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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7 February, 2012: Man Knifed to Death in Riehen; 1 Dies and 4 Injured in Car Chase; Icebreakers on the Rhine? A Single Basel - Long Term Dream

A man was found dead of stab wounds yesterday afternoon in his apartment in Riehen. Police have arrested another man in connection with the incident.

The victim was German, aged 35. He was found by a colleague who had come to the dead man’s home after he failed to turn up for work.

Police are working on a theory that the victim was attacked by a burglar.

The incident is currently being investigated by a special task force of 20 police officers.

Police have not confirmed whether the man arrested later on Monday is a suspect.

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A man has died in a car accident following a dramatic police chase. Police in Basel-land were alerted at 2.40 on Saturday morning after a burglar alarm was set off in the Muttenz Auhafen area.

They contacted colleagues in Basel Stadt that a car containing five men had escaped the scene, raced past a control point, and were heading towards the city.

The car drove arrived in Basel, driving at high speed, eventually colliding with a lamp-post in Kannenfeldplatz. Four of the five Romanian occupants were brought out of the car with various injuries. A fifth died in hospital.

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Temperatures dipped to below -18 in Basel Stadt last Friday night. And, with many locations recording their lowest February temperatures for 30 years, the cold snap is set to stay with us for a few more days to come.

Shops selling winter clothes and seasonal foods, such as Raclette and Fondue, have seen sales booming.

For the hospitals, however, there were fewer smiles, with staff having to deal with a rush of bone fractures and other injuries caused by people falling on icy pavements.

The cold weather has disrupted many rail services across the country, and local tram operators say that the weather has frozen points and even broken some rails, forcing a number of service dropouts. A few miles upriver, ice has been seen accumulating on the Rhine near Schweizerhalle. A spokesman said that if the situation worsens, they may have to set icebreakers to work.

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Two burglars making a getaway triggered a breakneck car chase through half of north-western Switzerland on Saturday night. One policeman was seriously injured in the chase.

The drama rapidly unfolded when police attempted to check out two men who they suspected of burglary. However, the two were able to make their escape by car. They raced through Olten, pursued by police patrols from two cantons who repeatedly called for the suspects to pull over.

After committing a long list of traffic violations as they sped via the motorway towards Basel, the two were brought to a stop by a large contingent of police who’d set up a roadblock near Sissach. In desperation, the two suspects jumped out of the car and ran off in opposite directions. One 27-year-old policeman who took up the chase on foot and was hit by a colleague’s car during the pursuit and was taken to hospital in Liestal.

One of the escaped men, amazingly still in possession of large amounts of jewellery, was caught and arrested later that night. The other man is still at large.

The entire action caused major problems on the roads. The Basel-bound carriageway of the A2 motorway was closed, with cleanup operations lasting for several hours.

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The slow but regular moves to re-unite the half cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Land have just come a step closer, if all the Green Party has to say is correct. In April, they’re going to launch an initiative to try and build up grass-roots enthusiasm for a reunited Canton by 2019 - the biggest constitutional change to the Swiss landscape since Canton Jura was created more than 30 years ago.

In 1832, the huge differences in wealth and power between city and countryside sparked a battle, costing many lives and causing the original single Canton to split into two the following year.  Now the Greens say these differences have eroded over the years. The half cantons are actually dependent on one another, most crucially when it comes to their economies.

However, few believe the Greens’ plans will become reality. Despite Basel-Land’s desperate finances, government leaders say the merger couldn’t happen until 2025 at the earliest. Not surprising when you consider the initiatives and referendums, plus the cost of harmonising laws, political boundaries and the respective civil service units. And even if that happens, a unified Canton will still need approval at the federal level. 

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An initiative by the Basel Stadt Swiss People’s Party to bring about a sharp increase in police numbers has been blocked by the city’s voters.

If the security initiative had passed, the police would have had to commit to increasing by a third the number of hours officers spend on the city’s streets. Doubtless the 55 percent no-vote was influenced by taxpayers’ unwillingness to find salaries for an extra 120 officers.

However, despite the setback by Switzerland’s right-wing party, plans will go ahead to hire an extra 45 officers to safeguard what is already the country’s most policed canton.

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31 January 2012: Police hostage drama in Therwil; Knifepoint Horror for 73-year-old Woman; Man Killed in 3 Car Smash on the Bruderholz; BKB Under Threat

It took a warning shot from the gun of a Basel-Land policeman to force a suicidal man, armed with a knife, to free another officer.

