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 THE CZECH REPUBLIC Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic e-mail: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz ISSN 121-5040 tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 22112219 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 388, Friday, September 22, 2000. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (September 6 - September 20) Financiers Arrive for 55th IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting The official program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meeting began September 19 in Prague's Congress Center, and will continue next week with the expected arrival of some 15,000 bankers and financiers. Prague's streets are expected to be filled by an estimated 25,000 domestic and foreign opponents of globalization. The protesters have announced 215 protest acts, while the police say they are prepared for demonstrations, marches, blockades and any possible violence: there will be more than 11,000 members of the police force on duty. There will be changes in traffic around the Congress Center, while hospitals, courts, prisons, banks and some offices in downtown Prague have enacted special procedures and opening hours. Some theaters have cancelled performances, and some public parks and gardens will be closed. Utility providers have also prepared special plans for the week and have increased security measures. Protesters have accommodation in a camp in Strahov Stadium and at the Dzban recreation area. Not many protesters are visible in Prague, because they have been preparing outside the capital. Dita Eckhardtova/Michael Bluhm Czech-Austrian Commission to Visit Temelin before Plant Opens Czech legislators visited their Austrian colleagues September 12-13 and invited them to see the Temelin nuclear power plant. The visit to Austria took place immediately after the EU lifted sanctions against Austria preventing such visits. Before Temelin begins functioning it will host a meeting of four experts and four legislators from each side, with the commission's purpose being the evaluation of Temelin's safety. A European Parliament September 7 resolution (passed by a wide margin) asks the Czech government not to inaugurate Temelin before its effect on the environment is analyzed. The resolution also requests information for the international community to allow outside experts to judge the plant's safety. Prime Minister Milos Zeman has long made it clear he considers Temelin safe and will not be swayed by foreign criticism. The Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety and the International Atomic Energy Agency do not have any objections to Temelin. Austrian protesters continue to stage blockades of the Czech-Austrian border. The September 15 blockade affected all border crossings, another blockade is scheduled for September 22, with protesters demanding a six-month delay in before Temelin begins functioning. Jakub Tronicek/Michael Bluhm Decision Made on Jewish Cemetery The Czech Jewish Community has concluded the long-running conflict over the Jewish cemetery unearthed under a construction site belonging to the Czech Insurance Company. The remains from the cemetery will be moved to the New Prague Jewish Cemetery, according to a decision taken by community leadership September 8. The leadership also recommended all other institutions comply with the resolution Prague Jewish Community Chairman Jiri Danicek said the solution allows all religious rules regarding remains to be upheld. Jakub Tronicek/Michael Bluhm FROM SLOVAKIA IN BRIEF * Robert Fico, chairman of the Direction (Smer) Party and one of the country's most popular politicians, announced September 9 he supported voter participation in the referendum on early elections. President Rudolf Schuster has called a referendum for November 11 on whether early elections should be held, based on a petition drive by the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak National Party. The stance of the Direction Party, which opinion polls say could garner 20 per cent in an election today, was eagerly awaited. Polls had suggested the turnout for the referendum will not reach to the required 50 per cent of the electorate to make the results of the vote official. * Slovak Finance Minister Brigita Schmoegnerova won Euromoney magazine's award as Europe's best finance minister. She is the first woman to win the award and will receive it at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank underway in Prague. * The unemployment rate in Slovakia declined to 17.4 per cent in August from 19.4 per cent in July. * Slovak doctors began a hunger strike September 12 in front of the legislature to call attention to the situation in the healthcare field. The government has freed an extra 1.4 billion Slovak crowns for the industry, but doctors say that is not enough. Lida Truneckova/Michael Bluhm ECONOMY IN BRIEF * The Government September 18 approved its 2001 budget proposal with a deficit of 20 billion crowns. * The country's GNP rose in the second quarter by 1.9 per cent over the last 12 months and by 3.1 per cent from the first quarter of this year, according to information from