MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, 25 January 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, 24 January): BRATISLAVA - Continuing its expansion at M.R. Stefanik Airport in Bratislava, low-cost airline Wizz Air will add another direct route from the Slovak capital in two months, this time to the famous resort of Nice, France, according to Bratislava Airport spokesperson Veronika Demovicova. Starting on 31 March of this year, direct flights to the French Riviera will be available three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. "This will bring more travel opportunities for passengers in Slovakia, expand the range of holiday and short city breaks, while at the same time ensuring a stable flow of passengers in both directions," according to Wizz Air's corporate communications manager Vera Jarda. France will thus become another country that can be accessed from Bratislava directly by air. In Bratislava, Wizz Air has grown to offering a total of 31 regular flight connections at the current time. "In March, Wizz Air will launch as many as ten completely new routes from Bratislava to destinations including Berlin, Dortmund, Tirana, Ohrid, Pristina, Tel Aviv, Tuzla, Rome (Fiumicino airport), Warsaw (Chopin airport) and Nice," specified Demovicova. As of June, the carrier will also operate a new direct route to the Greek island of Mykonos. A week ago it launched new flights to Kutaisi (Georgia), Yerevan (Armenia), Larnaca (Cyprus) and Chisinau (Moldova). Currently, Wizz Air offers a total of 35 routes from Slovakia (including other airports) to 34 destinations in 22 countries. In 2025, it operated more than 2,000 flights to and from Slovakia, carrying nearly half a million passengers, with a flight completion rate of 99.78 percent, which is among the highest in the aviation industry. BRATISLAVA - Political parties will receive almost €14.3 million for their general election outcomes in 2026, with the sum being distributed among eight parties and one coalition that gained at least 3 percent of the votes in the general election in 2023, according to data published by the Finance Ministry. Contributions are paid to parties gradually for each year of the four-year electoral term from 2023 to 2027. The total sum of contribution to be distributed over four years is €92.87 million. The biggest sum of money, almost €3.6 million, will go to the election winner, Smer-SD. Next comes Progressive Slovakia (PS) with over €2.8 million, followed by Voice-SD with almost €2.4 million. The coalition of OLANO [today 'Slovakia' party - ed.note], Christian Union (KU) and 'For the People' parties will obtain nearly €1.5 million. The Christian Democrats (KDH) will receive over €1.1 million, while Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) will get €1.04 million, and the Slovak National Party (SNS) over €935,000. Contributions are also provided to parties that failed to make it into Parliament, but received more than 3 percent of the votes. The far-right Republic party will thus obtain nearly €460,000, and Alliance [today Hungarian Alliance -ed.note] will receive over €424,000. The parties received the same amounts last year. The Finance Ministry usually transfers the contributions during the summer months. The contribution is divided into three parts: money from the state budget for votes, for party activities, and for mandates. BRATISLAVA - Jaromir Pastorek was an exceptional scientist, visionary and person who made a fundamental contribution to the development of Slovak and global science and research, Minister of Education and Research Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) posted on his social media on Saturday after Pastorek's death. Drucker added that Pastorek's work in molecular biology and oncology has left a lasting mark and continues to inspire future generations of scientists. Scientist, former director of the Virological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) and former president of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Jaromir Pastorek died on Saturday at the age of 68 after a serious illness. He was globally one of the most cited Slovak scientists, and his scientific work has contributed to worldwide knowledge in the field of molecular biology and experimental oncology. In recent years, as co-discoverer of the tumour biomarker CA9, he focused on the development of anti-cancer treatment, which his untimely death prevented him from completing. BRATISLAVA – Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) condemned Russia's attacks on energy targets in Ukraine and expressed condolences by phone to Ukrainian Ambassador Myroslav Kastran as well as solidarity with Ukrainian civilians, TASR learnt from the ministry press department on Saturday. Blanar explained that the ministry will convey a protest over violations of international humanitarian law to the Russian Embassy in Slovakia. "Following repeated attacks by the Russian Federation on energy targets in Ukraine, I express solidarity with the civilians who are exposed to suffering during these freezing days. I condemn these attacks, whose consequences are fatal particularly during the winter period, and I call on the Russian Federation to stop this inhumane approach and to respect international humanitarian law," Blanar said. The minister stressed that civilians should not suffer in this way in any conflict and noted that Slovakia supplied twice as much emergency electricity to Ukraine in January this year alone as it did in the whole of last year. "In December, I also released half a million euros for the Ukrainian Embassy in Bratislava so that it could purchase from Slovak suppliers 38 large generators capable of producing electricity for larger facilities such as schools, kindergartens and hospitals," he specified. According to Blanar, Kastran informed him that most of the generators from the Slovak suppliers are operating in the Sumy region to mitigate power outages and the effects of freezing weather. After the Russian attacks on Ukraine, more than 1.2 million people have been left without electricity supplies. In the capital Kiev, approximately 6,000 buildings are without heating. The strikes have already been condemned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, while a second day of talks between representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States aimed at ending the war is due to take place in the United Arab Emirates. mf