The drama began after police were first warned that a disturbed man, threatening suicide, fled from his parents’ home in Münchenstein on his motorbike last night.

Mobile patrols caught up with the man, riding at high speed, on the road between Reinach and Therwil. However, each time they tried to stop him, they were threatened with a knife.

Police were eventually able to pull the man over, but as they tried to talk him round, he pulled his knife again and grabbed one of the officers. It was over only after a colleague fired a warning shot from his gun that the young man backed off, throwing the knife to the ground. He was arrested and is now under psychiatric examination.

Speaking of the event, a spokesman said that police resorting to their weapons is extremely rare. “This isn’t America,” he added.

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A 73-year-old woman was threatened at knife-point, attacked and robbed in her apartment in Klein-Basel yesterday.

The police say the woman returned home in the Hüningerstrasse shortly before 9 p.m. to find two masked robbers in her house. They beat her to the ground, threatened her with a knife and took her keys.  They then forced her to open a safe containing tens of thousands of francs-worth of jewellery and money.

Not content with that, the men held the woman by the throat forcing her to reveal the PIN codes of her bank cards. They then attempted to get their victim to take a substance they hoped would sedate her before fleeing.

After calling police, the woman was found not to have been badly injured and was later treated in hospital.

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A serious accident on the road going over the Bruderholz, linking Bottmingen and Münchenstein, cost the life yesterday morning of a 25-year-old man. The accident happened at about 6.30 when, Police say, a car travelling towards Bottmingen suddenly crossed the carriageway, colliding head-on with two cars travelling in the opposite direction.

The first car ended up on its roof, killing the driver. His passenger and the driver of the second car, as well as the driver of the car causing the accident, were taken by ambulance to hospital. All three vehicles were written off, with wreckage at the scene strewn along a one hundred and fifty metre stretch. The road was closed off for most of the morning, with traffic having to take long detours to avoid the scene. Police are appealing for witnesses.

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It seems that under-age kids are finding it easier to get hold of cigarettes. Tests run in Basel-Land found that retailers sold tobacco in 41 percent of attempted illegal purchases last year, a rise of 4 percent on similar tests run in 2010.

Rules prohibiting the sale of tobacco to under-17s have been on the statute books since 2007.  Among the outlets that abide least by the law are kiosks and petrol stations. The best are small shops, with supermarkets coming in between. But for all of them, says Basel-Land’s health and social security officials, surprisingly few shop assistants ask the age of young customers or demand to see an ID card.

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The Basel justice department reports a recent spike in the number of pickpocket thefts in restaurants. On some days up to five incidents have been reported.

They say that thieves have realised just how lucrative earnings can be in the easy-going atmosphere of a bar or restaurant.

These thieves look like normal customers, but are professional, often work in twos and threes, and can strike in a moment. Hardly has a wallet or purse been lifted, when all obvious links with the owner such as driving licence and ID, is dumped. Even the wallet itself is thrown away – minus money and credit cards of course.

But one good story emerges from amid the heartache. A couple of weeks ago video cameras picked up one 29-year-old lightening the pockets of a number of customers at Mr Wongs. Sadly, one of the few places in Basel to have cameras fitted.

And the official advice: never leave a wallet in a jacket that you hang up, better in a pants pocket. And for women, keep tight hold of handbags, and sit with them on your lap.

For all that there are no legal consequences for under-age selling. All that shop-keepers can expect if they’re found out is a letter requesting greater vigilance in the future.

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Basel’s “third major pharmaceutical company”, Lonza, has fired its CEO, Stefan Borgas.

A failure to produce expected financial returns has been explained as the reason for the shake-up.

Borgas remained confident of a positive outcome to 2011 as late as October. However, an increase in turnover was only possible after the acquisition of the US pest-control company Arch Chemicals. Profits, however, went down, and with them, shareholder confidence.

For the moment Chairman of the Board, Rolf Soiron, is standing in until a replacement can found.

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After scoring a victory in causing the breakup of Bank Wegelin, the unblinking eye of the US Justice Department is now reported to be focussed on the Basler Kantonal Bank. Listeners to The English Show will remember the story. A number of Swiss banks, including the BKB, are under intense scrutiny, suspected of conspiring to help customers hide wealth that the US considers taxable.

The former boss of UBS, Oswald Grübel, is convinced that the US is declaring war on the entire Swiss banking system. “It matters little,” he says, “that these banks have done nothing against Swiss law. The fact that the Zurich-based Bank Wegelin has sold its non-US business has been seen as an admission of guilt,” he feels.

He goes on to say that the BKB is now under enormous pressure which could be a disaster for the bank, and ultimately its shareholders, the largest of which is the Basel-Stadt government, and through it, the Canton’s tax-payers.

Radio DRS further reports that the Swiss Parliament has offered details of millions of accounts in the hope of brokering a tax deal acceptable to the US authorities.

24 January 2012: Claraplatz Fire; Hotels Up Despite Euro; Switch to Digital TV; New Rhine Promenade

Arson is thought to be the cause of a fire that broke out on the top floor of a house on the Claraplatz last Saturday night.

Police evacuated the building, including guests in the ground-floor restaurant, "Zum schiefen Eck”, after passers-by reported seeing the blaze shortly before 3.30 a.m. The City’s fire brigade was able to bring the flames under control shortly after, but not before the building had suffered significant damage.

Residents were allowed back inside after the completion of ventilation work to clear the building of smoke.

A preliminary report says the fire was the result of an arson attack and police have issued an appeal for witnesses.

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One of the ways of gauging Basel’s success as a tourist attraction is to measure the number of overnight stays in the City’s hotels. And, despite the Euro crisis, the area’s hoteliers say last year’s figures were 8000 up on 20-10. The total amounted to more than a million room nights - a new high for the city.

Although more than 70 percent of guests came from abroad, a closer analysis of the figures shows a steep decline in German overnight visitor stays, contributing to an overall fall across the Eurozone of nearly 2 percent.

Fortunately for Basel, the decline in demand from its near neighbours was more than compensated for by larger numbers of domestic visitors and tourists from beyond the Eurozone. Guests from the United Kingdom registered the strongest growth; nearly 6 percent up on the previous year, closely followed by American visitors, with a rise of 4 percent over 20-10.

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For most people, Switzerland is synonymous with wealth. But it wasn’t always the case. Not so many years ago, the country was relatively poor, with few natural resources and a people trying to eke out a living on land often at altitudes that are too high to be really productive. One of the reasons for the turnaround is the success of Switzerland’s banks. And a great part of that success is thanks to the work of the quiet but influential Swiss Bankers Association, founded here in Basel one hundred years ago this month.

Our bankers are not known for being outgoing, preferring to give their activities a low profile. However, the centenary of the lobbying group representing the country’s nearly 200 thousand money managers has led to some celebrations – even if they are muted.

They’ve even documented their record. A report detailing how the sector came to account for 12 per cent of gross domestic product says, “The banks are hugely important..,” a major part of which has been the industry’s famous tradition of secrecy. A characteristic which has come in for quite a bit of criticism in recent years.

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The countdown is on: at the end of next month the region’s TV cable services will go digital.

The move will allow all of the major Swiss channels plus a number of foreign broadcasters to begin programming in hugely popular high definition. It also means that the 13 least-watched analogue channels currently broadcasting will be kicked off the network. For viewers: they’ll have to subscribe to a high definition provider, if they don’t already, as well as make sure their TV set is either HD ready or compliant with the Full HD-Standard. And even then, viewers will probably have to re-programme their TVs if they’re to avoid looking at a black box all evening.

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Driving schools lost little time this week responding to figures quoted in a recent report showing that one in three hopefuls turning up for their first driving test go away empty-handed. And the reason? Most people studying for their licence are inadequately prepared in both theory and road experience.

Despite the report’s findings, or maybe because of it, the organisation representing the region’s driving instructors says the country’s already-demanding driving test regulations should be made even tougher.

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Basel is to get a new riverside promenade linking the former Basler Hafen at the Novartis Campus to Huningue, just over the French border.

The plan is for two routes. The first, right on the river’s edge, is for walkers only. It will feature shower stations for swimmers, but is expected to be flooded during times of high water.

A second, tree-lined path, will run in parallel, but a little higher. It will be four metres wide, complete with seating for when the going gets tough.

The decision to move ahead with the project was only possible after French authorities reversed earlier oppositions to the plan. The reason for the resounding “non” was because policy-makers thought the promenade would take walkers and cyclists too close to potentially hazardous areas on the site of the German chemicals company, BASF. The company agreed to pay for measures allowing the danger perimeter to be pulled back.

Users of the new promenade will be able to enjoy uninterrupted river views between the Dreirosenbrücke and the Dreiländerbrücke as sections of the promenade are opened between next year and 20-15.

