Archive of articles - November 2007, page 3

VW Slovakia to make Škoda Octavia

Loan sharking law stirs banking waters

SLOVAKS now have a weapon to fight what cabinet calls legalised loan sharking. Parliament has passed a package of laws that will bring more transparency to the Slovak loan market, regulate voluntary auctions and protect citizens from losing their property due to harmful loan conditions, the Justice Ministry said.

Around Slovakia

Interest in alternative energy spreads

A PETITION against the planned construction of a wind power park in the neighbouring towns of Vráble and Telince has been signed by about 700 people so far, the Sme daily wrote on October 22.CE-Energy company intends to spend Sk1.3 billion (€38.9 million) to build the wind farm, with seven turbines in Vráble and five in Telince.

Amnesty Int'l: End Roma segregation

ROMA children in Slovakia continue to be largely segregated into inferior education, including a disproportionate number sent to schools and classes for children with special needs, Amnesty International said in a new report.

Better clinics help future veterinarians

YOUNG veterinary doctoral students need good clinical teaching to get them ready for practice, says Emil Pilipčinec, the rector of Slovakia's only veterinary university - the University of Veterinary Medicine in Košice (UVM).

USA: Getty Graduate Internship Programme

THE J. Paul Getty Trust is offering internships for visual arts students. Programmes are offered in the fields of curator studies, preservation of monuments, education and research, information management and grants.

Belgium and Poland: College of Europe

THE COLLEGE of Europe offers a 10-month postgraduate programme for students who plan to pursue their career at the European level. In Bruggy, Belgium, the programme involves European law, European economics, European politics and administration. At Natolin, in Warsaw, students can focus on European interdisciplinary studies.

Smer and SDKÚ popularity on the rise

Slovakia's tax system gets a thumbs-down

Slovak democracy has a quiet 18th birthday

ONLY a couple hundred people celebrated the birthday of democracy in Slovakia this year.It was a big difference from 18 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the country's public squares to protest and bring down the totalitarian regime in what is today Slovakia. This November 17, only a few attended the ceremonies in the same squares.

Bratislava Film Festival offers views on life and lifestyles

THE NINTH Bratislava International Film Festival (IFF BA) opens at the Palace Cinema at the Aupark shopping mall in Bratislava on November 30 for a week-long run.

Quote of the Week:

Slovaks have less cash to spend

IN SEVERAL regions of Central and Eastern Europe, people are wealthier than their Western European neighbors - according to a new study that measures citizens' purchasing power.For example, Budapest residents have fatter wallets than people in Freienbessingen, in the German state of Thuringia. In the Baltic capital cities, residents have more disposable income than those in Italy's poorest community.

The Kriváň Hotel

THE HISTORY of accommodation at Strbské Pleso, the second biggest lake on the Slovak side of the High Tatras, began during the second half of the 19th century, when cabins started popping up along its shore.

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

MEPs say Slovakia's minorities need more help

Staging Hamlet the Czechoslovak way

IMAGINE the cast of Hamlet multiplied by two, with each oversized Shakespearean role performed by two people - a live actor and a marionette. Now take this cast of fleshy and wooden personalities to a white storefront, home to a restored antique wooden carousel, in a warehouse in the trendy waterfront section of Brooklyn known as DUMBO.

Good diplomas help open doors

IN 1992, Zdenko Štefanides spent his summer break living and working in England. Before he returned home in mid-September, he wanted to exchange his hard-earned British pounds for US dollars or German Deutsche Marks, which were more widely accepted in Slovakia then.