MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 16 October 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 15 October): VELKE KAPUSANY - The police have charged an 18-year-old student from a school in Velke Kapusany (Kosice region) with the criminal offence of making dangerous threats, Kosice regional police have announced on social media. A prosecutor has agreed with the police officer's proposal and has applied for the young man to be remanded in custody. The court will decide whether he'll be held in custody pending trial. The police confirmed that a serious incident disrupted classes at the school on Tuesday (13 October). "During a lesson, an 18-year-old student suddenly picked up a knife that had been left lying around and declared that he was going to stab someone that day. Thanks to the teacher's quick response, the knife was taken away from the student," said the police. However, the incident didn't end there. The agitated student began threatening the teacher as well. He continued making threats after leaving the classroom before fleeing the school, said the police. BRATISLAVA - Minimum security standards for hospitals will be introduced shortly, Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) told journalists on Thursday following Tuesday's (13 October) attack on a nurse at a hospital in Bratislava's Kramare district. Sasko described the incident as unacceptable and called for exemplary punishment. "Within a short time, minimum standards will be introduced, regardless of the cost, and every hospital will be required to comply with them," the minister declared, noting that security standards currently vary between hospitals. He pointed out that, at some facilities, for example, the duties of private security personnel include refraining from intervening against individuals and focusing instead on protecting the premises. Bratislava University Hospital said on Thursday that a drunk man physically assaulted a 23-year-old nurse in the emergency department of its Kramare hospital on Tuesday. The nurse sustained facial injuries, scratches, bruising and swelling, as well as psychological harm. BRATISLAVA - Opposition parties Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and 'Slovakia' have criticised their colleagues from Progressive Slovakia (PS), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the non-parliamentary Democrats for ultimately failing to attend a joint press conference scheduled for Thursday. The opposition is planning a joint rally on SNP Square in Bratislava on Saturday, 17 October. PS, KDH and Democrats said that they had been informed about the joint press conference at the last minute and that a misunderstanding had occurred. Both KDH and PS have announced that their representatives will attend the rally. The rally is being organised by Alojz Hlina, an SaS lawmaker. He attended the announced joint press conference alongside fellow MP Maria Kolikova and Michal Sipos, head of the parliamentary caucus of Slovakia–For the People. Hlina criticised the rest of the opposition for failing to attend, saying that this sent a negative signal. "This country needs to send a clear signal that we can achieve something, that five parties can unite and come to the square. Can't we even manage that?" asked Hlina, adding that people deserved to see that an agreement has also been reached with the 'Slovakia' party. BRUSSELS - The Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) will propose three specific amendments to the European Council conclusions, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced on Wednesday (14 October) following a meeting of the V4 prime ministers in Brussels, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent. According to Fico, the V4 countries will ask the European Council to formulate its demands to the European Commission (EC) more clearly, and they will also call for the introduction of the ETS2 emissions-trading system to be postponed by more than one year. The third demand concerns the use of the Market Stability Reserve under ETS1. The V4 countries' position was set to be fine-tuned overnight before being submitted to European Council President Antonio Costa on Thursday morning, said Fico, who added that other leaders were likely to back it. "The V4 prime ministers believe that, with fuel prices rising sharply, the introduction of this system will mean a steep increase in transport and housing costs. In view of this, we want to come up with specific proposals," said Fico. BRATISLAVA - Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) rejects opposition claims that the number of Russian diplomats in Slovakia is set to increase, dismissing them as nonsense. Blanar responded this way to a statement issued on Thursday by representatives of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, who said they had information that Blanar was planning to travel to Moscow for talks on lifting the cap on the number of Russian diplomats in Slovakia. "Slovak opposition parties turn everything upside down, having failed in terms of education to master even the basics. They distort everything and present it in reverse simply to attract media attention and criticise our government,” Blanar claimed in a statement provided to TASR by the Foreign Ministry's press department. BRATISLAVA - Consumer prices of goods and services rose by 0.2 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) in September 2026, the highest figure for the past four months, while year-on-year (y-o-y) inflation held steady at 3.1 percent, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday, adding that, as in August, y-o-y inflation was the lowest since January 2025. In monthly terms, prices increased in eight of the thirteen household expenditure groups in September, ranging from 0.3 percent in personal and social-care services to 2.2 percent in education. Conversely, prices fell in four groups, from 0.1 percent in health care to 1.1 percent in recreation and culture. The prices of insurance and financial services remained unchanged from August. ko