Archive of articles - May 2013, page 13
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Amnesty International: Slovakia must ratify convention banning cluster ammunitions
Amnesty International Slovakia (AIS) on Tuesday, May 7 called on the Slovak government to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans the use, production and storage of cluster bombs. The convention was approved five years ago. While most countries have joined it, Slovakia is one of the last four EU countries that has stopped producing cluster bombs but still has not ratified the convention banning them. The other three are Romania, Greece and Poland.
Survey: Slovakia third worst in EU28 for corruption
A poll by global accountancy firm Ernst and Young suggests that Slovakia is the third-most corrupt country in the soon-to-expand European Union. Slovenia was ranked the most corrupt country in Europe, followed by Croatia, which will formally join the union in July, and then Slovakia and Greece in joint third place.
Fire at former Matador factory in Bratislava
Early on May 8 firemen were called to a blaze at the former premises of the Matador tyre factory in Bratislava. The fire, at the complex in Kopčianska Street, spread to an electrical transformer station, which exploded. A nearby wooden building, a car and the surrounding brush then caught fire, the TASR newswire reported.
Žalúdok
APPARENTLY, Marián Kočner has had three-quarters of his stomach (žalúdok) taken out. No wonder, given that digesting everything that the Bratislava businessman has been through is no easy task.
Smer's pet project runs into delays
THE PET project of the government of Robert Fico to reintroduce a unitary health insurance system, which has already put private health insurers operating on the market on alert, is falling behind its original schedule. The so-called transformation law, essential for one of the most discussed plans of the Fico administration, should have already come into effect on May 1. Yet state officials say the delay is due to efforts to devise a watertight law that is resistant to eventual arbitration, which the private insurers say would follow in the event of their expropriation by the state. Meanwhile, the Association of Health Insurers (ZZP), which groups the country’s two private health insurers, Dôvera and Union, suggested that the government should use the delay to reconsider its plan.
Hundreds of teachers rally in Bratislava
Hundreds of education staff took part in a protest in the streets of Bratislava on May 7 to demand the introduction of what they described as changes to the system, including increases in salaries and the modernisation of classrooms. Teachers and other staff unfurled banners in front of the Government Office calling on the government to provide more funds for schools, boost the living standards of teachers and save education in general.
NBS: Residential real-estate price rise was temporary
The average price of residential real estate in Slovakia reached €1,240 per square metre in the first quarter of 2013, a fall of 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter but an increase of 0.4 percent year-on-year, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country’s central bank, announced on May 7.
Poštová Banka files complaint against Greece over debt restructuring
The Slovak financial institution Poštová Banka and its shareholder Istrokapitál SE have filed a legal complaint at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against Greece over the forced Greek sovereign bond exchange that took place in March 2012, the TASR newswire reported on Tuesday, May 7. It is though to be the first legal complaint against Greece filed at the ICSID.
WWII liberation of Bratislava to be re-enacted, 68 years on
Today, May 8, which is a public holiday in Slovakia, the capital will turn back the clock 68 years as locals as well as visitors are offered the spectacle of re-enactments of the battles to liberate the city at the end of World War II. The main re-enactment takes place in downtown Bratislava between 14:00 and 16:00.
Košice court building evacuated after bomb threat
An anonymous bomb threat was made by telephone on May 7 to the building that houses the Košice District and Regional Courts, prompting the evacuation of judges, employees and all participants in legal proceedings.
New EU tax might cut into Slovak pensions
The new tax on financial transactions that the European Union plans to introduce might reduce the pensions of over 1 million of pension savers by tens of percent annually, the Hospodárske noviny daily wrote in its Tuesday, May 7 issue.
President has 15 days to sign new Constitutional Court law
President Ivan Gašparovič received from parliament on May 2 the approved amendment on the organisation of the Constitutional Court. He has 15 days to decide whether or not to sign it into law, and he will certainly make his decision within this statutory period, said the spokesman for the head of state Marek Trubač in response to the question of whether the president would accept the challenge of opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) MP Lucia Žitňanská.
Slovakia’s pedestrian safety ranks second worst in EU
In 2011, Slovakia was ranked as the second worst country in the European Union in terms of pedestrian safety, with pedestrians involved in 55 percent of fatal traffic accidents in urban zones, reads the European Commission report published on the occasion of European Safety on the Roads Day.
Completion of D1 highway postponed by two years
The recent landslide near Šútov in the Martin District will considerably delay the completion of the D1 highway, the Pravda daily wrote in its Tuesday, May 7 issue.
General Prosecutor’s Office denies it was the source of leaked transcripts
The Office of the General Prosecutor has denied that the transcripts of recordings published on the blog of journalist and former editor-in-chief of The Slovak Spectator Tom Nicholson were leaked from the investigation file of the case of the alleged Bratislava-based organised crime group led by Libor Jakšík which is handled at their office. On his blog, published on April 30, Nicholson indicated possible links between Jakšík and Stanislav Jankovič, former vice-president of the Police Corps. Following the publication of this information, Jankovič resigned from his post of advisor to Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák.
Slovak detained at Heathrow Airport goes to court
One of the two Slovaks detained at London’s Heathrow Airport on May 1 faces accusations of possessing dangerous material on board a plane. The other has been released, the TASR newswire reported on May 3.
MPs want Education Minister Čaplovič to explain €25 million project
On Tuesday, May 7, opposition MPs sought an explanation from Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič for why he refused the offer to use the Czech National System of Qualifications for the needs of Slovakia free of charge.
Police launch another criminal prosecution in Gorilla case
The special investigative team assigned to the Gorilla case launched another criminal prosecution on April 25 involving the receiving of bribes and kickbacks, head of the investigative team Marek Gajdoš said on Monday, May 6. No individual has been indicted yet, with Gajdoš refusing to disclose any further details.
Former Constitutional Court president Mazák points to loophole in new court law
The government’s plan to allow two judges of the Constitutional Court to decide over the complaint of the elected but not appointed general prosecutor Jozef Čentéš, even though they were excluded from doing so, could fail, former president of the Constitutional Court Ján Mazák told the Sme daily.
Slovakia set for Under-17 finals
For the first time in 10 years Slovakia will host its first international final tournament in football. The matches within the Under-17 competition will take place in four Slovak towns, and will be attended by teams from Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Italy and Croatia, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) reported on its official website on May 3.
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Legendary captain Zdeno Chára inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame Video
- 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
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Liberal MP's boxing challenge backfires as far-right MEP seizes the moment
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- 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
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- 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
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Legendary captain Zdeno Chára inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame Video
- Liberal MP's boxing challenge backfires as far-right MEP seizes the moment
- 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 More articles ›
