Tatranská Javorina
Zeman spurns offer of Slovak beer
After infuriating Slovak beer producers on October 7 by stating that Slovak beer was only suitable for soakig dentures in, Czech Prime Minister Miloš Zeman added injury to insult when he refused to drink a bottle of Tatran beer presented to him at a press conference in the Slovak mountain resort of Tatranská Javorina. The beer was offered to Zeman on behalf of Slovak beer producers by an editor at Radio Tatry.
Zeman again spurned Slovak beer when Slovak brewers surprised him at the Poprad airport bearing gifts, including samples of leading Slovak beers and a Slovak glass. Encouraged to try a sample on the spot, Zeman again refused.
Zeman's statements also angered the Dutch brewer Heineken, which manages Slovakia's most-exported beer, Zlatý Bažant (Golden Pheasant). In response to Zeman's comment that Bažant was average by Czech standards, Heineken's PR director Štefan Karsay said that he considered Bažant one of the best beers around.
Bratislava
Terry Fox Run remembers 'Marathon of Hope'
The third annual Terry Fox Run was held October 16 in Bratislava's Janko Kráľ Park to conclude Slovakia's 'Fight against Cancer' month. Several hundred runners participated in the fund-raising event by walking, running, skating or biking along a one-kilometre path. All proceeds were donated to the Anti-Cancer League and the Cancer Research Foundation.
Terry Fox, a Canadian, entered the international spotlight during the 'Marathon of Hope,' a run across Canada that Fox began in St. John's, Newfoundland shortly after being diagnosed with bone cancer. Fox covered 5,565 kilometres in 143 days, an average of nearly 40 kilometres a day. In June, 1981, having reached Thunder Bay in central Canada, he died at the age of 23.
Since his death, countries around the world have organised cancer awareness fund-raisers in Fox's memory. The first Slovak event took place in 1997, when more than 25,000 participants in 25 towns ran and raised 110,000 Slovak crowns ($2,750) for the Slovak Academy of Science's Experimental Oncology Institute.
Bratislava
Army is most trusted Slovak institution
Slovaks trust their army more so than any other institution in the country, reported a poll conducted by the Markant marketing and social research agency. When aked whether different institutions were 'trustworthy,' 69.4% of respondents said they trusted the army, compared to 59.3% for the Church and 59% for the state-run Slovak Television (STV).
The next six most trustworthy institutions in the poll results, announced October 13 in Bratislava, were the Slovak Constitutional Court (58.5%), TV Markíza (57.5%), the judiciary (47.4%), the Slovak Government (47.1%), the Slovak Parliament (43.2%), and the police (40.9%).
The poll, carried out from August 25 to September 6 on 982 respondents, was not kind to Slovak Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda. When asked to judge the PM and his cabinet, 25% of respondants gave a rating of 'weak,' while 26% chose 'very weak.' Only 17% of respondents said that Dzurinda and his cabinet deserved a 'good' rating, while a mere 1% gave a rating of 'very good.'
Compiled by Chris Togneri
from TASR and SITA
