The police want a ban on filming during operations – that is the Sunday news

The police want a film ban during operations, every fourth person has a second job and expensive concert tickets in Switzerland: all this and more is in the Sunday papers.

Police want film ban during operations

A police officer cuts the head of a protester in the women’s strike. Another holds a boy to the ground in handcuffs. Both scenes are filmed and distributed as videos on the Internet. The accusation: the police have a violence problem.

Many police officers feel unfairly pilloried by such videos, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. They criticize that the recordings are selective and show a wrong image, and are now fighting back.

The Basel City Police Officers Association wants to ban the filming of police actions. Vice President Harald Zsedényi says:

The people of Basel now want to lobby the national association for a film ban.

Electricity market regulator Elcom has a lot to do

Since the sharp increase in electricity prices, many small customers and commercial companies have turned to the independent electricity market regulator Elcom.

Their anger is often understandable, according to Elcom documents. There are “a number of network operators” who optimize their profit “at the expense of consumers with basic needs”.writes the supervisory authority there.

Elcom director Urs Meister does not want to say to the “NZZ am Sonntag” which or how many electricity suppliers are involved. It can be heard in the industry that it concerns smaller and larger electricity suppliers in different parts of Switzerland.

The electricity companies in question charge their customers for the new expensive electricity from the market instead of the cheaper electricity from their own hydroelectric power stations. According to ElCom, the practice is legal.

Resistance to geothermal power plant

Electricity suppliers from Bern and Zurich are planning the first geothermal power plant in the Jura. The permit is already in place. But the Jurassians are now even more resistant: Last week they broke down the security fence to the site with a tractor and stormed the area, writes the “SonntagsZeitung”.

The Jurassic Environment Minister had previously received death threats. There is also a protest camp on a neighboring property and demonstrations. According to the mayor, the majority of the 7,200 inhabitants of the affected municipality of Haute-Sorne are against the power station.

But no vote was ever taken. Opponents criticize that. They no longer want the building permit to be declared valid.

Fewer livestock killed by wolves

Although the wolf continues to spread in Switzerland, the number of animals killed is falling sharply thanks to the protection of the animals. But some regions are refusing to take effective protection measures, as research by the “SonntagsZeitung” shows.

After more than 1800 farm animals were killed in 2022, the number of attacks has fallen sharply this year. The canton of Valais recorded a total of 46 attacks in mid-July, killing 142 animals. Only 13 of these animals were protected, the rest were not protected or could not be protected.

The canton of Graubünden registered even fewer attacks. There, 37 head of cattle were killed in 17 wolf attacks in the first half of the year. The cantons of St. Gallen and Glarus, where wolf packs also live, show a clear decrease in the number of cracks.

Almost a quarter of all working people have more than one job

23 percent of employed people in Germany have more than one job. This is the result of a study reported by the “NZZ am Sonntag”.

“Many employees have to take a second job to meet their financial obligations”said Tobias Sattler of the audit and consulting firm PwC, which conducted the study. 58 percent said they struggled to pay all their bills at the end of the month.

While federal surveys assume a lower share of multiple employees, they have recorded an increase. The situation could get worse. “Purchasing power is falling, prices are rising faster than wages”, says David Gallusser of the trade union federation. However, from the point of view of the employers’ association, the figures give a wrong picture: “These people are not all poor.”

UBS bankers also have to fear for jobs

Savings plans were finalized at UBS last week at the third management level. The respective heads of the business units, one from UBS and one from CS, had to work out a plan to reduce the number of employees in the new joint department by 30 percent, reports the “SonntagsZeitung”.

Not only CS people are being fired, UBS employees also have to fear for their jobs. “In practice,” says one employee, “many more CS employees should leave than UBS employees.”

As far as real estate is concerned, it is clear that the Uetlihof in Zurich needs to be emptied. If a new tenant is not found, unnecessary costs of half a billion francs will arise. Apparently, UBS is trying to persuade the city of Zurich to buy the building after all.

Oak, beech or plane trees against the heat

In Swiss cities, increasingly affected by extreme heat, native trees should be preferred to exotic ones, writes “Le Matin Dimanche”.

Oak, beech or plane trees provide better shade than Mediterranean plants, which are becoming more common. However, to optimally develop their cooling effect, these trees must find better conditions and be surrounded by less concrete. This is the conclusion of a study by the EPFL and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

The research launched last year aims to better understand the effect of trees on temperature in order to create livable cities in summer. The study has not yet been completed.

Slack among department store entrepreneurs

Signa Holding investors injected 400 million euros of fresh capital to stabilize the real estate empire of Austrian entrepreneur René Benko. In addition to the Globus department stores in Switzerland, Benko’s empire includes other properties in prime locations: the Chrysler Building in New York, the Golden Quarter in Vienna, the Upper West in Berlin and spectacular projects such as the Elbtower in Hamburg.

In total, the real estate group owns houses with an estimated value of 28 billion euros. According to the “SonntagsZeitung”, Signa currently invests about 300 million francs in Globus department stores.

Those who touch things with such a big trowel, also on credit, suffer from the high interest rates, the malaise in the department store trade and office real estate – and from the stricter supervision of the European Central Bank. Signa also sells a number of company buildings in Vienna, Berlin and Munich.

Taylor Swift is the most expensive in Zurich than anywhere else in Europe

The two Taylor Swift concerts in 2024 are already causing excitement. The 90,000 tickets are long gone. But an evaluation of the “NZZ am Sonntag” shows: Nowhere else in Europe does a normal entrance fee cost more than in Zurich.

At just under 168 francs, the cheapest ticket costs almost four times more than in Warsaw – for the exact same show, by the way. Are Swiss fans being scammed? Taylor Swift’s concert agency AEG left a request unanswered. “Production costs are higher in Switzerland than in other countries”said Oliver Niedermann, head of Ticketcorner, who organized the presale.

For example, the stadium rent and wage costs. But: in Switzerland, artists generally earn more per performance than anywhere else.

Glättli wants to check political advertisements for veracity

Unlike commercial advertising, there are hardly any limits to political advertising. The restrictions are minimal. Green president Balthasar Glättli is now continuing, as “SonntagsBlick” writes.

He wants to set up a body that checks political advertisements for veracity. To do this, the National Council uses the strongest instrument in the Federal Palace: the parliamentary initiative.

“The Political Rights Act should be amended to create a body that can be called upon during voting campaigns to review questionable statements in public advertisements.”, he writes in his proposal. The Green President wants to subject the political debate to a kind of quality control.

(jam/sda)