GenevaLunch

International sports, Wimbledon tennis: Federer takes 15th title in epic

Nicholas Bates — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:55:34 +0000

Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Roger Federer won an epic match against American Andy Roddick that went to 16-14 in the fifth set. Roddick only lost his service in the final game of the match, which lasted four hours and 16 minutes. The victory broke Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam wins. Sampras was in the Royal Box along with other legends Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, the only male to twice win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.

At 5-5 in the first set Federer had four break points but Roddick saved each one and then broke service himself to win the set 7-5. The second set went with serve until the tie-break when Roddick stormed to a 6-2 lead to give himself for set points for a two set lead: incredibly Federer then took the next six points to level the match at one set each.

The third set again went with serve till the tie-break which Federer won 7-5. Roddick refused to give up and won the next set 6-3 to set up the marathon fifth set. There were no breaks of serve and the match continued to be played at a high standard despite fatigue setting in. Eventually Federer took the match when he broke serve in the 30th game of the set. The final score was 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14. The win also restores the Swiss star’s position at the top of the men’s rankings from Rafael Nadal, absent from this year’s Wimbledon through injury.

In the women’s final on Saturday Serena Williams overpowered her elder sister Venus 7-6 9-2.

Details, Wimbledon site

Weekend weather, traffic and what’s on: some call it hot!

Ellen Wallace — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:19:10 +0000

hot, hot, hot (image, celestial pilgrim, reproduced with permission)

Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Pull out the sun cream nd sunglasses, but take along an umbrella when you head out this weekend: temperatures of 17-27C are expected around Lake Geneva, with 15-30C in canton Valais and the Alps.

Hot afternoons are likely to give way to late-day thunderstorms Friday to Sunday, with winds picking up by Monday. Zero degrees at 3,800 metres, if you really want to cool off. Details, Meteoswiss

Traffic will be heavy, with schools in Vaud out for the summer holidays Friday afternoon, and North-South traffic through Switzerland picking up. Check out our traffic suggestions for this weekend’s festivals in Lausanne and Geneva, as well as for trips through and outside Switzerland.

Looking for things to do this weekend? There is no shortage in the area: check out the GenevaLunch events pages!

And remember not to let the heat get to you (see photo at left).

Click on image to view larger and visit celestialpilgrim’s page on flickr for more images.

Air France crash cause remains unknown, but “fell like a stone”

Ellen Wallace — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:02:41 +0000

French authorities in their official report one month after the crash of AF447, the Air France flight that went down over the Atlantic 1 June, say they are far from knowing the cause of the crash, but that examination of debris shows that the plane “fell like a stone”, almost vertically from the sky, and landed flat. Le Monde, Fre and CNN

Swiss competition commission takes closer look at Edipresse, Tamedia fusion

Ellen Wallace — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:55:58 +0000

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal competition commission will take a closer look at the proposed fusion of the Swiss business of the country’s second and third largest media groups, Ediresse and Tamedia.

An initial study has shown that the merger would be likely to give the new venture a dominant position in French-speaking Switzerland, particularly in the areas of advertising, distribution of morning newspapers and commuter free papers.

Background: “Swiss free dailies merge. . .”, 3 March 2009, GenevaLunch

Lake Geneva region contributes to Bank Raffeisen’s strong growth

Ellen Wallace — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:09:00 +0000

St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Raffeisen cooperative banking group, Switzerland’s third largest bank, continues to attract new clients at a strong pace, the same rhythm as in 2008, CEO Pierin Vincenz, told Fribourg newspaper La Liberté in an interview. The bank in 2008 increased its funds under management by nearly 11 percent and gained 158,000 new clients, partly as a result of the legal and financial problems of Credit Suisse and UBS, the two largest banks, last year.

The Lake Geneva area, along with Zurich and Basel have seen the strongest growth for the eastern Switzerland-based group.

The bank’s clients have an average fortune of CHF44,000 but that amount is increasing, says Vincenz. The bank’s traditional strength is the usual one for cooperatives, mortgages, particularly for members, and of its 3.2 million clients 1.5m are members. The mortgage business is growing, he notes, but the pressure on prices is very high, with sharp competition among banks at the moment.

Greater Geneva-Bern Area: 6 cantons in economic promotion launch

Sean Ecker — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:48:15 +0000

A nice place to do business, Lake Geneva area

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Greater Geneva-Bern Area (GGBA) economic development agency was launched in Bern yesterday 2 July in an effort to sell the economic advantages of doing business in the region in a concerted and coordinated way. The GGBA joins the separate development agencies of Bern with those of Vaud-Valais-Neuchatel and the existing cooperation between Geneva and canton Fribourg.

The new agency is a direct response to Basel Area and the 10-year-old Greater Zurich Area economic promotion agencies. In the launch, economy ministers from the six cantons praised their commitment to bilingualism and to a regional approach to promotion overseas. This new policy would do away with the beggar-thy-neighbour approach that has seen intense competition between cantons for foreign investment.

Background, “Jura turns to Basel for economic promotion”, 29 May 2009, GenevaLunch

Related: Le Temps, TdG

Markets down sharply after US jobs figures worse than expected

Sean Ecker — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:47:00 +0000

US job losses of 467,000 in June were higher than expected, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, its highest level since August 1983, damping incipient hopes of a recovery. World markets took the news badly. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 2.5 percent 2 July, while the broader S&P 500 shed 2.9 percent. European and Asian markets slumped across the board, as well. After slightly hopeful signs that the recession was bottoming out, investors worldwide appeared to lose confidence in a rapid recovery. BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters

Geneva’s SIG to invest heavily in wind power

Sean Ecker — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:45:37 +0000

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva’s Services Industriels de Geneve (SIG) announced a CHF300 million investment in six wind farms along the Jura mountains in four cantons. The project is expected to provide 240 Gw of power by 2015, the utilities group announced (Fre) 2 July: enough to power 70,000 homes.

SIG will partner with REnInvest SA, a Ticino-based consultant in renewable energy. Geneva produces only 25 percent of its own energy and is thus dependent on the market for its needs.

International sports, Wimbledon tennis: Williamses to the final

Nicholas Bates — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:16:31 +0000

Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The two women’s semi-finals were totally different but ended with the same result: Williams beats Russia. Serena fought back from a set down, and match-point down, to battle past Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in the best match of the women’s tournament. Dementieva took the first set in the tie-break with precise ground strokes and an improved service. She then lost her first service game but came back to lead the set before Serena came back to take the set. The third set was hard fought with both players rising to the occasion until Serena finally won the longest ever women’s semi, at two hours 49 minutes.

The other semi saw Venus Williams crush Dinara Safina 6-0 6-1 in just 51 minutes that made a mockery of the official rankings which somehow make the Russian number one despite never having won a Grand Slam tournament. The final will be the fourth all-Williams affair.

The men’s semi-finals on Friday will feature Roger Federer against German Tommy Haas and the battle of the Andies, home favourite (but Scot) Andy Murray against big-serving American Andy Roddick.

Details, Wimbledon site

Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s ex, will fight for custody

Ellen Wallace — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:56:49 +0000

Update 3 July 06:15 Debbie Rowe, mother to performer Michael Jackson’s two oldest children, implied in a 90-minute interview with US television network NBC that she intends to fight for custody of the children but her lawyer later softened that, after media reports, saying that she is undecided. BBC