GENEVA, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – Flights at Geneva’s international airport will be grounded for four hours on Friday morning due to a workers’ strike, affecting thousands of passengers at the start of summer travel season. The strike was called after the airport’s board approved on Thursday a new wage policy contested by staff. There will be no flights between 6:00 am and 10:00 am (0400 GMT and 0800 GMT), affecting some 8,000 passengers, […]
Tag: Geneva
Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – The Fortune Pink, an exceptionally rare giant gemstone, will be auctioned in Geneva in November when it is expected to go for up to $35 million (36 million euros), auctioneers said Monday. At over 18 carats, the vividly coloured gem is the largest pear-shaped pink diamond of its quality ever to be offered for sale at auction, the Christie’s auction house said. The diamond, which goes under the hammer for the […]
WTO’s big conference postponed due to new Covid variant
by Agnès PEDRERO Next week’s World Trade Organization ministerial conference, the global trade body’s biggest gathering in four years, was postponed at the last minute Friday due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. The WTO hoped the four-day gathering in Geneva would breathe new life into the crippled organisation, which has been stuck for years trying to make progress on resolving issues like fishery subsidies. New director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also hoping, against the odds, […]
Biden, Putin hail positive talks, but US warns on cyberwar
by Maria Panina and Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin sought to cool tensions in the combustible US-Russian relationship at their first summit in Geneva on Wednesday, with the US president saying his Kremlin counterpart doesn’t want a new Cold War. The two leaders emerged cautiously positive after more than three hours of talks, including two hours alone with just the Russian foreign minister and US […]
Putin hopes Biden less impulsive than Trump
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced hope Friday that US President Joe Biden will be less impulsive than his predecessor Donald Trump, ahead of his first summit with the new US leader. In an interview with NBC News, Putin described Biden as a “career man” who has spent his life in politics. Though he described relations with the United States as having “deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years,” Putin said […]
Swiss launch country-wide study on COVID-19 immunity
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Researchers said Thursday they had begun collecting blood samples and interviewing people across Switzerland to determine what proportion of the population has antibodies to the novel coronavirus, and their level of immunity. The new research programme, called “Corona Immunitas”, said in a statement that over the next six months it would collect epidemiological data on immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. The deadly disease has so far killed nearly […]
Louis XIV, Napoleon diamond to be auctioned off in Geneva
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) –A large, pink diamond once set in the crowns of numerous French kings and emperors will go under the hammer in Geneva next month, the Christie’s auction house said Wednesday. “Le Grand Mazarin,” a 19.07-carat light pink diamond, was a gift to Louis XIV in 1661 and was set in the crowns of almost all of the monarchs and emperors of France who followed, Christie’s said. The diamond is “a timeless symbol […]
Diamond earrings fetch $57 million at Sotheby’s auction in Geneva
GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) — Two dazzling pink and blue pear-shaped diamonds have together sold for 57,118,000 Swiss Francs ($57,425,000) to a private buyer at Sotheby’s auction house on Tuesday (May 16). Sotheby’s said the Apollo and Artemis stones are “by far the most important pair of earrings ever offered at auction.” They were offered to buyers separately at the auction house’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva, but were purchased by the same […]
“No new wave of killings,” says Cayetano as PHL defends Duterte’s war on drugs in Geneva
A high-level Philippine delegation presented the country’s human rights situation during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, and defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. The meeting began with Filipino Senator Alan Cayetano, denouncing what he called a campaign by rights advocates and the media to distort perceptions of the government’s anti-drug effort. “There is no new wave of killings in the Philippines,” Cayetano told […]
Diamond earrings on display in London ahead of Geneva sale
LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Two dazzling pink and blue pear-shaped diamonds are together expected to fetch close to $70 million when they go under the hammer next month. Sotheby’s said the Apollo and Artemis stones are “by far the most important pair of earrings ever offered at auction”. They will be offered to buyers separately at the auction house’s May 16 Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva. The 14.54 carat Apollo Blue […]
The “Pink Star” diamond returns to auction; is expected to fetch a record $60 mn
LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) — A 59.60-carat diamond known as “The Pink Star” is returning to auction next month and could fetch a record $60 million, three years since it was sold for even more – only for the buyer to pull out of the deal. The diamond was presented by Sotheby’s in London ahead of the auction in Hong Kong on April 4. In November 2013, a Geneva auction of the stone fetched a […]
Luxury in focus as Geneva car show opens
by Tangi QUEMENER / with Estelle PEARD in Frankfurt Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Europe’s biggest annual car show kicks off in Geneva on Tuesday with luxury and crossover vehicles in the limelight, but with the emissions scandal still hanging over the industry. Automakers are celebrating the end of the sector’s crisis as European sales have returned to levels last seen in 2008 before a global financial meltdown inflicted deep dents on their […]
