MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, January 7, 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, January 6): BRATISLAVA - Radioactive waste can be imported into Slovakia again, as a ban on importing this kind of waste, introduced in 2021, has been lifted as of the new year. Parliament approved a respective change to the Environmental Act as part of a new law on critical infrastructure. The new legislation has taken effect as of January 1. A ban on importing radioactive waste for the purpose of incineration has been dropped from the Environmental Act. The submitters of the law explained that the ban on importing radioactive waste for the purposes of processing in Slovakia was introduced despite the fact that it is a standard business activity, "which isn't explicitly prohibited by any international or EU law, provided that strict safety measures are observed". According to them, this activity was banned unexpectedly after being permitted and carried out in a normal manner for almost 20 years. BRATISLAVA - Those interested in state-supported rental apartments could be able to register themselves on the list of applicants soon, as the Agency for State-supported Rental Housing (ASPNB), falling under the Transport Ministry, plans to launch a registration system in a short time, Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) has told TASR. Raz said that the Transport Ministry recently signed appendices to contracts with investors, who are supposed to provide 1,000 rental apartments at the first stage. "The state has signed appendices with them in which they've undertaken to provide 500 apartments each. However, this does not necessarily mean that they will build them; they can also, for example, buy a finished developer project and include it in this system. The location comes fully within the powers of investors," said the minister. BRATISLAVA - The European Commission (EC) has cancelled a meeting of the Slovak and Ukrainian delegations with EC representatives that was supposed to be held in Brussels on Tuesday (January 7), the Slovak Government Office's press and information department informed TASR on Monday. The halt in gas transit to Slovakia should have been high on the agenda of the Brussels meeting. BRATISLAVA - The International Operational Crisis Centre, set up by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in October 2024, handled more than 1,000 phone calls in its first three months in operation, TASR has learnt from the ministry's communications department. The centre is available to Slovak citizens in all time zones 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "At the moment, via the centre we cover the first eight Slovak representations in seven countries - in Argentina, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the USA. We'll continuously connect the remaining lines to it during this year, thanks to which we'll be able to help our citizens in a more efficient and better-quality way," said Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD). BRATISLAVA - The scrapping of the ban on importing radioactive waste into Slovakia wasn't a move made by the Environment Ministry, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) has said in an interview for TASR. "It was an MPs' initiative that the Environment Ministry didn't join," noted Taraba. The minister said that there's a rule in place between countries that the amount of radioactive waste that enters the territory of the receiving country must be equal to the radiation that leaves that country. "If the radioactive waste is processed in a way that reduces its volume, but not the level of radiation, then it's a mechanical procedure that doesn't have any impact on the environment. Nothing leaks into the environment," he stated, adding that it mostly concerns burning clothes used in nuclear power plants. BRATISLAVA - The Christian festival of Epiphany, or 'Three Kings' ('Traja krali' or 'Tri krale' in archaic Slovak), is being celebrated in Slovakia and many other countries on Monday, January 6. The Roman Catholic Church regards this holiday as representing one of the most significant events in human history. In Slovakia, the festival is marked by Holy Masses celebrated throughout the country. lin