Street Sign Give-Away; New Years Celebrations Return; Basel Based Firm Implicated In I.S. Weapons Sales; Basel Resident Launches New Photo App

News For 26 December 2017

Last week, Basel's Department of Construction and Traffic gave away a lot of old street signs.  The city has been replacing old signs, and rather than disposing of the old ones, it has offered them to citizens as a collectible.  The give-away was done via Facebook, where the post offering the signs generated over 6000 comments asking for one 8 different streets where all the signs have already been replaced.  Winners were announced last Friday, and it looks likely that the popularity of the program will ensure more offers as the renewal program continues.

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Like every year, the city of Basel will be celebrating New Years with a fireworks display over the Rhein at 12:30 am. This year, between 11pm and 1 am, there will be free Glühwein offered along the banks of the Rhine close to the Johanniterbrücke. The traditional reflective celebration will be held on Münsterplatz at 11:30 pm with Basel’s brass ensemble. 2017 will be rung out with the big bell in the Martinsturm of the Münster, and 2018 will be rung in by all of the city bells. There will also be a 15-minute service in the Münster starting at 12:15 am.

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According to an article by Basel's Sonntags Zeitung, the Basel based enterprise Tradewell AG has been involved with illegal arms sales to the Islamic State terrorist group.  The company, which has been dissolved since the publication of the article is accused by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) with providing five million rounds of ammunition to IS.  Although the paperwork obtained from the company indicates the arms were sourced in Serbia and meant to reach Iraqi Security Forces, the arms in fact were diverted to the terrorist group.  SECO has referred the case to Swiss Federal Prosecutors.

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With today’s social media networks, everyone now has the chance to present their own photos to the whole world. For portrait photography however, photographers need to find suitable models. Up until now, they used Facebook and Instagram by typing out posts listing time, location, and other details. Steve Allen, an Australian native and Basel resident, has designed an app to make the process easier. The app, called Photo Shoot, is linked to Instagram and serves as a networking platform specifically for helping photographers find models, and vice versa. It features a worldwide search radar and a user-rating system to solidify trustworthiness.