European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday August 23,1994 i today s rates a hollowing Are fixed rates at which Community banking an credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound 1.59dutch Guilder 1.68 German Mark 1.50 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the. British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rate that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies austrian Schilling 10.7875 Bahrain Dinar 0.37675 belgian franc 31.64 British Pound 1.5515 Canadian Dollar 1.3754 danish Krone 6.0690 dutch Guilder 1.7180 French franc 5.2480 German Mark 1.5305 greek drachma 230.25 italian lira 1,561 Kuwait Dinar 0.29680 norwegian Krone 6.7444 portuguese escudo 157.50 saudi rial 3.75 Spanish peseta 128.31 Swiss franc 1.2890 turkish lira 31,330.00. Note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $382.60 an ounce Sliver quote $5.24 an ounce sources merchants National Bank 4 Trust co. And the associated press taxes May prove too tall an order for Mcdonald s Aeroflot business up despite crashes Moscow a Russia s state owned airline Aeroflot reported a 15 percent increase in passenger traffic forthe first six months of this year despite the bad publicity from two major crashes. Vladimir Tikhonov the general director of Aeroflot russian International airlines told reporters last week that revenues were the equivalent of $450 Mil lion a 10 percent increase Over the Sam period last year. Profits were also up 10 percent he said but did not provide figure. The Lack of Money for spare parts maintenance and salaries has taken its toll on the company the largest of thoroughly 300 carriers that emerged across the former soviet Union. This year Aeroflot has been shaken by two deadly crashes one in Siberia in March that killed All 75 people aboard and another in january near the siberian City of Irkutsk that killed 124. The International airline passenger association based in Washington has advised travellers to avoid flying to or within Russia. The state department told its diplomats last month not to Fly on russian airlines unless absolutely Nec Essary and similar warnings have been is sued by other countries. Aeroflot officials said its crash record and the subsequent negative publicity Cut european bookings by As much As 30 per cent earlier this year although the trend has now been reversed. Belarus Moscow a a Ruble is again Worth a Ruble i Belarus. The government on saturday took a Zero off Al prices Bank accounts and wages in the former soviet Republic to bring them in line with the face value of currency the inter fax news Agency said soon after Belarus introduced its own Ruble in may1992, Cash ran so Short that the currency came to be used at a l-to-10 ratio. A 100-Ruble note for example could be used to buy goods Worth 1,000 rubles. It should have been done Long ago said Igor Vav. By Stephen Kynzer new York times Berlin in a potentially significant blow to the fast food Industry a German court has Given cities and towns the right to Levy taxes on disposable containers including cans paper plates and plastic cups and silverware. The Federal administrative court based in Berlin upheld an ordinance in the Western City of Kassel that require snack bars and fast food restaurants to pay1 a tax of 30 cents for each paper plate they use 25 cents for each can or none Tura Able bottle and 6 cents for each Plas tic spoon Fork or knife. The plaintiffs owners of two Mcdon Ald s restaurants and two vending machine companies had asserted that local communities do not have the Power to Levy such taxes. The court which rules on the capacities and authorities of local governments dismissed their  rulings usually cannot be appealed. There is no need for further Legal authority when the policy goal is to reduce the amount of garbage the court Rule Friday. In recent years As Mcdonald corp foreign businesses have grown More quickly than its . Ones Germany has loomed Large in the company s european operations. Mcdonald s has its head quarters in Oak Brook 111., near Chicago. After the ruling was handed Down representative for Mcdonald s in Ger Many said that the Chain was considering closing its three restaurants in Kassel. Price increases that Are unavoidable in Light of this tax will not be accepted by the Market said the representative who asked not to be identified by name. A spokesman for Mcdonald s in Chicago a Filea Federal court in Germany has ruled that municipalities can impose taxes on disposable plates silverware cans and other containers a decision that could take a big bit out of profits for Mcdonald s and other fast food outlets. On sunday declined further