Žilina
Road accident takes six young lives
SIX YOUNG people aged 17 to 26 died in a head-on collision between their tiny Škoda 120 and a 40-ton transport truck on a dangerous stretch of highway between northern Slovakia's Žilina and Martin towns July 22.
The six were killed immediately and their car crushed by the truck, which according to police braked but could not avoid colliding with the Škoda. The truck driver, who tested negative for alcohol, said the car driver had attempted to overtake another vehicle but had skidded on a patch of road.
The accident occurred in the middle of a bridge, leaving the vehicles no room to manoeuvre. The car's engine was found under the back wheels of the truck, while other parts of the Škoda had to be freed by hydraulic lifts from under the front of the transport.
The highway on which the accident occurred, the I-18, is narrow, busy and one of the most dangerous in the country. It has already accounted for 10 of the 53 road deaths this year in Žilina region.
However, police warn that Slovaks in general are tending to drive more aggressively and carelessly, and note that traffic deaths are up over 50 per cent in Žilina above the 35 recorded in the same period last year.
Bratislava
Astrologist foresees end of the world
ASTROLOGIST Eugen Jonáš claims he foretold six years ago that Earth was to be hit by a meteorite, and that recent information on a potential collision with a nearing asteroid in February 2019 only confirmed his theory.
Jonáš, a former psychiatrist and a deeply religious man, says he thinks the collision will happen sooner than in 2019, and that it will destroy three quarters of the planet.
"That will be a Big Warning. After that, crosses of light should appear and three days after Destruction Day a New World should arise," said Jonáš, who claims he read the message in the stars.
To avert the catastrophe, Jonáš thinks, the ratio between good and evil on the planet must change, a development of which he is sceptical.
Jonáš said that his visions told him the Earth had some bad news ahead of it.
In the near future, Jonáš says, the Arabs will destroy Israel and plunder Jerusalem. In the autumn Italy will be swept by a revolution and the Vatican will be burned to ashes, while France and Spain will see public riots. The Balkans, Jonáš says, will be taken over by the Russians, and the Czech Republic by the Germans.
He had no predictions for the outcome of Slovak elections.
Bratislava
Skinheads brutally attack young girls
POLICE are searching for a group of skinheads who attacked two young girls shortly after midnight July 26 in the Slovak capital, stabbing one of them in the back.
The stab victim, 20-year-old Sára, was taken to intensive care in hospital and now says she wants to leave Bratislava as she no longer feels safe in the city. The accident took place near Hotel Forum on Hodžovo Square.
Sára's friend Katarína, 21, said of the accident: "We were in a hurry to catch the late night bus. As we were crossing the road in front of Hotel Forum, I suddenly felt a bang on my head, near the right temple."
She said five skinheads between 20 and 30 years of age had then attacked Sára. "It all took about 10 seconds. I fell down and they kicked us. When they left, Sára stood up and I saw they had stabbed her in the back."
Anti-racism activists said that a possible cause of the attack could have been the girls' dreadlock hairdos.
According to Ladislav Ďurkovič from the People Against Racism NGO, the skinheads had allegedly been chasing "some black man", who had apparently managed to escape.
"We don't usually attack women. Were they defending the nigger?" asked one member of a neo-nazi group to the Slovak daily Národná Obroda.
Interior Ministry spokesman Karol Tonka said police were searching for the attackers. Investigators are questioning witnesses, while officers will also use video tapes from cameras overseeing the city centre to identify the culprits.
Veľký Krtíš
Message in a bottle
AN UNKNOWN attacker threw a Molotov cocktail into the bedroom of a sleeping Roma family with four small children.
Veľký Krtíš police are searching for the attacker, and have not ruled out a racial motive for the attack.
The incident took place late at late night on Sunday, July 28 in the flat of 52-year-old Emília B.
Slovenský raj
Ungrateful snake bites
A HUNGARIAN tourist was bitten by a venomous snake as she lifted it off the road to safety.
The incident happened in the country's Slovenský raj protected area. The woman is now safe after a series of medical checks.
It was confirmed that a 30-centimetre viper - the only venomous snake native to the country - had bitten the woman after she was asked to draw the snake for doctors on July 29.
Vipers have large fangs, a broad head and a dark winding pattern down the back. They typically attack only when they feel endangered.
Stráne
Man shot for stealing potatoes
POLICE shot a 42-year-old potato thief in the thigh after he allegedly attempted to attack officers with an axe.
The man, G.O., who police said was a Roma, was caught stealing potatoes with several other men. G.O. claimed that he had taken "one bag of potatoes. It was a kilo and a half or so. We had nothing to eat at home".
G.O. denied that he had attacked the patrol. "I held the axe down along my body," he said, adding he had not wanted to hit the policeman.
Potato theft has become common in many Slovak regions in the last several years. Some potato farmers have even said recently that next season they will not plant potatoes because the majority of their crops goes to thieves.
Banská Bystrica
Jailed for stealing corn
A REGIONAL court has sentenced a man who stole 41 ears of corn worth Sk492 ($11) to jail for two months.
Based on the country's 'Farmer's Law', anyone who steals from a private or co-operative farm field may be send to jail irrespective of the amount of damage done.
The law was pushed through by farmers and political nationalists who blame the annual thefts on Slovakia's Roma population.
