GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – France leaves us with no doubts: they are the world’s Chardonnay masters, based on 872 wines from 42 countries that were judged at Château des Ravatys, the wine estate of the Pasteur Institute at Saint Lager in Burgundy, France this week. The Chardonnay-du-Monde wine competition‘s top 10 wines included 7 from France. Canada had [...]
Sexual abuse against asylum-seekers suspected at centre
February 15, 2013 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Suspicions of inappropriate sexual relations between asylum-seekers and staff at a reception centre for asylum-seekers in canton Neuchatel are being investigated, the canton’s chancellery announced Friday 15 February. The investigation involves eight workers: five security agents from private security company NSA and three cantonal immigration employees who work at a centre in Perreux. [...]
Regional travel & wine: Switzerland’s surprising wines
February 10, 2013 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Torches light the lovely 15th-century cobblestone courtyard, once a two- or three-hour carriage ride from Geneva. A hum of voices carries from an open cellar door where soft candlelight offers a glimpse of amphoras and barrels. Upstairs, in a renovated area of the old Grand’Cour château, Jean-Pierre Pellegrin describes what makes his [...]
Italy, France, Switzerland: 7 Ceps regional wine competition winners named
November 22, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 7 Ceps wine competition is an interesting variation on the theme of “best of” that for most competitions means best of a grape variety or a politically defined region. These are wines from a geographically linked area, the vineyards in the greater Mont Blanc region with producers in Italy, France and [...]
Geneva to fight for 13% flat corporate tax
October 12, 2012 by
Uniform lower tax would end EU opposition, canton says Bern should pitch in to cover losses GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The European Union continues to pressure Switzerland to end “tax dumping”, the practice of giving fiscal benefits to holding companies. Meanwhile at home some media and watchdog groups are suggesting that corporate tax deals in Switzerland [...]
How the cantons fare: finalists in the Swiss wine competition
August 23, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Grand Prix du Vin Suisse, while not a competition that pits one canton against another, serves as a kind of register for how well wines from the six main wine regions fared against those from other parts of the country. The 2012 distribution of Swiss wine finalists by region and canton [...]
Swiss-French anti-crime communications network set up
July 4, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – French security forces and their Swiss counterparts in bordering cantons reported Wednesday 4 July the establishment of a communications network to improve the fight against cross-border crime. Cantonal police in Jura, Valais, Neuchatel and Vaud signed an agreement with their French counterparts to enhance the transmission of information about crimes committed across [...]
Swiss wineries open house days: tips for visiting
May 16, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss cantons are becoming increasingly organized and coordinating their work for the cantonal wineries’ open house days. The same basic tips apply for visiting all of them: Your starting point should be the GenevaLunch news story on the event (search name of canton + wineries open house). The open houses are designed [...]
Swiss gov’t approves 12 cantons for electronic voting in June
April 4, 2012 by
Bern to review electronic voting in 2013 Limits on numbers raised for Geneva, Neuchatel GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal government 4 April authorized 12 cantons to allow electronic voting during federal elections 17 June 2012. In all but two of the cantons the electronic vote is available only to their citizens abroad. Geneva and [...]
Thief arrested after 20 breakins while families at funerals
April 4, 2012 by
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old Swiss man from the Jura was arrested in March, canton Vaud police announced 4 April, during a break-in in Delemont, while the family was off at a funeral. Police had been tracking him since January after a number of thefts, mainly of money and jewelry, that followed announcements in newspapers [...]
