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Stats: Average Salaries in March Rose in All Sectors Except IT

Bratislava, May 11 (TASR) - On an annual basis, real salaries in Slovakia grew in March 2010 in all sectors except for IT, according to information published by the Slovak Statistics Office on Tuesday. The highest year-on-year real salary increases were seen in industry (8.2 percent), in wholesale (7 percent) and in accommodation (4.2 percent). Conversely, real salaries… read more

Most-Hid Preparing Change in Financing of Ethnic Minorities

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - The Most-Hid party wants to have state resources allocated to ethnic-minority culture projects part financed from the Culture Ministry's budget, Most-Hid chairman Bela Bugar told TASR in an interview. To this end, Most-Hid is preparing a relevant piece of legislation to set up a lower authority in charge of distributing the aforementioned resources.… read more

Slovakia Not in Need of Borrowing Money Towards EU Guarantee Package

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - At the moment, Slovakia is not in a situation to have to borrow money to make a deposit into a newly-created guarantee mechanism of the European Union, according to Prime Minister Robert Fico. Although the Union has already approved the supporting package worth more than €700 billion for its member states, the aid only has a form of guarantee,… read more

Kalinak: Banks Refuse to Improve Their Security

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - Banks refuse to introduce more stringent security measures, said Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Robert Kalinak (a Smer-SD nominee) on Monday, referring to a bank robbery in Malacky (Bratislava region) on the same day in which a security guard was killed. "We offered to install some monitoring devices for free, but unfortunately it doesn't… read more

Parliament to Discuss Loan for Greece on Wednesday

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - The extraordinary session of Parliament at which Slovakia's contribution to the bailout plan for Greece is set be debated will take place on Wednesday (May 12) afternoon, parliamentary spokesman Jozef Plsko told TASR on Monday. Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paska (Smer-SD) summoned the session after receiving a petition from opposition lawmakers… read more

Banks: Public Not Interested in State Aid Scheme for Mortgages

Bratislava, May (TASR) - More than five months since its introduction, the state assistance scheme for people who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis and aren't able to repay their mortgages has not been used by a single person, bank spokespersons approached by TASR concurred on Monday. "To this day we haven't received any requests for state aid in repaying… read more

Industrial Production Up 20.8 percent Y-o-Y in March

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - Industrial production in Slovakia in March grew by 20.8 percent year-on-year and by 4.5 percent month-on-month after seasonal effects are taken into consideration, the Statistics Office said on Monday. "The favourable March figures for German and Czech industry indicated in advance that Slovak industry could exceed expectations in March as… read more

On-line Form Simplifies Applications for Visa to U.S.A.

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - The American Embassy in Slovakia on Monday told TASR that a new U.S. visa application form (DS-160) for people unable to use the Electronic System of Travel Authorisation (ESTA) - which is only available to citizens of approved counties holding a biometric passport and travelling for tourism or business - is now available online for applications from… read more

Fico: Ministry Merger Should Help Sooth Extremist Attitudes

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico believes that the merger of the agriculture and environment ministries as of July 1, 2010 will help to calm "extremist attitudes" in relations between the forestry sector and conservationists, TASR learnt on Monday. "I'm deeply against extremes as far as this relationship goes, be it on the part of wood processors… read more

SaS: Fico Should Collect Money from Smer Voters to Fund Greek Loan

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - Prime Minister and Smer-SD party chairman Robert Fico's election campaign should include a collection of money from his voters to fund the planned loan for debt-ridden Greece, as this would prevent him from putting future generations in deeper debt, vice-chairman of extra-parliamentary Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party Juraj Miskov told a press conference… read more

Fresh Volcanic Ash Hasn\'t Disrupted Flights From Bratislava

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) - Fresh plumes of ash from the Icelandic volcano that are currently moving across Europe aren't expected to affect flights from Bratislava's M.R. Stefanik Airport (BTS), airport spokesperson Dana Madunicka told TASR on Monday. "Air carriers haven't notified us of any flight cancellations for today (Monday)," she said, adding that the country's… read more

Injured Students From Polish Bus to Be Transported to Polish Hospital

Dobra Niva, May 9 (TASR) - Seventeen passengers from the Polish bus that crashed in Zvolen district (Banska Bystrica region) on Saturday morning are still in Slovak hospitals, but should be transported to a Polish hospital on Sunday. According to the police, the accident was caused by the 54-year-old Polish bus driver, who was taking 70 Polish students and their teachers… read more

President Gasparovic to Take Part in Russian Celebrations to Mark End of WWII

Moscow, May 8 (TASR) - Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic on Saturday departed for Moscow to attend celebrations on Sunday marking the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism and the end of WWII. A total of 56 heads of state, prime ministers, representatives of international institutions and ex-presidents will attend the ceremony on Moscow's Red Square, which will… read more

SDKU: Hasty Financial Assistance to Greece Is Suspicious and Improper

Bratislava, May 8 (TASR) - The time stress connected to the accelerated financial assistance to Greece is suspicious and improper for an appropriate discussion on loan equalling to €110 billion, TASR was told by SDKU-DS caucus leader Stanislav Janis on Saturday. Janis was speaking in reaction to the decisions made at the extraordinary Government's session earlier the… read more

Polish Bus Crashed in Zvolen District, Two People Seriously Injured

Dobra Niva, May 8 (TASR) - Eighteen people were injured in an accident of a Polish bus between Dobra Niva and Podzamcok in Zvolen district (Banska Bystrica region) on Saturday morning, TASR was told by spokesman of Banska Bystrica Regional Directorate of the Fire and Rescue Corps Miroslav Podhradsky. Two people are seriously injured, one of them has already been transported… read more