comment. In 1991, Germany enacted a series of strict environmental regulations that hold the manufacturers of consumer goods responsible for the recycling of packaging. But those regulations do not apply Topmost packaging used by fast food outlets. The head of an Industry group rep resenting manufacturers and distributors of vending machines Norbert Monssen said the court decision threatens the existence of an entire  if other communities follow Kassel s example hundreds of thousands of working people will have to give up their daily cof a Monssen said in a radio interview. Despite these warnings however the verdict was welcomed not Only by environmentalists but also by Many politicians. As Many As 300 German cities and towns Are reportedly interested i adopting ordinances similar to Kassel s. German entrepreneur to forsake Russia  Presse Agenter St. Petersburg Russia a Ger Man restaurateur who in 1987 opened the first gastronomic joint venture in the soviet Union is fed up with the heaping portions of bureaucracy chaos and crimean Russia and is headed for Home. I thought i could turn the Corner hereon Day but it s just too hard sighed Broder Drees whose Continental style pub Chaika Seagull was once the Lone Oasis in St. Petersburg for tourist Sand expatriates seeking Good drinks and service with a smile. Drees 48, said he was returning in enact of despair to Hamburg where he opened a pub of the same name in  had owned 12 restaurants in Ham Burg before moving to Russia at the . The russians cry for Western investors but do everything suited to scare them off Drees said. Government officials operate in the same pattern As the mafia Here they stick their fat Paw wherever they suspect there s big Money with no regard whatsoever for the elementary Laws of the  the last two years Drees has struggled in vain to claim his 1991 profits of $1.1 million which were Frozen with out explanation by Russia s foreign Trade Bank in 1992 together with the hard currency deposits of other firms. Drees responded last fall by sailing tothe Small Island of fort Todtleben near St. Petersburg with eight tons of dry Iceland 120 journalists who watched As he froze a piece of russian property in retaliation. The action raised an uproar but did t get me anywhere he noted. Meanwhile Russia s Ever changing Thicket of tariffs and regulations continues to tear at Drees profits while his russian partners the City of St. Peters Burg holds a majority stake in the Busi Ness increasingly shoulder him aside and inflate the administrative apparatus to familiar soviet proportions. The russians love bureaucracy the Way italians love children Drees observed. These administrators come an open up the Cash Register and leave me with All the work. They have no idea How Money is  the pub s profits which came to$975,000 in the first year of operation have fallen to just $260,000, he said pointing out that mushrooming import costs had raised the Price of a Keg of Bee from $65 to $208 since his arrival. While the mafia leaves the High profi Edrees alone in recognition of his Well placed friends at the police department and mayor s office Drees said Ordinary bandits did t. Earlier this year he jumped out of window in his apartment after four unfriendly looking men appeared inthe dead of night tried to break Down his door with an a and a crowbar and began shooting in the hallway. Fearing kidnapping Drees Russia wife and her 5-year-old son now live in Hamburg. Despite the difficulties Drees said it pained him to think hell soon be Leav ing Good friends Beautiful sailing Terri tory and the undeniable excitement of living in a country where he never know what s going to happen next distributed by Scripps Howard news service Lov a currency expert at the National Bank of  s purely a formal  Vavilova insisted the order will have no significant Impact on inflation which is running at 30 percent a month. The move follows the failure earlier this summer of plans to merge Belarus monetary system with Russia s newly elected president Alexander Lukashenko Hassid his country needs to Reform its state controlled Economy before it is ready to use the russian Ruble. Vavilova said state institutions would bring their wages balances and prices into line with the new  stores he said will be forced to comply because Consumers won t pay the old prices. The inter fax news Agency said any Enterprise not re valuing its assets will face confiscation of the surplus and heavy fines. On saturday one Dollar sold for 2,550 to 2,600 Bela russian rubles inter fax said compared with about 25,000 rubles on Friday. Belorussian rubles Are known As Zaichik or rabbits for the animals depicted on them