Basel Looks to Win Vs. Porto In Champions League; Swiss Government Unveils Import Quota; Bill Worlds Most Expensive Painting to go on Display at Beyeler Museum Basel; Night Owls to Lose Club Scene

FCBasel Coach Paulo Sousa, a 4 season player- Alumnus of the Portuguese Benfica team, will face off against his countrymen as Coach when Basel plays FC Porto this Wednesday in the Champions league round of 16 at St.Jakob's Stadium.  This will be only the third appearance the team is making in the knockout stage of the tournament, the last time of course being in 2012 when FCB was knocked out in a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich.  No less formidable, the Porto team has won the championship twice in 1987 and 2004 and has only lost to Switzerland once in six previous matches at this stage of play.  Nevertheless, Coach Sousa struck a defiant tone: saying this is the strongest and likeliest team to qualify he's had a chance to coach.  Props were also lauded on FCB by Porto Coach Julen Lopetegui who said the team deserved their berth in the Championship League Tournament after their qualifying play vs Liverpool, and that the Porto side would have to be on its best to advance past Basel.   ***********************************************   After a year of consideration the government of Switzerland has submitted a draft bill addressing the outcome of the immigration quota vote of 2014 to political parties, professional organizations, unions and other interested parties for consultation.  Last February, the vote won a majority by the narrowest possible margin forcing the government into the rules-making now to be reviewed. The immigration quotas are a massive headache of course, as it puts Switzerland at odds with decades-old treaties governing trade and labor movement into and out of the EU.  The proposed immigration limits, according to the proposals in the draft bill, would take effect 2 years from now in February of 2017.  The specific limits however remain vague as Switzerland seeks to negotiate with Brussels during its internal consultations over which rules would be acceptable to the EU.  The EU, in the meantime insists that any rules that curb the freedom of movement and labor of its citizens is a non-starter.  The draft law seeks the reintroduction of an unspecified number of work and residence permit quotas for EU citizens that stay in the country for longer than four months.  In addition, the rules would impose controls on foreign commuters especially in EU bordering regions like Basel.     ******************************************

A master work of the post-impressionist artist Paul Gaugin will go on display this Saturday at the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen. The painting, whose title translates to English as "when will you marry?", has been on loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel for over 50 years.  It will join the on-going Gaugin exhibit at the Beyeler while renovations and construction continue at the Kunstmuseum.  The painting is also notable because it was recently sold by the Basel based Rudolf Staechelin Family Trust for a reported 300 million US Dollars, making it the most expensive painting ever sold. Beyeler's Gaugin exhibit curator Martin Schwander extolled the piece's virtue, saying "its a very harmonious piece, well carried out and possessing an extraordinary beauty."  Yet another reason, if you needed one, to go see this special exhibition.

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Basel's two most popular late-night venues for clubbing, the Nordstern and Hinterhof are set to close in the near future.  According to a survey by the local daily newspaper 20 Minuten, more than 70 percent of its readers think that Basel will no longer have enough clubs for night-owls.  Even straight-laced politician Philippe Bischof, head of the Department of culture of the Canton of Basel-Stadt agrees that the loss of nightlife is a loss of cultural life for the city.  However, he also stressed that the clubs did not plan properly knowing their leases were set to expire - Spring of 2016 in the case of Hinterhof and in the Case of Nordstern their five-year lease expired and has been renting their space month to month.  Owners of both clubs however counter that since their buildings have been rezoned for residential or commercial use, they've not been able to find any Basel-based alternatives that would accommodate them.  Mr. Bischof of the Culture Department has proposed a solution based on the experience of the city of Bern, designating certain areas "urban dwelling zones" which would allow clubs to operate freely by making public nuisance complaints of neighbors illegal.