News Monday, AUGUST 21st, 2000

By Vladimir Tax

Central European bourses to cooperate

National Stock Exchanges of five Central European countries have been working towards close cooperation before EU accession. The Prague Stock Exchange said a concrete plan would be presented in September. The project includes six ways of joint approach, for example in quotation, clearing, marketing and providing information about blue chips on websites. The integration of stock exchanges requires harmonisation of legislation and close cooperation of national capital market supervisory bodies.

Czechs send fire rescue helicopter to Macedonia

Czech Ministry of Interior has sent a special fire rescue helicopter to Macedonia to help extinguish wide-spread forest fires in the Balkan country. The ministry said sending a helicopter was the fastest way after Macedonia officially asked for help on Saturday evening. Macedonia has been suffering from vast forest fires since the beginning of summer, damage has been estimated at 30 million German marks.

Poll: 57 % of Czechs agree with cloning of human embryos

More than a half of Czechs that were addressed in a recent opinion poll agree with cloning of human embryos for medical purposes. At the same time, 80 percent of those asked are afraid of misuse of the technology. The opinion poll was conducted by the Sofres Factum agency following the British government's approval of cloning of human embryos, a step supported by scientists and doctors in many countries of the world, including the Czech Republic.

Export to CEFTA countries on the rise

Czech exports to the partner countries within the Central European Free Trade Agreement rose by 12 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2000 to nearly 2.5 billion USD. Although imports from other CEFTA countries accelerated even more, the Czech Republic maintained a surplus of the trade balance. The Czech Statistics Office said the main Czech export commodities include semi-finished products, machinery and vehicles.

Weather forecast

And finally, the weather forecast. On Monday, the arrival of a cold front to Central Europe will end the series of hot and sunny days. We are expecting a rather cloudy weather with scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms or hail in some places. The highest daytime temperatures should remain around 30 degrees Celsius on Monday, and to drop to around 25 on Tuesday.