Archive of articles - November 2008

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The capital still packs a punch

WESTERN Slovakia has almost always been the most developed part of the country. Its has advanced infrastructure, connections to international corridors and a relatively low unemployment rate. It is home to many large investors and companies such as Volkswagen, PSA Peugeot Citroen, the Slovnaft refinery, the Slovak gas utility (SPP), Slovenské Elektrárne power producer, Sony, Samsung, Leoni, Continental Matador and many others.

Marta Ďurianová

Central Košice left with a single cinema

A DECREASE in the number of filmgoers and the upcoming opening of multiplex theatres has forced cinema operators in Košice to close all the traditional cinemas in the city except one, the ČTK newswire reported.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Skiers recently converged on Strbské Pleso to kick off the ski season.

Hundreds hit the slopes at Štrbské Pleso

AT EXACTLY 8:30 on the morning of November 22, skiers took to the Interski slope in Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras to mark the opening of the ski season in Slovakia. Hundreds were in attendance, including skiers from Poland and the Czech Republic, the SITA newswire wrote.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Watch your language

GOVERNMENTS around the globe and down the ages have reached for some pretty unsophisticated tools in order – as they would have it – to educate the people. History is littered with uncivilised methods of spreading or enforcing so-called official cultures or tongues. Journalists are therefore alert whenever governments start talking about laws to regulate culture, use of language or how these are taught in schools.

Beata Balogová

Changes at Holíč Castle

FEW historical buildings in Slovakia are comparable to splendid Holíč Castle.

Branislav Chovan

Andrea Bartošová in front of her winning work, International Cruise.

Bartošová is painter of 2008

ANDREA Bartošová was awarded first place in the Painting 2008 competition for artists aged 35 and under on November 19. The prize came along with a check for Sk300,000 (€9,958).

Jana Liptáková

Post Office to sue EC

SLOVAKIA’S state-owned postal operator is not giving up part of its monopoly without a struggle. With the full backing of the Robert Fico government, Slovenská Pošta has announced it will take the European Commission (EC) to court in order to overturn an October 7 ruling that delivery of hybrid mail consignments in Slovakia must be re-opened to competition.

Beata Balogová

Night watchman on guard

SINCE mid-November, a night watchman has guarded the eastern town of Kežmarok from his perch in the town hall tower. He watches day and night, and remains vigilant even in bad weather.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Countrywide Events

Western SLOVAKIA Bratislava FESTIVAL:THE FIRST week of December traditionally belongs to the popular Flamenco Festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary by filling Bratislava with steamy Latin rhythms from December 3 to 7. As well as a number of performances by talented Slovak, Czech, Spanish, Cuban and even Israeli artists, the closing gala concert will feature guitarists Flaco de Nerja and Antonio Heredia, as well as dancers Ramon Martinez and Carmen Rios. Parts of the festival will also take place at the VŠMU Cinema Hall (Ventúrska 3), the Austrian Embassy’s Mozart Hall (Ventúrska 10), the Slovak Radio Concert Hall (Mýtna 1), the Hlava XXII music club (Bazová 9) and the PKO Culture and Leisure Park (Nábrežie L. Svobodu 3), starting usually at 19:00. Tickets cost between Sk100 (€3.32) and Sk550 (€18.25) for one performance. For more information, go to www.flamenco.sk.

Dominika Uhríková

Former top prosecutor dies

FORMER General Prosecutor Milan Hanzel, who led investigations into crimes allegedly committed by Ivan Lexa, Slovakia’s intelligence chief under former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, was killed in an accident on November 22. He was 61.

Ľuba Lesná

New Slovak ambassador to USA

THE NEWLY appointed Slovak Ambassador to the United States, Peter Burian, has said he wants to use every opportunity which the recent lifting of US visa obligations for Slovak citizens has opened up. Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič gave Burian his credentials on November 26, the Aktualne.sk news site reported.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Insurers relieved at budget amendment

THE CABINET will not, as originally proposed, approve the budgets of private health insurance companies. On November 26, parliament approved an amending proposal from Milan Urbáni of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), a junior party in the governing coalition, that the cabinet should only debate the budgets, the SITA newswire wrote.

Compiled by Spectator staff

MPs freeze some state salaries

THE RULING coalition on November 25 passed a proposal to freeze the salaries of some state officials. The governing parties came up with the proposal in response to an initiative by opposition deputy Daniel Lipšic of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), who had demanded that the salaries of politicians, judges and prosecutors remain unchanged next year, the SITA newswire wrote.

Compiled by Spectator staff

The Christmas Bazaar is a charity event that attracts thousands of people every year.

Curiosity and generosity draws crowd to Christmas Bazaar

CURIOSITY and the chance to help charity was the most frequent reason cited by those attending the annual Christmas Bazaar in Bratislava’s Stará Tržnica market place on November 23, according to the ČTK newswire.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Slovakia should cope best with crisis

IN ITS current macroeconomic prognosis, the Slovak Finance Ministry’s Institute for Financial Policy (IFP) predicts that in spite of a slowdown in economic growth due to the global financial crisis, Slovakia’s GDP will grow at the highest rate in the European Union. The institute explains that one of the reasons for this is that the financial crisis will hit other countries harder than Slovakia, the SITA newswire wrote.

Compiled by Spectator staff

SPP signs new contract with Gazprom

GAS utility Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) has signed a 20-year contract for natural gas supply with the Russian company Gazprom. The Russian gas major also sealed a contract with SPP’s wholly-owned subsidiary Eustream, the SITA newswire reported on November 21.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Quote of the Week:

I experienced MPs from the SNS [Slovak National Party] while in the Federal Assembly [former Czechoslovak parliamentary body], and I can tell you that they were more like psychiatric patients than MPs.

Bratislava office building ‘attacked’ by house

BRATISLAVA has a new attraction. Since early November, a unique work of art entitled House Attack has been dangling upside down from the roof of a building in Mlynské Nivy Street. Its installation required two special cranes and took more than 24 hours, the Nový Čas daily wrote.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Tipos contributes about Sk900 million to state coffers every year.

Winning ticket slips from state's hand

THE WINNING ticket from the eight-year dispute between Tipos, Slovakia’s national lottery company, and another lottery company, Športka, is now in the hands of a Czech businessman to whom Slovakia will have to pay almost Sk2 billion.

Ľuba Lesná

Broad-gauge rail memorandum signed

THE SLOVAK transport minister has said that a broad-gauge railway linking the Ukrainian border with Vienna might be completed within 10 years. Ľubomír Vážny was speaking on November 25 after signing a memorandum between Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia on construction of a broad-gauge link in the village of Dobrá in eastern Slovakia, the Sme daily wrote. The president of Russian Railways, Vladimir I. Yakunin, also signed the memorandum.

Compiled by Spectator staff

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