A man attacked four people outside a residential building in Poprad, a city in northern Slovakia, with three of the victims being boys. Police apprehended the attacker following the incident. No further details about the nature of the attack, the condition of the victims, or the suspect's motive were immediately available.
The Slovak state is moving to address a critical shortage of school places in Jarovnice, a village in eastern Slovakia, by purchasing a new school building. The acquisition will allow the local school to end its current double-shift operation, under which students attend classes in two separate shifts due to insufficient capacity. Double-shift schooling is considered a significant disadvantage for pupils, limiting access to after-school activities and placing strain on teachers and families. Jarovnice, one of Slovakia's largest Roma settlements, has long faced challenges related to infrastructure and public services, making the expansion of educational capacity a notable step toward improving conditions for the local community.
Slovakia's National Security Authority (NBÚ), the country's cybersecurity and public safety watchdog, is warning the public to be vigilant against fraudulent festival ticket sellers as the summer festival season gets underway. Fake listings are appearing on classified advertisement websites and social media platforms, targeting buyers looking for tickets outside of official sales channels. Authorities caution that purchasing tickets from unofficial sources risks losing money and missing out on the events entirely, as the fraudulent sellers disappear after receiving payment. The NBÚ urges the public to buy tickets only through verified, official vendors.
Slovak social media influencer known as Kendy ignited widespread online discussion after posting commentary about male circumcision, drawing hundreds of responses from followers. One of his remarks — suggesting that threatening a man's genitals with scissors would reveal the extent of male fear — proved particularly provocative, prompting a flood of messages from both supporters and critics. The posts touched on broader debates around bodily autonomy, gender dynamics, and the role of influencers in shaping public discourse on sensitive topics.
Slovak President Peter Pellegrini is set to receive a delegation of Slovak firefighters and rescue workers upon their return from Venezuela, where they had been deployed on an international humanitarian mission. Separately, regional authorities in Rimavská Sobota district, in southern Slovakia, are set to announce a road construction project using asphalt made from recycled cigarette filters — an innovative environmental initiative. The project will be presented by Ondrej Lunter, the governor of the Banská Bystrica self-governing region, which oversees the area.
The human brain, when faced with uncertainty in relationships, instinctively fills in the gaps with its own invented narrative — and believing those assumptions over actual facts can quietly damage even the closest bonds. A psychology expert explains that when people feel insecure or uncertain about a partner's or friend's behavior, the mind rapidly constructs a story to resolve the discomfort, often defaulting to negative interpretations. This tendency, rooted in the brain's need to reduce anxiety, can create misunderstandings and conflict where none was originally intended. Recognizing the difference between what actually happened and what the mind has added is, according to the expert, a key step toward healthier and more resilient relationships.
The case of a teacher from the eastern Slovak town of Gelnica who suffered strangulation and threats from an abusive partner has drawn renewed attention to the widespread but often hidden problem of domestic violence against women in Slovakia. The Gelnica case is not an isolated incident — experts and advocates say women across the country regularly experience physical and psychological abuse, including choking and intimidation, that rarely comes to public attention. Domestic violence in Slovakia remains a deeply underreported problem, with victims frequently reluctant to come forward due to fear of retaliation, social stigma, or lack of confidence in institutional support. Slovak law enforcement and social services have faced criticism for inconsistent responses to domestic abuse cases, and women's rights organizations have long called for stronger legal protections and better-trained police and court officials to handle such cases. The pattern of abuse described in the Gelnica case — including strangulation, a form of violence recognized internationally as a strong predictor of lethal domestic violence — underscores the urgent need for systemic reform in how Slovakia identifies, prosecutes, and prevents gender-based violence.
Alžbeta Tvrdá grew up as what psychologists call a 'glass child' — a sibling who is effectively invisible to parents because the needs of a disabled brother or sister dominate family life. In her family, where a sibling with a disability naturally required most of the parental attention, Tvrdá adapted by becoming self-sufficient, reliable, and undemanding, traits she regarded at the time as simply normal. It was only after becoming a mother herself that she began to recognize the lasting impact of that upbringing — in the high expectations she placed on herself, the compulsive need to manage everything independently, and a deep-seated difficulty asking for help. Reflecting on the experience, she says she has come to feel gratitude toward her parents, a shift in perspective that took years of adult life and her own parenting journey to reach. The 'glass child' phenomenon, while not widely discussed in Slovak public discourse, describes a pattern recognized by family therapists in which neurotypical siblings of children with disabilities carry hidden emotional burdens that go unaddressed precisely because they appear to be coping well.
Sexual harassment continues to be a frequent but largely unreported problem in Slovak workplaces, an expert has warned as a new awareness campaign gets underway. The Slovak National Centre for Human Rights (SNSĽP), the state body responsible for monitoring and promoting human rights in Slovakia, has launched a public education campaign aimed at changing both awareness and attitudes among employees and employers. Despite legal protections against workplace harassment, cases frequently go unreported and unaddressed, leaving many victims without recourse. The campaign seeks to encourage victims to come forward and to ensure that workplaces develop clearer procedures for handling complaints.
