Archive of articles - November 2002, page 9

Insurance rate fixing investigated

On collision course with labour

Budget deficit adjusted to Sk56.8 billion

Industry output highest ever

New investor opens doors

Crown strengthens further

EU referendum for June 2003

UPC charged over pricing violation

Mikloš: Cabinet to hang tough on fiscal policy

Eighth car firebombing

Friendly skies for Iraq attack

Saving the Roma: Idiocy greater threat than Islam

IMPROVING the world occasionally requires a failure so complete, or a proposal so absurd, that the planet for a second stops turning and people's minds are momentarily concentrated on a single issue.Something of the sort may be at hand for Slovakia's Roma. After years of little progress in improving the minority's living conditions, the Ano party of the ruling coalition has come up with a 'plan' to send missionaries to Roma settlements and reorganise Roma life in the style of an Israeli kibbutz (ie with a central building offering all communal services, and dwellings scattered around it).

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Slovakia beats out Spain to win Fed Cup

SLOVAKIA'S women's tennis team won the Fed Cup, the top team competition in women's tennis, earning their country the title for the first time.The team, comprising world number eight Daniela Hantuchová, Janette Husárová, Martina Suchá and Henrieta Nagyová, won the Fed Cup finals against Spain in Maspalomas, Canary Islands, on November 3.The teams were tied with one win each after games Saturday November 2, when 19-year-old Daniela Hantuchová defeated Magui Serna in two sets 6-2, 6-1 and Janette Husárová lost to Spain's Conchita Martinez, also in two sets.

Roma struggle to build communities

A SLIGHT rain is falling on the eastern Slovak village of Rudňany, nestled in the deep valleys of the Slovenské Rudohorie mountains, where a pair of Norwegian journalists are talking to Janík Horváth, a former police officer in his mid-50s."No we don't eat dogs," said Horváth, in response to what the journalists said they had heard about Rudňany, home to one of Slovakia's most notorious Roma populations. "Horses yes, but not dogs," he says, laughing.Internationally, Rudňany has become synonymous with the most problematic social conditions endured by Slovakia's Roma minority, but as in other towns and villages where Roma live, local organisations are working to improve the lives of the country's worst off.

Cuts, cuts and more cuts

Slovak Post to raise rates despite profits

STATE-RUN postal services monopoly Slovak Post has announced plans to raise its rates, despite racking up huge profits over the last decade.Company officials claim that unless postal prices go up by 15 per cent from January 2003, Slovak Post's revenues won't cover the investment it needs to make in preparation for EU entry.After years of declines, the company's fortunes took a turn for the better in 1997, when, for the first time, it was allowed to adjust its rates in line with inflation, which exceeded 60 per cent over the four years of its existence. Three yearly inflation adjustments followed, helping the company make a profit of Sk240 million ($5.7 million) in 2001.