Sečovská Polianka
Stork abandons annual migration
A white stork is probably planning to spend the coming winter about 200 metres from the eastern Slovak village Sečovská Polianka. The stork has become an attraction for locals after the bird did not leave for the south for the winter.
"I've noticed he's usually hanging around a rick of straw and a little forest near the village creek," said Michal Trela, a Sečovská Polianka. "I'm sure he'll find enough food there, and I believe he'll get through the winter easily."
Fiľakovo
Second BSE case uncovered
A pregnant six-year old cow owned by the Filagro firm in central Slovakia died of BSE, the deadly bovine disease thought to be linked to a human brain-wasting condition, on October 29. Representatives of Filagro, which has more than 2,100 cattle, were shocked when test results confirmed BSE days later.
"I have no idea how the cow could have caught the disease. We don't use bone-meal feed and don't import cattle from countries with BSE," said Filagro director Gabriel Rečka.
Slovakia's first BSE case was found a month earlier in the central Slovak village Dolná Ždaňa. A total of 63 Filagro cows - all those born a year before or a year after the infected cow - will be killed. The cow's four offspring were long ago butchered and their meat is unavailable for testing.
Papradno
Neo-Nazis charged
Two men have been charged in connection with a massive Nazi rock concert in the town of Papradno in late September.
The men, both 25, were charged on November 5 with supporting movements which deny basic rights and freedoms.
They were caught by police wearing clothes plastered in swastikas and other fascist symbols.
The concert had attracted neo-Nazi bands from across Europe and skinhead leaders from as far away as Germany.
But a police swoop on the suspected Nazi gang leaders was bungled after a national TV station broadcasting from the town released news the police could be on their way.
The gang members fled from the concert hall as soon as they received the tip-off.
Police admitted later the hall had not been guarded by enough officers.
Trnava
Murder-suicide case reopened
Trnava investigators have reopened a murder case in a Trnava region jail dating back to 1952.
According to Ivan Dujka, head of Trnava regional police, a jail warden shot a prisoner and later committed suicide.
The case was documented by a Ministry of Justice department which recoreded communist crimes. The department then forwarded the files to Trnava police.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports