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17 January, 2012: Liestal Couple in Cruise Ship Disaster, Women and Married Priests? Is Apple Computer About to Set up a Superstore in Basel?

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A couple from Basel-Land have arrived safely home from Italy after surviving the sinking last week of the cruise ship Costa Concordia. Still in shock, Eli und Tony Schläppi say have always enjoyed holidays afloat, and it was only thanks to their boating experiences that alerted them to prompt action when the ship hits hit rocks last Friday and immediately started to list heavily. When the couple managed to get to the deck from their ninth-floor cabin, they saw the damage. Mrs Schläppi said, “Even in our small sailing boat we would never come this close to a coastline.”

She said she and her husband didn’t believe for a moment the crews’ explanations that the problem was merely a malfunctioning generator.

They eventually made it to the small Island of Giglio in the middle of the night, more than three hours after the ship first started to capsize.

It’s known the tragedy claimed 6 lives, about twenty remain missing, but all 69 Swiss citizens making up the some four thousand people aboard at the time have now been safely accounted for.

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A joyride in a stolen pick-up came to a sudden end on Saturday night. The perpetrators were driving towards Binningen when the pick-up swerved off the road – reason unknown – and then shot across tram lines and crashed into a bridge railing.

Witnesses saw two people get out of the crashed pick-up and run away. It is unclear whether either suffered injuries. Police are continuing their investigations.

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The clamour amongst Catholics for equal rights has raised its head in the region once again. An initiative has been tabled that, if successful, would allow women to become priests and abolish the celibacy rule. The movement is led by former member of the Swiss lower house, Anita Lachenmeier. Recently she handed over a petition with nearly three thousand names to church authorities calling for changes. She says that society has already achieved equality in most walks of life: and that it’s only in the Catholic Church that bucks the trend by barring women and married men from the priesthood. She says, today’s society can’t justify such a position, and neither can the Bible.  She says the Church is squandering valuable people resources by disqualifying talented church members from positions of leadership.

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As we reported on last week’s English Show, Radio Basel is in the middle of a make-over. The previous sole proprietor, Karlheinz Kögel, set up the station less than three years ago. But he’s now signed up as co-owners the Energy group which already has a radio presence in Zurich, Bern and the Geneva area, as well as the Swiss media giant Ringier. But all of these changes have done little to the journalists’ union Impressum. Media reports talk of 8 or 9 employees set to lose their jobs. Calls for a denial of the rumour by the union have been met with a “no comment”. If the plan goes ahead, the job losses will come on top of some 20 previous lay-offs. Impressum is taking advice as to whether the new company has broken Swiss law relating to mass sackings.

For his part, Kögel has promised an intensive programme of investment to attract his target audience – the young and sophisticated city-dweller. And he’s going to do this with seven journalists and six presenters.

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The Basel-based drug giant Novartis has relented in the face of public and union pressure not to close its facility in Nyon in Canton Waadt. Also, the planned 760 job cuts in Basel have been reduced by a third.

But, if any confirmation were needed to underline just how volatile the high-risk pharmaceutical business can be...Novartis says it will cut nearly two thousand jobs in the US and absorb more than one point two billion dollars of losses...all because of reduced sales expectations of two drugs. 900 million dollars of the losses alone relate to a sales forecast reduction of the Tekturna pill.

This was a medication, originally licensed to treat high blood pressure in 2007, and which Novartis later hoped would turn into a blockbuster if it could also be seen to prevent organ damage associated with diabetes. However, it underperformed spectacularly with Novartis even having to halt one study in mid-cycle because of patient safety concerns.

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There’s a new snack bar in town: this summer will see the arrival of a so-called “buvette” in Kleinbasel. The snack bar itself will take up residence inside a large industrial container set on the bank of the Rhine. It will offer an electric grill and you will be able either to prepare food bought at the bar, or prepare some that you’ve brought along with you. The bold plan is a response to calls for many years from nearby residents demanding a barbeque that could be used by everyone.

Basel’s Department of Construction and Transport called for tenders for the buvette and received no less than 21 separate applications. Operation of the buvette will be limited to six months during the summer.

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Apple, you know, not the fruit, but the computer people, are usually good at controlling news coming out about their operations. However, one of the bloggers and industry-watchers now reports the company has received approval to open its first dedicated retail-store in Basel sometime next year.

It appears the current tenant of a building on the site has already left, and Apple is nearly ready to pull it down and begin construction on a new store two-level 460 square meter facility, complete with 12 display tables and what appears to be a couple of the company’s trademark Genius Bars.

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