List of author's articles, page 16
Samsung: more traffic, better pay
NOT EVERYONE is doing cartwheels at the prospect of Slovakia's third-largest foreign investment ever settling near Trnava in the country's investment-heavy west.
"There was total chaos" even before explosion, witness says
THE INVESTIGATION into the explosion at the VOP Nováky military facility is continuing in tight secrecy, but details are emerging of a laxity in bomb disposal practices that could have caused the blast.
Football 'big fish' snared
THE SECOND most important man in the Slovak game, Football Association secretary Vladimír Wänke, was arrested on March 6 after allegedly taking a Sk10,000 bribe from a premier league club owner to arrange a player transfer.
Nováky most costly industrial accident in Slovak history
THE NOVÁKY explosion was the biggest insurance event in Slovak history, say insurers, with claims expected in the hundreds of millions of crowns, not including any money awarded in possible court settlements.
Samsung chooses Slovakia
THE KOREAN electronics firm Samsung is to build a new € 400 million factory in Slovakia as part of the first large foreign investment the Robert Fico government has attracted since taking power last year, and the third-largest that the country has ever won.
Fico's new media advisor calls for "self-discipline"
PRIME Minister Robert Fico has engaged a new media advisor. Psychologist Ľubica Mižičková says she will counsel her boss, whose notoriously poor relations with the media have worsened since he took office last year, to delegate more responsibility and give more interviews.
Club owner: Wänke on the take for years
STANISLAV Szabo, owner of the ŠK Eldus Močenok football club, told the SITA news agency that the bribe he paid FA deputy director Vladimír Wänke on March 6 as part of a police sting operation was not the first time he had paid Wänke off.
Ministry blocks objections to health insurance draft
THE DRAFT Act on Health Insurance, in requiring about 60 percent of the population to register with state-owned health insurance companies, could be against the Constitution and Slovakia's international commitments, according to private health insurers.
Penta: Too many companies playing government's game
WITH THE accession of the left-wing Robert Fico government, Slovakia's home-grown private equity group, Penta Investments, immediately found its business plans curtailed.
The tunnel under the river
THE STATE railways company is planning to build a tunnel under the Danube River as part of an ambitious three-stage project that will link the Slovak capital by rail with Vienna and Paris.
"National carrier" put out of its misery
SLOVAKIA'S national carrier, Slovenské Aerolínie (SA), announced on February 6 that it would soon file for bankruptcy. SA director Christiane Böhm-Mayer said the airline had taken the decision after its majority shareholder, Austrian Airlines, took back two of its three operating aircraft.
GDP sets more records
SLOVAKIA'S economy grew by a record 8.2 percent in 2006, according to preliminary data released by the Statistics Bureau, buoyed by fourth quarter real GDP growth of 9.5 percent.
Health bill horrifies private insurers
THE AMENDMENT to the Act on Health Insurance, which the Health Ministry submitted to cabinet review on February 7, proposes to force about one million Slovak citizens as of July 1 to abandon their current private sector health insurance providers and register with state-owned insurers.
MPs slap political leash on energy market regulator
THE INDEPENDENT energy market regulator will henceforth do its work with the government peering over its shoulder, according to an amendment to the Regulation Act passed by parliament on February 7.
Transport Ministry proposes faster expropriation for freeways
TRANSPORT Minister Ľubomír Vážny has a plan to speed up the construction of freeways in Slovakia, and has introduced the first in a series of promised draft laws to make the expropriation of land under freeway routes quicker and easier.
NBS sees 8.6% growth in '07
THE CENTRAL bank forecasts that surging exports will speed Slovak economic growth to 8.6 percent in real terms in 2007, compared to 7.9 percent last year.
Audit fever infects towns and ministries
WITH NEW municipal and national governments having taken office over the past six months, not a day seems to go by without another audit being announced - of personnel, of finances, or merely of the state of affairs after years of governance by outgoing executives.
Former Rača mayor gets five years for corruption
THE SPECIAL Court for organized and political crime sentenced Pavol Bielik, the former mayor of Rača district in Bratislava, to five years in prison on corruption charges on January 30.
Fico government retains low tax burden
THE ACCESSION of the Fico government to power last summer has so far not changed Slovakia's status as a low-tax country. On the contrary, the combined burden of taxes and social insurance dues should fall again this year as the left-leaning Fico government continues with a trend started by its right-wing predecessor.
Twin City to uplift bus station
THE BUS station on the border between the Old Town and Ružinov districts in the Slovak capital is to receive a massive Sk17 billion facelift by the year 2011 in the largest real estate project launched in post-1989 Slovakia.
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- Ambulance hit by Russian drone goes on display in centre of Bratislava
- German shoemaker Lowa joins wave of factory closures in Slovakia
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- US giant pulls plug on Slovak factory, axing 137 jobs
- When to shop over Easter: Opening hours for supermarkets in Slovakia
- Danish shoemaker to shut Slovak factory, axing 650 jobs in fresh blow to struggling region
- Hundreds of people ousted from Bratislava’s Volkswagen
- What is Pope Francis’s message to the powerful?
- Slovakia mourns Pope Francis, a shepherd of hope and humility Photo
- Confetti, chants and history: Hejková’s dream goodbye after nearly 40 years at the top
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- Ambulance hit by Russian drone goes on display in centre of Bratislava
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- The British Film Institute shines a light on Slovak cinema’s boldest chapter Video
- Bratislava’s embassy-backed events you don’t want to miss More articles ›
