Archive of articles - February 2002, page 12

SPP has $10 million after-tax loss

Top fraud cop fired

Review: Her name was Fettuccine

THE SHORT day fled and falling night pursued relentlessly as I wandered aimlessly across the cobblestones of Old Town square.I turned a corner and pulled my trench coat tight as the wind whistled past my ear. Squinting, I brushed past a stoic man with a camera and ducked under a thick curtain into blackness and warmth. Waiting for a table in the cocktail lounge, I dawdled over a gin and tonic (100Sk) wondering where the young lad behind the bar had learned his trade.From the candles and drifting smoke of the cocktail lounge I walked to a lovely window table in the restaurant area. The place was full. The waiters bustled and the smell of basil and rosemary seemed to be faintly whispering above the din of plates and knives and trailing voices.

PM lobbied by Germans

Unpaid truckers return home

Visa policy puts security over freedom

BORDER police intercepted another 60 illegal migrants from various countries on the Slovak-Ukraine border January 30. Despite calls this year from Interior Minister Ivan Šimko to tighten the country's eastern frontier, and pressure from the European Union to stem the tide of migrants coming to EU shores, the movement of people looking for better conditions shows no sign of abating.Beyond border patrols and raids on people smuggling operations, the Interior Ministry has a relatively restrictive visa policy for foreign visitors. Slovakia now bars some 3.8 billion people - or 61% of the world population - from visiting Slovakia for tourist purposes on an individual basis.

Shut doors stun fund depositors

Investment fund BMG Invest and parent company Horizont closed their doors to customers on February 4 for what the firm claimed was an internal audit.But within 24 hours depositors' worst fears were confirmed: The firms had been sold to an unnamed American buyer, said Horizont officials, who would either reopen after an unspecified time or close and pay off as many deposits as possible.Depositors know little at this point other than their money is unavailable until further notice, and that the former owners of the Horizont group are nowhere to be found. Neighbours of board chairman Vladimír Fruni say they have not been seen him for six months, and the daughter of BMG board member Marián Šebeščák says that her father is on a business trip abroad from which he is unlikely to return soon.

VUB releases preliminary profits

Social worker jailed

Customs bust arms firm

Reader feedback: No tears for Montana's

Citibank profits go down

Every second Slovak has mobile

Record trade deficit: $2.1 billion

SLOVAKIA'S trade deficit for 2001 rose to a record Sk103.2 billion ($2.1 billion) on the shoulders of a huge December gap between exports and imports, the central bank revealed on January 30.Domestic analysts said they had expected the trade deficit figure, which broke a previous high set in 1998. Weak demand on EU export markets, imports of technology to support record foreign investment inflows in 2000 and 2001, and "booming" consumer demand were responsible for the trade data, they said.

Nato wants more Slovaks checked

Danubius wins Piešťany spa tender

State signs SP sale contract

Cable firm backs down

Telecoms dominate advertising markets

DESPITE the release of figures showing massive growth in the Slovak advertising market, industry players and monitors are trying to play down suggestions of a boom in the sector.Reports by monitoring firms ACNielsen and Taylor Nelson Sofres have put growth in the advertising market for 2001 at between 35 and 60 per cent.According to a study by ACNielsen released in late January the market grew by more than a third last year, fuelled by massive growth in the telecoms sector.