the Czech Statistics Office September 15. The office also said the unemployment rate in August was 9 per cent, the same as in July. * Construction on Philips' color-television factory in Hranice nad Moravou, which should become the second-largest such factory in the world, began September 12. The investment of 21 billion crowns represents the largest green-field investment in the Czech Republic. Production, which should reach 8 million sets annually, should begin in the third quarter of 2001 and employ some 3,00 people. Unemployment in the region is about 15 per cent, and Philips was granted a 10-year tax holiday by the government. Prime Minister Milos Zeman attended the ground-breaking.. Lida Truneckova/Michael Bluhm Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid September 22) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 35.485 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 22.473 Great Britain 1 GBP 59.017 Denmark 1 DKK 4.752 Japan 100 JPY 39.141 Canada 1 CAD 28.085 IMF 1 XDR 53.491 Hungary 100 HUF 13.511 Norway 1 NOK 4.444 New Zealand 1 NZD 16.849 Poland 1 PLN 9.038 Greece 100 GRD 10.466 Slovakia 100 SKK 82.065 Slovenia 100 SIT 16.964 Sweden 1 SEK 4.235 Switzerland 1 CHF 23.542 USA 1 USD 41.691 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 18.143 Belgium 100 BEF 87.965 Finland 1 FIM 5.968 France 1 FRF 5.410 Ireland 1 IEP 45.057 Italy 1000 ITL 18.326 Luxemburg 100 LUF 87.965 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.102 Portugal 100 PTE 17.700 Austria 1 ATS 2.579 Spain 100 ESP 21.327 CULTURE World Press Photo 2000 Exhibit Arrives in Prague Prague's Ambit Gallery hosts September 2-24 the World Press Photo exhibit, which presents the best photojournalism of the last year. A 13-member international jury selected from the unprecedented number of 42,215 photos in 18 thematic categories (news reporting, nature and environment, sports, art, science, technology, portrait, etc.). Danish photojournalist Claus-Bjoern Larsen won the competition with a black-and-white photo of a group of Kosovo Albanians. Chairman of the international jury Mark Grosset said the photo could have come from World War II as well as from the war in Chechnya. In this respect, he said, the award-winning photo truly represents this 20th century, which will be remembered in history as a century full of barbarity and violence. A review of the exhibit in Czech daily MF DNES said World Press Photo jurors are facing criticism that they reward predominantly cruel photos full of blood and violence. World Press Photo Foundation Board member Femke Rotteveel said, "It is not true that we prefer only photos of war and catastrophe. As a matter of fact they constitute only a very minor part of the pictures entered for a competition." According to Rotteveel, those snapshots are successful because they reflect moving situations. "They transfer through an emotional way a message about events in different parts of our planet." Tereza Tesarikova/Milan Smid WOMAD Festival Welcomed in Czech Republic The very first WOMAD festival of ethnic music, dance and art in a post-communist country took place in Prague. The purpose of WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) is to organize meetings of authentic folk music with contemporary popular arts. About 20 artists and groups performed in a big tent erected on Prague's Letna Plain, with performers including the Moravian folk musicians Hradistan, the British dance group TransGlobal Underground, Algerian Hamid Baroudi, folk musician Papa Wemba from Congo and Czech Romany singer Vera Bila with her group Kale. The festival came to a head with a public parade where works made in art workshops were presented. Festival visitors were offered samples of vegetarian food, they could paint ceramics and get acquainted with techniques of body and face painting. Mirka Stipkova/Milan Smid Cultural Monuments Attract Tourists More than 800 ancient monuments in 223 Czech towns and villages were open free of charge September 9-10 as a part of the broader project European Heritage Days (EHD). The objective of the EHD is to strengthen the link between European citizens and their common cultural heritage and to attain a better mutual knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity. The Czech Republic joined the EHD project nine years ago. The opportunity to visit cultural monuments - otherwise permanently or temporarily closed because of private ownership or reconstruction - was used by thousands of tourists, some of them from abroad. Many Germans crossed the border to visit castles, monasteries and other memorable objects in the western regions of the Czech Republic. As a part of the EHD, the Czech Railways (Ceske drahy) organized special steam-powered trains on the route between Prague, Krivoklat and Zbecno. Lenka Ludvikova/Milan Smid SPORTS XXVII Olympic Games in Sydney September 15 - October 1 Medals for the Czech Republic till September 20: Gold: Stepanka Hilgertova - Canoeing Slalom K-1 Bronze: Jan Rehula - Olympic Triathlon Bronze: Martin Tenk - 50m Pistol Bronze: Marek Jiras, Tomas Mader - Canoeing Slalom C-2 The Czech media reported not only on medal winners but also on competitors who finished up to the sixth place