Which nations bucked the trend in the Euro elections and surged towards leftwing parties? The headline gains were for nationalist and Eurosceptic parties witness all those pictures of "evil" Nigel Farage smiling into his pint glass, or of Marine Le Pen, whose Front National party triumphed in France , throwing back her head and cackling. But some member nations bucked the trend in the Euro...
In Luxembourg in 2009 turnout was more than 90%, while in parts of eastern Slovakia it barely scraped above 10% The consistent slump in turnouts for European elections from around two-thirds of voters in 1979 to two-fifths 30 years later tells only half the story. In some countries, Euro-enthusiasm is little diminished; in others, it never took off in the first place. In Luxembourg in 2009 more than...
Youth unemployment and the need for more democracy are among the hot topics at three-day European Youth Event It is not everyone's idea of a weekend Euro-break: a conference in the sprawling maze of parliamentary buildings in Strasbourg to debate the virtues of European democracy. Yet they came in their thousands more than 8,000 young people from 28 member states to celebrate the European Union and...
Slovak system would reward citizens for tracking businesses IRS will audit fewer Americans than any time since the 1980s It sounds like an outtake from the Lives of Others or another surveillance conspiracy theory: what if you mobilized an entire country to make sure businesses paid their taxes? Slovakia is trying this with its year-old plan for a tax lottery. And it might be a stretch, but who knows...
Landslide victory for millionaire-turned-philanthropist deals blow to prime minister Robert Fico ahead of 2016 general election Andrej Kiska swooped in out of the blue to clinch Slovakia's presidency by a landslide, dealing a heavy blow to the credibility of the prime minister, Robert Fico, ahead of a general election in 2016. A non-aligned centrist who made his fortune in the consumer-credit business,...
From sewing clothes as an act of defiance in communist-era Slovakia to memories of one much-missed mum's Ossie Clark dress, Bibi Lynch talks to two women about how their mum influenced their style and reflects on her own own fashion relationship with her mother We lived in Slovakia, under a communist regime. All the clothes were mass-produced and everyone wore the same stuff. My mum wanted to wear...
Two arrested after police uncover underground train used to smuggle people and contraband cigarettes into EU A 700-metre tunnel with its own train used for smuggling has been discovered running between Slovakia and Ukraine, the Slovak government said on Thursday. Police said the tunnel had possibly been used to smuggle people into Slovakia, which is in the European Union. Its main use, though, was...
Officials in capital reject winning entry in online poll despite more than 12,000 votes for naming bridge after action star Slovak officials have rejected the overwhelming results of a popular internet campaign to name a new pedestrian and cycling bridge near the capital after the American action film star Chuck Norris. Despite 12,599 votes for the Norris name in a two-month online poll, Bratislava...
Czech Republic declares state of emergency after five die, with at least two killed in Austria and thousands of people evacuated Volunteers piled up sandbags in an effort to keep the Vltava river from swamping the Czech capital's historic centre after floods across central Europe forced factories to close and drove thousands from their homes. At least seven people have been killed. Five people were...
Paragliders detained on suspicion of taking photographs near uranium facility in central Iran Six out of eight Slovak citizens detained in Iran since May on suspicion of spying have been released and returned home, the prime minister, Robert Fico, said. ...
A nation of mountain peaks and nervous economists Age: In its present form, 18. Appearance: Snowy mountains, thick forests and very nervous economists. ...
After eight hours of debate in parliament, measure calling on Slovakia to support revamp of bailout fund fails to pass by 21 votes...
Vote for extension of the European financial stability facility opens way to more loans for struggling eurozone states Slovakia has become the 17th and final country to approve the expansion of the eurozone's rescue fund, two days after rejecting the plan . MPs in Bratislava ratified the extension of the European financial stability facility (EFSF) to 440bn (£382bn) by a substantial majority...
Czech playwright and former dissident who led his nation after the collapse of communism When, to the surprise of western chancelleries, central Europe changed utterly in the autumn and winter of 1989, it was a stocky Czech dramatist lately released from prison who produced the abiding metaphor for what had happened. In 1947, after Yalta and Potsdam, said Václav Havel, who has died aged...
Citizens pay respects to former president who led peaceful revolution that toppled country's communist regime in 1989 Thousands of Czechs bade a personal farewell on Monday to their former president Václav Havel, who led the peaceful revolution that toppled the communist regime in 1989. The mourners waited patiently in a long line in front of the Prague Crossroads at the city's old town, where...
Uighur men held for 12 years leave Guantánamo Bay for Slovakia World news theguardian.com Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US AU Your activity Email subscriptions Account details Linked services Profile Mobile About us...
s punishments were weakened in 1992, amid a neo-Nazi revival, by President Kurt Waldheim, who won the Iron Cross in Russia and of whom the late Austrian politician Fred Sinowatz said: "Let us acknowledge that Waldheim did not serve in the SA, only his horse did." There are countless Mussolinis in Italy, whether in cellars, in enclosed villa gardens, or at Termini station in Rome, where a 2011 statue...
s another on a mobility scooter. In summer we had a pregnant lady with us. Vigilantes! Couldn't be anything further from the truth. We're just a group of ordinary local people who don't like being intimidated in our own neighbourhood, trying to make the newcomers understand how life works here." It was people like Rees whom Sheffield MP David Blunkett no doubt had in mind when he gave an interview...
The EU needs new and inventive procedures to detect, identify and unmask the ever-adapting organism of global terrorism It is depressing how quickly human behaviour can change. When in 2001 two planes hit the twin towers in New York, the whole world remained glued to the TV screens for hours, eagerly gulping down every word uttered by the ground zero reporters. Yet when an Iraqi suicide bomber detonates...
s shackles were off the pair escaped. They are believed to have headed towards the eastern mountain provinces, full of lawless pockets where insurgents hold sway. The incident in Kandahar is the latest blow to western efforts to train Afghanistan...