Basel

Basel (/ˈbɑːzəl/ or /ˈbɑːl/; or less often used Basle;German: Basel pronounced [ˈbaːzəl]; French: Bâle [bɑl]; Italian: Basilea [baziˈlɛːa]; Romansh: Basilea  [baziˈlɛːa] ) is Switzerland's third most populous city (behind Zürich and Geneva) with about 195,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany. In 2014, the Basel agglomeration was the third largest in Switzerland with a population of 537,100 in 74 municipalities in Switzerland and an additional 53 in neighboring countries (municipal count as of 2000). The tri-national Basel metropolitan area has around 830,000 inhabitants in 226 municipalities.

Located in northwest Switzerland on the river Rhine, Basel functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The Basel region, culturally extending into German Baden-Württemberg and French Alsace, reflects the heritage of its three states in the modern Latin name: "Regio TriRhena". It has the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation (1460).

Basel (disambiguation)

Basel may refer to:

Basel II

Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, (now extended and partially superseded by Basel III), which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Basel II, initially published in June 2004, was intended to amend international standards that controlled how much capital banks need to hold to guard against the financial and operational risks banks face. These rules sought to ensure that the greater the risk to which a bank is exposed, the greater the amount of capital the bank needs to hold to safeguard its solvency and economic stability. Basel II attempted to accomplish this by establishing risk and capital management requirements to ensure that a bank has adequate capital for the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending, investment and trading activities. One focus was to maintain sufficient consistency of regulations so to limit competitive inequality amongst internationally active banks.

Basel II was implemented in the years prior to 2008, and was only to be implemented in early 2008 in most major economies; that year's Financial crisis intervened before Basel II could become fully effective. As Basel III was negotiated, the crisis was top of mind and accordingly more stringent standards were contemplated and quickly adopted in some key countries including in Europe and the USA.

Zoo

A zoo (short for zoological park, zoological garden, or animal park, and also called a menagerie) is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred.

The term zoological garden refers to zoology, the study of animals, a term deriving from the Greek zōon (ζῷον, "animal") and lógos (λóγος, "study"). The abbreviation "zoo" was first used of the London Zoological Gardens, which opened for scientific study in 1828 and to the public in 1857. The number of major animal collections open to the public around the world now exceeds 1,000, around 80 percent of them in cities.

Etymology

London Zoo, which opened in 1826, first called itself a menagerie or "zoological forest," which is short for "Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London." The abbreviation "zoo" first appeared in print in the UK around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo, but it was not until some 20 years later that the shortened form became popular in the song "Walking in the Zoo on Sunday" by music-hall artist Alfred Vance. The term "zoological park" was used for more expansive facilities in Washington, D.C., and the Bronx in New York, which opened in 1891 and 1899 respectively.

List of The Simple Life episodes

This is a complete list of episodes from the TV series The Simple Life starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. The series included 54 episodes and 2 specials that aired between January 20, 2004 and August 5, 2007 in the United States.

List of seasons

List of episodes

Season 1: 2003–2004

Road Trip: 2004

Interns: 2005

'Till Death Do Us Part: 2006

Goes to Camp: 2007

Specials

External links

Oregon Zoo

The Oregon Zoo, formerly the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Downtown Portland, the zoo is inside Portland's Washington Park, and includes the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge Washington Park & Zoo Railway that connects to the International Rose Test Garden inside the park. Opened in 1888 after a private animal collector donated his animals to the City of Portland, the 64-acre (26 ha) zoo is now owned by the regional Metro government.

A member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, it has species survival plans for twenty-one endangered/threatened species, among which are successful breeding programs for endangered California condors, Asian elephants, and in recent times, African lions too. (The latter was under recommendation by the AZA). The zoo also boasts an extensive plant collection throughout its animal exhibits and specialized gardens. During the summer it is host to a concert series, and in the winter produces ZooLights, a holiday light show. The Oregon Zoo is Oregon's largest paid and arguably most popular attraction, with more than 1.6 million visitors in 2008 to 2009.