GenevaLunch - Community

Cern signposting (pohoto travelicando, copyright 2007)

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:54:57 +0100

Verbier chairlift, accident site

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:31:51 +0100

Verbier chairlift, where child fell Friday 13 April 2007 (photo, Valais police 2007)

Child falls off ski-lift in Verbier

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:00:04 +0100

Verbier chairlift, where child fell Friday 13 April 2007 (photo, Valais police 2007)

Cantonal police, Valais, Switzerland, Fre - A seven-year-old child from Britain fell off a four-seat chairlift in Verbier Friday, suffering head injuries and stomach pains. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Sion. The boy was with three children and first reports were that they were unable to close the bar properly, but this version of the story is contested by Televerbier, which operates the lifts. The child fell from a height of about eight metres, according to the police report, after riding the lift for 100 metres. A ski teacher and three other children were in the seat ahead of the foursome.

Nyon starts to count cars

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:28:53 +0100

La Cote, Fre - The number of cars in Nyon has risen 40% in 15 years and the town, with its narrow winding city-centre streets has struggled to cope. Beginning Friday and until 8 May Nyon is counting cars and interviewing drivers to obtain a precise traffic picture. Tuesday 17 April drivers going uphill on three routes (Clémenty, Morâche, route de l’Etraz) will be stopped to answer questionnaires, and on Thursday coming down the same three routes. Surveys will be done on other roads in following weeks.

Nyon voters in September 2006 voted against municipal plans for an inner ring road to relieve congestion.

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.

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.

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."

Interview: Ariel Ruiz i Altaba on silencing the wolves - cancer cells

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:15:36 +0100

Interview: Ariel Ruiz i Altaba on silencing cancer stem cells

"The silencing of the wolves" could be the title of an uplifting film based on the work of a team of biologists in Geneva. Their most recent discovery, published 28 March in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, could shake the foundations of current approaches to cancer treatment.

"The survival rates for many cancers haven't really changed. Even though early detection has vastly improved and terminal patients live a little bit longet with current treatments, there is no cure for many cancer types, including glioblastoma – a deadly form of brain cancer, and metastatic tumors such as those of the prostate, lung or skin. We have nothing that cures cancer once metastis sets in," Ariel Ruiz i Altaba, professor of stem cells at the University of Geneva's medical school, who led the team of eight researchers. "We have only treatments that reduce the tumour burden with highly toxic and non-specific agents."

Omegamania upcoming sale has watch-lovers' hearts ticking faster

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:02:25 +0100

swissinfo - The momentum is building for watch-lovers from around the world as Geneva prepares to host Omegamania 14-15 April. The sale of special Omega watches follows a world tour of the timepieces, in lots of 300, that has pulled in large crowds, especially in Asia. The sales collection includes watches that have been in space and many that were owned by the rich and famous. The auction was organized to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Omega Speedmaster model, more often known as the Moon Watch.

Geneva under-privileged area school gets boost

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:13:55 +0100

Le Temps, Fre - An education experiment in Onex, one of the poorest parts of Geneva with a high percentage of immigrants, appears to be bearing fruit. In September 2006 the Tattes/Gros-Chêne primary school hired an educateur (early childhood specialist) as a backup for the teaching staff. Better integration was a goal but in the six months the programme has been in place teaching staff have found they spend less time focusing on one troubled student and more time teaching. Children who arrive in the morning suffering from problems at home have someone to turn to who is able to help them learn the ropes in a new country, new culture, new school - where they are often learning a new language, as well.

Swiss French-speakers "into" all things French

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:17:31 +0100

swissinfo - Swiss people in French-speaking cantons are following the French presidential elections closely, which is no surprise given their tendency to look towards Europe when relations with German speakers become strained, according to swissinfo,which interviewed journalist Jacques Pilet. He notes that while German speakers like to emphasize how they differ from Germans, the influence of German is growing in Switzerland's German-speaking regions. The situation is not the same in French-speaking areas, which have tended in recent years to vote for projects and laws that create closer ties to Europe, in contrast with German-speaking areas.

Martha Kleiber's magical eggshells 2

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:33:23 +0100

Martha Kleiber's magical eggshells 1

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:31:39 +0100

Interview: Martha Kleiber on everything to do with eggshells except walk on them

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:13:05 +0100

A white chicken roosts on the corner of Marthe Kleiber's workbench, watching the proceedings with a beady eye. Speckled goose eggs hang in chains from the ceiling, crates of hen's eggs, in every shade from dazzling white to creamy fudge to biscuit, are stacked up on shelves, on the floor. Three large ostrich eggs, suspended on wires, diffuse a soft glow.