GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Welcome back to all of you who have managed to stretch your holidays until today, to match school vacations. I’m one of those who is now back in the saddle (I’ve been in the western US and Canada – does it show).
Here’s a quick roundup of news from the past couple of days, to help all of us catch up:
German brewers pay for price-fixing
Five major German breweries have been fined a total of €100 million for price-fixing between 2006 and 2008, by the German competition office, reports news agency AFP: Bitburger, Warsteiner, Krombacher, Veltins and Barre.
Golden Globe awards
The curious TV and TV flicks awards are given by some 85 journalists, most of them freelance, who are members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Sunday night’s awards ceremony named “American Hustle” the best comedy and gave top acting awards to its two female stars, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. Best drama went to “12 Years a Slave”. Read all the hoopla and details of the sometimes farcical event in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Iran solution inches closer
Negotiators in Geneva are steadily inching closer to a solution to the years-long impasse over Iran’s nuclear energy programme. US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday spoke about progress:
“We now have a set of technical understandings for how the parties will fulfill the commitments made at the negotiating table. These understandings outline how the first step agreement will be implemented and verified, as well as the timing of implementation of its provisions.
Iran will voluntarily take immediate and important steps between now and January 20 to halt the progress of its nuclear program. Iran will also continue to take steps throughout the six months to live up to its commitments, such as rendering the entire stockpile of its 20% enriched uranium unusable for further enrichment. As this agreement takes effect, we will be extraordinarily vigilant in our verification and monitoring of Iran’s actions, an effort that will be led by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The United States and the rest of our P5+1 partners will also take steps, in response to Iran fulfilling its commitments, to begin providing some limited and targeted relief. The $4.2 billion in restricted Iranian assets that Iran will gain access to as part of the agreement will be released in regular installments throughout the six months. The final installment will not be available to Iran until the very last day.”
Truck hits bridge, A1 in Aargau closed
A truck hit a bridge “violently” on the A1 autoroute near Birmenstorf in canton Aargau early Monday 13 january. The autoroute is closed in both directions while the bridge’s safety is assessed, says the highway department. A huge tailback formed during the morning, although the emergency lane remained open initially.
Swiss trains, slightly less perfect
The CFF rail company slipped a bit in 2013 in terms of its goal to get 89 percent of passengers to their destinations with delays of less than three minutes, two German-language media reported over the weekend. The overall figure was reportedly 87.5 percent, with eastern Switzerland and Ticino having the lowest records: punctuality rates were 89.1 percent for French-speaking Switzerland, 88.5 percent for the German-speaking plains, 86.2 percent in eastern Switzerland and 85.2 percent in Ticino.
That said, a CFF spokesperson told journalists that the criteria used by the company to measure punctuality are the strictest in Europe.
New 10 euro bank note unveiled
The European Central Bank Monday 13 January unveiled its new €10 bank note, part of the new series. The note will be put into circulation 23 September 2014.