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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]]>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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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.
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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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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A young woman was found dead in a backyard at the Schützenmattstrasse on Monday morning. According to initial findings, she fell from a 4th floor balcony. Her identity hasn’t been released.
The circumstances of the fatal fall are still under investigation. It is unclear whether the incident was an accident or suicide or whether the woman was the victim of an attack.
Residents reported the seeing woman lying in the courtyard just before 10 a.m. on Monday morning. The prosecutor’s office said she had probably fallen during the night, but wasn’t discovered until daylight.
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Basel is to get a new park: two in fact! The winning entry for the Stadtplatz – the first of the new facilities – just west of Klein Basel’s Erlenmatt district, will include a wooded area, complete with tree-house plus a large water feature.
A total of 20 proposals were submitted in a competition run hy the City. Architect competitors were told to let their imaginations run wild, but to keep the total cost below 9 million francs.
Together, the Stadtplatz design, called the Wilderness Fairy, and the Stadtterminal will cover a combined area roughly twice as large as the Münsterplatz.
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3.
Guy Morin, Basel’s President of the Executive Council, went back to work on Monday, following surgery to treat a tumour. The cancer was discovered during a routine examination last year. It’s reported the operation to remove the tumour three weeks ago was a success. Morin said he was pleased that the result was positive and he thanked members of the public who wished him well. He says he now feels ready to get back to work and intends to stand for president again in the autumn.
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4.
Many newcomers to Basel are quite surprised by how stable the weather is. The strong winds which are a mark of more maritime areas just aren’t here. Until last week that is, when storm Andrea decided to make her entrance across much of western and central Europe.
It all blew up here at about midday last Thursday, with Basel-Stadt the worst hit in the region. Winds of up to 90 kilometres an hour recorded. Residents could at least take comfort they weren’t in the Scottish Highlands, where wind speeds of well over 200 kilometres an hour were measured in the second-strongest gusts ever to be recorded in Britain.
Emergency and civil defence services were in constant action to deal with damage and keep the region safe. As well as some downed trees and structural damage, including the collapse of a set of traffic lights. Some tram routes 1 and 2 were suspended for a time on safety grounds. Luckily, there were no reports of injuries caused as a result of the storm.
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5.
And so, as we all sober up after the winter holiday excesses, it’s time to think of – taxes.
And don’t forget, the taxman has a very long arm. This past year some 200 Basel Stadt residents have taken advantage of a new way to avoid a fine by coming clean about past tax irregularities. Since 2010, it’s been possible for ‘lapses’ on the tax form to be corrected without picking up a fine as long as it’s the taxpayer who makes the first move. In 2011 authorities in the city were able to collect an additional 10 million francs this way.
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6.
And it seems The English Show has picked up a bit more competition. As of midnight last night and almost in indecent haste, Radio Basel was taken off the air – only to be replaced on Friday by a new station – Energy Basel.
Staff at Radio Basel were first told of the plan for a complete makeover last week, with the loss of 8 jobs.
The interim programme controller Eva Nidecker, who comes from Basel, say the new station will target a young, active audience with a mix of infotainment. And they’re on a recruitment drive to help make that happen.
Where their priority lies - to poach staff from the English Show, or launch a new attack on Radio Basilisk - is still uncertain.
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Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Rhine in the first hours of the New Year to watch the fireworks over the river. As always on New Year’s Eve, the police, ambulance and fire services had their hands full.
The police received nearly two hundred emergency calls because of drunken brawls and other disturbances of the peace. Ambulances had to cope with more than 50 emergencies, while the fire department was called out 8 times. In one case, they had to free a person from a lift, in others, they put out small fires. Basel’s Department of Justice reported that on the whole, the deployment of emergency services was the same as in recent years.
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After months of denials of a financial connection with the Basler Zeitung, it was confirmed yesterday that the family of Christoph Blocher has taken over the Basler Zeitung.
The paper is Basel’s premier news outlet and, not surprisingly, the move by the vice-chairman of the right-wing SVP, Switzerland’s most powerful political party, has prompted across-the-board protests.
The Tages-Anzeiger alleges that now the political strongman can now add media baron to his c.v., Swiss society will usher in a new era of polarisation.
