Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations invited representatives of the Russian embassy to the commemoration of the liberation of World War II a move that was heavily criticised by the Defence Ministry “This action is in absolute contradiction with the… The commemoration was co-organised by the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters and attended by the district chairwoman of the Hlas party of former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini If you traveled from the main stage to the Empire Polo Club's terrace during Coachella this year you might've passed a fortune teller's booth a la the Tom Hanks film Big you would have met not a woman with a deck of tarot cards but an animatronic polar bear named Poltar moving his animatronic polar bear arms around a model of Earth "I see something lush and green in your future," Poltar said He asked if I would help protect the planet from waste His machine released a little fortune card — "The Fisher," it was called — and wished me a good day Staff said he sometimes warned visitors that they might not get to see glaciers along with teeter-totters that charge cell phones and recycling bins decorated with characters from film and pop culture (including Left Shark the Super Bowl backup dancer who became a meme after Katy Perry's halftime performance this year) are the faces of sustainability at Coachella Each of these installations is a campaign by Global Inheritance a nonprofit in its eleventh year at the festival the group has sponsored solar-powered DJ stages golf carts running on ethanol and a "water tasting" booth The projects hope to prompt festivalgoers to think about sustainability interactively – and "We want to touch as many people as possible Our goal is not to pick up every bottle and can at Coachella," said Eric Ritz we're preaching to the people in the middle TrashED (short for "trash education") Art of Recycling asked local artists to design recycling bins to make them attractive and fun It's grown over the last decade into a 21-piece art installation in the center of the festival Ritz's team launched a "recycling store" at national traveling festival Warped Tour a few years later For every 10 plastic bottles or aluminum cans participants brought to the "store," they got points which they could redeem for prizes like T-shirts In 2007 they started "Carpoolchella," which gives raffle tickets to groups who cram four or more people in their cars and lifetime festival passes to the winners Global Inheritance chooses programs that are visual and interactive For other festivals – where they've organized projects like Stagecoach Lollapalooza and others — they modify plans Stagecoach attendees will have the chance to trade in bottles for prizes Ritz said his organization plans this way because he thinks nonprofit booths at festivals can be real downers "Our goal is not to tell people what to do spreading sustainability themes along with photos and Snapchats He hopes Poltar will cross some participants' minds when they shop and fond memories of competing with friends to collect plastic bottles will remind them to get recycle bins "The battle is getting people to look at it not as work but as something we should take ownership of," Ritz said "It's not even giving back — everyone has to play their part The card Poltar issued me had a similar message: "Cast your net widely and you will be amazed by the catch." The new cycling route with a tunnel connects Poltár and Rimavská Sobota The new cycling route connects two district towns in the south of Slovakia – Poltár and Rimavská Sobota It was opened in stages, and at the beginning of May it is already complete - a 30-kilometre cycling route for € 9.5 million, serving not only locals, but also visitors to the south of the Banská Bystrica Region, reportes the My Novohrad website The route also includes the 160-metre railway tunnel in Ožďany "We are opening the most beautiful cycling route in Slovakia and it is no coincidence that we chose May 1 we joined the EU," said Banská Bystrica Region Governor Ondrej Lunter He emphasised that the route was built mainly thanks to financial support from the EU The region obtained more than €6.6 million from EU funds an attractive connection of the mentioned districts was created Hrnčiarska Ves and the local part of Maštinec while the entire length of the former railway line is being used the Banská Bystrica Region bought a 30-kilometre section from the ŽSR company a state-owned firm managing the railway infrastructure the condition was the construction of a cycling path on the old railway track The purchased railway line was built in 1912 It connected Poltár and Rimavská Sobota The high costs required to reconstruct and preserve the railway finally led to the decision of cancelling it," said Ivana Kapráliková the railroad was removed from the railway network the new project is not only about the cycling path itself It also includes rest areas in Maštinec will certainly make the region more attractive but the important thing is that it's an opportunity for the creation of services in its vicinity," said Tomáš Krahulec director of the Regional Tourism Organisation (OOCR) Novohrad and Podpoľanie He mentioned bicycle rentals and catering services near the new cycling route "It's an opportunity for local entrepreneurs," Krahulec concluded A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to the Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots Our detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? It's impossible with our City Guide This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page who is behind a company called R-Glass Trade which has been producing utility glass in Katarinská Huta for several years bought the premises of former glass factories in Poltar (both Banska Bystrica region) TASR was told by the entrepreneur on Tuesday        Riecica bought them from businessman Vladimir Poor in the spring of this year        "We want to gradually restart the production of glass again in Poltar We want to focus on machine production of the desired assortment and also buy new technologies for the hall," Riecica told TASR He wants to make an apartment building out of a multi-storey office building that won't be used for production purposes        Riecica wants not only to bring to the factory the middle or older generation of experienced glass-makers who have remained in the region and are interested in working in the branch but also to focus especially on young people and educate them in the local combined high school where a new glass-making branch should be set up The town of Poltar also asked for cooperation in creating the tradition and good name of the glassworks        Riecica assumes that they'll gradually manage to employ about 200 people at the glass factory 180 people are employed in Katarinska Huta while employment is growing slightly every year        The businessman praises the cooperation with several global brands to which they currently sell products from the Novohrad area "We're pleased to supply our glass to famous names while they can rely on top quality," he noted Almost 100 percent of production is exported R-Glass Trade posted revenues of €10.3 million last year and a profit of €387,702 Revenues were 37 percent higher year-on-year Chance for descendants to become Slovak made easier after law change last year When New York-based dancer and actor James Monroe Števko he had no idea he was beginning a twelve-year journey uncovering his family’s roots that would end up with him applying for citizenship of a small country thousands of miles away “I think it was a military draft document It had my great-grandfather’s name and it said Rovňany Czechoslovakia,” Števko recalls He found out that the village was in southern Slovakia near Poltár had been born before he emigrated to the USA who herself coincidentally had Slovak roots Števko went to visit a Slovak friend from New York who happened to be home at the same time The pair decided to take a road trip and with his family’s history still very much in his thoughts they made sure they included a stop in Rovňany locals guided them to a house where a family bearing the name Števko lived The current owner listened carefully as the American told the story of his family’s roots and whether the man was a distant relative of his great-grandfather The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.skSubscribe now for full access Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail) PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk a lone survivor of Utekáč’s once-renowned glassworks towers above the village in southeastern Slovakia it remains the tallest structure in the Poltár district a stoic reminder of an industry that was razed to the ground not long ago The historic chimney has found new life — and a new purpose. Its brick facade has been transformed into a climbing wall, an inventive twist that aims to draw visitors not just from across Slovakia but from further afield, reports the website My Novohrad The attraction is open to the public from 1 April until 31 October. Those interested in booking it during weekends or public holidays are required to register at least 24 hours in advance A helping hand in the heart of Europe offers a travel guide of Slovakia the structure boasts a climbing wall that reaches up to 39 metres making it a rare feat of design and engineering in Slovakia I don't know if there is another like this with a climbing wall in Slovakia," said Jan Mlejnek the Czech builder behind the project from Jablonec nad Nisou who has climbed the chimney himself in just eight minutes designed two routes for scaling its heights: an easier path for beginners and a more challenging option for experienced climbers leading to a belay point drilled through the chimney's core for what Mlejnek describes as “100 percent safety” and enduring stability a smaller wall invites children to try their hand at climbing expressed his satisfaction that the village's historic chimney had been preserved and transformed into an attraction "It was built by Count Anton Forgáč who began constructing a glass factory here in 1787 It was the first building on the factory grounds But they didn't stop at a factory – they built the entire infrastructure and housing for the workers," Barutiak said during the opening of a new climbing wall According to records from the Austrian State Archive the Utekáč glass factory was the largest of its kind in the Hungarian Kingdom by 1887 The factory later gained fame for producing thermos flasks and the decaying structure was demolished in September 2020 standing as the village’s defining landmark Utekáč sits in the Poltár district one of Slovakia’s less developed regions where depopulation remains a persistent challenge A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to the Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots Our detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? It's impossible with our City Guide The number of solar energy consumers is increasing in Slovakia As a source of heating it is used by people in 1,225 flats This stems from the Population and Housing Census 2021 In the lead is the district of Gelnica with 43 flats using the renewable energy for heating The municipality of Veľká Ves nad Ipľom had the largest share of all municipalities in terms of using solar energy for heating flats Almost 15 percent of all apartments in the village were heated by the green energy the Žilina region is in the lead with 258 flats in total Solar energy is on the rise in the Trnava region where 176 flats-a share of 0.07 percent-are heated in this way The Banská Bystrica Region and Trenčín region follow with 154 and 143 flats respectively heated by the sun In both cases the share is 0.06 percent of all flats solar energy is least used in the Bratislava region The demand for green electricity among Slovak households is increasing from year to year the largest household electricity supplier in Slovakia controlling a market share of almost 40 percent saw a strong increase in interest in 100 percent green electricity last year At the end of 2022, the first phase of construction of the largest solar plant in Slovakia is set to begin It should be built in the village of Jaslovské Bohunice in the Trnava Region Planned by the semi-state Jadrová Energetická Spoločnosť Slovenska (JESS) company the new solar park is expected to cost €60 million Agáta Berková once played Russian chess legend Anatoly Karpov an 11-year-old girl is able to defeat her more experienced rivals at chess Slovakia’s Beth Harmon is Agáta Berková from Poltár (Banská Bystrica Region) She has been playing chess since she was six and is the most talented in the Roma chess team Hrochotskí Jazdci (Riders from Hrochoť) “I play chess because I like it,” Agáta said, as quoted by the Netky.sk website “I meet with people while playing and I cultivate my thinking.” Agáta won the GPX SR in speed chess at the age of eight she became the first girl in the EU to place among the top five with the highest ELO score in the boy category and topped the girl’s category in the age group 10 and below She regularly plays with adults in the fourth and fifth league, the Divé Maky civic association wrote Agáta even played a game with former World Champion Anatoly Karpov Agáta’s father Milan is working in the community centre in the village of Hrochoť near Zvolen (Banská Bystrica Region) Mainly children supported his idea of creating a chess team He started enrolling his charges into chess competitions “Chess is about being quiet,” Milan Berko described, as quoted by the Dobré Noviny website there were a group of Roma coming to competitions Players were not used to the Romas at first you should have seen how everyone's heads turned to us I even saw how ladies clutched their handbags to check whether they had all their things It was really unpleasant and the children noticed it as well.” Berko explained that from the beginning they did not find much support and financial resources The children were playing on two or three chessboards they joined forces with a chess club in Banská Bystrica About six months after the children started playing chess they started to perceive their future differently Every child visiting the club ended up in secondary school “The condition for attending the chess club was having good school results and proper behaviour,” he added.