Good evening. Here is theTuesday, November 21 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
A foreigner found dead in Košice
The police are investigating the death of a foreigner in Košice. (source: TASR)
The Košice police are investigating the death of a foreigner, the news website Korzár wrote on Tuesday.
According to the website, the 58-year-old foreigner’s name is José Eligio S. T.. He is alleged to have been an asylum seeker from Cuba. It is not clear how he died. The doctor summoned to the scene did not rule out that someone else might have killed the man, said the police.
His body was found last Friday in the Košice-Sever borough. The man, however, lived in the Darbovských Hrdinov borough.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
Politics: PM Robert Fico (Smer) decided to not communicate with some media outlets because he believes they lie about his government.
Opinion: Beata Balogová, editor-in-chief of the Sme daily, responds to Fico’s latest decision in her opinion piece.
Science: “Women in science are not expected to have children. I insisted that it was my basic human right and earned the benefit,” says Slovak scientist Eva Lilly in an interview.
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FEATURE STORY FOR TUESDAY
A Serbian who runs Nitra’s cultural centre
Katarina Živanović. (source: Kvet Nguyen)
At 46, Katarina Živanović decided to leave Serbia and relocate to Slovakia where she has managed two cultural centres, in Košice and in Nitra.
If it weren’t for my life in Slovakia, I wouldn’t be who I am, she says in an interview.
EVENT
Get tested for HIV
The world commemorates World AIDS Day on December 1. (source: Facebook/HIV / AIDS Slovensko)
Grab the opportunity to test for HIV during the currently ongoing European Testing Week. As every year, it takes place a week before World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1. Testing is offered by 11 selected regional public health offices, the National Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention, HIV Check Point Bratislava and some clinical microbiology laboratories. It is also possible to request a blood sample for testing from your general practitioner.
In Bratislava, the first HIV community centre opened in early November. It can be found on Pražská 11.
In other news
Parliament has approved the government programme after a week-long discussion in the debating chamber. Seventy-eight MPs voted for it although the ruling coalition has 79 MPs in the house. PM Robert Fico (Smer) explained that one of the coalition MPs is in hospital. The opposition describes the programme as too general and unambitious. The coalition called its programme “Living better, calmer and safer”.
The government programme gets approved in parliament on November 21, 2023. (source: TASR)
The condition of a 22-year-old student who was stabbed five times on a train on November 1 has worsened, the Sme daily writes. A 29-year-old attacker, who is confirmed to have mental problems and refuses treatment, is in custody. When asked by the police if he wanted to rape the student, he said, smiling: “Let me be. I want to go to heaven.”
Jesus Christ will not become the king of Slovakia, ultraconservative Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (SNS nom.) said on Tuesday. Her ultraconservative deputy minister, Štefan Kuffa (Život), talked about crowning Jesus the king in Slovakia during a mass in Trnava last week. Kuffa’s brother Marián, who is a Catholic priest, defended his brother in his latest sermon, repeating that anyone who “spreads gender ideology, commits genocide of our [Slovak] nation. Treason.”
Queens of the Stone Age, a US rock band, will perform at the 2024 Pohoda festival in Trenčín. Morcheeba, Black Pumas and James Blake have also been announced as live acts that will perform at the event.
University Hospital Bratislava has put its no-visitor policy to use due to the worsening epidemic situation in the Bratislava Region.
Slovakia is prepared to extend the ban on the import of agricultural commodities from Ukraine if the European Commission does not find an acceptable way to deal with the surplus of Ukrainian grain in Europe, said Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč (Smer) after a meeting with EU agriculture ministers in Brussels.
The government has extended border checks with Hungary until December 23. The measure will cost more than €3 million. Temporary border checks have been in place since October 5.
Slovensko (OĽaNO) leader and ex-PM Igor Matovič during a press conference in parliament after the government programme is approved on November 21, 2023. Matovič explains how his party has reportedly made the Hlas party, one of the ruling parties, to keep its promise and give all pensioners €640. Matovič refers to a donkey from Shrek and to a gold-producing donkey from a story by the Brothers Grimm to illustrate efforts of his party. (source: TASR)
Conservative MPs Anna Záborská and Richard Vašečka wants to ban Sunday sales from January 2025. Four Sundays would be exempted from the ban: the Sunday before the start of the school year and the three Sundays before Christmas. MPs should deal with the proposal next month.
The traffic situation near the Vyšné Nemecké-Uzhhorod border crossing appears unpredictable due to a protest by Slovak hauliers and a big number of Ukrainian lorries using the border crossing after Poland closed some of its border crossings for lorries from Ukraine. (Korzár)
WEATHER FOR WEDNESDAY: You can expect patchy clouds and cooler temperatures. The daytime temperature will range from 3°C to 9°C, much lower in the Spiš region in eastern Slovakia.
The yellow fog warning is currently in place in the Banská Bystrica Region. The yellow wind warning will be in place in the southern part of eastern Slovakia, including Košice, tomorrow. (SHMÚ)
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