Archive of articles - July 1996, page 6

Community Grapevine

Czech official bans Romanies from town's swimming pools

Bratislava Slovak Cuisine

Fighting to stay clean in the concrete jungle

Tears in her eyes, Barbora, age 20, ran her hands through her cropped, platinum-blond hair and gazed down the long, wooden table. Next to her, Veronika, a fresh-faced 16-year-old, explained to Barbora that she should stay at home and avoid going out if she wanted to stay clean. Both are addicted to heroin. The rest of the group agreed with Veronika. Isolation is the only way, they said. But Barbora still wanted to see her boyfriend. "You can't," Veronika insisted, tugging at the sleeves of Barbora's lime green t-shirt to emphasize her point. Presiding over the meeting from one end of the table, Ivan Novotný, the doctor, asked, "How old is this boy?"

Much care for appearance at Hotel Perugia

Maybe we went to Perugia on an "off night," but the meal we had there was less than satisfying. This is all the more disappointing, given the elegant décor, lovely table settings and the obvious care put into making the dishes look attractive. Most entrées at Perugia range between 220 and 300 Sk. The least expensive meal is the liptovské halušky s bryndzou (dumplings with goat cheese, Liptov style - 99 Sk) with the most costly a 750-gram serving of T-bone steak served with vegetables and potatoes (799 Sk). Five soups are available (35 Sk) with appetizers ranging from 70 Sk for the úden jazyk s chrenovou omáčkou (smoked tongue in horseradish sauce) or pražská šunka s chrenovým maslom (Prague ham in horseradish butter) to 190 Sk for dravá ryba v koprovej omáčke (catfish in dill cream).

Parties work out Czech minority government

Three million Bulgarians buy privatization vouchers

European Parliament demands new Albanian elections

The Spotlight

Aiming for gold in Atlanta

There is nothing quite like it, sport at its most human level, the Olympics. The entire world will be focused on Atlanta for two weeks, cheering, hoping and gasping at the athletic feats accomplished in 1996. There are a sea of stories. For Slovakia it is a chance to compete in the summer games as its own nation for the first time in its history. Seventy athletes will participate from Slovakia aiming for a gold, but more importantly for the chance to compete. The Slovak Olympic Committee has promised a million crowns for any athlete that brings home a gold medal. Pressure? "It's hard to say," said canoeist Michal Martikán. "I think about it every day," said rifleman Jozef Gönci.

Tennis: Karina Habšudová

When she was fourth among Czechoslovak female tennis players in 1992, when only the top three could go to the Barcelona Olympics, 18-year-old Karina Habšudová didn't sulk. "I was still pretty young," she says now. And when she reached the rank of 24th in the world in the spring of 1995, her far-sighted perspective seemed well justified. But then things started to fall apart. Late last summer, she injured her left Achilles tendon and was almost unable to walk following the U.S. Open in September. Her ranking dropped all the way to number 98, where it stood until little more than a month before Olympic cuts would be made. Only players ranked in the top 65 were likely to make it.

VSŽ stabilizes as SAX index cools off

The Slovak capital market experienced lower trading volumes and a slight decline in the SAX index during the second half of June. VSŽ stock became volatile after passing the 700 Sk mark, but has since stabilized at a price of 680-90 Sk per share. It is possible then that after the decline, there will be an upward movement in the share price, supported by recent events in the company. The VSŽ Supervisory Board accepted the resignations of two VSŽ Board members who were replaced by three members: Július Rezeš (26 years old, former VSŽ finance director and the son of Transportation Minister Alexander Rezeš); Anton Jura (30, former director at VSŽ Keramika); and Ján Seňo (27, former director of ZOS). VSŽ President Ján Smerek described the changes as strategic.

Hungary prepares tender for nuclear reactor privatization

Benzinol issues corporate bonds

HZDS deputy attacked in Banská Bystrica

Trade deficit still in the red

Opposition seeks to avoid early elections

When Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar declared on June 20 that his ruling coalition was "not functional" and hinted that he would not protest against having early elections, opposition politicians said no way. That's because they think that if elections were held in the next few months, Mečiar would capitalize on his currently huge popularity with the Slovak electorate to steamroll those parties opposed to his Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). According to Róbert Fico, deputy chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), if Mečiar "makes himself a martyr for the third time" and manages to trigger early elections, his party's popularity, currently at 35 percent, could increase another 10 points.

Politically, Slovakia needs Yeltsin

Post-election Russia will be substantially different from pre-election Russia, even if president Yeltsin retains his office. It took a close victory over the Communist candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, in the first round to force the "King of the Kremlin" to learn the art of coalition politics. His alliance with General Aleksander Lebed, who came third, will be the major new feature of domestic politics in Russia. Thanks to the powers that the constitution invested in him in 1994, Yeltsin's rule has been autocratic; he has not needed to share power with anyone. After this year's elections, however, he cannot afford such a luxury.

Economically, little will change

When Russians went to the polls to vote for their president on June 16, incumbent Boris Yeltsin finished first, ahead of Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov, but without enough votes to win outright. The second round of elections are being held on July 3. Two leading experts examine the economic and political ramifications of that election for Slovak -Russian relations below. Regardless of who wins the second round of presidential elections in Russia, whether it be Yeltsin or Zyuganov, economic relations between Russia and Slovakia will not be affected.