Archive of articles - May 2006, page 5

Smer-HZDS government a distant possibility

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Government's economic goals largely met

The bigger, the better

THE TELECOM market in Slovakia has experienced a series of mergers and acquisitions over the last several years that has altered its structure from a variety of smaller players into a select few larger ones.This restructuring is the result of greater market liberalisation and an increase in the use of information technology in Slovakia.

Prievaly

EVERY village used to have a lord. Prievaly, in the Záhorie region, belonged to the nearby Korlátko Castle. It is now a village, but it was a small town with its own coat of arms and the right to hold regular markets.

Competition best path to cheaper roaming

EFFORTS by the European Commission to reduce roaming prices are meeting with stiff resistance from mobile phone operators and industry associations, who say that market forces will achieve naturally what the EC wants to do by bureaucratic intervention.

Was it really only for Hungarians?

BÉLA Bugár has kept the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) on a steady course since its emergence eight years ago as a farrago of liberals, conservatives, socialists and Christian Democrats united by their Hungarian ethnicity.

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

Playing games with art in power plant

ONE might not expect it, but the old steam power station in Poprad, which used to feed the Tatra's electric railway, has been serving art to visitors since 1993. The local Tatra Gallery transformed the dormant industrial unit into a vibrant artistic centre, following similar successful attempts worldwide pioneered by renowned pop artist Andy Warhol's Art Factory in the 1960s.

Reader feedback: What about my salary?

GDP cools to 6.3 percent in first quarter

AFTER a heated performance in the last quarter of 2005 that made Slovakia the economic champion of Central Europe, the country's economy slowed moderately in the first three months of 2006.

Reporter charged over attempt to eavesdrop

Mexican president admires Slovak taxes

Migrating with the shrikes: a birding odyssey

IT'S 6:30 in the morning on May 1 and the temperature struggles to break freezing. A cold fog drifts across mountain meadows and through forests of towering spruce trees. I struggle to hike through half-metre deep snow to reach a patch of old growth forest near the summit of Poľana mountain (1,458 m). The icy snow resembles a snow cone with pine needle sprinkles.

Party in good cause

GARDEN parties are often associated with the elite killing time and dusting their contacts at lavish spots. However, international chambers of commerce operating in Slovakia have redeemed the tradition by linking it to charity, proving that partying can at the same time help the needy.

Get connected to the Internet

AS IN many cities around the world, free wireless Internet access is the wave of the future in Bratislava, spurring the growth of new WiFi "hot spots" in public areas and small businesses.

Don't cry for Slovakia: Investors only obey logic

THERE is great irony in how companies, in their moves ever eastward to save a dime or two on cheaper labour and lower production costs, can connect people in remote places and make them consider each other's fate.

Red tape and law enforcement woes

Merkel positive about Slovak reform