Post office runs trial morning mail deliveries

Vaud, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - La Poste, the Swiss postal service, is running six-month trials, in several parts of Vaud, of afternoon-only mail deliveries to households, with business areas given priority for morning delivery. Newspapers continue to be delivered in the morning in the tests that began last week. The trial, designed to make the post office more competitive in preparation for the market opening up in 2012, will give the postal service a chance to study the financial implications of the change. Business areas are defined as sectors where at least 3% of those receiving mail have a minimum of 10 items delivered a day.,

Geneva insists its police can spell correctly

Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - AS Geneva tests its second batch of candidates this year for its police force, a surprising statistic has surfaced, reports 20 Minutes: two-thirds of them don't make it through because they fail the dictée (dictation), where they are allowed 10 spelling mistakes. The reason: a large part of police work is writing reports and since some of these may end up in court, they need to be correctly written.

Credit Suisse among latest banks hit by US auction rate securities

New York, USA (GenevaLunch) - The continuing and widespread investigations in the United States into auction rate securities abuses by banks have netted two former Credit Suisse brokers, both under arrest for misleading their clients (see Securities and Exchange Commission press release). Several banks have been investigated by the SEC and various states in the US since the collapse of the auction rate securities market; widespread complaints by clients that they were told the market was relatively safe when in fact it was increasingly unstable has led to a number of settlements by banks, including UBS and Credit Suisse.

Today's story, TSR, Fre

Background: "UBS shares fall on news that New York files civil charges," 25 July 2008, GenevaLunch

Police bust pedophile ring in Switzerland, Germany, Austria

St Gallen, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve/ATS, Fre) - Swiss police arrested four people and are investigating another nine as part of an Internet pedophile ring in eastern Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The site, where pedophiles have been sharing their experiences and tips for contacting children, reportedly started in Germany, and some 600 people are under investigation there. The Swiss Coordination Unit for Cybercrime Control uncovered the Swiss part of the ring.

Bern approves 9 new national parks

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The federal government in Bern has given the green light to plans for nine new national parks and one regional nature reserve. The parks cover 3,000m2, or 7% of Switzerland - an area the size of canton Ticino. The stamp of approval means the parks will now receive CHF7.4 million in federal funding, allowing their development to move ahead.

The projects are:

Landschaftspark Binntal (Valais)
Projet Parc régional Chasseral (Bern/Neuchatel)
Projet Regionaler Naturpark Diemtigtal (Bern)
Projet Parc Ela (Graubuenden)
Projet Regionaler Naturpark Gantrisch (Bern/Fribourg)
Projet Regionaler Naturpark Thal (Solothurn)
Projet Naturpark Thunersee-Hohgant (Bern)
Projet Val Müstair (Grisons)

Sihlwald, in canton Zurich, is the new regional nature reserve. In July another, already approved regional nature reserve, Entlebuch in canton Lucerne, was awarded the label of Unesco biosphere park, which it will celebrate on Switzerland's national parks day 6 Setember. It is considered to be a pioneer park project for Switzerland.

Ed.note: the web pages, in English, about Entlebuch, do a good job of explaining the idea behind a biosphere, where efforts are made to preserve a landscape and nature, while encouraging sustainable development, with an emphasis on planning participation by the population.

Qadaffi affair cools as two domestic servants withdraw charges

Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps/ats, Fre) - The two domestic servants who pressed charges in Geneva against the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, Hannibal, and his wife Aline, have dropped their charges and their lawyer confirmed to ATS that they have been "correctly compensated." The two have been given temporary residence in the canton on humanitarian grounds. Their complaint followed an incident at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva that led to hotel staff calling the police to report abuse. The former servants had refused to drop charges as long as the brother of one of them, who disappeared after his arrest in Libya 27 July, is still missing, but he has now agreed to turn over his brother's case to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

Incest discussion, resources group opens in Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The French organization AIWA (Association Internationale des Victimes d'Incest), which has several discussion groups that meet throughout in France, this week is opening one for the Pays de Gex area in Geneva. The group says it hopes to expand in Switzerland. Friday night, 5 September, the first discussion group will cover "Recognizing incest" (in French). The group organizes conferences and serves as an information centre.

Geneva best place in Switzerland: life expectancy

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva may be the hardest place in Switzerland to find a home, but it's the place with the lowest death rate, 462 per 100,000.

New figures published by the Swiss federal statistical office for 2006 also show that the two main causes of death in Switzerland are cardiovascular disease, 37%, and cancer, 25%. While the number of deaths is slowly falling from cardiovascular diseases, some forms of cancer, notably lung cancer among women, are on the rise.

The number of deaths linked to dementia are on the rise, but in line with an increase in life expectancy, which has been climbing steadily since 1970. Two-thirds of deaths linked to dementia are people over the age of 85.

Marc Roger trial: Servette players show up

Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) - Former players from Geneva's Servette Football Club were on hand Monday for the opening of the trial of Marc Roger, president of the club when it collapsed in 2005. Despite their former boss's efforts to prevent their testimony one player after another recounted a saga of having faith in the club, being paid for a while and then working without pay before the club went under.

Remembering Swissair crash, flight SR111 over Halifax

Switzerland and Halifax, Canada (TSR, Fre) - Ten years ago flight SR111 from New York to Geneva crashed into the Atlantic just off the coast of Halifax, near Peggy's Cove, killing the 229 people on board. It is Switzerland's worst air disaster and prompted national mourning for the last-ever SR111 flight, often referred to as the UN shuttle for the number of United Nations workers who used it between Geneva and New York.

The origins of the fire that brought down the plane were never clearly determined, and the state-of-the-art entertainment system was long suspected as the cause, prompting airlines to slow down their installation of these systems.

A long and careful examination of the crash by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada eventually led investigators to conclude that a fire began in the wiring linked to the entertainment system, where there were flammable materials, and it spread to other parts of the aircraft's electrical wiring. The area where it began had no extinguishers or smoke alarms. By the time the pilots discovered the fire it was too late to put it out and they were soon overcome by smoke and unable to manage the plane.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada, final report
The last minutes on board: TSR report featuring audio between Halifax tower and SR111, released in May 2007 by the Canadian government