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.cz Fax: (+422) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 120, Friday, May 27, 1994. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (May 18-25) President Vaclav Havel To Go to Normandy President Vaclav Havel and his wife, Olga, will take part in the fiftieth anniversary of the allied landing at Normandy June 5 and 6. Havel was invited to the celebration by British Queen Elizabeth II, and French President Francois Mitterand. Zieleniec Visits Portugal Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec met with Portugal's Parliament Chairman Antoni Moreira Barbosa during a two-day visit this week to discuss the Czech Republic joining Western European organizations. "The Czech Republic doesn't want to get into Europe to take part in dividing up funds from Brussels," Zieleniec was quoted as saying by Mlada Fronta Dnes. "On the contrary, we want to be a country that will soon take a place among the contributors to these funds." Portugal, one of the poorest countries in the European Union, is a recipient of funds from Brussels. During his visit in Lisbon, Zieleniec signed an agreement to stop double taxation between the two countries. Czech and Slovak Education Ministers Sign Reciprocal Agreement Education Ministers Ivan Pilip of the Czech Republic and Lubomir Haach of Slovakia signed an agreement May 23 in Prague that will allow the republics to exchange up to 80 students for university studies, and 10 students for post-graduate studies. The exchange will primarily affect disciplines not taught, or taught on an insufficient level, in the other country. Slovaks have expressed interest in the arts and medicine, while Czech students are interested in studying at the Transport University in Zilina, or at the Woodworking Faculty of the Technical University in Zvolen. Costs of the exchange for the countries are expected to be the same. The Slovak Minister proposed that Slovaks interested in studying at Czech schools would have to pay tuition, as would Czechs studying in Slovakia. Pilip said he will discuss this possibility with Czech rectors. Vladimir Dlouhy Most Popular Politician Vladimir Dlouhy (Civic Democratic Alliance - ODA), the minister of industry and trade, has been the most popular Czech politician for a year. In a May poll conducted by the by the Center for Empirical Research (STEM), Dlouhy was in the favor of 87 percent of those questioned. Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec (Civic Democratic Party - ODS) was in second place, with 72 percent. Third place belongs to Jiri Dienstbier, Free Democrat chairman and the first post-revolution foreign minister, who is still the most popular opposing politition. Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus fell from second to fourth. The STEM questions didn't include President Vaclav Havel. Survey Points to Lack of Information About Homosexuality An informal survey conducted by CAROLINA suggests that Czechs lack information on homosexuality. Fifty-seven percent of those questioned said they were not satisfied with the amount of information available about homosexuality. Mostly this unsatisfaction appears among young people -age category around 20. Seventy-five percent said they disapprove of homosexuality. To the question, "What is homosexuality?," 80 percent said it is a sexual orientation, 10 percent said it is deviant and 4 percent said it is an illness. A strong majority, 88 percent, said homosexuals should enjoy absolute equality in terms of civil rights. However, only 55 percent felt homosexuals should be allowed to adopt. Victor FROM SLOVAKIA Leftist Parties Sign Coalition Agreement The chairmen of the Party of the Democratic Left, the Social-Democratic Party of Slovakia, the Party of Farmers and the Green Party signed an agreement May 23 in Bratislava to seek to vote together and cooperate in other ways. The three leftist parties and the ecological party will vote for an European left program which respects the longtime governmental and political interests of Slovakia, said Democratic Left Chairman Peter Weiss. The program will also provide realistic hopes for the young generation and guarantees for good relationships with neighboring countries. "In the next parliamentary election we will fight for victory," Weiss said. Dusan CULTURE Bob Dylan Will Sing to The Czechs For the First Time Legendary singer Bob Dylan will perform for a Czech audience for the first time in his 30-year-career July 16 at the Sport Hall. The 53-year-old Dylan, together with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, fundamentally influenced pop music of the 1960s and became a significant inspirational source for the Czech folk music scene. The concert is being organized by the 10:15 Promotion agency. ECONOMY Second Round of The Second Privatization Wave Began The second round of the second wave of the coupon privatization began Monday. Czechs can choose from 846 enterprises being offered until June 6, the deadline of this round. At the same time, citizens are getting information about their orders from the first round, in which 15 enterprises were sold. Because demand varied widely in the first wave, based on the quality of offerings, prices in the second wave vary widely, from with 500 points buying anywhere from one to 150 shares. (Each citizen has 1,000 points.) The different prices are expected to shorten the privatization process. While the duration of the second wave has not been fixed yet, there are widely expected to be three to six rounds. Pavel EXCHAGE RATES OF THE CZECH NATIONAL BANK (valid from May 25) CHECKS CASH country Buy Sell Middle Buy Sell ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Australia 1 AUD 21.258 21.472 21.365 20.30 22.44 Belgium 100 BEF 85.186 86.042 85.614 82.91 88.31 Great Britain 1 GBP 43.666 44.104 43.885 42.47 45.31 Denmark 1 DKK 4.477 4.523 4.500 4.30 4.70 Finland 1 FIM 5.350 5.404 5.377 4.88 5.88 France 1 FRF 5.127 5.179 5.153 4.95 5.35 Ireland 1 IEP 42.793 43.223 43.008 41.01 45.01 Italy 1000 ITL 18.159 18.341 18.250 17.48 19.02 Japan 100 JPY 27.702 27.980 27.841 26.54 29.14 Canada 1 CAD 21.036 21.248 21.142 20.25 22.03 Lucemburg 100 LUF 85.186 86.042 85.614 82.61 88.61 Netherland 1 NLG 15.628 15.786 15.707 15.23 16.19 Norway 1 NOK 4.048 4.088 4.068 3.92 4.22 New Zealand 1 NZD 17.061 17.233 17.147 16.40 17.90 Portugal 100 PTE 16.939 17.109 17.024 15.84 18.20 Austria 1 ATS 2.492 2.518 2.505 2.45 2.57 Greece 100 GRD 11.881 12.001 11.941 11.23 12.65 Germany 1 DEM 17.533 17.709 17.621 17.16 18.08 Spain 100 ESP 21.307 21.521 21.414 20.41 22.41 Sweden 1 SEK 3.730 3.768 3.749 3.59 3.91 Swiderland 1 CHF 20.539 20.745 20.642 20.14 21.14 USA 1 USD 28.990 29.282 29.136 28.44 29.84 EC-ECU 1 XEU 33.794 34.134 33.964 -- -- IMF-SDR 1 XDR 41.035 41.447 41.241 -- -- Slovakia 1 XCU -- -- 33.964 -- -- SPORT Sparta Wins First Czech-Moravian Football Title Just one point was enough for Sparta Prague to clinch the First League championship three rounds before the end of the season. In its match, Sparta tied 1:1 with Ostrava 1:1 to earn enough points for the championship. In other matches Saturday, Liberec beat Olomouc 2:1 Drnovice-Bohemians Prague 4:1. Brno tied with Ceske Budejovice 1:1, the same result between Cheb - Zlin. Plzen won in Hradec Kralove 2:1 and Victoria Zizkov in Vitkovice 1:2 . In Prague, Slavia beat Dukla 3:2. Dusan Slovan Bratislava - The Slovak Football Champion Slovan Bratislava secured the champion's title four rounds before the end of Slovak First Football league play. In the 28th round, Slovan beat DAC Dunajska Streda 4:3. Dusan WEATHER The weather is playing with us. One day the sun is shining and temperatures are 25 degrees Centigrade and the next day is cool, rainy and windy. We expect that the sky will remain cloudy until Friday, but weekend temperatures should rise to 26 degrees. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. 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