Archive of articles - December 2009, page 2
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Slovak president comments on outcome of UN Climate Change summit
Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič said that no legally binding agreement was reached at the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen, the president’s office told the TASR newswire on December 18.
Slovak joblessness to increase in 2010 say analysts
Economic analysts expect joblessness in Slovakia to rise in the coming months despite the fact that the unemployment rate stayed flat on a monthly basis at 12.4 percent in November on the back of a gradual recovery in exports and industry, according to a poll of economists taken by TASR.
Slovak Education Minister likely to sack Trenčín university rector
The proposal made by the Academic Senate of Alexander Dubček Trenčín University (TnUAD) to dismiss the university's rector, Miroslav Mečár, from office has not been assessed by the Education Ministry – because the minister has not had an opportunity to do so, Education Minister Ján Mikolaj told the TASR newswire on December 18.
Invisible
NEAR the middle of the new Paul Auster novel, Invisible, a central character named Margot makes a seemingly innocuous observation. “Who knows what a person’s secret desires are?” she says. “Unless the person acts on them or talks about them, you don’t have a clue.”
Zásady
WHEN someone asks you whether you have “zásady”, they usually mean your principles. But there is also a second meaning – guidelines. Unfortunately, you would have trouble finding the word in a legal dictionary, so it’s a little difficult to explain the nature of the “zásady” for interpreting the language law that the cabinet approved last Wednesday.
2009: A year of elections
Presidential elections
Resorts start their ski seasons
SLOVAKIA’S ski season has started relatively late this year, even in higher-altitude ski resorts. While in past years skiers have hit the slopes in Štrbské Pleso as early as the last 10 days of November, this year’s season at that resort began only on December 15, but with a day of free skiing. In many other resorts, the ski lifts and cableways were put into operation on the weekend of December 19-20.
Quote of the week
"The language act case is a big diplomatic success for Slovakia."
€10-million fine for Slovnaft cancelled
BRATISLAVA-based crude oil refiner Slovnaft will not be required to pay a fine of almost €10 million (Sk300 million) issued by the Antitrust Office of the Slovak Republic for abusing its dominant market position. On December 15 the Bratislava Regional Court overruled the Antitrust Office’s decision from December 2007 as well as the fine and returned the issue to the office for further proceedings, the SITA newswire reported.
H1N1 vaccinations begin in Slovakia
THE HEAD of the Public Health Office, Ivan Rovný, became the first Slovak to be vaccinated against the novel flu virus in Slovakia in mid-December.
The euro... and a world record
JANUARY
Inflation flirts with record lows
REPORTS on consumer prices are perhaps among the very few items of business news which have not been pumping up Slovaks’ blood pressure lately, since inflation in the country has been flirting with record low levels.
A year of crisis and scandal
SO THIS was the year of crisis? It was, but not that alone. 2009 was much more.
NGO skirts law to score funding
WHEN the Government Office in October refused to grant more than €130,000 in European funding to the Čistý deň (Clean Day) charity, which cares for drug addicts in Galanta near Nitra, the group’s founder, Zuzana Miková, didn’t lose hope.
Half of Slovaks see courts as corrupt
HALF of Slovakia’s citizens perceive courts in Slovakia as corrupt, based on a survey undertaken by the non-governmental organisation Transparency International Slovakia, the SITA newswire wrote.
PM slams media, again
‘A MEDIA conspiracy is behind it’. That is how politicians in Slovakia often respond to any form of muckraking journalism. Prime Minister Robert Fico recently accused the publishers of Slovakia’s major daily newspapers of plotting a unified campaign against his Smer party and then took his comments one step further by comparing the print media to the Mafia.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIABratislava EXHIBITION:THE KING of Heavens Was Born is the title of a new double exhibition on show in Bratislava until January 31. Co-organised by the Slovak National Museum and the Zagreb Ethnographic Museum, it follows a successful exhibition focused on Slovak Christmas traditions held in Croatia last year. The exhibits are divided into two independent ensembles and include various valuable objects documenting Croatia’s rich Christmas tradition, most notably unique nativity scenes from both national and private collections. For the admission fee of €3.32, the display can be viewed Tuesday through Sunday between 9:00 and 17:00 at the SNM’s premises either at Vajanského nábrežie 2 or at Istrijská 68. The SNM is closed on December 24-27 and 30, as well as on January 1-3 and 6. For more information, call 02/5934-9111 or go to www.snm.sk.
A round-up of the year in business
THE GLOBAL financial and economic crisis and its impacts were the main influences on Slovakia's economy in 2009. The start of the year was marked by the natural gas crisis, when Slovakia found its gas supplies from Russia completely shut off, and the arrival of the euro.
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- When will the opposition wake up to reality?
- Iran plans direct flights to Bratislava
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Show me your moves! Slovak hockey stars share their best pick-up lines
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- The compass points to Kúty, and people are starting to follow
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners More articles ›