and won some points for the final national Olympics chart. Daniel Malek achieved the best finish by a Czech swimmer in history when he finished fifth in the 100m breast stroke and sixth in the 200m breast stroke. Irena Pavelkova in the Canoeing Slalom K-1 finished in fourth place. The performance of the Czech soccer players turned out to be a disaster after the Czech team could not advance from its qualification group, did not win a match and finished last. Results: Czech Republic-USA 2-2, Czech Republic-Kuwait 2-3, Czech Republic-Cameroon 1-1. Disappointment came also from the performance of Czech tennis players. From the six Czech participants in the Olympic tournament only two - Jiri Vanek and Daniela Bedanova - were able to survive the first round of the competition. Among the losers were the Czech players Jiri Novak a Ctislav Dosedel. Sparta Defeated by Arsenal 0-1 in Champions League Sparta lost its first match in the Champions League with London's Arsenal 0-1 in Prague September 12. The deciding goal came in the 33rd minute when the Brazilian player Silvinho got around three Sparta defenders and scored off the left goalpost. While in the first half Sparta tried to attack its rival and was nearly Arsenal's equal, in the second half Arsenal controlled the course of the game and did not give Sparta a chance to score. 1st round of the UEFA-Cup: Slavia- Kopenhagen 3-0 Drnovice - Muenchen 1860 0-0 Norrkoping - Liberec 2-2 Hockey Extraleague Starts A new system of rules and classification has been introduced into the Czech Telecom Hockey Extraleague: When a match is not decided in regulation time, it is extended with two additional five-minute periods with only four players on each side. A winner of a match within regulation time gets 3 points, a victory in overtime brings 2 points for the winner and 1 point for the defeated team. Last year's champion Vsetin overcame financial problems and is at the top of the chart after five rounds. Results of the 1st round (September 8): Sparta - Zlin 4-1, Vsetin - Slavia 2-2, Pardubice - Kladno 7-6 in overtime, Trinec - Vitkovice 3-3, Havirov - Znojmo 2-1, Litvinov - K. Vary 3-0, C. Budejovice - Plzen 5-3 Results of the 2nd round: Slavia - K. Vary 6-5 po prod., Vitkovice - Sparta 2-0, Zlin - C. Budejovice 7-2, Plzen - Havirov 5-3, Znojmo - Trinec 6-5 in overtime , Kladno - Vsetin 2-4, Litvinov - Pardubice 4-1 Results of the 3rd round: Litvinov - Kladno 1-2, C. Budejovice - Trinec 5-2, Vitkovice - K. Vary 5-1, Pardubice - Zlin 2-2, Havirov - Slavia 2-3, Sparta - Plzen 5-2, Vsetin - Znojmo 2-1 Results of the 4th round: Slavia - Sparta 1-4, Zlin - Vsetin 2-3, Vitkovice - Pardubice 3-4, Plzen - Litvinov 4-2, Trinec - Havirov 3-3, Kladno - K. Vary 2-4, Znojmo - C. Budejovice 3-5 Results of the 5th round: K. Vary - Plzen 1-3, Havirov - Zlin 1-1, Kladno - Slavia 1-2 in overtime., Pardubice - Znojmo 3-2, Sparta - C. Budejovice 3-2, Vsetin - Trinec 2-0, Litvinov - Vitkovice 0-1 in overtime, Standings after 5 rounds: 1. Vsetin 13, 2.Sparta 12, 3.Vitkovice 9, 4.Plzen 9, 5.C. Budejovice 9, 6.Pardubice 9, 7.Slavia 8, 8.Litvinov 7, 9.Zlin 5, 10.Havirov 5, 11.Kladno 4, 12.K. Vary 4, 13.Trinec 3, 14.Znojmo 2 Soccer League Affected by Olympic Games in Sydney Due to Czech players' participation in the Olympics soccer tournament, the soccer clubs made a deal that any team missing two players for Sydney is entitled to postpone its match. With seven games postponed, the chart does not reflect the real standings. Also the Sparta-Slavia intracity derby was cancelled and will take place December 1. Results of the 6th round: Drnovice - Ostrava 3-0, Stare Mesto - Liberec 2-2, Jablonec - Olomouc 2-1, Plzen - Bohemians 1-1, Zizkov - Pribram 2-1 Results of the 6th round: Bohemians - Blsany 4-0, Sparta - Drnovice 3-0, Liberec - Plzen 2-0, Ostrava - Stare Mesto 0-0, Pribram - Jablonec 1-0 Standings (in brackets number of matches played): 1.Sparta (6) 18 points, 2.Liberec (7) 16, 3.Stare Mesto (7) 13, 4.Olomouc (6) 11, 5.Slavia (5) 11, 6.Bohemians (7) 10, 7.Teplice (5) 8, 8.Ostrava (7) 8, 9.Pribram (7) 7, 10.Blsany (6) 6, 11.Zizkov (6) 6, 12.Drnovice (7) 6, 13.Plzen (7) 6, 14.Jablonec (7) 5, 15.Ceske Budejovice (5) 4, 16.Brno (5) 1. Sports by Martin Moravec WEATHER According to astronomy, fall starts September 22. According to Czech Central European experience, Indian Summer with temperatures above 20 degrees Celsisus/68 degrees Fahrenheit lasts till September 20. The day of September 21 brought chilly and rainy weather with temperatures of 10-15 degrees Celsius/50-59 degrees Fahrenheit. English version edited by Michael Bluhm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA. Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Please send them to the address: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz To subscribe to CAROLINA news, send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz The text of the message for subscription to the English version must be: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name or for the Czech version SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers, send the following message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. 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