14 February, 2012: Attempted Murder Verdicts on Friday for Three, Animals Die in Therwil Fire, Actelion Announces Big Losses
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Three men, all in their 20s, appeared in court in Basel yesterday on charges including attempted murder.
It’s alleged the three attacked and seriously injured another man in woods. The incident happened in November 2010 and arose after the injured man was late in repaying one of the attackers a loan of a couple of hundred francs that he had taken out to buy cocaine that he intended to sell on. The attackers, who had earlier taken a computer and TV as deposit, bundled their victim into a car and drove him to the woods and injured him so badly that he needed emergency surgery to treat head wounds.
All four men are in their 20s and live in Pratteln. Other charges faced by the accused are kidnap, unlawful imprisonment, grievous bodily harm and extortion. A verdict is expected Friday.
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A major fire broke out at a farm in Therwil last Friday night. Two people were injured and a number of animals perished in the blaze.
The fire was reported shortly after 4 am on Friday morning. When the emergency services arrived, the stables were already engulfed in flames. Three calves, a cow and a horse are known to have died. One of the farm’s residents suffered burns during rescue attempts, while a member of the fire service was taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation.
More than one hundred members of the fire, police and ambulance services attended the site, fighting the fire under difficult conditions. The icy outdoor temperatures actually froze water being hosed onto the fire. Nevertheless, the fire brigade was able to prevent the blaze from spreading to neighbouring buildings.
Fire-fighting operations lasted well into Friday morning and an investigation is underway. Police were initially unable to assess the damage, only stating that it would likely be "very costly”.
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Basel voters have voted by a two thirds majority against a people’s initiative that, in effect, would have allowed total freedom to build car parks on private property outside the historic town centre.
The decision was expected, and keeps the city - proud of its ecological image – in step with the rest of the country, which, since the 1990s, has been limiting the number of parking spaces available
Of course the moves are not popular with everyone. The country’s cities are some of the world’s most expensive to park a car, with monthly charges in Zurich coming in third behind Oslo and London as the world’s most expensive.
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Allschwil-based Actelion, Europe’s largest biotech company, has posted a net loss of CHF 146 million for 2011. The figure compares with profits of CHF 391 million for the previous year.
Rumours of losses had started to spread after the firm earlier warned that results would be hit by the strong franc as well as legal costs linked to a licensing dispute with Japanese group Asahi Kasei. The 2011 losses, on sales of CHF 1.7 billion, were more than CHF 30 million worse than analysts had predicted.
After ten years of strong sales growth, the group said that the losses are the result of the strong Franc and a maturing product portfolio. CEO Jean-Paul Clozel went on to say that the company expects a return to profitability this year, as management steers the company through a transition period, preparing the way for new products to reach the market.
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But it seems that Syngenta, also based in Basel, has been luckier. The world's largest agrochemicals company posted a 14 per cent rise in full-year net profit to 1.46 billion francs last year – exactly ten times more than Actelion’s losses,
Sales were also up by the same margin, reaching $13.3 billion last year.
Much of the reason is that farmers, especially in the Americas, against a backdrop of higher wheat, corn and soybean prices, have been seeking to boost yields by buying more crop treatment products from the likes of companies like Syngenta.
Syngenta is aiming for higher earnings this year with 2 to 3 percent price hikes and cost savings of $190 million designed to help it offset the impact of the strong Swiss franc and higher raw material prices.
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Basel’s restaurateurs are fighting against an increase in beer prices. Beer giant Feldschlösschen, which is part of the Carlsberg Group, announced a few weeks ago that it would increase beer prices by more than 4 percent, meaning that customers would have to pay 10 to 20 Rappen more per glass of beer.
A spokesman for Feldschlösschen said that the company is embarking on a program of new investments in a bid to defending itself against the rise of cheaper imported beers. Basel’s restaurateurs countered that it was absurd to combat the import of cheaper beers with an increase in price.
Basel’s restaurants and pubs have now lodged a complaint with WEKO, the Swiss Competition Commission. Their rationale is that Feldschlösschen is abusing its market power to dictate prices.
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