News Agency of the Slovak Republic

It may read like a cheap thriller, but for the outside world these events helped support then-US secretary of state Madeleine Albright's claim that Slovakia had become a "black hole in the heart of Europe" under Meciar.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro was revealed to have had a gun on his person during a memorial event at the Belchatow coal mine in southern Poland and accompanying press conference. The image of the gun was captured on photographs and videos of the event, with the wind pushing away Ziobro's jacket to reveal the gun.

Since then, he has strived to make amends. In early April, he joined the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on her trip to Ukraine's capital and announced that Slovakia would hand over its Soviet-era air defence system to the country.

"This referendum, like several others before it, is a form of political campaign and anti-government mobilisation. But with regards to its strong signature collection effort and the level of discontent with the current government, it could be precisely this plebiscite that ends up being very successful," political scientist Juraj Marusiak of the Slovak Academy of Sciences tells BIRN.

Matovic's sudden visits to Moscow and Budapest last week in an attempt to salvage the 200,000 Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines that he secretly procured in early March, yet have lain unused in Slovak warehouses since, took even his coalition partners by surprise.

Following an informal meeting of the Slovak Parliamentary European Affairs Committee, Lajcak said that Slovakia had successfully completed the path the Western Balkans decided to take, TASR reports.
The meeting was dedicated to the preparations for the EU-Western Balkans Summit, to be held on Wednesday in the form of a video conference.

In the last 24 hours, two new deaths have been recorded in Slovakia, with a total of twenty deaths.
Three new patients were registered, 1.384 were infected in total, according to the National Center for Medical Data, TASR reports.
The number tested is 1.767.

AGERPRES Romanian National News Agency celebrates 131 since establishment on 27 March.   Since 1889 until now, AGERPRES has broadcast millions of news items, documentary materials and photographs.   After 131 years since its first news item, AGERPRES has received congratulations messages from partner media organisations and news agencies.

News agencies in Europe have joined forces to fight the growing threat posed by fake news. In a resolution adopted last week in Tirana, these commit to developing effective tools and rules to enable journalists and Internet users to fight misinformation as well as to promote reliable media and educate users to surf in the digital environment.

Bulgaria has presented Slovakia with 100 Damascene Oil roses and other decorative examples from its Rose Valley, on the occasion of its two important anniversaries: 100 years after the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic and 25 years of Slovakia's independence, reports Spectator.