Košice
The first 2003 baby born one second past midnight
BABY boy Stanislav Toplanský from Košice was the first Slovak baby born in 2003, followed closely by baby boy Maroško Nagy from Košice who lost the title to baby Stanislav by a mere 14 seconds.
Doctor Marta Jeleneková from Košice's Louis Pasteur hospital said baby Stanislav was healthy, weighing 3.4 kilograms and measuring 52 centimetres. The second baby, Maroško, was an early birth, but doctors confirmed he was fine despite the fact that he only weighed 2 kilograms.
Bratislava
Ice Bears swim in Danube
IN A TRADITIONAL New Year's swim, a hardy group that calls itself the Ice Bears dipped into the cold waters of the Danube in Bratislava, while temperatures plummeted to -5 Celsius.
Part of the group, composed of 38 men and seven women, swam for a few minutes in a safe haven near the Café Propeler on the left bank of the Danube.
Another group dipped in the river near New Bridge and let themselves be taken downstream for about one kilometre, whereupon lifeguards fished them out of the water. Similar antics took place in the lake resort Zlaté Piesky in Bratislava.
The dangerous sport took the life of one Ice Bear last year, who died after a powerful whirlpool sucked him down.
Bratislava
Communist missing in November found dead
THE BODY of Peter Vydarený, a candidate for Bratislava city council and a Communist Party (KSS) sympathiser who went missing shortly before the municipal elections last year, was found frozen in a forest near Bratislava.
Vydarený, 30, left his home on November 25 after telling his family that he was going to help stick election posters around the city to support the municipal elections campaign.
He never returned home, the Slovak daily Nový Ćas reported. On January 4 his body was found in a forest near the Bratislava district of Dúbravka. Vydarený had a plastic bag wrapped around his head, police said.
Ján Hollý, head of the local branch of the KSS said weeks ago that his party had established that the disappearance of Vydarený had no basis in politics.
