Archive of articles - September 2012
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Danish food: Cold buttermilk soup (koldskal) with small sweet rusks (kammerjunker)
Ingredients and preparation.
Poll: Lipšic would make it into house
THE GOVERNING Smer party would have received 42.6 percent of the votes if parliamentary elections had taken place between September 20 and 24, thereby retaining its lead over other political parties, according to the results of a poll carried out on a sample of 1,011 respondents by polling agency Polis Slovakia, the SITA newswire reported.
Serious chemical leak in Bratislava
A CHEMICAL leak that took place on industrial premises on Kopčianska Street in Bratislava’s Petržalka district on September 26 injured 16 people, the TASR newswire reported. All those affected were hospitalised, but only one, who was reported to be seriously injured, remained in hospital for further treatment.
Crisis increases appetite for wealth services
PRIVATE banking services are primarily designed for people with a lot of money – indeed, enough to need someone else to manage it for them. The number of people in Slovakia in this enviable position is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, of whom roughly half utilise the services of specialised private bankers, indicating that there are a lot of potential new clients for banks.
Music festival returns home
AFTER THREE years away, the Bratislavské hudobné slávnosti / Bratislava Music Festival (BMF) of classical music has come home. Following its temporary move to the historical building of the Slovak National Theatre, this year’s festival, which takes place between September 28 and October 14, returns to the completely refurbished Reduta building.
Fidelity Investment arrives
SINCE early September potential investors can obtain stock and bond funds of US Fidelity Worldwide Investment in Slovakia. At the beginning this asset management company is offering its investment funds in Slovakia via a distribution partnership with UniCredit Bank Slovakia, the company announced on September 6.
Some banks active in Slovakia
Universal banksAXA Bank Europe,www.axa.skBKS Bank AG,www.bksbank.sk Citibank,www.citibank.com/slovakia Československá Obchodná Banka (ČSOB),www.csob.sk Commerzbank,www.commerzbank.sk ING Bank,www.ingbank.sk Oberbank,www.oberbank.sk OTP Banka Slovensko,www.otpbank.sk Poštová Banka,www.pabk.sk Prima Banka,www.primabanka.sk Saxo Bank,sk.saxobank.com Slovenská Sporiteľňa,www.slsp.sk Tatra Banka,www.tatrabanka.sk UniCredit Bank Slovakia,www.unicreditbank.sk Volksbank Slovensko,www.volksbank.sk VÚB Banka,www.vub.sk
Danish cuisine: Hearty, but increasingly healthy
WHILE Danes have taken to eating greener and healthier food over the past decades, meat – and especially pork – dishes originating in the countryside remain one of the mainstays of Danish cuisine.
'Banking population' grows
SLOVAKIA’S banking population, which is the proportion of the population formed by clients of at least one bank, stands at 88 percent, which is seven percentage points more than in 2007. The figure comes from the GfK agency, which made the discovery through a poll it conducted, the SITA newswire wrote.
Child torture case reveals state's failures
THE ABSENCE of a young girl who should have been attending school for two years went unnoticed because nobody checked the school register to see if she was enrolled. Yet, Bratislava’s municipal authorities, who maintain registers of all local inhabitants, should have known whether the parents had enrolled their child in school. Moreover, social workers failed to inspect the girl’s living conditions, despite evidence that her stepfather physically abused both her and her mother.
The dreamworlds of Robert Bielik
THE BRATISLAVA City Gallery’s (GMB) current exhibition, of works by Slovak painter Robert Bielik, has coincided with the launch of a book about the artist. On September 20, the exhibition, representing the last two years of Bielik’s work, opened in the Pálffy Palace venue of the GMB, on Panská Street. Part of the ceremonial opening was the launch of the book. But as GMB head, exhibition curator and author of the book Ivan Jančár pointed out, Bielik is a teetotaller and “an anti-action man”, so a traditional alcoholic christening would have been inappropriate. Instead, the launch took the form of placing the first four copies of the book symbolically together, assisted by the co-publisher of the book, Peter Chalupa.
No fees on cash deposits for six months
IN RESPONSE to criticism over banks charging a cash deposit fee, the Slovak Banking Association (SBA) is calling on its members to temporarily stop charging this fee for the next six months. With this step banks aim to appease their clients and the Finance Ministry, the latter of which has prepared a law that will cap cash transactions, to be effective as of January 2013.Banks will not charge the cash deposit fee to private individuals and the self-employed who deposit cash to their own accounts from December 1 to May 31.
Ministry plans to restrict dog ownership
It is possible that in a few years time people in Slovakia will recognise certain dog breeds only from pictures found in books or on the internet. In response to a rash of dog attacks that has flooded the Slovak media in recent months, the Agriculture Ministry plans to ban the breeding and owning of two dog breeds and restrict conditions for owning another 13 as of April 1, 2013.
J&T boosts its share in PoštováBanka
THE NATIONAL Bank of Slovakia (NBS) has green-lighted an increase of the share the financial group J&T holds in Poštová Banka. The central bank’s approval is a confirmation of the previously announced strategic partnership between J&T and the former majority shareholder in the bank, Istrokapitál SE.
Investment clubs for women
IT IS not possible to find special funds for female investors or private banking for female clientele either in Slovakia or anywhere else in the world. But it is possible to find investment clubs for women, the Hospodárske Noviny daily wrote.
Banks revise their GDP outlooks
SLOVAKIA’S banks have revised their prognosis for the country’s economic growth in 2013 from an average of 2.4 percent, predicted in August, to 2.2 percent, according to a survey among their analysts carried out by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country’s central bank.
One-health-insurer plans announced
THE HEALTH Ministry wants to realise the government’s plan to overhaul the health insurance system so that only one health insurer – the state-run one – will operate on the market, as of January 2014, the TASR newswire reported.
State moves to end consumer-loan fees
BANKING fees remain a hot topic in Slovakia. While Finance Minister Peter Kažimír has called on banks to reassess their attitude to the account fees they charge clients who deposit cash with them, the ministry also wants to have the fees that banks charge for administering consumer-loan accounts examined by the courts. The banks argue that such fees help to cover their costs and that the existing legislation already anticipates the existence of such fees.
Danish food: Cold potato salad (kartoffelsalat)
Ingredients and preparation.
One first and one last at Konvergencie festival
THIS YEAR the international music festival Konvergencie / Convergences witnessed a first for the music scene and a last for Slovakia. For the first time since it was released, the legendary 1970s album Zelená pošta / Green Post was performed live (except for a few tracks including the poem Smutná ranná električka / Sad Morning Tram). Meanwhile the Hilliard Ensemble, which performed at the festival in 2000 with Jan Garbarek, announced that it was splitting up, making the band’s recent concert in Bratislava probably its last in Slovakia.
- Athletes travel all the way from Australia to Šamorín – have you been? Photo
- Lunch atop a Skyscraper: How a Slovak emmigrant ended up in the iconic photo
- Deadly bacteria detected in spa hotel after guest dies
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Why Morské oko should be on your travel list Photo
- News digest: Three surprises from the general prosecutor
- Fico’s mystery villa in Croatia listed for €1.19m
- Eggstraordinary vending machine launches in Bratislava
- Athletes travel all the way from Australia to Šamorín – have you been? Photo
- Ukraine under Russian attack: defending freedom, protecting children, securing Europe’s future
- Lunch atop a Skyscraper: How a Slovak emmigrant ended up in the iconic photo
- Why Morské oko should be on your travel list Photo
- Deadly bacteria detected in spa hotel after guest dies
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Built beneath a graveyard, guarded by a tower: The story of Slovakia’s largest botanical garden Photo
- Roma and refugees: Employers make their workplaces more inclusive
- Athletes travel all the way from Australia to Šamorín – have you been? Photo
- Why Morské oko should be on your travel list Photo
- Ukraine under Russian attack: defending freedom, protecting children, securing Europe’s future
- Built beneath a graveyard, guarded by a tower: The story of Slovakia’s largest botanical garden Photo
- Eggstraordinary vending machine launches in Bratislava
- “I gave it everything”: Pohánková’s run ends in Wimbledon glory Video
- Don’t get the wolf!
- Her mission is not just training employees. It is changing how they think
- Athletes travel all the way from Australia to Šamorín – have you been? Photo
- Why Morské oko should be on your travel list Photo
- “I gave it everything”: Pohánková’s run ends in Wimbledon glory Video
- In Slovakia, speaking English still means earning more
- Her mission is not just training employees. It is changing how they think
- Eggstraordinary vending machine launches in Bratislava
- Thousands of caravanners will come to Slovakia – and they might help its tourism sector
- Ukraine under Russian attack: defending freedom, protecting children, securing Europe’s future
- News digest: Three surprises from the general prosecutor
- Fico’s mystery villa in Croatia listed for €1.19m
- Slovakia’s IT sector slows down, with young jobseekers hit hardest
- Following assassination attempt, Slovakia plans to upgrade the premier’s base in Košice Photo
- One Slovak petrol station is attracting customers with a cute feline mascot
- Of saints and spies: The curious case of the disappearing triptych
- Weekend: A bit of the Venice atmosphere in the Tatras Photo
- From dismissals to transfers, labour lawyers redraw the rules More articles ›
