Archive of articles - January 2010, page 8
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‘Meaningless spoons’ find a home in the Pelhřimov Museum
More than a hundred so-called ‘meaningless spoons’ created by Slovak cartoonist and artist Marian Vanek will become exhibits at the Pelhřimov Museum of Records and Curiosities in the Czech Republic and part of that collection can now be seen by visitors to tourism fairs in the city of Brno, the ČTK newswire wrote.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Publisher sues Prime Minister Fico
7 PLUS COMPANY, the publisher of the Plus Jeden Deň daily and the Plus 7 Dní weekly filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Robert Fico on January 12. The publisher is demanding an apology from Fico for accusing it and other periodical publishers of mafia practices.
Intellectual property protection needs more attention
THE PRE-1989 totalitarian regime, during which public assets were deemed to belong to all and intellectual property was not understood as private property, has left its traces on Slovaks’ perception of intellectual property. But although there is still a lot of work to be done, the situation is improving. Greater focus by Slovakia on developing a knowledge-based economy could further enhance the situation.
Author of critical Lesy SR letter resigns
A STAFF member of the general directorate of the state-run forestry company Lesy SR, Ján Mičovský, whose critical open letter addressed to the sitting director of the company in June 2009 launched a process which culminated in a reshuffle of the company’s senior management, issued an “open notice” announcing that he was leaving his position in the company on January 12, the SITA newswire reported.
Pop the Hubert! Guzzle the Zlatý Bažant!
THE COMMUNIST regime fell 20 years ago and while politicians of that time have long ago ended up in history’s waste dump, there are many much more pleasing things which have thankfully survived to this day. Slovaks have kept nibbling Horalka or Tatranka wafers and when thirsty, they still prefer reaching for a Kofola soft drink or a Zlatý Bažant beer. Most Slovaks welcomed in the New Year with a glass of Hubert sekt in their hands and after finishing a meal they continue to wash their dishes with Jar detergent. There are quite a number of local brands which foreign rivals have not succeeded in pushing out of the now highly-competitive Slovak market and experts do not see nostalgia as the main driving force behind these loyal customers.
Institutions engaged in protection of industrial property in Slovakia
Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic
The accidental spa
THE KOVÁČOVÁ spa in central Slovakia is relatively young. The thermal mineral springs were discovered here by accident during geological exploration at the end of the 19th century. Between 1898 and 1899, engineers searching for coal reserves in the region sunk a bore that struck a source of thermal water at a depth of 405 metres. The water rose to the surface at the borehole and formed a small lake.
US Interblue morphs into Swiss firm
INTERBLUE Group, the mysterious US-based firm which regularly made headlines in Slovakia because of its central role in a dubious deal under which Slovakia sold it quotas to emit 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide at a price well below that obtained by neighbouring countries for their quotas, has ceased to exist.
Kamionisti
TRUCKERS are perhaps the least likely profession you would expect to lead a social movement of any type. Yet there the “kamionisti” were, blocking the streets of Slovak cities, talking to the media about the hardships brought upon them by the new toll system, gaining the support of people who have nothing in common with truck transport, and eventually forcing Prime Minister Fico to surrender to most of their demands, a feat the opposition, the media, or even Fico’s own coalition partners can only envy.
Prime minister seeks consensus on assets law
THE ORIGIN of assets accumulated by some Slovak politicians has remained unclear for many years. That, as well as the fact that Slovakia still lacks appropriate and effective laws in this area, is a good reason for a big pre-election issue – such as proposing a new law on the origin of assets – to climb to the top tier of the political agenda as the June national elections approach.
€618,000 paid in eco-heating subsidies
SLOVAKIA’s Economy Ministry has provided over €618,000 in subsidies to households to purchase solar collectors and biomass-fuel boilers as part of a programme designed to increase the use of biomass and solar power, the ministry told the SITA newswire.
New NBS Governor appointed
SLOVAK President Ivan Gašparovič formally appointed Jozef Makúch to the post of governor of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) on January 12, the SITA newswire reported.
Angry truckers extract heavy toll from Fico
PROTESTING truckers got back into their parked trucks and returned to the roads: but it took a prime ministerial promise to lower excise tax on diesel fuel to get them on the move. After much prodding, Prime Minister Robert Fico yielded to the truckers on January 11 after massive protests against the electronic highway toll collection system, which was launched in Slovakia on January 1, 2010.
Industry posts year-on-year growth
AFTER 13 months of suffering, Slovakia’s industrial sector has posted the first year-on-year results that market watchers are able – with at least a little more confidence – to refer to as signs of recovery. Industrial output grew by 1.5 percent in November 2009 compared to the same month in 2008, according to Slovakia’s statistics authority. Though pleasing to the crisis-weary eye, the data has not brought much surprise to the markets, since improving foreign demand and the low basis effect from the previous year had already signalled likely growth. But they say December 2009 might turn out to have been an even stronger month in terms of production growth.
Generation A
IN THE early 1990s, the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland was among the first artistic figures to catch the whiff of teen spirit that would come to fuel the decade’s disaffected. His literary debut, Generation X, was sub-titled "Tales for an Accelerated Culture" and the book was a bible for the children of the baby boomers, vast swathes of innovative and intelligent youth, who were wasting their talents in dead end “McJobs” and struggling to make sense of a world that favoured blandness over invention. Coupland’s novel popularised the Generation X moniker and promoted him overnight to the role of spokesman for the slouching classes.
SaS rejects Dzurinda as coalition leader
WITH 2010 having now arrived on the calendar, time is passing quickly and reminding opposition leaders that they might not have too many opportunities left to change their standings before the June parliamentary elections. Many of the opposition parties are trying to catch up on what they have neglected or postponed in the past three and a half years and now at least the theoretical possibilities for pre-election cooperation are taking more concrete shape.
Kaliňák faces no-confidence motion
THE INTERNATIONAL scandal over explosive material unwittingly carried from the Poprad airport to Dublin by a Slovak citizen after a mismanaged police security training exercise continues to shake the political scene and will most likely end in a no-confidence motion against Slovakia’s Interior Minister.
The vast anti-Smer conspiracy takes shape in Fico's mind
THE MEDIA and the opposition are indispensable to the government of Slovakia. If Robert Fico wills it, these bogeymen appear, in a thousand inimical guises, in the statements of the prime minister’s crew, bent on thwarting any or all of the government’s good intentions. The media and opposition can shake the pillars of democracy in this small central European country, as least according to Fico’s recent statements. Why would they do so? What would they gain? These are questions to which the reader will not easily find answers – at least not in this piece.
Judges complain to Strasbourg
FOUR Slovak judges, Miroslav Gavalec, Zuzana Ďurišová, Elena Berthotyová and Peter Paluda, have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg challenging the election of Slovakia’s Supreme Court President, Štefan Harabin. The text of their submission was published on the website www.sudcovia.sk, the SITA newswire reported.
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- Water supply to be cut in parts of Bratislava’s Old Town in late April More articles ›
