Most (70 percent) of the ethnic-Hungarians living in Slovakia feel as safe as ever despite the escalation of tension in Slovak-Hungarian relations, according to a sociological survey carried out in late March.

Almost 90 percent of respondents consider preserving their Hungarian nationality to be important, 67 percent think that their nationality needs to be preserved under any circumstances, with 52 percent determined to do so even at the cost of being discriminated against.

The foreign affairs ministries of Ukraine and Slovakia signed a cooperation agreement, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko infromed during a briefing with his Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajcak.

Two months away from the end of a weapons amnesty during which people can hand over any illegally held arms for destruction without facing prosecution and close to 2000 guns have been already collected. This is the second weapons amnesty which follows an earlier one in 2005-06 during which 3490 guns were handed in.

Most-Hid - one of the political parties representing ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia said on Wednesday that if it succeeds in the June's parliamentary elections it will seek equal rights between indigenous ethnic minorities - including Hungarians, the Roma, Ruthenians - and the majority Slovak population.

The Slovak Parliament passed the Patriotism Act. The legislation set to come into effect as of April 2010. According to the act, the Slovak national anthem must be mandatorily played in all schools at the beginning of every school week.

The Government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico has lost touch with reality in Slovakia, watching on passively as unemployment and corruption grow rapidly, and burdening Slovakia with heavy debts, representatives of the main opposition party SDKU-DS said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Slovak Police continues with the practice of sniffer dog trainings, however the procedure where an actual explosives sample is put into travellers' luggage has been banned, said Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak at a press conference in Bratislava on Thursday.

After a break of more than a month, the first-class roads in Slovakia could soon be tolled again. This is according to Prime Minister Robert Fico, who made the announcement following his meeting with road transporters, representatives of the National Highway Company (NDS), road toll system provider SkyToll and Transport Minister.

Both the Coalition and the Opposition on Thursday managed to team up in Parliament, passing the broadly-discussed bill on the origin of property disclosure with 112 votes into second reading and, at the same time, enabling legislation was passed (109 votes) entailing a constitutional amendment.

Slovakia, Bratislava - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said he doesn't see any reason to dismiss Interior Minister Robert Kalinak over the explosives incident on January 2 – in which the airport security planted danger explosives in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers.