid system contributed to decision to ignore applications, backlog

His report implies that the blame lies with the rigidity of the legal situation, according to a Federal Council statement issued 11 January: all Swiss embassies are required to accept and handle asylum applications, although they are not equipped, in terms of staffing, to do so. The applicants, had they been turned down by Switzerland, would not have been obliged to return to Iraq, since they had been accepted by Egypt and Syria.

One of the debates that was taking place at the time was how to better distinguish between legitimate asylum seekers and migrants. The number of asylum seekers grew steadily from the 1970s, federal statistics show, and the resident asylum population peaked at some 105,000 in 1999. The number of applicants has been in the range of about 10-15,000 annually for the past decade just under 11,000 in 2007, with 15,567 applicants in 2011.

UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) figures published in November show that the decline in applications for asylum occurred worldwide, not just in Switzerland, from 2000 to 2010.

Judge not suggesting legal pursuit

Féraud notes that, given the lapse of time and the Federal Council’s stated desire in 2010 to make the regulations less rigid, thus giving embassies more discretion in handling cases, he is not recommending disciplinary action. His investigation did not turn up any acts of wrongdoing such as overstepping the bounds of their authority on the part of government employees.

Blocher headed department in 2005, successors unaware of decision

Christoph Blocher was the federal councilor with responsibility for the Justice and Police Department at the time; his right-wing UDC People’s Party came in for heavy criticism inside and outside Switzerland in 2006 for posters seen to be racist, as the party campaigned to reduce the number of immigrants.

Blocher was succeeded as head of the department by Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf after he lost his seat on the council in December 2007, but neither Widmer-Schlumpf nor her successor as minister with responsibility for the federal office, Simonetta Sommaruga, were informed of the Iraqi applications and the decision to ignore them.

The report was requested by the Federal Council in August 2011 when it was made aware that the applications had not been dealt with for a number of years.

Féraud filed it 22 December and the Federal Council 11 January acknowledged publicly that it had received and is considering the report.

Swiss citizens could need US visas if American demand is met, foreign affairs committee confirms

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The foreign affairs committee of the upper house of Parliament said late Tuesday 10 January that it must be informed if the Federal Council intends to sign an agreement with the US to provide access to police files in the American fight against major crime. It notes that Switzerland, “in the light of recent developments”, must look more closely at the existing crime reduction Operative Working Arrangement II, signed by the two in 2006, to see if from a Swiss legal point of view it needs revision.

The committee did not specify what it mean by recent developments, which could be a reference to US investigations of Swiss banks and reported but unconfirmed threats to indict a Swiss bank, the country’s oldest private bank Wegelin, that have appeared in US media.

Wegelin Tuesday issued a statement that raised the question of the legality of such a move, without confirming that it is being targed by the US Justice Department.

Switzerland has participated since 1986 in the US visa waiver programme, which has given Swiss citizens the right to remain in the US for 90 days without first asking for a visa. The US now envisages, says the commission, signing an agreement with Switzerland as part of the former’s anti-terrorism and major crime fight and it is possible that the US will insist that Swiss citizens need visas to enter the US if Switzerland refuses.

The commission’s remarks appear to confirm Swiss media reports in early December that the US was pressuring Switzerland to sign a “Preventing and Combating Serious Crime” (PCSC) agreement, although the embassy in Bern told GenevaLunch that there is no deadline, but rather ongoing negotiations.

The same basic rule applies to recycling your old batteries, whether you live in Switzerland or France: take them back to the place where you bought them. Department stores, supermarkets, electronic retailers, to name only a few, have specific bins for them, usually located close to the entrance. Most recycling facilities have battery containers as well.

The flyer by Inobat, “Correct disposal of batteries“, written in 16 languages, has a wealth of information about battery recycling for those living in Switzerland.

If you’re on the French side of the border, your local town hall is a good source of information.

Swiss cities’ public transport systems revise their schedules every December, with the changes timed to match new CFF Swiss rail schedules. Geneva’s changes are heavier than usual for 2012 and combined with major renovations at Cornavin station, it’s not always easy to work out times and fares. The TPG public transport system is offering two good options, in addition to its useful web site: if you prefer to ask in person, find one of the TPG associates who walk around  stops and stations wearing bright orange jackets or ask at the Plainpalais Circle temporary booth.

Escalade runners, Geneva, 3 December 2011 (photo, ©2011 Mr Kio on flickr)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The pre-Christmas holiday season took off running in Geneva, as it does every year with the traditional Escalade races.

The city had relatively clement weather Saturday 3 December for the runs, compared to many years.

Snow and sleet were absent and the drizzle wasn’t a freezing one.

Ed. note: we’ve created a GenevaLunch album of photos from the races by Mr Kio on flickr.

Portuguese runner Clarisse Cruz, age 33, became the first non-African woman to win the women’s race since 1998.

She finished the 4.79km race in  15’36, 7″ ahead of Kenyan Jane Muia and 14” ahead of Kenyan Caroline Chepkwony, who won in 2010.

Kenyan Paul Kipkorir won the men’s race, repeating his 2010 victory and giving Kenya 10 of the last 12 Escalade races.

The distance runner placed first with 20’45 for the 7.25 km city run, coming in 5″ ahead of Geneva’s Tadesse Abraham and 6” ahead of Kenyan Milton Rotich.

Escalade runners, Geneva, 3 December 2011 (photo, ©2011 Mr Kio on flickr)

The Escalade is celebrated from the day of the race to the city centre festival a few days later that commemorates the 1602 failed invasion of Geneva by Savoyard troops.

Costumes, Mère Royaume’s piping hot soup served in the Old Town and marmites, little three-legged traditional soup pots made out of chocolate and filled with treats, will replace this Sunday’s runners, and snow is reported to be on the way. Expect the same cheerful holiday crowds. Details, Geneva Tourism

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland, with a foreign population that is 24 percent of the total, is grappling with the extremes they bring: what some consider undesirable foreigners, on the one hand, and on the other hand those who help finance a more comfortable life for their communes. Most, of course, sit somewhere in the middle, attracting less attention.

Initiative “against mass immigration” needs 100,000 signatures to call for a vote

Switzerland has a surprising mix of foreigners (photo: Ellen Wallace)

Issues related to foreigners, which the right-wing UDC/SVP People’s Party have invoked for several public referendums, were in the limelight in July 2011 when the party deposited its next initiative with the federal chancellery, a vote “Against massive immigration”.

The party was widely said outside Switzerland to be heading for a record number of votes in October parliamentary elections, but it in fact lost several key seats and its numbers in parliament have fallen.

It has until January 2013 to collect enough signatures to take the initiative to the polls.

In theory, immigration is an issue covering workers given permits to live in the country, but critics of the UDC have argued that anti-immigration referendums lump together all foreigners and provoke anti-foreigner and racist hysteria. Le Temps in July described the poster linked to the initiative as using “menacing silhouettes” and argued to that is “designed to provoke an anti-foreign paranoia”, which then party-boss Tony Brunner from St Gallen (defeated in a run-off vote in November) disputed.

Foreign, living in Switzerland and rich

Bilan magazine’s 2011 list of Switzerland’s richest people, published this week, shows a hefty percentage of foreigners whose tax residence is Switzerland. Many of them live in communes where they have been granted lump-sum tax arrangements, which can considerably reduce income taxes for the rest of the commune. The list has 300 persons, but the magazine notes that if just the two main criteria (Swiss or tax residence here; assets of at least CHF100 million) are considered, there probably more than 1,000 people who could be included.

The not-entirely Swiss group includes newcomer Jim Ratcliffe, British, who brought his company Ineos to Rolle in canton Vaud (and threw his financial support behind the Lausanne Hockey Club), Glencore executives Daniel Maté, Spanish, Aristotelis Mistakidis, Greek and Tor Peterson, American, as well as their South African CEO, Ivan Glasenberg.

And: the Kazak family Kulibayev, Russian family Pumpyanskiy, Belgian Guy Ullens de Schooten, who is the main shareholder in WeightWatchers, and Spaniard Ricardo Portabella Peralta.

Tunisians getting a bad name, thanks to problems with new arrivals

Meanwhile, German-language Swiss media have drawn flak for running stories saying that the crime rate among Tunisian refugees in Switzerland is particularly high – a claim that was given credence at the end of the week when Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga, according to a lengthy story in swissinfo, “said her ministry was taking the problem of security very seriously and that the processing of Tunisian asylum requests had been given ‘top priority’. The minister has also discussed the problem of Tunisia’s image with the Tunisian ambassador.”

The reputation for newly arrived Tunisian refugees will not be helped any by a high-speed chase between Sion in canton Valais and Bex in Vaud Saturday 3 December that ended with an escaped prisoner being caught near Bex.

Swiss photographer Michael Grob on his work with Cambodian landmine victims: "Unlike in Afghanistan which is still in a state of war, we had to learn to adjust to the reality of such an amount of mines still being in Cambodian soil so long after the fighting has stopped. It was at times very difficult for me to deal with the impression left by the very high number of mine inflicted casualties - especially those of injured children. The work of the UN in Cambodia is, in my eyes, of utmost importance. It is for some communities the only opportunity for some kind of future. The situation touched me deeply and profoundly...my work for the United Nations mine action - as insignificant as it might be in the bigger picture - shall go on as long as needed." (©2011 Michael Grob)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Efforts to get rid of landmines are making good progress in many countries and funding is being maintained despite government budget constraints, a key meeting in Cambodia that closed 2 December shows. But work remains, with 4,000 new victims of landmines each year: six people died in Pursat Province, Cambodia, which hosted the meeting, Thursday 1 December when their truck triggered a mine.

The 11th meeting of the States Parties, the 158 nations that are part of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention finished in Phnom Penh with several strong commitments.

The Netherlands stated that “despite cuts in other areas, the government remains convinced of this matter” and it will maintain its €15 million annual contribution to demining and victim assistance.

Austria is increasing its 2012 funding slightly, to €1.9 million.

Cambodia funding stepped up

Austria announced its first contributions to demining and victim assistance in Cambodia, totaling €400,000. New Zealand, too, will contribute to a demining project in northeastern Cambodia: more than US$ 1 million in 2012.

Burundi bright spot

Cheering news came from Burundi, which says it has completed demining, a full three years ahead of the deadline to which it was committed. It is the 19th country to be declared mine-free.

Myanmar told the landmine ban meeting in Cambodia at the end of November that it is carefully considering the matter (Photo, ©2011, AP Mine Ban Convention)

The meeting, with 1,000 delegates taking part, marked progress in a number of areas and made media headlines over the first-ever participation by Myanmar, as an observer.

The isolated nation has been making commitments to reform, and at the land-mine ban meeting it said that “thorough study of the treaty will be continued”.

Its actions will be watched closely; it is one of three countries, along with Qaddafi’s Libya and Israel, who have been accused of laying mines in 2011.

“Convincing evidence” Syria is using mines

There is also “convincing evidence”, the group says, that Syria has used mines this year.

Tuvalu and South Sudan took their seats as the Convention’s newest adherents. Finland announced that it is on the verge of becoming the 159th to join the Convention.

Fifteen States that have not yet joined the Convention attended as observers, “signaling their openness to engage in a discussion on the devastating impact of anti-personnel mines”, a meeting press release states. The US is one of these and it reported that it is continuing to review its landmine policy.

Other signs of progress reported by the meeting: “Turkey reported the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines: 3 million mines. Burundi and Nigeria declared completion of their mine clearance obligations. Guinea Bissau, Jordan and Uganda announced that they will complete their demining programmes in coming months.”

A major and often under-funded part of the States’ commitments is helping survivors. Meeting host Cambodia, one of the most affected countries, says it is “assessing its national action plan on disability with a view to preparing a revised plan in 2012.”

Britain, Germany fail to meet commitments to demine

Germany is one of four countries with new reports of mine contamination that are falling far behind on their commitments to demine.

The town of Koblenz, Germany is the site this weekend of a massive project to defuse a bomb with 3,000 tons of explosives left over from the second world war; 45,000 people are being evacuated from their homes to allow the army and experts to get rid of it. The bomb became apparent this year due to lower water levels in the Rhine, reports NPR.

Britain has failed to clear any mines in the Falklands for the second year in a row.

“The UK has consistently failed to meet their clearance obligations under the treaty, and now have to clear more than 110 mined areas across over 7km2 in less than seven years,” the group notes.

kosher chocolates, made in Geneva

Surprisingly, no one has done it before: two Geneva chocolate lovers teamed up to create the first certified kosher chocolates and truffles in the country. Made of high quality cocoa and without any animal ingredients, they’ll satisfy not only all kosher observers but chocoholics and vegans too. Online orders at chokacher.com for CHF39.50 (250gr) and CHF64.50 (400 gr), with deliveries in all Switzerland, France and  more countries on request.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – GenevaLunch editor Ellen Wallace was named “Unsung hero” by the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce at its first Business Awards Wednesday 30 November in Geneva for her work in developing an online news source in English for the Lake Geneva region and Switzerland. GenevaLunch, staffed by volunteers, will soon hit the 3 million pages viewed mark, with 1 million of those in 2011.

The prize was one of five at the first annual awards by the business organization.

The other awards:

Company of the year: Withers LLP
Most Promising Business/Entrepreneur: Avaloq UK
Excellence in Customer Service award: La Cote International School, Gland
Corporate Social Responsibility: HSBC Private Bank

Some 150 people attended the awards dinner, including British Ambassador to Switzerland Sarah Gillett.

GenevaLunch has a strong commitment to high-quality journalism and is staffed by a core group of seven regular contributors and a number of other occasional contributors (see About GenevaLunch) who share a wealth of international journalism experience. Nearly 100,000 pages are viewed a month (November 2011). The news service provides not only daily news but an ongoing historical record of life in the region, in English.

The mission of the annual Business Awards is to recognize the achievements of companies who have made an outstanding contribution towards bilateral trade and investment between the UK and Switzerland, the BSCC notes. They are organized by the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Lloyds TSB Private Banking.

Ed. note: the awards dinner gave us the opportunity to talk to a number of businesses about their work and we’ll be adding them in the next few days to our resources section, which we are currently updating. Be sure to check back!

So Money Productions video about GenevaLunch, made for the BSCC Business Awards

Winners include 16-year-old Vaud musical prodigy Mélodie Zhao

Mélodie Zhao, Leenaards Foundation scholarship winner

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Leenaards Foundation has given CHF500,000 in prizes and scholarships to encourage artists in the region. One of the winners is 16-year-old Mélodie Zhao of Saint Prex, who last summer became the youngest ever person to receive a master’s degree in music from the Geneva Conservatory.

She will use her CHF50,000 scholarship to pursue private studies with Pascal Devoyon and other renowned professors around the world. Zhao began playing piano at age 3, gave her first  concert at age 5 and began performing with orchestras at age 9. She will join post-graduate piano classes at the University of Arts in Berlin and post-grad classes in orchestra conducting, in Geneva in addition to training with mentors such as Devoyon.

The foundation was created in 1980 by a Belgian couple, Antoine and Rosy Leenaards, who made their fortune then retired to Switzerland. Their only son and heir died at age 58 and the couple created the foundation in his memory with CHF230,000. By the time Antoine died 15 years later he left a fortune worth CHF325 million to the foundation, which annually gives awards to encourage the cultural life of the region.

Three prizes worth CHF30,000 each, in recognition of a career, were given Tuesday evening to:Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker, André Corboz, architectural and urban historian, and Jean Scheurer, painter.

Eight scholarships worth CHF50,000 each were awarded to young people at a crucial point at the start of their careers, to help them continue developing. This year’s winners, in addition to Zhao:

Antoinette Dennefeld, mezzo-soprano, Douna Loup, writer, Sylvie Neeman Romascano, writer and editor, Mélodie Zhao, pianist, Frédéric Cordier, artist, Guy-François Leuenberger, pianist-composer, Michael Rampa, painter and Adrien Rovero, industrial designer.

Zhao is young, but she has already made a name for herself; her most recent concert at Victoria Hall in Geneva 12 October in commemoration of the 200th birthday of Liszt, was sold out and she has recently completed a new recording, her second: Douze Etudes d’exécution transcendante de Liszt (Claves label). Her first recording at age 13: the 24 Etudes de Chopin. The Leenaards Foundation notes that her new “interprétation is recognized for its perfect virtuosity and profound musicality”.

Background, “Prodigy M Zhao gives rare Chopin complete Etudes concert”, GenevaLunch 28 February 2010

The Swiss Customs Administration has a page in English with the basics of what you can and can’t do if you bring a car into the country, and what fines you could face if you don’t declare your car. It includes useful clarifications on exemptions for students and foreign workers.

The 1 December window on the 2010 Sustainable Development calendar gave us a peek at the world behind our chocolate products - two more days until you can open the new 2011 calendar windows!

BERN, SWITZERLAND – One of Switzerland’s quirky offerings is back, the seasonal Swiss online  sustainable development Advent calendar where you can have a lesson a day and take part in daily quizzes to try to win prizes, in the interest of boosting sustainability.

A bonus is the list of gift ideas to spark your imagination for suitable gifts. The project, started in 2000, is now available in five languages, to encourage broader participation worldwide.

The calendar is put together by a surprisingly rich mix of researchers, companies, educational groups, federal authorities, environmental organizations and others who are joining forces for the second year to create the online calendar (see list of partners).

For those who did not grow up with Advent calendars, the idea is that for the four weeks of Advent that run up to Christmas, you open a window a day, usually to find an interesting little gift, either visual or physical.

The windows work with themes such as green technology, especially ICT and protecting nature. The sources of information for the windows come from firms, non-governmental organizations and the Swiss government, one-third each. The windows are designed to show “affordable, pleasant or simply surprising solutions” according to the federal energy office which, with the Swiss sustainable development network, Öbu, is a major sponsor.

Examples of corporate solutions include: travel company Kuoni shows the first sustainable development certifiied agency trips; Coop supermarket chain shows how certified palm oil can be part of our consumer products; Ricola, the herbal sweets maker shows us attractive homes for bees so we can reduce their mortality rate, while canton Geneva and the town of Yverdon-les-bains show us why it makes sense to recycle the cartons used for many of our drinks.

Great chocolate, but only a 25% chance at Lindt that the palm oil came from certified supplies - a better than average chance, though

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Some of the largest retailers in Britain, Sweden and Switzerland are leading the pack when it comes to saving tropical forests by using sustainable palm oil, according to a new survey by Gland-based environmental organization the WWF.

Migros and Coop in Switzerland scored 9, the highest possible number on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) scorecard, as did Britain’s Boots, Walmart, Marks & Spencers, the Co-operative Group, the Body Shop and Waitroses, and Sweden’s Axfood, with the UK and Sweden having several companies that scored 8.

Palm oil is an issue because 80 percent of its comes from tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, where huge growth in global demand is causing the destruction of irreplaceable forests as they are replaced by palm plantations, often planted in unsuitable areas, says the WWF. The issue is not palm oil itself, says the WWF, but rather “how and where palm oil is produced”.

“Palm oil is a major global commodity—a highly versatile vegetable oil derived from very productive oil palm trees grown only in the tropics. And it is here to stay—consumption is increasing globally and is set to grow from about 50 million tonnes in 2011 to at least 77 million tonnes in 2050.” It is used in foods such as chocolate, ice cream and margarine as well as in cosmetics. Progress is being made, says WWF Switzerland, but much remains to be done, with certified palm oil accounting for just over 8 percent of world palm oil consumption.

Swiss company Nestlé made a turnaround in the past two years, WWF Switzerland says, reaching 8 points on the scorecard after mediocre results two years ago (see GenevaLunch, May 2010 on protests at the company’s annual general meeting). It has since joined RSPO and its purchases of certified palm oil are now 25 to 50 percent of its total needs, “but much remains yet to be done”, says the Swiss arm of WWF.

Lindt & Sprüngli have also made progress, but reached only 7 points, with certified palm oil only 25 percent of total purchases by the chocolate maker, based near Zurich.

The RSPO has nearly 650 regular and affiliate members, with another 77 “supply chain associates”.

Companies were assessed for only the second time (first: 2009) by WWF for the scorecard based on “their commitments to, and use of sustainable palm oil. As with the 2009 Scorecard, we evaluated company performance based on publicly available data (including websites and corporate sustainability reports, as well as the annual reports required by the RSPO from its members) in relation to the following four questions:

• Is the company a member of the RSPO and is annual reporting up to date?
• Does the company have a policy on sustainable palm oil—specifically a commitment to source 100 per cent RSPO-certified palm oil by 2015 or earlier?
• Is the company disclosing total volumes of palm oil used/bought?
• Is the company using any certified sustainable palm oil or buying any Book and Claim certificates? What proportion of the company’s total palm oil use/sales are RSPO-certified palm oil in 2010-2011 (irrespective of which supply chain option the company is using), and is the company disclosing volumes used?

Lidl and Aldi, the large discounters, did not supply information, the WWF notes.

The Palm oil scorecard 2011, with details about companies’ commitments and progress, is available in pdf format.

Room to grow: Zurich's citizen say it can go ahead with new runways and keep existing flight paths

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss voters were back at the ballot box Sunday 27 November, a month after parliamentary elections, to vote on a number of items that differed from one canton to the next.

Here are some of the highlights, as results flow in Sunday evening:

Swiss right loses most runoffs, Geneva rebuffs minimum wage

• The right-wing UDC lost heavily in cantonal runoffs for seats in the upper house of parliament
• Two key federal parliament upper house seats: in the closely watched key Zurich election Felix Gutzwiller and Verena Diener defeated Christoph Blocher; Blocher is a former federal councilor and led the UDC/SVP People’s Party to a dominant position in the last decade until he lost his seat in 2007, and in St Gallen UDC candidate and favourite to win, Tony Brunner, lost to Socialist Paul Rechsteiner
• Canton Geneva has voted against a minimum wage but Neuchatel has voted to include it in the canton’s constitution; Switzerland as a whole does not have a minimum wage
• Canton Vaud: Green Party’s Béatrice Métraux defeated UDC’s Pierre-Yves Rapaz for the cantonal upper house seat left vacant by the death of UDC councilor Jean-Claude Mermoud in September

In German-speaking ares: Zurich airport can grow, Zug taxes down and foreigners get mixed bag:

• Foreigners: they will not be given the right to vote at the communal level in Lucerne, but they were spared stiff requirements pushed by the UDC People’s Party in the city of Basel to require strong language skills in order to be naturalized, and Basel’s citizens also voted 3-1 to place the responsibility for naturalization in the hands of the local government rather than the parliament; in Schwyz, voters agreed, 2-1, to align its naturalization laws with federal law and put responsibility for this in the hands of communal commissions (TSR notes that this was necessary after a scandal in Emmen, Lucerne, where the communal council routinely turned down applications from foreigners from certain countries
• Zurich voted strongly against a motion that would have restricted the airport’s growth; it will now be able to add two new runways to and allow existing ones to be extended; the vote was a sharp rebuke to the officials from several communes who were behind a motion to limit flying over highly populated neighbourhoods and to restrict the airport’s growth
• Zug voted in a number of tax breaks, including doubling the reduction per child for families, from CHF9,000 to 18,000, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 5.75 percent from 6.5
• Lump-sum taxes for wealthy foreigners who reside in Switzerland will continue to be offered by cantons Glaris and St Gallen but the latter’s voters have chosen to tighten requirements.
• Smoking in Basel: voters rejected a proposal by restaurants to adopt less strict federal no smoking laws instead of the cantons, in a close vote with just 200 out of more than 23,000 deciding the issue.

Picard, the high quality frozen food store, and every French mom’s best friend, delivers its soups, vegetables, fish, meat, fruits, cakes and much more right to your front door for €5, if you live in France. The website is in French but it’s quite easy to navigate thanks to its pictures. My favorites: appetizers, fish and uncooked veggies, all the fresh herbs and cakes. Free recipes will fuel your creativity. Go to “La Boutique”, open a free account and allow a couple of days for the delivery if you place your order at 20:00 like I did.

Canton Vaud started a new service called La Chaise Rouge (red chair) in October 2011 to provide handicapped persons with a trained volunteer assistant who can help them get out to concerts, exhibits or activities. The service is opened to handicapped people who live at home. It’s a project developed by Pro Infirmis Vaud and the Swiss Red Cross, which trains the volunteers. The web site is in French only.

France has a number of options for classified ads that include:

Geneva Craigslist is the Geneva version of the famous US craigslist website, with section titles in French but ads written in English. Further afield, with ads in French: Craigslist for Lyons and Grenoble.

