Archive of articles - August 2003, page 5

The fort of pride and beauty

ONE of the most beautiful and well preserved Slovak castles, Krásna Hôrka, is located in south central Slovakia's Gemer region. It was built in the 13th century to protect the road leading into the rich mining areas of the nearby Slovenské Rudohorie mountain range.The Hungarian King Béla IV presented the region where the castle stands to the family of Bebek as a reward for their heroic deeds in the battle against the Tartars. The Bebeks reconstructed and fortified the original stone fort that had stood there before.

Ethnic Hungarians on stage

SLOVAK citizens of Hungarian ethnicity will gather in the picturesque valley of Gombasek (Gombaszög) to present the best of their culture at the 45th Slovak Celebration of Hungarian Culture on August 24."It is the largest festival of Hungarian culture in Slovakia and the selection of the best that has been presented at other [Slovak] festivals during the year," says Tamás Zubko, the festival's organizer.

Child alcoholism rising

Industrial park rise impeded by lack of funds

Glass producer invests in Záhorie

The lonely road to perfect Slovak

WITH the rush for Slovaks to perfect their knowledge of western languages in the run-up to EU entry, foreigners seeking to similarly improve their Slovak are finding it increasingly difficult to find courses for more than a basic level of Slovak.At first sight, language schools appear to offer a wide variety of classes for learning Slovak, with most schools offering courses in Slovenčina pre cudzincov (Slovak for foreigners).In Bratislava, the Caledonian School reports that all its Slovak classes last year were full.

Kaník gets his man

THE CANDIDATE proposed by Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, and the Family Ľudovít Kaník has been selected as the new director for social security provider Sociálna poisťovňa (SP). His appointment follows weeks of wrangling between the ministry and members of the SP board.The new director is František Halmeš, once an MP from the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), the former party of Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, and current director of Nimnica spa on the Váh river in western Slovakia. He has not had any prior experience in the field of social security.

New telecom firms to provide services

Firms ask state for investment capital

EU entry could bring extremists to Slovakia

PM lashes out at spy journal reports

PRIME Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda has lashed out at an article published in British spy journal Jane's Intelligence Digest (JID) on the operations of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) claiming that even after changing directors, the SIS still seems to continue operating as an organisation without any democratic accountability.The JID article also claimed that the new director of the SIS, Ladislav Pittner, often hires older people who used to work with the communist secret police (ŠtB).

Learning the language of peace

NATO enlargement next year will mean that an increased number of officers and administrative staff in accession countries, including Slovakia, will need to be able to communicate in English. The British Council is managing a series of projects to support English-language training for the military in these countries, on behalf of the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Buy new, improved healthcare - guaranteed to reduce corruption!

THE HEALTH Ministry's proposal to give wealthier patients the opportunity to pay to receive better healthcare is, in itself, no real surprise, but the bizarre idea that this is a solution to the bribery problem in the Slovak healthcare system is droll.As Slovak ministries fall over themselves to bring the worst of western state practices to this country, it was only a matter of time before a two-tier health system was put on the table. Clearly the ministry does not understand the system fully, having come up with a harebrained scheme to allow wealthier patients to buy the time of their favourite doctors.

Health Ministry wants two-tier system

MONEY may soon enable wealthier patients to get health services faster than regular patients.In what observers have dubbed the legalisation of bribes in the health care system, the Slovak Health Ministry is planning to enable hospitals to collect extra payments if patients wish to be treated by a particular specialist. Wealthier patients could also pay to avoid waiting months for surgery.It is estimated that Sk10 billion to Sk12 billion (€239 million to €287 million) of black money in white envelopes makes it into the pockets of Slovak doctors, and the Health Ministry admits that bribery is a problem in the system.

Politician’s wife found dead

Re-opened bugging case leads to further intimidation

No permission given for Islamic Centre in Bratislava

Anti-Monopoly Office investigates increased bank charges

Coalition leaders do not want Schuster's help