Bratislava
Shower in the city


Public showers drew crowds.
photo: TASR

PASSERS-BY in downtown Bratislava on June 26 could take a shower in temperatures of nearly 30 degrees Celsius, in an attempt to break a Guinness world record for public showering.
Although the record was not broken, 1,137 people took a shower in their clothes.
From noon until 18:00, people queued to get under the refreshing stream of water, which was installed near the National Theatre on Hviezdoslavovo Square.
One woman from Bratislava who took a shower, Vanda, told the Slovak daily SME: "I just popped out from work to have a quick shower."
A number of individuals were among the people to take shower, and later loving couples, as well as some homeless people, washed themselves.

Man with three balls

A SLOVAK juggler, Milan Roskopf, has set a new record by juggling three one-kilogram balls while walking up Bratislava's Pressburg Centre, a 29-storey building. On June 26 Roskopf completed the task in six minutes and 27 seconds. "I believed that I was going to make it up in quicker than eight minutes. The finish was the hardest part because the flashing cameras disturbed me a little. I was worried that I might drop one of the balls," Roskopf said. Roskopf said his dream was to juggle up the stairs of the 102-storey Empire State Building in New York City

Walking on floor

MORE than 16,000 Bratislava inhabitants participated in creating an unusual Guinness world record - the highest number of people treading on the floor. Exactly 16,027 people walked through the eight-metre-long floor that had been erected in Bratislava's Avion shopping centre on June 27. For each participant, a private firm contributed Sk10 to a charity dedicated to patients with cancer. According to Igor Svitok from the publication Slovak Records Book, the event had two positive results: On one hand, the floor's manufacturer got a free test of the quality of his product, and on the other hand, the Slovak Anti-cancer League earned more than Sk160,000 (€3,800). Twelve-year-old Filip Pajan from Bratislava, who was the first person to step on the floor, told Nový čas daily: "I wanted to help. My brother was ill with cancer and he was cured

Ilava
Czechs kill protected butterflies

TWO Czech nationals caused an estimated Sk40,000 (€952) of damage when they caught and killed four protected types of butterfly. The Slovak daily Pravda reported on June 27 that the 37-year-old woman and her 44-year-old boyfriend, both from Prague, had been catching rare butterflies in the protected nature reserve of Vršaté Bralá in the Ilava district. It is not known for what purpose they wanted the butterflies.

Veľká Ida
Brother pimp locked up

A FATHER wants his 13-year-old daughter to undergo a test to prove whether or not she is still a virgin, after it was revealed that her older brother wanted to force her into prostitution. The girl, Venuša, was abducted by her unemployed 19-year-old brother Mikuláš, who allegedly wanted to make money from his sister by selling her to men interested in having sex with her. His father, Mikuláš, told the Nový čas daily newspaper that his son had never worked in his life and lived only from ill-gotten gains. "He should be locked up," Mikuláš, 46, told the daily. Investigators arrested the younger Mikuláš and charged him with abduction and limiting personal freedom.

Angry perpetrator smashes toilet

A MAN who threatened the staff at a bar and was taken to a police station smashed up the officers' toilet. The 41-year-old unemployed man, not named, was arrested on hooliganism charges and was taken to a police station in the eastern Slovak village of Veľká Ida. Police spokeswoman Jarmila Petrová said that the man had asked to use the toilet, but instead of using it, he started smashing it up.


Otto von Habsburg
photo: TASR

Holíč
Otto von Habsburg honorary Holíč citizen

THE OLDEST son of the last Austro-Hungarian emperor Charles von Habsburg has been named an honorary citizen of the western Slovak town of Holíč for his family's contribution to the town's development.
Otto von Habsburg, born in 1912, served as an MP in the European Parliament and is now head of the Pan-European Union.
During his trip to Holíč, Otto von Habsburg visited the town's castle, which, under Empress Maria Theresa, had served as a summer retreat for his family.

Banská Bystrica
Locked up for a call

THE REGIONAL court in Banská Bystrica sentenced a 15-year-old boy to a year in penitentiary for raising a false alarm.
Last March the youth, Juraj C., rang a maternity clinic in the city's Roosevelt hospital and said there was a bomb.
Hundreds of patients were evacuated and police searched the whole building but found no bomb.
The schoolboy said he was only joking.