Page 35 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine September 2024

bne September 2024 Central Europe I 35
to demonstrate that in spite of this, we are capable of cooperating and together fulfilling the goal of qualifying for the Olympic games,” Satan told Slovak media.
Ice hockey is, together with football,
the most popular collective sport in Slovakia. The upcoming Winter Olympic Games will feature NHL players for
the first time since the Sochi Games in 2014, which automatically makes the ice hockey tournament the highest-profile international competition in the sport.
The issue of reinstating KHL players to the national team had been frequently picked up by the politicians from
the government, which has adopted Kremlin-pleasing positions on the war, including calling for peace negotiations with Moscow and ending state military support of Ukraine shortly after coming to power last autumn.
When Slovak goalkeeper Julius Hudacek returned from KHL to the Czech extraleague, fans of the Czech side Kladno protested his inclusion on the roster, forcing the club management to end the contract with Hudacek, who eventually left for the German top league.
Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, whose election campaign was backed by
Fico’s government, openly supported Hudacek, saying in January “I am sorry how politics intervenes with a career of an innocent man, who only makes living with his talent.”
A wave of international players left KHL following the 2021-22 season, but others signed new contracts despite the invasion and continued playing in the league, including Hudacek.
Bratislava and Latvian capital Riga will host the final qualification tournaments at the break of August and September and are favourites to advance to the Olympic Games, which will feature top-seeded teams from the international rankings, including Canada, Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the USA.
The majority of the Slovak squad is comprised by players from the Czech extraleague and NHL.
Unexploded WW2 bomb forces evacuation of thousands in Slovenia and Italy
bne IntelliNews
A 226-kilogram unexploded aerial bomb from the Second World War was successfully deactivated at the construction site of the Slovenian border town of Nova Gorica's railway station on August 25.
The bomb, which was found on August 22, was identified as an MC 500-lb model. It contains 96 kg of explosives and is fitted with a functional mechanical igniter. This is the seventh such bomb unearthed during the renovation work at the railway station in Nova Gorica, RTV SLO reported.
“The bomb in Nova Gorica has been successfully disabled!” Said a Facebook post from Nova Gorica municipality on August 25.
“The evacuation went according to plan, the disabling of the bomb a little longer due to the technical difficulties with unrolling the fuse. At the end of the intervention, representatives of the local authorities from both sides of the border thanked the residents, pyrotechnics and all the units that everything went well.”
The ongoing renovation of the railway station is part of Nova Gorica's preparations for its role as the European Capital of Culture 2025. The refurbished building, named EPIC, will feature both physical and virtual exhibition spaces, highlighting the city’s rich heritage.
This is the third such operation in Nova Gorica in thirteen months, following the discovery of similar devices in July 2023 and last March.
According to Italian news agency ANSA the evacuation included approximately 3,000 Slovenian citizens in Nova Gorica and 1,400 residents from the Italian town of Gorizia, on the other side of the border.
In response to the threat, Slovenian authorities established two security zones. The first, designated as the red zone, required a full evacuation of around 1,000 residents living within 400 metres of the bomb in Nova Gorica.
The second, the yellow zone, covering an area between 400 and 600 metres from the bomb's location, imposed restrictions on movement, preventing residents from leaving their homes.
Slovenian media reported that at 10:00 am, the deactivation procedure commenced with the evacuation of residents in a 400-metre radius. The siren signalling the danger sounded at 10:08 am, marking the beginning of the bomb disposal efforts.
Those who were unable to evacuate were given shelter at the Nova Gorica Municipal Palace, the municipality said.
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