Switzerland Avoids Recession; Basel Readies for Refugees; Google Goes for a RheinSchwim; Basel Prison Bulge

News for 1 September 2015       For those focused on the dire economic headlines coming out of the Asian region, things appear to be significantly better closer to home in Switzerland.  According to the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (or SECO), second quarter 2015 GDP estimates showed a surprising 0.2% growth rate over the prior quarter.  Had the number been in fact negative, economists would have concluded that Switzerland was in recession having logged a reduction of GDP in the prior quarter.  Adding to the overall level of economic activity was consumption by private households and the government, along with growth in investment despite the headwinds of a stronger Franc and economic challenges in Switzerland's traditional trading partners throughout Europe.  Compared to the same quarter a year ago, Swiss GDP has grown by 1.2%. ****************************************

While Switzerland has managed to avoid the largest number of people from the wave of refugees coming to Europe from the middle east and Africa, it has also started making preparations in the Basel area for their inevitable arrival.  The Basel Grand Council has requested close to 7 million francs from the federal government earmarked for the construction of temporary housing in the Dreispitz area.  The planned prefabricated housing system, complete with kitchens, bathrooms and living modules, should be ready for occupation by autumn 2016 and is intended to house 30 families.  In addition, the zone targeted for construction will also make room for Government support staff and their offices, a playground for children and training facilities.  Switzerland overall planned for an estimated 30,000 refugees to arrive in the country this year.  The federal government assigns the arriving refugees seeking asylum to a canton for establishing their status. 

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If you happened to be dropping into the Rhein by the Tinguely Museum last Friday around lunch you'd have witnessed an unusual sight.  The now ubiquitous green Google StreetView cameras usually strapped to the tops of cars and often seen prowling streets around the world which are used to feed the internet service's "street view" system, was instead mounted on an inflatable outrigger dingy.  It seems Google has decided to try a new service called "river view" which will allow tourists and other interested parties to preview the sights from the Rhein and other rivers just as they can now see a picture of any street or corner around the world on google's maps site.  With the assistance of the offices of Basel Tourism, the dingy was sent floating down the river, just as others seeking a respite from the heat were also seen to be jumping in.  While there is no guarantee that the photos taken by the device will meet the quality criteria required by Google to publish them in its RiverView site, it is hoped that they will be available in 3 to 6 months.

************************   It may seem hard to believe but Basel's prisons are bursting at the seems according to an article late last week by the 20 Minuten newspaper.  Recent years have seen a massive increase in the number of inmates leading to a situation where 80% are housed in temporary facilities with detention conditions no longer meeting legal requirements.  While a new 40 million Swiss Franc prison housing 78 inmates is scheduled to go into service soon, the facility would be simply absorbing those inmates already in custody and in temporary facilities.  Basel has undertaken studies to commission a new prison to be completed by 2019.  It seems that while crime rates have remained steady or even falling in some categories, enforcement orders requiring a prison stay have increased by 500 percent since 2009, said Justice Directo Baschi Dürr.  In addition, the criminal law reforms of 2007 imposed a greater number of custodial penalties, and since offenders can not pay a fine in lieu of their sentence, choose prison time as the alternative.