St. Jakob's Contemplates Smoking Ban During FCB Games; New Traffic Rules Cause Headaches and Confusion; Leaks plague Secret Themes of Fasnacht Cliques;Basel experiences budget issues due to SNB

                                                                                              The Board governing the managing organization of the St. Jakob's park which hosts FC Basel's home games is contemplating a complete smoking ban in the stadium.  The effort comes in reaction to growing complaints by fans and season ticket holders.  On the other hand, Eve Morel representing the Executive Board of the FCB fan club called for more tolerance saying "if someone can stand they should change seats".  The tide however seems to favor ban supporters as other Swiss clubs have already enacted smoking bans in their stadiums. in the UK, an outright nationwide stadium smoking ban exists and FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed an interest in pursuing a general smoking and alcohol ban for all football games. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In theory, road regulations for the new year ushered in an era of automobile-free traffic in Basel's city center.  However, a planned alarm and signage system to warn drivers against entering the pedestrian zone is still months away from being deployed.  According to Martin Weibel, head of traffic engineering at Basel's municipal office, the installation of traffic control equipment and sign painting won't begin until after the Fasnacht carnival - however, he went on to warn that the rules are nonetheless in effect.  In the meantime, local motorists have begun a petition to force a general poll to decide if certain key roads should remain accessible.  If the required 3000 signatures are collected, the city will have to reevaluate allowing traffic in places like the mittlerbrucke.

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Taking a page from Wikileaks, the Basel based website www.fasnachtsleaks.org provides web surfers with secret information about the themes that will be on display by cliques at the upcoming fasnacht carnival.  Not exactly secrets that might affect swiss or basel national security, the themes are still nonetheless closely guarded by the cliques which participate in the annual festival. Organizers at the various cliques initially expressed outrage, but seem now to appreciate the advance advertising the website has provided for their intended theme.  The Fasnacht carnival organizing committee, also known as the comité, is expected to comment on website early this week, although no one is sure what they could do about the privately organized website.

 

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Basel is a significant shareholder of the SNB (or Swiss National Bank), and relies on a portion of its funding from dividend payouts associated with its stake in the bank.  This year however, the SNB experienced such a significant loss associated with its gold holdings that its dividend payments have been suspended.  Basel, already operating at a deficit will as a result likely see its deficit grow by 1/2, complicating the political commitments the canton has made towards deficit reduction.  Financial controllers for the city of Basel downplayed the affect of the cancelled dividend, saying their long-term budgeting is not affected by the absence of a single payment and that the foregone revenue represented only 4 parts per thousand of the total budget.