Archive of articles - February 2002, page 13

Status cards attractive for non-Hungarians too

REGIONAL offices of the ethnic Hungarian Association for Common Goals (ZZSC) have registered 11,000 requests for the Hungarian 'status card' that Budapest has promised to Hungarians living abroad to prove their entitlement to financial and cultural advantages.

Šimko to run for SDKÚ lead

Car cops exposed

Punch opens new production line

Top Pick: Butterflies in women's clothes, doing it for the music

TINA Turner takes to the stage with her energetic Simply the Best; Whitney Huston sings the heartbreaking I'll Always Love You; Madonna twists to her Music and Cher mixes her best songs. It's a night full of stars - male stars. All songs are performed by a transvestite quartet called The Butterflies.The Czech Butterflies opened their first tour across Slovakia on February 1 in Bratislava's Culture and Leisure Park (PKO). Their almost two-hour show is a part of an evening of entertainment called Wau Scandal!!! which includes a concert by the band Seven Days to Winter, and a dance show by Globe Clubbers and Discoteque. This week, the transvestite group plans to visit Nové Zámky and Košice.

Belgium broke Roma rights: Court

Trnava judge may be sacked for inactivity

JUSTICE Minister Ján Čarnogurský says he is considering sacking Trnava District Court Judge Marian Kusý for being inactive in a case concerning two alleged mob boss brothers in the upper Nitra region.Karol and Ivan M. from Prievidza have been in pre-trial custody since 1999. But they were released from custody two weeks ago through a January 18, 2002 Supreme Court verdict condemning the lack of progress by the lower court.The problem, according to the minister, had been Judge Kusý, who refused to deal with the case; as a result, Čarnogurský has initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. The proceedings are expected to take up to three months and may result in permanent removal of the judge from judicial ranks.

Reader feedback: What of Rusyn translations?

VSŽ share sale approved

Departing soldiers celebrate

New Foreigners Law: Great if you're European

It's about to get a whole lot easier for citizens of European Union member states to live and work in Slovakia.An amendment to The Law on the Stay of Foreigners, approved December 13 last year and due to take effect April 1, 2002, gives special exemption to EU nationals from the arduous process of applying for a residence permit.Under sections 30 to 33 of the amended law (you can find a Slovak language copy on the internet Collection of Laws site, www.zbierka.sk under the title Zákon z 13. Decembra 2001 o pobyte cudzincov) EU citizens can get residence permits quicker and for longer than people holding passports from other countries.

McDonald's sells Sk400 million

Slovakia and its Winter Olympic medals

IN THE history of the modern Winter Olympic Games, Slovakia has produced 18 medalists. Only one sportsman, however, has yet won the gold.Figure skater Ondrej Nepela won a gold medal in 1972 and was recently announced as the top Slovak sportsman of the 20th century.Of those sportsmen who own more than one Olympic medal, hockey goalkeeper Vladimír Dzurilla prides himself on the richest collection of medals - one silver and two bronze.

Moderates quit "sinking" SDĽ ship

OUSTED Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová frowned as she looked for her name on a parliamentary sign-in sheet for members of the legislature. She eventually found it - but under the masthead of the party she abandoned last week, the former communist Social Democratic Left (SDĽ).Schmögnerová and SDĽ founder Peter Weiss resigned their memberships in the SDĽ January 31, citing the party's "flirtation" with the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), its "incomprehensible" policies, and the hard-line approach taken by new leader Pavol Koncoš. The pair also faulted the SDĽ's dismissal of Schmögnerová from the Finance Ministry chair last month, and its outspoken criticism of the government it helped to form in 1998.

Slovakia aims for first Olympic medal

FOR the third time in the nation's independent history, Slovakia's sports people are competing with the world's best in the Winter Olympics, this time the 19th holding of the event in Salt Lake City, Utah. Slovakia has not scored any medals to date in the Winter Olympics, but the country's largest sport mission ever - 29 individuals and the 40-member hockey team - hopes to change that."We're longing for the first medal from the Winter Olympics in the history of independent Slovakia," said František Chmelár, chairman of the Slovak Olympic Committee (SOV). "Secondly, we desire that our hockey players advance from the qualification round to the main event. It could be said that the performance of the Slovak delegation in Salt Lake City stands and falls on the success of our hockey team."

Quotes of the Week

Valentine's wish: Nech sa darí Slovak hockey

IT WAS four years ago that Slovakia's Olympic hockey team was sent packing after losing to Kazachstan in the last game of the opening round. It was a bitter moment for Slovak sport, but then the winter of 1998 was a low point for the country in general.I remember the disappointment, both in our offices, around the nation and in the Nagano rink. I remember watching Slovak NHL spark Ziggy Pálffy cover his face with his hands, and thinking, Jesus, this country never catches a break. Kazachstan, for crying out loud.

Top Slovak medal hopes for Salt Lake

Cross country skiing Ivan Bátory"The Olympics is always something special, it's not your average races," says Ivan Bátory. "Everyone asks me about my ambitions in Salt Lake City. My goal is to perform so that I will be able to be proud of myself. I believe that in the races I will be able to give everything that I worked hard for over the last three months."Bátory, 24, is married. His top placements at the last Winter Olympics in Nagano were 11th in relay and 19th in the 50 kilometres race.

Jobless rate hits record