Three Swiss media unions issued a joint statement saying, “...we are on the way to Berluscon-isation,” referring to Silvio Berlusconi, who, as well as the controlling shareholder of the Italian media company Mediaset, was also the country’s Prime Minister.
Media analyst Vinzenz Wyss says he’s worried “...that a political figure is grabbing a media company to build up his political power.”
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Not such a good start for the New Year for one poor guy in Sankt Johann. About 7 in the morning of New Year’s Eve the police received a call from a 46 year-old saying he was suffering from facial injuries and lying – minus his trousers - by the front door of a house in the Gas-Strasse. He was taken to hospital and treated for multiple cheek-bone fractures. It seems he left a bar at 1 a.m. but says he cannot remember anything after that. Doctors say it is likely the man was attacked by someone using a blunt object.
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Despite the ups and downs of a turbulent economy, it seems Switzerland remains an attractive tax haven for many – in Europe at least. A recent report by the Basel-based BAK Institute looking at people earning at least a 100 thousand francs a year says that only Singapore and Hong Kong have lower rates than Canton Zug. A total of seventeen cantons came under the microscope, with most beating other European and US tax jurisdictions hands down. Curiously, although high rollers have often moved out of Basel-Stadt for tax purposes, at 33 and a third percent, the city scores higher than Basel-Land which gouges its citizens 37 and a half percent for the privilege of living in the countryside.
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A number 3 tram derailed when it crashed into a stationary tram at its terminal stop. The driver of the waiting tram had to be taken to hospital for observation. No other persons were harmed in the collision. The fire department was called in to put the derailed tram back on track. It is still unclear what caused the collision; a police investigation is underway.
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And lastly, how much pity you can find in your heart for the Basel dentist who fell foul of the Basel courts after extracting four back teeth from a young patient when he was supposed to take out some troublesome wisdom teeth. Well, not the judge at least; the luckless dentist had to bite down on a 500 franc fine, and for good measure, a suspended sentence as well.
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On Monday morning, border guards stopped two teenage boys who were travelling on a bus from Germany into Basel Stadt.
The boys had no bus tickets and no identity documents. However, to the surprise of the border guards, the boys had 6,000 Euros in notes in their shoes.
The guards found that the boys, aged 16 and 17, were recorded as missing from Italy a month ago. They said they had stolen the money from their mother in Italy. After being searched, the boys were handed over to Basel Stadt police, who are now trying to make contact with their mother.
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A jewellery store in Gelterkinden was robbed last Wednesday night. The thieves used a car as a battering ram to smash in the front door. They stole watches and jewellery worth 10’000 francs. According to Baselland police, the car had been stolen in the canton of Bern the night before; its license plate was left at the scene. The thieves managed to escape, and police are now urgently seeking witnesses to the crime.
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On late Monday afternoon, two cars were involved in a head-on accident in a tunnel on the H18 in the Baselland town of Nenzlingen. The impact of the frontal collision was so great that one of the occupants died at the scene. Baselland police are investigating to ascertain the reason for the accident.
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The rising and falling levels of currency values continue to have knock-on effects in the region. Although production levels for most of north-west Switzerland have remained high, recent figures reveal industrial growth rising by just 1.3 percent– and even this is an improvement compared with the past few years.
Sadly, the prospect for next year isn’t even that rosy. As well as a strong Franc making life difficult for Swiss exporters, additional problems, including the Euro’s continuing troubles and a decline in some international markets, have caused analysts to forecast growth for our area of the country to remain at about zero point seven percent throughout 2012.
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Basel is a leader in terms of integrating people with disabilities into the workforce. In the last two years, a project called “Charta,” has already successfully found jobs for 42 disabled people. Over the next year, they want to more than triple that number by creating an additional 100 jobs in what they describe as the open market.
Martin Haug, head of Basel’s Equal Opportunity Institute, says, “There are already enough jobs in sheltered workshops. Now is the time for more companies to welcome people with disabilities into the general workforce.”
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A driver in Hölstein in Basel-Land had to make a quick getaway from his car last Sunday when he noticed clouds of smoke coming from the engine compartment. The drama occurred on the Hauptstrasse at about 1 in the afternoon.
The 51-year-old just had time to grab his pet dog from the vehicle and make a run for it before the car burst into flames. A passer-by alerted the fire service, but by the time they arrived, what was a car had become just a smoking wreck.