In English: frenchclassified.com

The main “classifed” websites in France are written in French:
leboncoin.fr, with a Rhône-Alpes section
priceminister.com
ebay.fr

Artbootik opened its doors 17 November 2011, with inexpensive and fun art for your apartment. Just up from the lakefront at 19, rue du Nant.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss households reacted cautiously to the economic uncertainties of 2010 by putting more money into savings. Net worth (financial assets + real estate – liabillities) per capita increased by CHF6,000 to CHF341,000.

Losses on investments linked to the strong Swiss franc and falling markets had an impact, but higher savings and rising real estate prices offset the losses.

The Swiss National Bank says Friday 18 November that “the net worth of households rose by CHF74 billion, or 2.8 percent, to CHF2,691 billion. The main reasons for the increase were the persistently high level of saving by households and the further advance in real estate prices. By contrast, currency movements reduced the growth in household wealth by some CHF25 billion.”

The SNB details some of the changes:

“Currency movements had a considerable impact on financial assets. From end-2009 to
end-2010, the euro lost 16% against the Swiss franc, while the US dollar lost 10%. As a
result, households suffered losses amounting to some CHF 25 billion on the value of their
foreign currency investments, measured in terms of Swiss francs. Domestic share prices
were stable. Share prices on foreign stock exchanges rose slightly, but this did not offset
the currency losses on foreign shares.
“Deposits with banks and PostFinance grew by CHF 36 billion to CHF 586 billion, due partly
to household savings and partly to a shift from debt securities to deposits.”

Real estate prices had a significant impact on household wealth, with rising prices and growth in mortgages, but consumer lending otherwise remained stable. “The value of real estate owned by households (single-family homes, owner-occupied apartments and apartment buildings with rental apartments) grew by CHF55 billion to CHF1,415 billion. The largest part of this advance was attributable to higher real estate
prices in all three categories. Household liabilities rose overall by CHF 30 billion to CHF 682 billion. Mortgage loans, which account for some 90% of this total, increased by CHF 28 billion to CHF 632 billion. Consumer loans remained stable at CHF 15 billion, while other loans advanced by CHF2 billion to CHF32 billion.”

Swiss soldiers travel on Swiss trains for free when on duty (photo: Morges station, November 2011)

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The 2012 train schedule that goes into effect 11 December will offer travellers better connections for trips abroad. Some parts of the Lake Geneva region will also see improvements. But the best news for many working travellers is that mobile connections are being improved, as is the online sales service.

The CFF rail company presented highlights of the new schedule to the press Thursday 17 November.

You’ll be able to plug in and connect better in 2012

All the new trains will have electric plugs and existing intercity trains will also get them. “All the new Duplex trains on the intercity trains will be equipped with WLAN,” says Jeannine Pilloud.

A major improvement could be the installation of equipment that amplifies signals received inside and outside the train cars, giving better access to the cell phone and Internet network.

1.8 million cell phone tickets ordered and number growing

The CFF app for ordering online tickets via cell phone is proving popular, with 1.8 million users since it was introduced in 2010, and the number is growing steadily, says the rail company.

Users of the small pocket timetables will find that some of the international ones are disappearing, in favour of online information, and that smaller stations’ stops are no longer listed, but are incorporated into regional listings. All details will be available online, however.

French-speaking Switzerland, especially commuters, to see significant improvements

A host of changes for trains in the Lake Geneva region will have a significant impact:

More double-decker trains will be used on the Geneva airport/Lucerne line, offering more seats

An additional InterRegio train will run between Neuchatel and Lausanne at 07:53 and the Neuchatel/La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle line will have additional service during rush hour and a pair of trains is being added to the Neuchatel to Bienne line

Canton Vaud: the S4 line is being extended from Morges to Allaman, stopping in Saint Prex and Etoy, which will now have trains every 30 minutes instead of once an hour, Monday to Friday.

Geneva: La Plaine/Geneva, more trains will run during rush hour. Coppet–Geneva–Lancy-Pont-Rouge trains, the 30-minute schedule is being extended for weekend night and trains will run every half hour on Fridays and Saturdays until the end of the day.

New international connections, travel time cut on major links

Basel-Paris will see a 30-minute cut thanks to the new TGV 2N2 Lyria Euroduplex trains that start going into service, with the 12 trains on the line gradually being replaced by the new models. Zurich to Basel will take just four hours on the new Rhin-Rhône TGV line, with trains able to go up to 320kph, and travellers from the Jura will be able to cut 1.5 hours from their trips to Paris. First class travellers will have improved service.

Germany: Interlaken to Frankfurt and Berlin, 5 trains a day in each direction; Zurich to Cologne and Hamburg, 8 trains daily in each direction.

Brussels: a new direct train from Croire (Chur) in canton Graubuenden.

Austria: 5 daily Railjet trains and 2 EuroNight trains. One of the Zurich-Vienna Railjet trains will connect with Budapest, Hungary, in both directions, every day.

Italy: a series of measures are designed to provide cleaner trains that operate on time, with punctuality on these trains a problem that affects the rest of the Swiss train schedule. The down side is that the Zurich-Milan trip will take 30 minutes longer, with only six pairs of trains. More time is being allowed in the train stations for some of the trains to provide more cleaning time and build flexibility into the schedule. Intercity trains will be added between Zurich and Chiasso for some of the runs, in addition to the Eurocity trains.

