Badín
Wheel-less bus causes mass crash
A BUS lost a rear wheel and caused a multi-car collision near the village of Badín on September 28.
The wheel came loose on the bus's regular route from Banská Bystrica to Zvolen, Petra Babulicová from the Banská Bystrica Region police told the SITA newswire.
After that, the vehicle veered in the opposite direction and crashed into a tow truck.
Cars approaching the collision began to brake, but some of them crashed into each other.
No injuries were reported.
Žilina
Police seize seven kilos of explosives
ŽILINA police caught a 37-year-old man with seven kilograms of potentially deadly mining explosives in his car on September 27.
The man was transporting 10 pieces of a mining explosive called Emulgit, fuses and other components in his car without permission, the SITA newswire wrote.
The man wanted to trade the explosives in Slovakia, regional police boss František Posluch said at a press conference on September 28.
Police had targeted the man because he was a suspect in various crimes.
Emulgit is a plastic explosive from the Czech Republic, similar to the Slovak Danubit. Police pyrotechnician Róbert Kubica said the amount of the explosive seized would cause extensive damage, injuries and deaths.
If the explosive was used as a bomb, shards from the blast might have killed people within a radius of 500 metres, he said. If it was used in buses or trains, it could have caused explosions like the ones in the London or Madrid terrorist attacks.
But police said they aren't investigating this as a terrorist attack.
Police have already started building their case against the suspect. If he is found guilty, he could be sentenced to three to eight years in jail.
Kečovo - Domica
Residents clean up around Domica cave
Players of the fujara and trombita, the latter of which can be 2.5 metres long, gathered in Čičmany on September 30. photo: SITA |
The area, in Košice Region, is one of the most valuable parts of the Slovenský Kras (Slovak Karst) National Park and an entrance into the region from Hungary.
The goal of the event was to draw attention to the area's great value and to underline the need for its protection.
Another part of the programme focused on non-indigenous and invasive plants in the area. These plants, such as the giant hogweed and sumac, are pushing out plants native to this region, which could be dangerous for the valuable ecosystem.
Trnava
Seven officers injured in football clashes
Rioting football fans caused more than Sk300,000 of damage at a recent game in Trnava. photo: SITA |
Hospital emergency rooms also treated about 50 football fans following the match between Bratislava's Slovan and Trnava's Spartak teams.
"Before the end of the match, fans from both camps started behaving aggressively and threw various items at each other and at policemen, including stones," Trnava police spokeswoman Martina Kredatusová told SITA.
One of the railway policemen was taken into hospital with a serious face injury.
Ten people were taken to the police station, police told the ČTK newswire. Three were suspected of rioting and four of committing a criminal offense.
There were hundreds of police officers stationed at the match. Rail police also guarded six trains carrying Slovan fans.
"Neither the rail cars nor the stations were damaged," said Railway Police spokesman Jozef Búranský.
More than 15,000 people, a record in Slovakia, attended the match. It ended in a draw.
Trnava supporters recently rioted at a game in Bratislava. Police detained two persons suspected of rioting and extremism.
About 1,600 Spartak fans came to support their team.
Senica
Guard dogs kill security guard
TWO Rottweilers guarding the grounds of a construction company in Senica attacked and killed the site's security guard on September 25.
The 62-year-old man died immediately from his injuries, the Sme daily wrote.
That evening, just like every evening, the guard let the dogs out of their cage at 18:00 to guard the premises. The dogs attacked him, but it is not known why.
Police are still investigating the case. Trnava police spokeswoman Martina Kredatusová said the owner shot the dogs dead that night and a vet took tissue samples for examination.
Dog expert and Rottweiler breeder Miloš Butika said he knew both the dogs and he cannot explain their behaviour. He said they were trained, but they couldn't go through police training because they were unable to bite anybody.
"They were always barking behind the fence, but when a man come closer to them, they let him pet them," Butika told the daily.
One possible explanation for the attack might be that the dogs feared the guard, he said.
If the dogs' owner is found guilty in the incident, he could be convicted of causing bodily harm or death, and sentenced to one to three years in jail.
Bratislava
Danes charged for naked swim in Roland's Fountain
FOUR young Danes were charged with bathing naked in Roland's Fountain in Bratislava's Main Square in the early hours of September 26.
After the early morning skinny-dip, they ran naked through the square while their friend took pictures, the TASR newswire wrote.
Their unusual activity drew attention of the police, who fined the men Sk1,000 (€29.40) each, said Bratislava district police spokesman Peter Pleva.
This was not the first such case involving misbehaving tourists in Bratislava, however. In September, British citizen Stephen Mallone was sentenced to 13 days in prison for masturbating and bathing nude in the Hviezdoslavovo Square fountain in May. The court also banned the Briton from entering Bratislava for 18 months.
Bratislava
First five-star hotel opens in Bratislava's centre
BRATISLAVA'S first five-star hotel has opened on Františkánska Street in the city centre, the Sme daily reported on September 28.
Double rooms at the Hotel Arcadia start at €260, or Sk8,800.
The Bratislava Hotels Association welcomed the opening of the new hotel.
"It's astonishing for any capital not to have such a hotel," said the association's Igor Kuhn. "There were people who would sleep in Vienna just because we didn't have such a hotel."
The Arcadia is a so-called boutique hotel, housed in a 13th-century building and set up by the J&T Finance group. It has 34 rooms and maisonette two-floor apartments.
Two more five-star hotels are slated to be built in Bratislava in the next two years: the Hotel Kempinski, in the River Park area, and a Sheraton in the new Eurovea quarter.
Other luxury hotels are to be built in the downtown, Lamač and Petržalka.
Poprad
Good year for mushroom pickers
This mushroom in a bottle was one of the exhibits presented at a local mushroom exhibition. Mycologists suspect that after somebody threw the bottle away, spores spread into the bottle and the mushroom grew in it. photo: SITA |
"There were so many mushrooms," Juraj Kočan, a member of a local mushroom club in Poprad, told the SITA newswire on September 25. "They were nice and they didn't have maggots, so we are satisfied."
Even with so many mushroom pickers, there was enough of this delicacy in the Slovak woods this year. The number of mushrooms has increased compared to the past, Kočan said. He ascribes this growth to a better environment in the country. The amount and variety of mushrooms depends on the type of forest, as well as the weather. The arrival of frost is now bringing mushroom season in Slovakia to a slow end.
Važecké Lúky is the best-known region for mushroom picking below the High Tatras. Along with locals, mushroom pickers from the regions of Orava, Prešov, Košice and the Czech Republic come here.
Other mushroom hotspots include Liptovská Teplička, Šuňava, Vikartovce, Vernár, Spišská Belá and Kežmarok.
