CCCCC AA RRRRR OOOO LL II NN N AA CC AA A RR R OO O LL II NNN N AA A CC AA A RRRRR OO O LL II NN N N AA A CC AAAAAA RR R OO O LL II NN NN AAAAAA CCCCC AA A RR R OOOO LLLLLL II NN N AA A STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC School of Social Sciences of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs Fax: (+422) 231 7391 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 70, Monday, April 12, 1993. FROM LAST WEEK EVENTS (March 31 - April 7) Prague has got Stock Exchange yet again Prague Stock Exchange officially opened on Monday. According to the director of the legal and information division of the exchange Petr Vyroubal seven stocks were traded, i.e. the "portfolio" that used to be traded on the temporary so-called Secondary Stock Exchange. The Prague exchange reopened after many decades. It was founded in 1871 and had existed until 1938. For the initial period of time the exchange will be opened for trading once a week - every Tuesday. According to the Monday press there are 53 people, members of Prague Stock Exchange or brokers authorized by members, with a direct access to the exchange. Others may use the exchange through them. In the Fall additional members may be accepted. The renewed Prague exchange was founded with capital of 120 million Kc (Czech crowns). A Shadow Cabinet is in the making The Realisticky Blok (Realistic Block), comprising so far Liberalni Socialni Unie (LSU, Liberal Social Union) and Ceska Sicialne Demokraticka Strana (CSSD, Czech Social Democratic Party), is preparing formation of a shadow cabinet. According to the chairman of CSSD Milos Zeman the shadow cabinet's program is to be unveiled prior to the next parliament and senate elections. By that time the individuals comprising the cabinet will have been selected. The shadow cabinet will not only have the same resorts as the official government, but it will also try to cover some of the "white" spots of the governmental policy. The members of the shadow cabinet are not going to be paid, at least for now. Representatives of the Realistic Block are also engaged in negotiations with other opposition parties. The chairman of the Czech Office of Statistics quits "The Prime Minister has repeatedly hinted that at times I do not come with right statistics in support of the government position.", said on Monday Eduard Soucek, the chairman of the Cesky Statisticky Urad (CSU, Czech Office of Statistics). He announced that he had asked the Chairman of the House of Commons Milan Uhde to release him from the function as of April 30. According to Mr. Soucek, the statistics of the CSU have always been prepared objectively. Despite it, the Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus has several times emphasised that if the government needs some of its conclusions supported by arguments and numbers, the representative of the CSU ought to be helpful. That is why E. Soucek sees in his resignation the only way to assert his independence. Honourary Doctorate to Pavel Tigrid On April 7, government representatives, members of the diplomatic corps, and representatives of Charles University took part at a ceremony at which Pavel Tigrid was awarded a honourary doctorate in social sciences. Pavel Tigrid was born 1917 in Prague where he attended Charles University Law School. In 1939 he left for Great Britain to escape the Nazis. There he worked as a broadcaster for the BBC's Czechoslovak program. After February 1948 he left Czechoslovakia yet again. He became the program director of the Czechoslovak broadcasting of the Radio Free Europe. Since 1956 he has been publishing the well-known magazine Svedectvi, an important resource of several generations of political scientists, writers, sociologists, historians, and journalists. He also published several books, among them Politicka emigrace v atomovem veku (Political refuges in the age of atom), Horka revoluce (The hot revolution), Kapesni pruvodce inteligentni zeny po vlastnim osudu (The pocket guide of an intelligent women to her own fate). The Science Senate of the Faculty of Social Sciences nominated Tigrid for the honourary doctorate. Let us remind you that April 7 is the anniversary of the foundation of Charles University. Since it happened in the year 1348, our oldest university is going to celebrate its 645th anniversary this year. Explosion in a chemical plant A fire and an explosion in a PVC polymerization plant of Spolana Neratovice endangered lives of 14 employees on Monday. One of them is in critical conditions. According to the chairman of the board ing. Z. Votava there has been no release of toxic carcinogenic chemicals in the atmosphere. The measurements of the ecological vehicle of the company confirmed only elevated concentrations of nitrogen oxide and hydrogen chloride. The fire was most likely caused by improper manipulation of the chemical raw material. Dubcek's chauffeur sentenced The driver who crashed the car last September with Alexander Dubcek on board was sentenced on March 31 to an unconditional 12 month prison term and his driver's licence was suspended for two and half years. Miss The title Miss 93, this time international - among the hopefuls were women from both Czech Republic and Slovakia - was won on Saturday at Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary by Silvia Lakatos, a nineteen year old student from Bratislava. All Czech dailies also reported a less pleasant event as well. One of the