Good evening. Here is the Monday, August 14 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in fewer than five minutes.
Time to bring up election calculation
Former PM Robert Fico (Smer). (source: SITA)
Last week, the Smer party was confronted with another challenge – the latest of many – in the realm of criminal prosecution. Police pressed charges against the number nine candidate on its election slate, Tibor Gašpar.
Smer head Robert Fico's reaction was both predictable and loathsome. He branded the charges a "desperate and vulgar" action by the National Crime Agency (NAKA) and the Special Prosecutor's Office, and suggested that they were a continuation of an orchestrated attack on the opposition.
The party’s claims are always long on assertion and (very) short on evidence.
Still, despite mounting criminal cases, Smer’s support keeps rising and may now be benefiting from the snowball effect, the latest election modelling by the NMS polling agency for the Sme daily suggests.
This also shows that there may be an option for Smer to gather a coalition that would not include the extremist Republika, on option for Hlas, which has labelled Republika as one of the parties with which it will not go into government.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
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FEATURE STORY FOR MONDAY
Czechoslovakia probably possessed Soviet nuclear weapons
August 21, 1968: The Warsaw Pact troops, led by the Soviet army, invaded Czechoslovakia. (source: TASR)
The Soviet Union deployed nuclear weapons even to the territories of its satellites, and during the Cold War they probably reached Czechoslovakia as well.
Petr Suchý, an expert on the role of nuclear weapons in international relations from Masaryk University in Brno, explains in an interview how Czechoslovak nuclear weapons could have been used, how the Soviet Union also kept the deployment of ballistic missiles to the country a secret from the US, and why Slovakia still possessed them for a long time afterwards.
EVENT FOR WEDNESDAY
Night tour in a beautiful castle
The Strečno castle (source: SITA)
The popular Strečno Castle near Žilina, north Slovakia, will host night tours on Wednesday, August 16. Visitors will be introduced to the fate of its owner, Benigna Kiniži, who married three times.
A theatre group will perform both terrifying and humorous scenes from her life. It is rumoured that there was something strange about the deaths of her husbands. There will also be a fire show and videomapping in the courtyard. Visitors are recommended to bring a flashlight.
For more information and tickets click here (in Slovak).
In other news
Last Thursday, the police arrested three Croatian citizens for stealing. The women, aged 17, 26, and 48, were trying to steal items from a backpack a tourist wore on the premises of Bratislava Castle. All three were indicted in rapid proceedings.
Slovak road cyclist Martin Svrček finished third in an attritional under-23 road race at the World Championships in Glasgow, earning the second medal in this category for the country after Peter Velits's gold in 2007. Not one of the remaining four Slovak riders finished this year's race; two suffered a fall, the other two withdrawing approximately 20 kilometres before the finish line.
Part of the tram line on Vajnorská Street, Nové Mesto district, will be reconstructed. The section in question lies between Tomášikova Street and Zlaté Piesky Lake. In addition to the modernisation of the line, stops will be renovated as well and include shelters. The work should last no longer than 10 months from the handover of the site and will cost approximately €20 million.
For two days from Tuesday to Wednesday (August 15-16), the road through the Donovaly mountain pass will be completely closed due to the installation of a footbridge. Only tourists with hotel vouchers and residents of the village will be allowed through. The pass connects the Banská Bystrica and Žilina Regions. The bus carrier Arriva Liorbus asks passengers to consider the need of travelling to Banská Bystrica, or using a train if necessary. Several detours are available: 1) Banská Bystrica - Harmanec - Turčianske Teplice - Martin - Ružomberok; 2) Banská Bystrica - Podbrezová - Mýto pod Ďumbierom - Kráľova Lehota - Liptovský Hrádok - Ivachnová - Ružomberok; 3) Žiar nad Hronom - Kremnica - Horná Štubňa - Turčianske Teplice - Martin - Ružomberok.
The Bratislava self-governing region opened the first integration centre in Modra. The centre with a capacity for 15 clients is supposed to provide counselling and rehabilitation, as well as create conditions for the development of work skills, and help with job application and interests. The ambition is to provide art therapy, bibliotherapy, music therapy, working with herbs, and training for the profession of assistant gardener as well, among other things. The centre will be open to regional social service facilities, and to those who find themselves in an unfavourable social situation due to their health condition.
WEATHER FOR TUESDAY:
Sunny. Daily temperatures between 28 °C to 33 °C. Level 1 high temperature warning applies to western, south and eastern districts, see map. (SHMÚ)
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