Bratislava
MP gets F1 test driving job
JIRKO Malchárek, a member of parliament and a professional racing car driver, has become the first Slovak ever to join a Formula 1 team.
Malchárek signed a contract with KL Minardi Asiatech on May 30 to become a test driver for the team's Mark Webber.
"This is the peak of my racing career. I hope that my dream to start at a Grand Prix race will soon come true," he said.
Bratislava
Group threatens bomb attacks in Slovakia
A GROUP calling itself 'BMG Atack' (sic) has threatened terrorist bomb attacks on Slovak supermarkets and shopping malls unless the government agrees to compensate the thousands of people who lost money in the February and March collapses of unlicensed deposit funds BMG Invest and Drukos.
Letters warning of the attacks have been delivered to the president and prime minister. Police said they first received notice of the threat on June 7, since when they have searched some public sites without result. They have appealed to the public for help identifying the unknown perpetrators.
Bratislava
More drunk police drivers
A POLICEMAN who on June 4 crashed while driving drunk became the 13th officer this year to have an accident while under the influence. The man, who suffered severe injuries and was off duty at the time, will be fired from the force.
Another intoxicated police officer - this time a border and aliens police division member on sick leave - also crashed last week. The young man, whose name has not been released by the Interior Ministry, had 2.36 parts per thousand alcohol in his blood.
In the 14 accidents this year involving drunk-driving police, six people have died and four been injured, apart from damages suffered by the police themselves.
Snina
A bad place to sleep
A MAN WHO fell asleep on a railway track was run over by a train on June 8 near Snina after the driver failed to halt the massive vehicle in time.
The victim, a 53-year-old from the central Slovak town of Muráň, suffered fatal injuries to his head and limbs. The driver said he first spotted the man when the train was only 20 metres away from impact.
Veľká Lomnica
Young for a babka
AGNESA Polhošová has become the country's youngest grandmother. At the age of 29 she is the proud granny of one-month-old Antonko.
Polhošová's daughter Anna, 13, said that she had been "scared to tell my mom that I'm pregnant but my classmates told her and so she took me to a medical examination and the test confirmed my pregnancy".
Although Agnesa Polhošová admitted that her daughter's pregnancy had come at a very young age, she said there had never been any mention of abortion.
"I'm taking care of five children and I will also raise Antonko," she said. The court decided that because the mother was too young, the granny would be responsible for raising the baby.
Antonko's father, 17, was given a suspended sentence for having sex with a minor. Slovakia's legal age for sexual intercourse is 15 years.
Nitra
SPP man catches fire during pipe system checks
AN SPP gas utility employee suffered serious burns after escaping natural gas caught fire during a regular check of the firm's pipelines in Nitra.
The 51-year-old man was immediately taken to hospital, and attending doctors said the burns would take over a month to heal.
The fire also caused damages to the facility estimated at Sk1 million. An SPP service vehicle was also destroyed in the fire.
Košice
Officer soon out of job after Roma attack
A KOŠICE police officer who participated in a gang attack on a group of Roma will be fired, a local police spokesperson said June 10.
The attack took place on May 30; a police investigation continues to discover whether other officers were involved in the attack.
According to Košice police spokeswoman Jarmila Petrová, the officer's release proposal is already prepared. She added, however, that investigators had no reason to charge the officer with abuse of power as a public official because "the officer did not carry out this act while on duty".
Košice
Vandalised graves to be identified on Internet
THE CITY of Košice has published on the Internet a list of 163 gravesites in a local Jewish cemetery that were vandalised by three schoolboys in April. The list contains the names of people buried there, as well as some photos of the damaged gravestones.
The initiative is in response to what the city says are hundreds of requests from people around the world with roots in Košice for more information on whether their relatives' graves were disturbed.
The list is available on the Košice city site (www.kosice.sk) under the rubric "Nové na www.kosice.sk" at the entry for June 10, "Zoznam poškodených hrobov na Židovskom cintoríne v Košiciach".
Košice
Police behind armed theft?
POLICE investigators have charged four members of the motorised emergency response unit of the Košice regional police for involvement in the armed robbery of Sk8 million ($170,000) from a private security firm in December last year.
The four policemen were questioned on June 12, with charges being laid the next day.
Považská Bystrica
Papradno skins charged
A DISTRICT attorney from Slovak Považská Bystrica has laid charges of promoting fascism against six skinheads who took part in a neo-Nazi concert in September last year in the western Slovak hamlet of Papradno.
The concert attracted some 500 people, 89 of whom were questioned by police after a late-night raid. The six who were arrested were allegedly attired in clothing which promoted racial hatred. They face up to three years in jail if convicted.
The Interior Ministry has warned this year of an expected increase in activity by neo-Fascist groups.
Compiled by Spectator Staff from press reports