Slovak police have issued a public warning about a new wave of fraudulent SMS messages targeting residents across the country. The scam messages are designed to steal sensitive personal information, including login credentials and payment card details. Authorities are urging the public to exercise caution and avoid clicking on links or providing personal data in response to unsolicited text messages. Such phishing attacks — where criminals impersonate trusted institutions to trick people into surrendering private information — have become an increasingly common form of cybercrime in Slovakia and across Europe.
Allergies are affecting children at increasingly younger ages in Slovakia, and common beliefs about outgrowing them or preventing them through cold-water exposure are largely unfounded, according to medical experts. Children do not simply grow out of allergies, and practices such as cold hardening — a popular folk remedy in Slovakia involving exposure to cold temperatures to strengthen immunity — offer no proven benefit against allergic conditions. Immunotherapy, the most effective long-term treatment, requires years of consistent treatment and places a significant burden on parents, who must maintain strict adherence to the therapy schedule for it to succeed. Allergists emphasize that parental commitment is the critical factor determining whether immunotherapy works, as the treatment gradually desensitizes the immune system to allergens over an extended period.
Slovak police are searching for a thief who stole a watch worth €72,000 from an apartment in the Tatra Mountains region. The suspect broke into the accommodation and took the high-value timepiece, prompting an active police investigation. The Tatra Mountains, located in northern Slovakia along the border with Poland, are a major tourist and resort destination, attracting both domestic and international visitors.
Slovak mountain rescuers carried out a demanding rescue operation in the Tatra Mountains after two Polish nationals required assistance. The operation was complicated by adverse weather conditions, which made the intervention significantly more challenging for the rescue teams. The Tatra Mountains, which straddle the border between Slovakia and Poland, are a popular hiking destination that regularly requires intervention from the Horská záchranná služba — Slovakia's Mountain Rescue Service — particularly when weather conditions deteriorate rapidly, as they frequently do at high altitude. Foreign nationals, especially Polish hikers given the mountains' proximity to Poland, make up a significant portion of those requiring rescue each season.
Firefighters responding to a fire in Moldava nad Bodvou, a town in eastern Slovakia, were forced to interrupt their emergency response after being attacked by children who threw stones at them and hurled vulgar abuse. The incident escalated further when individuals openly set new fires in front of the firefighters as they attempted to work. The aggression made it impossible for crews to carry out their duties safely, forcing them to suspend operations. Moldava nad Bodvou has a large Roma community and has been the site of longstanding social tensions. The attack on emergency responders raises serious concerns about public safety and the ability of emergency services to operate in certain areas, and is likely to prompt calls for greater protection of firefighters and other first responders working in difficult social environments.
A man in Slovakia faces a potential life sentence after attempting to strangle his mother in her bedroom, only being stopped when neighbors intervened. The suspect was apprehended following the incident, with prosecutors charging him with attempted murder — an offense that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Slovak law. The neighbors' timely intervention is credited with saving the woman's life.
A reader writes to an advice column describing a family conflict in which their brother's wife refuses to allow contact between her young son and his paternal grandparents. The child, nearly two years old, has met his grandparents only a handful of times despite all parties living in the same city. When the brother attempts to discuss the issue with his wife, she responds with silence, leaving the family uncertain how to improve relations. The reader asks for advice on how to bridge the divide and restore a relationship between the grandparents and their grandchild.
Slovaks celebrating the name days of Patrik and Patrícia are associated with distinct personality traits, according to traditional name-day lore. Men named Patrik are considered elegant and ambitious, though they are advised to guard against overestimating their own abilities. Women named Patrícia are regarded as friendly and sociable. In Slovak culture, name days — assigned to each day of the year on the calendar — are widely observed alongside birthdays, often marked with small celebrations and well-wishes.
Jonas Maxim, the Greek Catholic Archbishop and Metropolitan of Slovakia, has shared his personal connection to the annual pilgrimage to Levoča, saying he has been attending the religious gathering since childhood. The archbishop described the experience as deeply formative, noting that the singing from those early visits still resonates with him to this day. The Levoča pilgrimage, held at the Marian shrine on Mariánska hora (Marian Hill) near the historic town of Levoča in eastern Slovakia, is one of the largest religious gatherings in the country, drawing hundreds of thousands of Catholic and Greek Catholic faithful each year. The Greek Catholic Church, which follows Byzantine liturgical traditions while maintaining communion with Rome, has a significant presence in eastern Slovakia, particularly among communities with Rusyn and Ukrainian heritage.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered for a major religious pilgrimage in Slovakia, undeterred by wet weather. Among those present were a cardinal and a Polish soldier, both of whom reportedly experienced unexpected moments during the event. The gathering also served a charitable purpose, with collections or support organized for the Holy Land and for an individual named Vilko. Pilgrimages of this scale are a significant part of Slovak Catholic tradition, drawing large crowds from across the country and occasionally from neighboring nations.
A Polish tourist died on Pilsko mountain in northwestern Slovakia after resuscitation efforts failed to save him. Slovak Mountain Rescue Service (HZS) personnel recovered and transported the man's body down from the mountain following the unsuccessful rescue attempt. Polish rescuers had initially performed resuscitation on the tourist before Slovak rescue teams took over the operation. Pilsko is a peak straddling the Slovak-Polish border in the Little Fatra region, popular with hikers from both countries.