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The 38th Geneva Exhibition of Inventions, once again, challenged the notion that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Our contributor Peter Hulm explains..

Ornex, Pays de Gex, France -- The Mairie of Ornex located between Ferney-Voltaire and Gex on the Route Nationale 5 has warned about a recent kidnapping attempt at a school bus stop in the Vert Village area. An unidentified man in a white van drove up to the bus stop and attempted to persuade one of the children to climb in. He was unsuccessful and fled when nearby parents approached. The gendarmerie have been informed. The police are warning parents to be vigilant and adopt basic security procedures, such as not allowing their children to walk unaccompanied  to school or wait alone at  bus stops. This is not the first time that something like this has happened in the Pays de Gex. In late 2008, there were at least two reported kidnapping attempts (See Essential Edge story ) in the Pays de Gex. Anyone witnessing anything unusual should report this to the police or any other local authorities immediately.

Geneva -- Who makes that Swiss watch you’re wearing? Chances are high that it belongs to one of the 19 brands owned by the Swatch Group. If so, you possess an iconic object that symbolizes Europe's ability to compete in the globalized free market. While sales from the Swiss watch industry dropped by 25% last year, the Swatch Group recorded its third most profitable year in history. True, sales were down 6.3% from 2008, but of the roughly $11.4 billion sales in Swiss Watches in 2009, more than $5 billion belonged to the Swatch Group.

Besançon, Franche-Comte, France -- Slip your credit card into an on-the-street parking meter in New York or London, and you may unknowingly have something in common with a patient undergoing neurosurgery and an astronaut on the international space station. The connecting link is the fact that the precision machinery that makes all three scenarios possible very likely came from one of the high-tech workshops clustered around Besançon in the Jura Mountains of Franche-Comte.
Once the capital of France’s watch and clock industry, Besançon is a particularly picturesque mid-sized city with an urban population of around 115,000, and a distinguished history. It is also a rich terrain for the small to medium enterprises that are developing tomorrow’s cutting edge, high precision mechanical instruments and nano technology.

 

GENEVA -- Switzerland’s recent joining of the Schengen Agreement (see previous Essential Edge article) alongside 24 other European countries has made travel a lot easier for many by becoming border free, but also more difficult for others, notably those from non-European countries such as South Africa, India or Afghanistan. The latter is particularly bad news for those seeking to visit Switzerland on short notice or for organizations hosting international conferences in Geneva.

While Swiss consulates abroad used to have flexibility in deciding who could enter Switzerland or not, sometimes turning around visa applications in one or two days, this is no longer possible. Switzerland now needs to consult all the other Schengen countries, and Interpol, before granting a visa. It means that applicants, regardless whether tourists, business people or government ministers, may now need to wait weeks to be issued a visa.

Far from being an afterthought, Hillary Clinton’s brief stopover in Geneva turned out to be the pièce de résistance in what has to be seen as a virtuoso performance on her first trip to Europe as a working secretary of state. The trick was to convey the notion that the US is open to establishing a new, more open relationship with Russia, but one that is built on mutual strength. Geneva, it turned out, was the perfect neutral meeting ground for getting that message across.

Both the Swiss Canton of Vaud police and the French gendarmerie are cracking down hard over the holidays on motorists who have been drinking and still insist on driving. The Geneva cantonal police have not been so forthright in their anti-alcohol campaign but will still be "vigilant." The limit in both countries is 0.5 per mille, the same as most other European states, which is the rough equivalent of one glass of wine. However, this depends on individual bodyweight and metabolism. The fact is, you may be over the limit without realizing it; a good meal cooked with alcohol, even if supposedly “cooked off,” can raise your alcohol count, or maybe your “I only had a glass of wine” might in fact be two, three or more. So why take the risk, particularly given that a lowering of the tolerance level in recent years has significantly reduced (18% in Switzerland) the number of accidents and deaths?

Ever since last Friday December 12, 2008, the land borders between Switzerland and the European Schengen Area countries – in the case of the Lake Geneva and Southern Alps region, France and Italy – have no more controls. Well, sort of…The security checks at Cointrin’s Geneva International will remain enforced – at least until the end of March, 2009 - as the Swiss-French airport will serve as one of Schengen’s main air traffic entry points from the outside. For the land crossings, however, Swiss and other nationals with valid passports, ID’s, residence permits and Swiss or Schengen visas should not have to show their documents. In practise, however, it is another matter.

The police in the Pays de Gex in neighbouring France have been visiting schools warning children not to walk the streets alone because of a kidnapping threat following a recent incident. The United Nations’ Security and Safety Services is also warning all UN organizations in Geneva about the risk of child abductions. The Franco-Swiss Police/Customs Cooperation Center has confirmed that the French authorities are currently investigating a case in the Pays de Gex concerning individuals driving a 4x4 black vehicle with a red roof trying to approach children in that area. This means that parents should ensure that their children are picked up directly at school gates or bus stops. Teachers are also telling children to remain inside the gates until their parents arrive.

If you see or hear something suspicious from your children, please report it immediately to the local police, or to the UN Security Services.

We made it happen – by electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and by electing Democrats across the country, from around the world. Most importantly, you made it happen! You are the volunteer who registered countless voters. You are the help desk for VoteFromAbroad.org . You are the caller to hundreds of voters in swing states. You are the person who helped form a new committee of Democrats Abroad in one of nine countries around the world. You are the backbone of your country committee, from the Global Primary to Election Day events.

The French and Swiss hunting seasons for most game have been open since mid-September. Only in the Canton of Geneva is “la chasse” banned. However, apart from resounding gunshots and the ringing of  hunting dog bells in the Rhône et Alpes, Vaud or Valais countryside , most ordinary citizens would not know it. Public notices are few and far between, particularly on the French side, and the regulations for when and where hunting is allowed are obfuscated by a quagmire of dates, species and zones. Efforts by the national hunting associations and local authorities – over 90 percent of France’s communes support the sport - to keep the public informed are hazardously insufficient. So if you are living in the Lake Geneva region, you are risking your life – and that of your children – every time you venture out into the woods or mountains. The result is that walkers, bikers and runners no longer dare go for morning or evening outings from late September to February, or allow their dogs to roam off the leash.

 

For those Americans you wishing to support the Barack Obama candicacy for the United States presidency, this is your chance – and to meet Academy Award actor George Clooney. As part of the Democrats Abroad initiative, American international lawyer Charles Adams is hosting an evening with George Clooney with both a fund-raising reception followed by a more private dinner in Geneva on Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

For the first time in a US presidential election runup, American citizens supporting the Democrats Abroad Global Primary voted for their own candidates at over 100 voting centres in over 30 countries (including Switzerland and France) in person, but also by mail, fax or online. As Christine Schon Marques, International Chair of Democrats Abroad in Washington writes, this is only the beginning. It is still a long way to November and the presidential election.

How blatant is the problem of racism and xenophobia? While many of us, including Swiss and French from abroad, have encountered few if any deliberate affronts because of our nationality, colour, culture, or language, it appears to be happening more and more (Read below and send us your experiences). While some prefer to let it pass in order not to rock the boat, the authorities on both sides of the border recommend that one press charges as verbal abuse is against the law.

 

 

For the first time in history, US democrats abroad can vote as a group in the US primaries.

GO VOTE !! and make Internet Voting a success.

Any US Citizen who is, or is willing to become a Democrat, and lives abroad may walk in and vote.  BRING A US FRIEND!!!!