Archive of articles - April 2010, page 8
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‘Action K’ commemorated
THE CATHOLIC Church on April 13 commemorated the 60th anniversary of the so-called Akcia K (Action K), which started on April 13, 1950, and resulted in the violent liquidation of Catholic monasteries by the communist regime.
Orbán
FEW foreign politicians wield as much influence in Slovakia as Viktor Orbán. The former and future Hungarian prime minister, a fan of a closer political union between Hungarians living in different countries of the Carpathian basin, is on the one hand adored by local Hungarian minority politicians. On the other, Prime Minister Robert Fico has in the past called his actions a “huge danger and threat for the Slovak Republic”.
Failures at Mochovce grew in 2009
SLOVAKIA’S Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ÚJD) reported “a certain increase” in the number of failures reported on the first and second units at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in 2009, the SITA newswire reported.
Flamenco maestro wows Bratislava
A LONELY man, who just happened to be sitting there and playing his guitar, as if only for himself. That was how one could describe the very start of the long-awaited concert by the flamenco guitar virtuoso, Paco de Lucía, in Bratislava’s sold-out National Tennis Centre.
Passion from beer mugs
DRINKING beer is not a bed of roses, says Oleg Šuk, this year’s winner of the Golden Keg beer humour award, awarded to cartoonists on April Fools’ Day for 16 years now. His winning drawing, portraying a man bearing a cross made of beer mugs, was selected from among hundreds of works by artists from all over the world, and his success means the prize returns to Slovak hands after nine years of exclusively foreign laureates.
More investors express concern
GERMAN, French and Austrian investors to Slovakia are not the capricious kind. They have withstood the lure of cheaper labour to the east and have shown patience with some of the chronic problems affecting the Slovak business environment. The vast majority of German, French and Austrian investors have not regretted choosing Slovakia as an investment destination and say they would most probably choose it again, according to a recent survey.
Quote of the week
"The political rows that seemed so important yesterday seem so ridiculous today."
ČEZ to enter Slovak natural gas market
THE CZECH energy group ČEZ plans to enter the Slovak natural gas market. The company expects to start selling natural gas in Slovakia at the beginning of 2011 and says its campaign to win customers will start this summer.
More strife over social companies scheme
PROBLEMS just keep bubbling from the pot originally designed to cook up jobs for the country’s long-term unemployed. Of the eight pet projects within Labour Minister Viera Tomanová’s social companies scheme, two have come under the magnifying glass of European Commission auditors after signs of fraud and procurement-rule violations emerged, while another failed to return its revenues to the state, despite being required to do so by the law.
Mobile operators to test LTE technology
SWIFT improvements in mobile technologies do not permit any of the companies operating in Slovakia to rest on their laurels for very long. After the newest mobile operator here, Telefónica O2 Slovakia, announced in early March that it will test LTE or Long Term Evolution technology in Slovakia this summer, the country’s two other mobile operators quickly announced that they too were ready with plans to test LTE.
Village threatens to bulldoze Roma settlement
THIS YEAR’S International Day of Roma found citizens, the state government and NGOs in Slovakia deeply split over what to do about an illegally-built Roma settlement located in Plavecký Štvrtok, in the Záhorie region of western Slovakia. Many non-Roma residents of the village are calling for a fast solution and support bulldozing the settlement, which they claim causes them all kinds of trouble. On the other side, human rights watchdogs are barking loudly about the inhumanity of such an action, and the state government seems also to disagree strongly with this step – but does not seem able to deliver an alternative solution.
Telecom operators pursue fixed-line customers
EVEN with mobile penetration in Slovakia having exceeded 100 percent – meaning that, statistically speaking, each citizen now has slightly more than one mobile line – fixed lines still retain some attractions for telecommunications operators. They remain part of many people’s lives, something confirmed by a recent survey of thousands of Slovaks which showed that, even though most already have mobile phones, they did not plan to cancel their landlines. This means that fixed-line users, whether residential or corporate customers, are worth fighting for. This is further demonstrated by the fact that almost one hundred companies currently hold licences to provide public telephony services via a fixed-line network in Slovakia.
Grazing geese in Dobrá Niva
THE CENTRAL Slovak municipality of Dobrá Niva could best be described as a small town, as it received town privileges as early as 1254. But in this postcard dating from the 1920s, its town centre appears much more like that of a small village.
Bratislava R&D centre is at the cutting edge of mobile
THE EVOLUTION of mobile communications, even though it has made enormous leaps over the last few years, has not stopped and continues to move forward in quantum steps. Large volumes of transmitted data and new applications are putting more demands on existing networks and a fourth generation of mobile communications is now coming. LTE or Long Term Evolution technology, which can bring faster speeds, higher transmission capacities and cheaper calls and internet connections through mobile networks, is regarded as a key aspect of fourth-generation technology. The Bratislava-based R&D centre of Alcatel-Lucent, a worldwide telecommunications company delivering voice, data and video communication services to end-users, has been writing part of this evolutionary history.
Telecommunications companies
Mobile operators in Slovakia:
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Fidesz wins a majority in Hungary
THE LONG-ANTICIPATED national elections in Hungary, the results of which observers believe could have an impact on the June 12 parliamentary elections in Slovakia, started with a first round that definitely ended the eight-year rule of the country’s socialists and brought the favourite of the race, the rightist Fidesz party, close to having a constitutional majority in the future parliament.
Slovakia closes its airspace
Slovakia eventually also decided to close its airspace due to the movement of Iceland's volcanic ash and dust.
Slovakia’s air space remains open, volcanic ash not a concern
Iceland's volcano ash and dust affecting certain West European countries is unlikely to reach Slovak airspace since the wind is now blowing it over Great Britain and Scandinavia, Jozef Kozub of Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute told newswire TASR on April 15.
Slovak Education Ministry disputes fine levied by Public Procurement Office
The Education Ministry has appealed the decision of the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), which fined the ministry €140,000 for violating the law when it awarded contracts for printing and supplying textbooks, the SITA newswire reported.
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- From eight to thousands of runners. How Košice marathon rose to prominence Photo
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Iconic Slovak barn still draws crowds. Without donors, it might have been lost Photo
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- 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
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- 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 More articles ›
