Archive of articles - July 2001, page 2

Letter to the Editor: An alarming response

Supreme Control Office rules Kinčeš broke law

OSCE "disturbed" by murder of Roma Karol Sendrei

Eurostart tender win on hold for summer

Top Pick: Jánošík Days in the hero's home-town Folk Music Festival - August 3-5

A larger-than-life bronze statue of Juraj Jánošík (1688 - 1713) - the 'Slovak Robin Hood' who stole from the rich to give to the poor - welcomes visitors to his birth-village of Terchová at the base of the Malá Fatra mountain range.For his crimes, Jánošík was sentenced to death on a hook inserted into his ribs. But the spirit of his era will live again during the three-day folk music festival Jánošíkove dni (Jánošík Days), running August 3 to 5 in the outlaw's former stomping grounds.Dressed in traditional garb, musicians will arrive from throughout Slovakia and from Poland, Latvia, Turkey and the Czech Republic to perform eastern and central European folk music. Slovak bands will comprise musicians playing violins, dulcimers, bass, recorders, fujary (a Slovak didgeridoo-like instrument), and gajdy (bag pipes).

This Week

Culture Shock: Irritating Slovak DJs butchering songs

"They don't give a damn about any trumpet-playin' band," sings Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits in the group's classic 1978 song 'Sultans of Swing'. "It ain't what they call rock n' roll."It's an achingly beautiful song, crowned by Knopfler's elegant guitar solo, one so smooth it stands proudly and properly alongside other stirring riffs like Jimmy Page's 'Stairway to Heaven' solo, or the duelling jam featuring Joe Walsh at the end of 'Hotel California'.Listening to that final lyric on a Slovak radio station, I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes and braced myself for the singular feeling of gratification only quality music can provide. But instead of the Knopfler solo, I heard Samantha Fox.

Letter to the Editor: Arrogance only makes things worse

US Steel Košice announces $41 million profit

Mixed results as Slovak bank privatisation continues

Efforts to privatise two banks still in state hands saw mixed results July 20 as the sale of a 60% stake in Slovakia's smallest bank faltered for a second time, while press reports suggested a successful sell-off of the larger Investičná a rozvojová banka (IRB) was drawing closer.The central bank announced that it had refused three interested parties - J&T Finance Group, Slávia Capital and 1. Paroplavebna brokerage company - the right to carry out an audit of Banka Slovakia. It said that none of the candidates had experience working in the Slovak banking sector, and cast doubt on the recent financial performance and structure of J&T Group in particular.A previous tender for the sale of a 60% share in the bank failed in February when an interested consortium pulled out of talks after failing to agree terms.

Penta, J&T increase holdings in Slovnaft refinery

Swedes back out of construction company buy

Investment agency image mauled again

Only months since being threatened with bankruptcy, government investment agency SARIO has been on the receiving end of more bad publicity after the Economy Ministry said it had received information that the agency's top executives had conflicts of interest.The matter has been complicated by the insistence of the European Commission (EC) delegation in Bratislava that the situation be cleared up before the EC releases 5.5 million euros to the agency for grants and technical assistance."Civil servants mustn't have links with any private companies, especially when they are dealing with [other] businesses on a regular basis. We have to be careful about this, especially when they [SARIO] are to be funded by EC money," said Christian Bourgin, head of the Phare funding section at the Slovak branch of the EC in Bratislava.

Quote of the Week

Česká pojišťovna interested in Slovak insurer

Industrial park manual approved

As part of a wider plan to draw more foreign investment to Slovakia, the government July 18 approved a manual outlining steps municipalities must follow when asking for state contributions towards the construction of industrial parks.Such parks are preferred by foreign investors as locations for new facilities, as the land is already secured and freely available for building, which is not always the case with private land. The construction of new industrial parks will draw more investment and hence jobs to Slovakia, say present and potential investors.The government has said the new manual will help speed the process of setting up the parks, and lauded it as an important help for towns and cities, spelling out exactly how they can ask for the funds.

Around Slovakia

Lightning strikes leave four Slovaks deadRacing car crashes into spectatorsTruck full of sugar stolen from central Slovak citySNS official's son charged with smuggling immigrants

Letters to the Editor: Out of step with modern thinking

Expat begins long trek across Slovakia

TRNAVA - David McLean first got the idea of walking across Slovakia in 1993, when he was an English teacher in the northern Slovak city of Poprad. After constant planning and preparation, he found himself eight years later ready to begin his journey at Devín Castle, the site where Slovakia meets Austria, where the Morava River flows into the Danube, where in 1836 Slovak poet Ľudovít Štúr led a group of students to the ruin atop the rock promontory to announce the Slovak struggle for self-determination."It had to be Devín," he announces, the perfect beginning for a trek which he says is designed to explore every corner of the country, from the Hungarian south to the mountainous north and from the symbolic Devín ruin to the site in north-east Slovakia where Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia converge.