Archive of articles - April 2010, page 3

Slovakia learns a new word: Eyjafjallajokull

AIRPORTS, airline companies, passengers, business time, and leisure hours: all became a plaything of nature. The ash plume from an Icelandic volcano rescheduled almost the whole world. After a week of forced rest, the aluminium birds were trying to flock again into European skies and were causing nearly as much havoc as the shutdown of the European airspace caused a week earlier when the plume of volcanic ash spread across Europe.

Museum plans archaeological park

THE MUSEUM of Regional Studies in Hanušovce nad Topľou in eastern Slovakia is planning to apply for funds together with its Polish partner, the Muzeum Podkarpacie in Krosno, as part of an EU cross-border cooperation programme. If it receives an EU subsidy, the Slovak side plans to construct a new centre for educational activities and experimental archaeology – a so-called archaeological park – on an area of almost 3,500 square metres.

Professionals in moving, shipping & logistics

Books in English now available in Slovakia

John Lennon. The Life. Philip Norman. Harper, 2008.

Water transport awaits discovery in Slovakia

INTERNATIONAL studies rank water transport as having some of the best development potential for the shipment of goods. It is cheap and its environmental impact is the lowest of all kinds of transport. Even though it is relatively slow, and thus not suitable for shipment of all kinds of goods, the recent trend towards multimodal transport and containerisation of cargo considerably extends the list of goods suitable for transportation by ship. In Slovakia, water transport has great potential since neither current existing capacities nor opportunities for new waterways have so far been fully utilised.

Remembering 20 years

INTERESTING fragments from Slovakia’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of November 1989 keep appearing in public even now, nearly six months after the country marked the Velvet Revolution. One of them is the recently published book by Slovakia’s Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) think tank, entitled Kde sme? Mentálne mapy Slovenska (Where Are We? Mental Maps of Slovakia).

NGOs: Roma are worse off

A WALL built to separate a Roma settlement from the village of Ostrovany in eastern Slovakia last year and the recent initiative taken by local authorities in the western Slovak village of Plavecký Štvrtok to have a nearby Roma settlement bulldozed do not mesh with assurances given by the state government that the problems of Roma living in settlements in Slovakia are gradually being solved.

ECHR rejects complaint about Harabin

THE EUROPEAN Court for Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has turned down a complaint made by four judges sitting on Slovakia’s Supreme Court against the country’s Constitutional Court related to the 2008 election of Štefan Harabin as the president of the Supreme Court, the Sme daily reported.

Logistics developers focus on renting available space

THE INFLOW of large investments before the financial and economic crisis was accompanied by swift development of logistics services in many parts of Slovakia. But the economic downturn seriously affected this business sector and construction of new logistics centres and warehouse capacities essentially came to a standstill in 2009. But experts in the field see future potential in Slovakia – fuelled by the arrival of new investors, the production launch of new car models and the country’s determination to develop a modern transportation infrastructure, both highways and rail.

Broad-gauge project presented

PRESIDENT of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin spoke in Bratislava recently about the yet-to-be approved investment project to extend a broad-gauge railway line from Košice to Bratislava and on to Vienna. Yakunin was a member of the delegation accompanying Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to Slovakia in early April, the SITA newswire wrote.

Number of social benefit recipients rises

THE NUMBER of people who are eligible for social assistance as persons in material need rose in March for the 13th consecutive month to 189,600. This is the highest number of citizens receiving social welfare benefits since July 2007. According to data from the Labour, Social Affairs, and Family Central Office this is an increase of 35,800 persons since the same month last year.

David John Wingell - The life and death of an ex

DAVE Wingell passed away on April 19 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 45.

Court outlaws power price regulation

THE SUPREME Court ruled that a government regulation passed two years ago with the goal of controlling price increases for electricity is unlawful. Enel, the Italian utility that is the majority owner of Slovakia’s dominant power producer, Slovenské Elektrárne, made no comment on the court’s ruling as it had not yet been published on the Supreme Court’s website, the Sme daily reported. Similarly, Prime Minister Robert Fico did not make any comments on the court decision regarding the regulation, which was initiated by his government.

SkyToll may garner €143 million more

IN CONTRAST to what was stated in the original tender documents, Fleetpay, a supplier to Slovakia’s e-toll collection system operator SkyToll, is now bearing the costs for toll-payment transactions charged with fleet cards, the Pravda daily reported. The daily continued that, according to the European Commission (EC), this could lead to SkyToll collecting more than €143 million in additional revenue and this might force a change in the contractual conditions between SkyToll and the National Motorway Company (NDS).

Driving 160 km/h on Slovak highways?

The maximum permitted speeds on roads in Slovakia:

Slovakia expels asylum seeker

SLOVAKIA has expelled failed asylum seeker Mustafa Labsi, an Algerian citizen who was previously convicted abroad of terrorism offences. He was flown to Algeria under escort.

Countrywide Events

Western SLOVAKIABratislava DANCE: THE DANCE drama Ivan Hrozný (Ivan the Terrible) is returning to the stage of the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava after a year’s absence. Choreographed and directed by Libor Vaculík to the music of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, the piece is conducted by Marius Leginus. The main characters are performed by Mário Radačovský, Andrej Szabo, K. Bitererová, K. Košíková, R. Sato and V. Šimončíková, who received the award TAOS – Dance Personality of the Season for her role. Ivan Hrozný will be staged on April 27 at 19:00 in the new building of the SND and tickets cost from €8 to €16. For more info, call 02/2047-2299, 02/2047-2298, or see www.snd.sk.

Docs, docs and more docs

ORGANISING a film festival is not necessarily a question of a multimillion-euro budget and years of experience. A few months ago, a group of people from Košice in their early twenties decided among themselves that the Slovak filmmaking scene needed stirring up. Now, some of the best-known local directors are heading to the eastern metropolis to take part in the country’s first documentary film festival, which takes place between April 28 and 30.

Spectacular Journeys

Spectacular Slovakia started with ambitions to have photography worthy of National Geographic and writing that would both inform and entertain. The travel guide grew out of all of the Spectator staff’s love for travel and discovery. The travel books of the 1990s always covered Slovakia with the Czech Republic, devoting only the latter quarter of the book to the Slovak lands. Lonely Planet and The Rough Guide were certainly inspirations for both style and the type of information to cover. It was just so little.