Fortunately no-one was injured in the incident, which the police say was the result of a technical fault.
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And later that same day – also in Basel Land, a car and its three occupants escaped with light injuries when their vehicle collided with a motorway light pole.
The accident occurred as the car was exiting the H18 in Muttenz at about 7.30. The 23-year-old driver reported seeing an animal crossing the road and lost control as he swerved to avoid it. The occupants were able to get out of the car themselves, but were taken by ambulance to hospital for checks.
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The whole world’s coming to Basel. At least that’s what it seems like during this year’s Christmas Market.
Possibly the unseasonably warm weather – as high as 14 degrees - may have helped to plump up this year’s numbers. But organisers are leaving little to chance: with an increase in this year’s marketing budget to 200 thousand francs, plus an extra 30 stalls over last year’s total, they’re hoping for more than a million visitors to this year’s event.
Regular market visitors will recognise the usual offer of stocking filler ideas, Christmas spices and other table titbits that hundreds of stallholders have laid out this year. The market - on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz - remains open until December the 23rd.
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Headlines:
The Chairman of the internationally-famous herbal sweet manufacturer, Ricola, has appealed to the media to stop picking over the details leading to the suicide last Thursday of the company’s Managing Director, Adrian Kohler.
In a statement, the Chairman, Felix Richterich, confirmed that the 53-year-old Kohler had been given indefinite leave from his job after sending a letter to senior company management admitting responsibility for accounting irregularities. Despite the tragedy, the Chairman maintains the family-run company, based in Laufen, is in good financial health.
Kohler had worked for the business for 25 years, and in 2004 was named the first CEO in the company’s 80 year history not to come from the founding Richterich family. Last year the company posted sales of more than 300 million francs.
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Basel’s no-smoking laws for bars and restaurants remain unchanged. For the past few years, smoking has only been allowed in Swiss pubs and restaurants which have specially sectioned-off smoking rooms. However, the national law doesn’t exclude personnel from attending to customers’ needs in these so-called fumoirs, although 14 cantons, including Basel Stadt, have taken this extra step in the interests of employee health.
The City’s pub landlords had wanted a relaxation of the local law which would have required staff entering these rooms repeatedly. However, the initiative was rejected by a narrow 0.2% on Sunday in a vote which attracted less than 45% of the city’s electorate.
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A verdict of between 2 and 3 1/2 years imprisonment is expected tomorrow in the case of a 20-year-old Serb, who, with an accomplice, tried to hold up a bullion truck outside IKEA in Pratteln in February last year.
With the help of a car complete with flashing blue light, the two men were able to get the truck driver to pull over as it was leaving the superstore with one point two million francs on board.
However, when the driver saw the two attackers jump from the car wearing masks and carrying pistols, he opened up with his own gun, hitting one of robbers a number of times. Police arrested the injured man in the Bruderholzspital some time later. His accomplice has never been found.
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A driver and his passenger got off lightly after a spectacular car accident on Sunday evening. The driver, in his late sixties, claims to have been dazzled by oncoming traffic on the Therwilerstrasse. He swerved to the left, colliding with a rock on the roadside.
The force of the collision flipped the car over, and it hurtled a further 14 metres before coming to a halt on its side. The occupants were freed from the car by nearby residents, escaping with nothing more than minor cuts and bruises.
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Switzerland’s first psychiatric unit for young criminals has opened in Basel.
The leader of the unit, psychiatrist Peter Tischer, says “Prison is not the right place - what offenders really need is a concentration of specialists to look after them.”
The new department of the University Psychiatric Clinic of Basel has space for 12 male and female offenders aged between 14 and 21, looked after by a newly-recruited team of 22 full and part-time staff.
Occupational, movement and psychotherapies are all included in the treatment regimes. These, says Tischer, are aimed at reducing critical stress levels capable of activating hereditary mental illnesses such as delusional and schizophrenic behaviour which can then lead to criminal activity.
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Miami Beach is Basel’s new twin town. The contract between the two cities was signed on Monday by Basel councillor Hans-Peter Wessels and Miami Beach mayor Matti Herrera Bower.
Wessels is currently in the US visiting the “Art Basel Miami Beach” exhibition. The Florida resort has hosted the fair since 2002 in a partnership to promote better links between the two cities in the areas of culture, trade, education and research.
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