Archive of articles - January 2003, page 7

Complaints grow against Justice Harabin

Police claim progress against organised crime

Old songs reveal Roma history

ETHNOGRAPHER Jana Belišová, 37, used to spend her summer holidays at her grandma's house in Žehra, a tiny village near the eastern Slovak town of Prešov. Every evening, she listened to the singing that drifted in from a Roma settlement on a nearby hill just behind the village. During the day she played with the Roma kids, but had to keep this fact secret from her grandma for fear of angering her."Being friends with the Roma was frowned upon, the same as being friends with a gang of hooligans," she says when recalling her childhood.Her grandmother is no longer living, yet Belišová continues to visit the Roma settlements. She works for the civic organization Žudro, and today she is openly friends with many Roma.

Letter to the Editor: Calling Satinský

Around Slovakia

Woman stabs taxi driverDog sledding races in the eastBeware of rabiesHot spring a top attractionPresident wants statue removedCrow that does not fly but barksAvalanche kills skierMan dies in bed when cigarette butt starts fire

Inflation dips to 3.4 percent in 2002

CONSUMER prices in Slovakia rose by 0.7 per cent in December from the previous month, the Slovak Statistics Office reported, bringing annual headline inflation to a record 3.4 per cent, just above the central bank's revised target of 2.9-3.2 per cent.As a result, 2002 will go down as "the most successful year in [Slovakia's] history from the point of view of inflation," UniBanka analyst Viliam Pätoprstý told the TASR news agency.Observers said they were expecting a rise of about this amount at the end of the year, after several months of relatively insignificant movement. Although low, December's inflation rate was the second highest of any month last year.

Sokol dies at 100

Countrywide Events

BRATISLAVAWESTERN SLOVAKIACENTRAL SLOVAKIAEASTERN SLOVAKIA

Černák skips police interview

Joining the EU: Questions and answers

THE QUESTION is known, and so is the answer - probably.Most Slovaks say yes to Europe in current opinion polls and will say yes to it in May's referendum. But this strong affirmative will most likely not be based on solid arguments, but rather driven by the promise of finally becoming part of the much-admired Western world and by hopes of a better future.What is the European Union? How does it make its decisions? What are its main priorities? Few people would have the right to cast their votes in Slovakia if they needed to be able to answer these questions in order to take part in a referendum. And many journalists and politicians getting ready to convince Slovaks in a massive pro-EU campaign to vote for EU membership would probably fail the test as well.

Violence behind closed doors

A TRAGEDY tainted the end of year celebrations in the eastern Slovak village of Tušice, when a 28-year-old man shot dead his two children and then killed himself. Relatives and neighbours said the man was a violent person who brutally beat his wife, causing her psychological distress. The woman had filed charges for abuse in the past, and on the day of the murder, she left the children at her parent's house to go to the police to report him again. While she was there, the husband came to try to pursuade her to move back to their common home. Finding her absent, he killed their daughter aged five, their one-year-old son, and then himself.

UN report finds appalling Roma conditions

J&T under police microscope

Schuster pays ransom to South American native kidnappers

Kukan's candidacy received coolly

Crown jumps again

French car maker chooses Slovakia

Local train line cuts defined

Harabin’s appointment postponed