candidates for the title, seventeen year old Magdalena Babicka, said during the live television coverage that she would like to become a prosecutor to help clean the cities in northern Bohemia of the citizens of darker complexion (in not-so-subtle reference to Roms). The Prosecutor General's office reacted to this with an announcement that under certain conditions she can be charged with spreading of racial and ethnic hate. The office is being asked to do so by the Demokraticky Svaz Romu (Democratic Union of Roms). "We are upset not only by what M. Babicka said, but also by the fact that she was praised for her attitude by the host of the pageant Roman Smucler and that she was not disqualified by the jury immediately", says the official announcement of the Helsinske Obcanske shromazdeni v Ceske Republice (Helsinky Citizens Gathering in the Czech republic). The organizers of the pageant represented by the president of Miss 93 Miloslav Zapletal and Michal Kocab distanced themselves from M. Babicka's proclamation. FROM SLOVAKIA Slovakia wants a compensation for territory During the Friday meeting with the parliament political parties Michal Kovac, the president of Slovakia, said that in 1945 Czechoslovakia had obtained some land in Tesin region from Poland as an adequate retribution for eight villages in Slovakia given to Poland, and these eight villages should be a matter of compensation to Slovakia by the Czech side. He also expressed doubts about the size of Slovakia's debt to Czech Republic (estimated by experts to be 24.7 billions Kc). The way he sees it, the calculation do not include the amount Czech Republic owes to Slovakia. In this respect he pointed to the know-how of the (former) federal institutions, the assets of the Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie (CSA, Czechoslovak Airlines) and the Cedok tourist agency, and the financial value of the (former) Czechoslovak flag the Czech republic kept for herself. On the regular Saturday TV program Co tyden dal (Events of the week) the Slovakia's ambassador to Czech Republic Ivan Mjartan described the land compensation claim as unofficial. Shares of Slovak companies without problems Starting this Monday, the owners of investments vouchers who ordered during the first round of voucher privatization shares of Slovak companies can receive an official certification at their respective registration locations. By this they will become official owners of the shares and as such they can trade them. The number of citizens who it concernes is not too big (it is estimated to be about one percent of DIK's). More concerned are investment funds that invested more heavily in Slovakia. Foreign Currency Exchange (in Ck) Buy Sale USA 1 US$ 27.83 29.23 FRG 1 DM 17.38 18.30 U.K. 1 BP 41.89 44.73 CAN 1 Can$ 21.76 23.36 FRA 1 FRF 5.06 5.46 AUT 1 AS 2.48 2.60 Tourist exchange of Slovak currency (100 Sk) Buy Sale Agrobanka 92.00 96.00 Ceska Sporitelna 89.00 94.00 Investicni banka 87.00 92.00 Komercni banka 83.00 87.00 All rates are as of April 6, 1993. SPORT Volleyball league The women championship of Czech Republic was won by the team of University of Olomouc which beat in the fifth game of the finals the women team of Olymp Praha. In the men competition the players of Aero Odolena Voda claimed the title after beating the men team of Olymp Praha in four games in the finals. Soccer league (round 22) The leading Slavia Praha (31 points) literally rolled over the team from Nitra 7:0 and stays in the first place. Sparta Praha, standing second one point behind, beat Olomouc on its home turf since Olomouc despite its 80 minute supremacy on the field did not score while Sparta did (3:1). DAC Dunajska Streda, perched on the third place (28 points), lost in Brno 0:2. Slovan Bratislava (26 pts) defeated Bohemians Praha and stays fourth. In the duel of the last two teams Trnava was the more successful one beating Dukla Praha 1:0. A new national soccer team coach - Vaclav Jezek again Vaclav Jezek (69) was named to the position of the coach of the combined Czech and Slovak national soccer team at the emergency meeting of the executive committee of the Ceskoslovenska Fotbalova Asociace (Czechoslovak Soccer Association) for the remainder of the qualification of the World Cup 1994. Milan Macala, the coach up to now, was released from the position by the committee after a mutual agreement. Vaclav Jezek was coaching our victorious team at the European Cup 1976 in Yugoslavia. WEATHER Hopefully, the winter has faded away for good. The beginning of April is taking place amidst many spring signs. Showers replaced snowing and in the mountains the opportunities are rather for cross country than down-hill skiers. Only on the mountain tops there is about one metre snow cover. Night and morning temperatures hover slightly above zero, afternoon temperatures climb up to 8 to 12 degrees Centigrade. Translation: Franya@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Franya Franek) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Send them please to the address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs To subscribe to CAROLINA you send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET. The text of the message is: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name for the English version or SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name for the Czech version. 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