Basel-Geneva-Milan will see additional cars on weekend trains but the schedule for these trains will remain unchanged.

World’s banks are starting to wake up to the administrative nightmare it could pose

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – American Citizens Abroad (ACA), with InterNations, a global expats social network, will be holding a fourth Town Hall meeting in Geneva Wednesday evening (16 November, 18:30-21:30, Webster University, Bellevue/GE) to address tax issues for US citizens, in particular to bring them up to date on Fatca and FBar obligations and the reported heavy penalties for non-filers. Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad are supporting the town hall meeting.

Ed. note: see GenevaLunch feature articles on previous town hall meetings and US overseas citizens’ tax obligations.

Fatca is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Financial institutions around the world will be obliged starting in 2014 to comply with Fatca or refuse to accept US citizens as clients. US citizens will be required to file a new, additional form that is part of the Fatca legislation starting with their 2011 fiscal returns.

Financial industry fears heavy impact of US legislation comes at a bad time

Banks around the world are starting to wake up to what Ernst & Young calls the “completely new and extended information and reporting systems” that will be required by Fatca. RiskNet recently wrote that “If the US’s proposed wide-ranging tax law comes into force, financial institutions across the globe could experience operational upheaval and enormous compliance costs, alongside potential reputational and systemic issues.”

Wednesday, the Swiss Private Bankers Association referred to “a Kafkaesque tax reform being drawn up by the USA, known as Fatca”, reflecting opinions voiced by other, non-Swiss bank groups.

CPIFinancial warned 16 November that “ll banks and life insurance companies which have US source income or handle US source income will be affected since all US source income might be subject to 30 per cent US withholding tax if they are not Fatca compliant.”

ACA goes public with campaign to repeal Fatca

ACA has launched a public campaign to have Fatca appealed. “Starting in 2014 (moved from 2013), foreign financial institutions will be required by the US government under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) to report information regarding accounts of US citizens to the IRS. This law requires foreign financial institutions (FFI) such as your local bank, stock brokers, hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies, trusts, etc. – to report directly to the IRS all their clients who are “US persons” (citizens and green card  holders living in the USA or abroad). The penalties for the institutions that do not cooperate are steep.”

Rami Schandall says in the text with a public online petition to scrap Fatca:

“IRS efforts to chase tax cheats are netting another group entirely. Americans, green card holders, and dual citizens living abroad, face the threat of prohibitive fines for simply failing to file with the IRS, when many are unaware they were required to do so. This aggressive cash grab can devastate the lives of law-abiding citizens who already pay high taxes in their country of residence.

“The fines for not reporting are as high as 50% of any unannounced holdings, year over year. This can add up to more than 100% of assets, even if no tax is owed! Retirement funds and education funds for families who may never have even lived in the US would be wiped out. This is disproportionate and harsh punishment, and anti‐constitutional under the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.”

Canada, but also US citizens elsewhere, fight to be exempted from FBar

The FBar obligation requires US citizens and green card holders to annually declare to the US government the highest amount at any point in the year in all of their financial accounts. This is separate from income tax filing obligations and the information is filed with an office separate from the IRS, the US tax service. ACA 1 November wrote to Douglas Shuman, the IRS commissioner, to argue for repeal of the heavy penalties issued to some Americans who had not filed the forms; it published a paper called “The FBar scam” in September to lay out its objections to Americans overseas being required to file

Sun-drop yellow diamond discovered in 2010 goes for CHF11.28m at its first-ever sale in Geneva

James Bond and his amazing Rolex watch adapted in 1973 for "Live and Let Die" (source: Christie's Images Ltd, ©2011)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Going, going, gone! For CHF11.28 million, the world’s “largest known pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond”, a rarity for colour at its size and a newcomer on the market, went to an individual who wishes to remain anonymous, says Sotheby’s. The diamond was the hottest item in the auction house’s semi-annual Geneva fine jewels sale Tuesday night 15 November.

It kept great company this week, with jewels (not, of course, just baubles) that could tell tales and watches to match every fantasy. Wednesday night Christie’s holds its fine jewels sales, expected to fetch CHF49 million in total.

A watch sale by the auction house Monday night sold more than CHF26m in timepieces, including a 1968 Patek Philippe pink platinum watch that went for CHF2m, twice its estimated sale price.

Roger Moore's James Bond Rolex (click on image to view larger): Oyster Perpetual, 660ft=200m, Submariner, manufactured in 1972 and then converted. Movement removed to allow customization, black dial, luminous baton and dot numerals, luminous mercedes-style hands, tonneau-shaped case with calibrated rotating black bezel with saw-tooth edge, modified screw back, the inside case back signed Roger Moore 007, screw down crown, stainless steel Rolex Oyster expandable bracelet with deployant clasp stamped 7-72, a small hole in the end links used to attach an invisible wire to unzip Miss Caruso's dress, case and dial signed (source: Christie's Images Ltd, ©2011)

Journalists oohed and aahed over the Taylor collection, struggling to capture the sparkling jewels with cameras

Geneva’s “palaces”, or five-star hotels, hosted visits by James Bond’s electrifying watch (not literally, one of the few things it doesn’t do), which was also sold Monday night. fpr CHF219,000, as well as a collection of astonishing jewels from the star-studded world of Hollywood’s last “real star”, Liz Taylor. The Taylor collection then moved on to Paris and soon heads for New York where Christie’s will hold a four-day special auction in December, linked to a number of Elizabeth Taylor events.

