Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

News and Topical Issue. In the first part of today’s show you will hear an interview with an Italian artist Matteo Sica who has been transforming Bratislava into colourful images. Later in the show, you will hear an exclusive interview with Slovak singer Sisa Fehér singing also in English with whom we discussed how language in which she sings can affect her artistic creations.

RERUN Listeners' Tribune - special edition dedicated to Slovak castles and RSIs competition series.

In 1990, Vladimir Stefko's idea as a newly appointed director general was to rebuild Slovak Radio into an institution that would be independent of the government and any political party. He was recalled from his post from one day to another on 5th November 1994 when Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar succeeded to recall all the top authorities of state organs run by the Parliament and appointed members of coalition parties to the posts. Freedom and plurality of highly popular news format "Radiozurnal" was gradually being oppressed ending up in a pro-government and pro-Meciar propaganda. The situation was even worse in Slovak Television. In order not to think about growing personality cult, viewers were watching Repete, the now-cult retro-music show.

Slovakia gets ready for Christmas holidays and we will do a brief overview how are the preparations in several towns across the country. Also, in the end of November, the German Football Federation appreciated the exhibition and educational project by the Bratislava Museum of Jewish Culture dedicated to the Slovan Bratislava coaching icon Leopold "Jim" Št'astný.

In mid-October the ESET Science Award – now in its third year – was presented to the winners in three categories after a week-long series of special events held in Bratislava. One of the main features of those events was the presence of the 2017 Nobel laureate for Physics, Kip Thorne, who is serving as chairman of the international jury making the final decision as to the Awardees. But how did this Nobel prize winner end up getting involved in this relatively unknown award? Jonathan speaks with Anton Zajac, the main force behind the founding of the award, about this interesting story.

News and Topical Issue. Iconic YMCA building in Bratislava celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2021. Discover the history of this unique building in the first story of today followed by a story dedicated to the new measures aiming to improve nature management at Gabcikovo dam in the vicinity of Bratislava.

In November, a significant project - tramway construction in Bratislava-Petržalka started. Education Ministry Takes steps after number of students failing their year at Slovak elementary schools rose last year. Romanesque palace at Spiš Castle is under reconstruction.

News and Topical Issue. In this part of our series dedicated to 95 years of Radio and 65 years of TV broadcasting in Slovakia, we are mapping shows that now prove to have been a signal of upcoming changes in society.

In the past weeks on our broadcasting, we had many occasions to bring you interesting life stories of various Slovak personalities, with the anniversaries of their births or passing observed. Well, today we will continue in this tradition, however, from the already covered areas of culture or politics, we will head to sports. These days, the founding President of the Slovak Olympic Committee and the first IOC member for Slovakia, Professor Vladimir Cernusak would have celebrated 100th birthday. At this occasion, we will also visit the newly opened Slovak Olympic and Sports Museum. But before we head there, we will speak to an epidemiologist from the Institute for Healthcare Analyses of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. Martin Pavelka talks about the current epidemic situation in Slovakia, which is currently the worst in the region. Why did it deteriorate this fast? And how will the new "omicron" variant hit Slovakia?

As many Western countries have now imposed special restrictions that apply only to the unvaccinated, questions about the effectiveness and legality of this strategy, as well as its impact on the social fabric, are dividing society. But what impact is all this having on that society within a society, the Christian church? To find out how such restrictions are affecting the life of Christians here in Slovakia, Jonathan spoke with Father Benjamin Kosnač, who oversees the only English-speaking Catholic congregation in Bratislava. – Repeat: Although artificial intelligence is being used in many positive ways to help people, there are also worries about how it’s being used to manipulate us, chiefly through our engagement on the internet and in particular on social media. AI algorithms are now being used in sophisticated ways to influence our buying habits and political views, often with some form of targeted misinformation. But is everything labelled as ‘misinformation’ really false information, or is it sometimes simply a different opinion that could turn out to be true? Can AI actually identify misinformation, or are real people needed for that? Jonathan speaks with AI expert Mária Bieliková about these and other questions.