MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 27 February 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 26 February): NOVE ZAMKY - A train and a lorry collided at a railway crossing in Nove Zamky (Nitra region) on Thursday, with the lorry driver succumbing to his injuries at the scene, the police have posted on a social network, adding that according to first reports, six of the 17 people on the train sustained injuries. The police said that the reasons haven't been determined yet. "Fires broke out on both lorry and train as a result of the impact," said the police. The lorry driver was trapped in his cab. "Despite the efforts of emergency services, his life couldn't be saved," stated the police, adding that the injured were transported to hospital. BRATISLAVA - The criminal complaint filed by the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party in connection with targeted energy aid will be handled by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, SaS MPs Branislav Groehling and Karol Galek told a press conference on Thursday. "A few days ago we received information from a prosecutor that this criminal complaint has been forwarded to the European Public Prosecutor's Office. This shows that it was very well written and also that money was indeed squandered," said Groehling. Galek pointed out that there are errors in the energy assistance system and that money may be received by people who aren't entitled to it. At the same time, there are cases in which households that are entitled to energy assistance don't receive it. "This is a failure in the management of public assets, of public finances that come from the state budget, to which we all contribute via our taxes and levies," said the MP. The EP should investigate energy assistance because part of the funds are to come from EU funds. BUDAPEST/BRATISLAVA – The potential of the Visegrad Group (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) must be used so that its members contribute to Europe's competitiveness, the heads of the parliaments of the V4 countries agreed at their meeting in Budapest on Thursday, TASR's special correspondent reported on the same day. Slovak House chair Richard Rasi (Voice–SD) expressed Slovakia’s position on Ukraine, which he said would “partly have problems existing” without Slovakia. Rasi described the meeting as very open, saying there had been frank discussion including critical views, with the sharpest statement voiced by Hungarian Parliament's head Laszlo Kover, who said the European Commission should be dismissed. "In principle, what we can agree on and what resonates is that we must seek common ground where it exists. We must use the potential of the Visegrad Four as a market of almost 65 million inhabitants – 14 percent of the population – and use it so that we also contribute to making Europe competitive, so that it does not lose out to America or to China," Rasi said. BRATISLAVA - Seismologists recorded a total of 32 aftershocks following the earthquake that struck western Slovakia on Saturday (21 February), seismologists from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava and the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) reported at a press conference on Thursday, adding that the two largest aftershocks had a magnitude of 2.8. They also reported on the damage recorded after the earthquake, which mostly included cracks in buildings. "The two biggest aftershocks had a magnitude of 2.8. Each of these released approximately 180 times less energy than the earthquake, with its magnitude of 4.3," said Peter Moczo from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, noting that all the aftershocks put together released less energy in the form of seismic waves than the main quake. PRAGUE/BRATISLAVA – Czech biochemist Zdenek Hel, a professor of immunology at the University of Alabama, has filed a criminal complaint against Slovak Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar over statements Kotlar made in the Czech Parliament, suspecting Kotlar of spreading a fear-mongering alarmist message, TASR's special correspondent in Prague reported on Thursday. Kotlar is already facing criminal prosecution in Slovakia. "A criminal complaint against the Slovak government proxy Peter Kotlar has been officially filed. Investigations are under way simultaneously in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic," Hel wrote on Thursday on Facebook. His lawyer, Artur Ostry, specified that the complaint was filed on Monday (23 February) with the District State Prosecutor's Office for Prague 1. LUBOCHNA - The National Highway Company (NDS) will announce a new tender to find a contractor for the construction of the Turany-Hubova D1-motorway section that will run parallel to the original tender, stated Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) at a press conference in the municipality of Lubochna in Zilina region on Thursday. "When we looked at the dates on which a court could decide on an injunction to suspend the effect of the Public Procurement Office's (UVO) decision, we arrived at mid-April of this year. We've seen an increase of 5,000 cars per day in these sections thanks to the opening of the Visnove tunnel. In a few months we'll open the Ruzomberok bypass [Zilina region], which is expected to increase traffic by thousands more cars in this area," said the minister, adding that people are already unable to get to the road in this section today. NDS has removed a condition for participation in the new tender that has been criticised by UVO. At the same time, it will announce that if the court rules in favour of NDS regarding the first tender, this new tender will be scrapped. If the court rules in favour of the Public Procurement Office, the original tender will be cancelled and this new one, which will be announced in the next few days, will continue. ko