The Wednesday night Christie’s sale features one of the largest selections of BVlgari jewels ever seen at auction, it says, as well as 40 jewels that Welsh actor Richard Burton gave to Susan Hunt Burton, his third of four wives, from 1976-82; Burton, was famously earlier married twice to Taylor.

Burton, who moved to Celigny in 1957 is buried in the village, not far from Geneva.

For Russian friends in Geneva, a parure as rich in historical and emotional value as beauty, was the highlight of the week’s shows, but it failed to find a buyer Tuesday night at Sotheby’s despite strong interest.

The jewels in the diamond necklace with earrings and brooch, whose asking price was  not published, are reputed to have been part of the ransom offered by Catherine I of Russia, wife of Peter the Great, to Ahmed III, the 23rd Ottoman Sultan after the Pruth River battles in 1711. The battles were a key point in the war upon Russia by the Sultan, undertaken with the encouragement of Sweden’s ruler Charles XII. Russian forces were surrounded and in desperate straits when Catherine, who had accompanied her husband to the Pruth River for the final battle, gathered her jewels in secret and sent them with a last plea for peace from her husband to the sultan. A treaty was thus negotiated and, popular history has it, Catherine saved her husband and the empire.

The jewels went on to have a rich history, ending up in Egypt and eventually, in 1963, on the market. Christie’s notes that they are probably the most “important suite of antique coloured diamond jewels to appear at auction in the past 50 years”.

La Peregrina by Cartier, with 16th century drop-shaped pearl pendant, detachable from necklace designed by Taylor herself; a gift from Richard Burton, 1972

Fine jewels have value because of their intrinsic beauty and/or their rarity, but also often because of their history, as in the case of Empress Catherine’s peace offering. But glamour counts for much and Geneva has seen plenty of it, or at least the acoutrements of it, in the past week.

The Taylor jewels in particular, were accompanied by non-stop film footage of the star wearing her glamorous pieces, who went from National Velvet to Cleopatra, but who also lived her private life very much as a star. She was one of the early entertainment world celebrities to set up house in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad, where she was a familiar sight, wearing her extraordinary and often over-sized jewels on a daily basis.

“She was the last of the great Hollywood stars”, said Christie’s Jonathan Rendell, deputy chairman of its Americas division, when presenting the collection to the press. She understood, he said, that “when she stepped outside her door she was no longer Elizabeth Taylor the private person, but the Hollywood star.”

Christie’s will not say how much of the money from the sale will go to support Taylor’s humanitarian work, but Rendell did make clear that she selected the pieces before her death and asked that Christie’s handle the sale. She died 23 March 2011, age 79.

GenevaLunch will be adding a photo album of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewels, from the Geneva exhibition, Wednesday afternoon.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The politicians, and there were many of them, at the groundbreaking ceremony for Ceva, the new French-Swiss regional rail system, made much of the historic importance of the moment. The ceremony Tuesday morning 15 November comes 100 years after Switzerland and Geneva signed an agreement to undertake the financing of a rail project that would link the city to the French rail system. At that point discussions had already been underway for some 60 years.

The Tuesday ceremony marks the end of years of effort to overcome political hurdles and opposition in order to treat the border area as one region, for transport purposes.

Source: Ceva (click on image to view larger)

The kickoff for the CHF1.57 billion Ceva project signals the start of a number of related rail projects for the Lake Geneva region, noted Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard in a speech.

She noted that the federal government recognizes the rapid growth of the region and the desire for an expanded public transport system that will better link cantons Vaud and Geneva.

A side benefit of the project will be the construction of 1,000 new housing units near the line, in La Praille, Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg.

Construction will start at the end of January 2012. Ceva will link Gare Cornavin in Geneva to Annemasse via a 16km long rail line, 14km of which is in Switzerland, with five stations: Lancy–Pont-Rouge, Carouge–Bachet, Champel–Hôpital, Genève–Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg. Most of the line will be underground, with two tunnels and several covered sections. Two bridges, one over the Arve and the other over teh Seymaz, are part of the project.

The end result of the six-year construction project will be to link the French SNCF rail system with the Swiss CFF, creating a true RER, or regional transport system.

The Swiss federal government is financing 55.47 percent of the project, canton Geneva 44.53 percent.

Negotiations are still underway with the French for their part of the line and some parts of the project still face legal battles, but the approval by Geneva voters in 2009 of a part of the money to be spent by the canton enabled the project to move ahead.

Key figures:

• Some 240,000 people live or work within 500 metres of a Ceva station
• Cornavin to Eaux-Vives will take 13 minutes
• 6 trains an hour will link Cornavin to Annemasse.