Slovakia
Law requires poop be scooped
ANALYSTS predict a boom in pooper scooper sales..photo: Peter Toth
Parliament on April 3 passed a new law requiring dog owners to clean up after their animals, scooping poop in all public places and putting it in special containers municipalities will provide. All owners of dogs over 90 days in age will also have to register their animals with the municipality and attach tags to their dogs giving the owner's address as well as a record of any previous attacks on people. Infraction of the rules may draw fines of up to Sk5,000 ($100).
"Everyone's talking about whether or not we'll manage to pass EU-related laws in time, and we occupy our time with dog laws," said Ján Jasovský of the opposition HZDS party, which forced a special parliamentary session April 11 to hold its 14th non-confidence vote in a cabinet member.
Bratislava
Old West rules in capital
A CARD game ended fatally for one gambler after he was shot by another player who thought he was cheating.
Milan V., 59, was shot dead on April 6 at the Bratislava restaurant U Oravca.
The man who shot him, Jozef K., 49, has been charged with causing bodily harm resulting in death. Jozef K. claims that he thought his gun was loaded with blanks and that he had only intended to frighten his opponent.
Bojnice
A painful zebra parting
A ZEBRA mother from Bojnice zoo had a hard time parting from her calf which was to be sent to a zoo in Rome, Italy.
Seeing that her baby was being taken away from her, the zebra mother roared and ran in circles as if trying to petition other animals for help, zoo staff said.
Bojnice zoo has regularly exchanged its animals for other species with Slovak and international zoos from Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Holland.
Gbelce and Devičany
Money and storks generating babies
SINCE Gbelce officials announced they would give parents Sk10,000 for every newborn baby, the village has seen an unprecedented population spurt.
"Believe it or not, last year we registered 20 new little citizens. That hasn't happened for years," said Gbelce Mayor František Kovács.
The measure has been in force since last year and was taken to prevent the south western Slovak village of 2,400 from dying out.
Meanwhile, in Devičany in Levice district, locals can't wait to see a stork couple return to their nest in the village. When they settled there for the first time four years ago, six babies were born in a short span of time in the village of 400.
"We can't wait to see them back. They should be here any day," said Mayor Daniel Kalina.
Veľký Krtíš
Baby dies in hospital crib
A TWO-year-old boy died in hospital after his head became stuck between the iron bars of his crib. He died of asphyxiation.
The boy had been taken to hospital by his parents, who suspected the baby had swallowed some pills. Two hours after tests showed the baby was safe, hospital staff discovered him dead in bed.
Police are interviewing the staff for potential negligence charges.
Zvolen
Job with a catch
A 23-YEAR-old who thought she'd found her dream job in Germany has claimed she was forced to flee from her employees who wanted to sell her to Turkey.
Stanislava had found work through her local labour office in a restaurant in Germany. But when she turned up for her first day on the job she found that the one-bedroom flat she had been promised by her new bosses was actually just a room that she couldn't lock.
Two days later, when Stanislava decided to pack her bags and leave, she asked her bosses for her passport and discovered that the Turkish woman running the business was planning to sell her to Turkey.
Stanislava was lucky that her parents were already on the way to pick her up.
The labour office in Zvolen that arranged the job said that it carries out thorough checks on all employers before offering work.
Banská Bystrica
A bad gamble
IN LESS than two months a man from Banská Bystrica lost almost six million Slovak crowns on betting.
Putting as much as Sk100,000 to Sk600,000 ($2,000 to $12,000) down on individual sports bets, the man lost Sk400,000 of his own savings and Sk5.5 million which he took from his company. Police are investigating him for embezzlement.
