Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

On Three Kings' Day the members of the Orthodox Church celebrate their Christmas. In Slovakia, many members of the Orthodox Church come from the Rusyn community. On the show today we will learn more about how the Rusyns living in the USA celebrate this special day.

This Wednesday we look into the time-capsule, which was found in the Bratislava Michaels gate last year. What secrets did it store? And what documents from the present day era should go and represent the current times? Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain. All these countries received wooden bird feeders made by the wood carver from Detva in Central Slovakia. Dodo Slávik sent the feeders to Slovak families living abroad.

On this first Tuesday of the year, we look back at two of the top stories heard on this programme in 2021. First, Jonathan speaks with astrobiologist Tomáš Paulech, who manages the Astronomical and Geophysical observatory in Modra, about what scientists have expected to actually find in past investigations into the possibility of extraterrestrial life, how such expectations have changed over time, and where we are today in the search for life outside our own planet. In the second story we speak with artificial intelligence researcher Maria Bielikova on the fraught question of what sort of impacts the future development of AI could have on human society. Will it ultimately be a great gift to society that will benefit people’s lives, or a tool of the surveillance state and a predatory marketing device? The answer depends very much on how its development is being approached right now, and what sort of ethical principles are guiding this.

News and Topical Issue. RERUN: In the first part of today’s show we are going to discuss so-called sleeping places. What sleeping places are and how to awaken their potential? You will find out in today’s first interview with Zuza-na Žurkinová and Sandra Štasselová from the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava. The famous Bratislava Old Market Hall, too, used to be a sleeping place in the past. That, however, does not hold true anymore. We will discuss its transformation with Denisa Chylová in the second part of the show.

Special New Years Eve or "Sylvester" edition featuring the RSI team and listeners from all around the world. Enjoy!

Tribute to megastars of Slovak culture who passed away in 2021: comedian, playwright, lyricist, singer, director Milan Lasica, primadonna assoluta Edita Gruberova, pop-music megastar Miroslav Žbirka, illustrator, one of leaders of the 1989 Velvet Revolution Miroslav Cipár.

The show today will be all about sport, Slovak sport in the year 2021. From the postponed Olympics in Tokyo, through the large Crystal Globe in skiing, to the third Slovak being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Tune in to hear it all.

Repeat - Father Benjamin Kosnač, the pastor of the only English-speaking Catholic congregation in Bratislava, talks about the real meaning of Christmas – as well as what he thinks of the Slovak tradition of telling children that it's Baby Jesus who brings them presents each year at this time. We also replay a story from May 2020, originally aired on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Karol Wojtyla, later known as Pope John Paul II. This first-ever Polish pope – who is widely remembered for his opposition to Soviet communism in Eastern Europe and his influence on its demise – also had a strong connection with Slovakia and visited the country three times during his pontificate. We speak with several Slovaks connected with these visits who recall the profound effect he had on Slovakia and its Christians.

In today’s show you will hear an interview with neurologist Zuzana Košutzká, with whom we are going to discuss new trends in diagnostics of neurological diseases using digital biomarkers. And then you will hear a rerun of an interview with Slovakia-born dancer Romain Coppet, who had to face prejudice and stigma in Slovakia due to his Roma origin – so he moved to France and became a successful dancer.

On the special Christmas Day edition of Slovakia Today, we will hear from people, who experience the Slovak version of the Christmas holidays in the most unusual places. At least it might seem like that for some. We will speak to a catholic missionary, who has spent the past thirty Christmas holidays in cold and unwelcoming Siberia, but we will also spend time with a jolly and utmost welcoming Slovak community in Melbourne, Australia, where the Christmas mood has a literal heartwarming, or one would say heart-sweating fashion. Spending holidays away from your roots or loved ones is also the case of refugees that came to Slovakia and the civic association Mareena helps them to get back on their feet.