Archive of articles - March 2013, page 2
If you desire to read an old article, use the search bar or select the publication date.
Dance theatre turns 15
MODERN dance is not a mainstream genre and, while laudable to try, it is not easy to establish and run a modern dance theatre successfully. Despite this, the Divadlo Štúdio Tanca theatre in Banská Bystrica will celebrate 15 years of existence in 2013, and bring a host of events and projects throughout the whole year.
Surfing on the bus
MORE and more public transport companies are making it possible for travellers to surf the internet free of charge when riding their vehicles. This is already possible in Bratislava and its surrounding region, and in the east of the country as well.
Poll: Smer still on top
IF PARLIAMENTARY elections had been held in mid-March 2013, the ruling Smer party would have won 36.8 percent of the vote, up from the 34.6 percent it received in February, but this would not have been enough for Robert Fico to repeat his March 2012 victory and form a single-party government, a recent opinion poll has suggested.
Hurbanovo gunman convicted
MILAN Juhász, a municipal police officer from Hurbanovo, was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison on March 27 for shooting dead three people and seriously injuring two others in June last year. During his trial, the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok heard from psychiatric and psychological forensic experts that Juhász was not completely sane when he committed the crime. The suspect did not contest the charges.
NBS slashes 2013 GDP forecast
THE NATIONAL Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country’s central bank, believes that Slovakia’s economy will grow much more slowly this year than it previously predicted and has almost halved its prediction of GDP growth for 2013. In the latest of a series of downward revisions, the NBS on March 26 cut its forecast for growth this year from 1.3 percent to 0.7 percent. It also reduced its prediction for the following year by 0.5 percentage points, to 2.8 percent. Slovakia’s economy grew 2 percent in 2012.NBS governor Jozef Makúch explained that the central bank was cutting the forecast after taking into consideration negative tendencies mostly in the domestic economy, but also moderately lower foreign demand. The only item which contributed positively to economic growth was net exports.
Mobile broadband subscriptions up
THE NUMBER of mobile broadband subscriptions grew to nearly 700 million within countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as of June 2012.
No longer first, but still on the map
NEW rules embedded in Slovakia’s revised tax legislation and modified Labour Code, which became valid at the beginning of 2013, have evidently lowered Slovakia’s attractiveness as an investment location, a survey conducted by seven foreign chambers of commerce in Slovakia in February 2013 suggests.
Institutions and organisations in internet and online services
-Ministry of Finance, www.finance.gov.sk-IT Association of Slovakia (ITAS), www.itas.sk-Slovak Association of Electronic Commerce (SAEC), www.saec.sk-Interactive Advertising Bureau Slovakia(IAB Slovakia), www.iabslovakia.sk
Kilometrovník replaced
The kilometrovník, the brass compass located on the walkway beneath the arch of Michael’s gate, has been repaired and replaced after it was destroyed by vandals in December. The new kilometrovník cost €4,000 and was funded by Bratislava’s Staré Mesto borough and private sponsor O2, according to the SITA newswire.
Dead eagle found near Voderady
A DEAD eagle was found on the hunting ground close to the municipality of Voderady in Trnava Region. The female Eastern Imperial Eagle was probably poisoned, Jozef Chavko of the Raptor Protection of Slovakia / Ochrana dravcov na Slovensku association informed the SITA newswire.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Carmaker opens high-tech lab
VOLKSWAGEN Slovakia and the Košice University of Technology’s Faculty of Informatics and Electrotechnical Science on March 26 opened a laboratory of automotive electronics, including an ‘e-simulator’, the SITA newswire reported.
Košice gets coin to mark ECOC 2013
Collectors can now buy a silver commemorative €20 coin to mark the occasion of Košice’s hosting of the European Capital of Culture, the TASR newswire wrote.
Food inspectors to wield bigger stick
GOODS hidden in filthy crates and raw poultry nibbled by rats – these were just some of the flaws hygienists found during inspections carried out in Slovak shops in January and February 2013. Compared to the pre-Christmas period, the number of flaws in shops’ premises rose by 10 percent on average. According to the Agriculture Ministry, this represented a reversal of the positive trend in food-safety standards observed in the second half of 2012.
Criteria for state aid will be stricter
SEVERAL months after the government allocated more than €121 million to support 10 companies backed by foreign investors – including two firms that promised only to preserve existing jobs rather than create any new ones – parliament has now passed changes to the legislation on state aid. The changes, prepared by the Economy Ministry, chiefly introduce rules that require firms seeking aid to create new jobs – in order to ensure that subsidies contribute to decrease the unemployment rate in specific regions – while at the same time broadening the range of potential applicants.
Glossary:Third sector facing hard times
Spectator College provides readers of The Slovak Spectator who are trying to improve their English with glossaries of useful and frequently used words and expressions from stories published as part of the Spectator College as well as in the rest of the newspaper. As well as this special glossary, which relates to the article Third sector facing hard times, you can find more expressions in our Glossary for politics & business or in the List of names of institutions in English and Slovak.
Third sector facing hard times
A glossary of words as well as an exercise related to this article are also published online.
Exercise:Third sector facing hard times
This exercise is linked to the article: Third sector facing hard times.
Supreme Court acquits judge accused of corruption
The Supreme Court has acquitted Banská Bystrica Regional Court judge Miriam Sninská of corruption-related charges. The Sme daily wrote that the court was ruling on an appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office against a previous acquittal by the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok.
Slovak and Polish cabinets meet in Poprad, discuss joint Olympics bid
At a joint session in Poprad on Wednesday, March 27, members of the Slovak and Polish cabinets discussed their two countries' joint candidacy to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, as well as infrastructure-related issues, the SITA newswire wrote.
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- 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
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Paris leads, Bratislava trails: European cities ranked on safe travel for children
- 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
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- 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 ›
