June 1, 2010

**************

A young Muslim woman was the victim of racial violence last week in Basel. The thirty year old Turkish woman was wearing a head scarf called a Khimar which leaves the face completely visible. As she got off the tram on the Barfüsserplatz last Wednesday at 5pm, she was hit in the back of the head and verbally abused by a middle aged woman. No other passengers intervened.

The attack is the second such incident in Basel in the past month. Basel's Muslim commission encourages victims to report hate crimes to police.

Source: 20 Minuten

**************
Basel restaurants and bars will enjoy liberal regulation during the upcoming football world cup. Televisions may not be placed on public property such as sidewalks or squares but viewing zones on privately owned terraces are unrestricted. A special permit can also be bought for one hundred fifty francs. There is no official closing time for bars on game days.

In contrast, Zürich is much more restrictive during the world cup, with only twenty bars receiving a permit to show the televised games outdoors.

Source: 20 minuten
************
Basel's parks department has published a new flyer to encourage responsible grilling on publich property. The city hopes to reduce garbage and fire damage caused by careless grill parties which it says has been on the rise for the past few years.

Single use grills must be placed at least thirty centimeters above grass or asphalt and should be placed on heat resistant surfaces and ashes should be extinguished with water. The city hopes to avoid instituting a ban on grilling in public parks by encouraging good behavior.

Source: 20 Minuten
************

Baselland's psychiatric clinic has seen an increase in patients seeking stationary treatment over the past year. In an interview with the Basler Zeitung, chief of psychiatry Joachim Küchenhoff stated that the rise in patients with severe depression is directly related to mental stress caused by the recession.

Küchenhoff believes that the prevalence of mental illness has not increasd overall but that taboos associated with seeking treatment are weakening. The Baselland clinic plans to add specialized therapies for elderly depression patients in accomodate an increase in this demographic group.

Source: Basler Zeitung
*************
Over a hundred tradesmen gathered on the Barfüsserplatz last Friday morning to protest changes to Basel's parking permit system. Basel government votes on new parking rules on June 13th. Tradesmen using their personal vehicles for work would have to buy a permit for 2000 swiss francs, while company cars can have permits for 240 francs.

Painters, plasters, carpenters and electricians croweded into trams in the center of Basel to demonstrate the impracticality of using public transportation to travel to construction sites.

Source: Basler Zeitung

***************
The distance between Basel and Paris is about to get even shorter. Construction of a new high-speed train track is scheduled for completion next year and will result in travel times between the two cities of just three hours.

The Basel to Paris TGV already runs at seventy six percent capacity with over two million passengers yearly. Its operator expects another seventy percent increase with the shortened travel time. Trains will run every two hours and additional routes to the south of France are planned for 2012.

Source: Basler Zeitung

**************