GenevaLunch - Society

German fighter jet that crashed in canton Bern flying lower than normal

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:44:29 +0100

romandie/ats, Fre - The German military Tornado that crashed near Lauterbrunnen Thursday, killing the 27-year-old pilot and injuring the 34-year-old officer with him, was flying lower than is normal for Swiss military jets, officials said at a press conference Friday afternoon. The cause of the crash remains unknown and a military as well as a penal invetigation have been opened. The surviving officer was well enough to be questioned. They were flying by sight rather than by instrument.

More people bet on Friday the 13th

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:16:19 +0100

WRG-FM - More people buy scratch cards and more people buy lottery tickets on a Friday the 13th, says the Swiss Lottery Association.

Internet presence could be as good as opinion polls for measuring voter trends

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:11:17 +0100

Tribune de Geneve, Infos générales, Fre - A Geneva-based company, Agence Virtuelle, has been measuring the presence of French presidential candidates on the Internet for the past year to determine if Internet buzz is as good an indicator of voting trends as opinion polls. It is, says the company's president, Stéphane Périno. He notes that with 14 million French people online, the population base for the study is good, although there are limitations, such as not knowing who is under 18. Pre-election events such as the rapid rise of François

Energy consumption in Switzerland climbs

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:54:25 +0100

RSR, Fre - Energy consumption in Switzerland increased by 0.8% in 2006, despite growing concerns about global warming and politician's efforts to keep consumption in line with a possible electricity shortage in the country from 2015 to 2020. Electricity use rose, according to the federal energy office, because of a higher gross domestic product (GDP), up 2.7% and a population increase of 56,000.

Man with assault rifle kills one, injures four in Baden hotel

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:19:06 +0100

Le Temps, Fre - A man with an assault rifle opened fire, apparently at random, in a hotel in Baden, canton Argovie, Thursday night. One person was killed and three taken to hospital with injuries. A fourth person appears to have shown up later at the hospital. The killer was taken into custody.

Few details are available but police have announced a press conference for early Friday afternoon.

German Tornado fighter jet crashes near Lauterbrunnen

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:48:09 +0100

[Update, Friday, 12:56: the plane was headed towards Sion, according to romandie/ats. 24 Heures reports that the two German fliers managed to eject and were found on a glacier below the point of impact, where the survivor gave signs of life.]

RSR, Fre - A German fighter jet returning home after exercises in Corsica crashed in canton Bern near Lauterbrunnen Thursday, shortly after 15:00. One pilot was killed and another injured. The plane had refueled in the region and was apparently doing navigation exercises, where a set of objectives must be met. For reasons that are not clear, it crashed into a rock wall between Aebniflue and the Mittaghorn, close to Stechelberg.

Geneva tram inspectors to have "further training" after visiting teenager's home

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:06:38 +0100

WRG-FM - Ticket inspectors on the Geneva tram lines will be given further training, says the TPG (public transport company), which has apologized for an incident where inspectors visited a teenager's home. They kept a friend of his on the tram, insisting that he give them the home address of his friend, then visited the home and handed the tram-rider's mother a fine for SFr100.

One-third of Swiss unemployed have reading handicaps

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:21:52 +0100

romandie/ats, Fre - More than one-third of Switzerland's unemployed people have trouble reading. The annual cost to the Swiss economy in terms of unemployment payments, lost income and lost tax revenue is more than SFr1 billion, according to a new report by the Lire et Ecrire association. The risk of unemployment is twice as high for those whose reading and writing skills are weak.

Swiss man receives Thai king's pardon, sent home

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:26:13 +0100

swissinfo - The 57-year-old Swiss man who last month was sentenced to 10 years in a Thai prison for spraying paint on images of King Bhumibol of Thailand, has been pardoned and sent home.

Geneva mosque's new leader "not a radical"

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:25:10 +0100

Tribune de Geneve, Geneva page - Sethi Nimatallah, the Saudi Arabian board member of the Geneva mosque's foundation who has caused consternation in the Muslim community by firing four employees, is "not a radical," says one supporter. The Tribune interviewed several members of Geneva's Muslim community to try to understand who Nimtallah is. The man himself remains silent and little is publicly known about him except that he arrived in Geneva a month ago and lives alone.

Retired couples better off in the Valais than Lausanne

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:19:37 +0100

RSR, Fre - Retired people in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland generally have a lower cost of living than those in French-speaking areas and retired people in Valais find life less expensive than in Lausanne. Those are some of the findings published in the most recent issue of Bilan magazine, which compared the cost of living for three types of retired couples in 165 Swiss communes with populations of 2,000 or more.

Switzerland gets its first bearded vulture birth in the wild - in 122 years!

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:59:09 +0100

swissinfo - For the first time since 1885 a bearded vulture chick has hatched in the wild in Switzerland. The birds were hunted to extinction in the country, but as part of an international effort to save the birds they were reintroduced from 1986-2006.

The chick appears to have been born at the end of March. Its parents have been observed taking food to the 2,500m high nest, near the Ofen Pass in eastern Switzerland.

Geneva mosque redundancies shock Muslim community

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:07:52 +0100

TSR, Fre - The abrupt, forced departure of the management of the largest mosque in the Lake Geneva region has caused consternation in the Muslim community. The announcement Sunday that those fired include Hafid Ouardiri, the mosque's high-profile spokesperson, and Mahmoud Fadl, the director of the mosque's school, were promptly followed by statements from the two men's lawyers that they will contest the action. According to the lawyers, the men were given no warning and the redundancies were "politically motived."

Unemployment in Switzerland hits 4.5 year low

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:34:34 +0100

swissinfo - The unemployment rate in Switzerland hit a 4.5 year low in March, with 3% of the population unemployed. The government attributes the downward trend to the continuing strength of the economy.

A time for hope

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:46:39 +0100

The hope of pushing yourself high into the sky: rewarded at last.

A couple days ago I noticed the visiting father of a neighbor who is from Northern Ireland. I had no idea what side of that political fence he was on, but I congratulated him on the breakthrough in Irish politics. I said I hoped this was really peace, at last. "Oh, I think it is. We think this time it really is," he said firmly.

This is that rare week in a year of news when all of a sudden hope seems to outweigh despair on the grand scale: pockets of despair are certainly easy enough to find if you're looking. I have to thank the Irish Times for reminding me that Easter is the season of hope and this is one year when the label seems to fit.