(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good afternoon. The weekend is coming and we have prepared a quick summary of the main news of the day in our Friday, September 10, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia. We wish you a pleasant read.
For weekend tips and reads, check out our Spectacular Slovakia weekly roundup. This week, Peter Dlhopolec reports on a Poprad-based shoemaker and climbing rocks in the Tatras. You can also choose from an array of Bratislava events.
People can report insufficiently mowed lawns, dry greenery, overcrowded or damaged baskets, and damaged or non-functional road markings within the Rapid Interventions service. (source: TASR)
The Bratislava city council wants to speed up the process of solving complaints related to the maintenance of greenery and roads. At the beginning of September, it launched the Rýchle Zásahy (Rapid Interventions) service, through which it wants to resolve such complaints within 72 hours.
“Rapid Interventions will cover warnings of insufficiently mowed lawns, dry greenery in an emergency condition, broken trees branches in an emergency condition, uncut roadway greenery, overcrowded or damaged baskets, missing or damaged sewer covers, dirty roads, damaged and non-functional road markings, and non-functional road traffic lights,” said Bratislava Spokesperson Katarína Rajčanová, as cited by the TASR newswire.
Picture of the day
Preparation of the venue for Pope Francis in Prešov. (source: TASR)
Slovakia is finishing preparations for the historic visit of Pope Francis starting on Sunday, September 12. Read all about his visit here.
Feature story for today
The sound installation POST (source: Courtesy of Šimon Lupták/ooo)
Walking into Bratislava's Nová Cvernovka – a former chemical industry school complex turned into a creative and cultural hub – one of the first things visitors come across is the seemingly bizarre sight of an old armchair in front of a huge harpsichord hanging from a wall. The lighting in the corner of the entry hall which is home to the instrument, creates the sense of being in a theatre, or of looking at an exhibit, which is exactly what the harpsichord actually is.
The sound installation ‘POST’ created by Fero Király, Eva Vozárová, and architect Matúš Janota, addresses questions of culture in Bratislava, legacies of the past, and recycling and sustainability.
20th anniversary of 9/11
The photo exhibition marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 teorist attacks in centre of Bratislava. (source: Courtesy of the US Embassy)
The world, including Slovakia, will mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, often referred to as 9/11, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the militant Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States of America. The US Embassy in Slovakia has created an open-air photo exhibition about the event on Hviezdoslavovo Square in Bratislava.
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Coronavirus and vaccination news:
377 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 6 552 PCR tests performed on September 9. The number of people in hospitals has decreased by two to 179 people. The vaccination rate is at 43.64 percent; 2,400,164 people have received the first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.
A total of 179 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus diagnoses are currently being treated in Slovak hospitals. Most of them are unvaccinated; only 12.33 percent of them are fully vaccinated, Health Ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova told TASR on Friday.
Other news:
The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) detained on Friday morning Matej Zeman, a former member of the Takáčovci underworld clan, TV Joj reported. An arrest warrant has been issued for Zeman, who is suspected of manipulating witnesses. The Bureau of the Inspection Service has also started prosecuting Csaba Dömötör and Peter Petrov.
The national train carrier Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) signed a €170-million contract with a consortium of Škoda Transportation Plzeň and ŽOS Trnava for the purchase of electric units. Nine new four-car Panthers will run in the Kosice and Presov regions, expanding Slovakia's fleet of these trains to 34.
In addition to carmakers, electronic manufacturers in Slovakia are also starting to grapple with the global shortage of some components. One of them is Foxconn in Nitra, which has been experiencing a shortage of chips, plastic granules, metal parts and packaging materials. In spite of missing parts, the plant did not have to suspend production for a single day during the first half of the year.
Slovak gas transmission system operator Eustream should transport, in addition to natural gas, hydrogen. On Thursday, September 9, it joined the international industry partnership on the production and supply of green hydrogen "H2EU+Store". Hydrogen derived from solar and wind energy will be produced in Ukraine, transported via Eusteam’s network to Austria and Germany, and stored for seasonal demand in central Europe in the future, the operator wrote on its website.
Do not miss on Spectator.sk today
If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
