News digest: Slovakia with top schools for foreign doctors

Good evening. Here is the Monday, June 26 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Legislative chaos sees bill punishing media passing

OĽano MP Milan Vetrák. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)

Last week a bill on consumer protection passed in the Slovak parliament. However, it passed with an unrelated provision - one that punishes the media for publishing untrue statements from politicians.

Lawyer Tomáš Langer says that the bill means transferring responsibility onto the media. Politicians may be willing to file a lawsuit against the media, because they can obtain more money and earn a visible space in them.

President Zuzana Čaputová is expected to veto the bill with the provision.

More on politicians' attacks on journalists:

Igor Matovič escalates attacks on journalists and suggests a law dictating whom the media can invite to discussions.
Five years after the Kuciak murder, Slovak journalists are still being attacked by politicians.
Press freedom campaigners dismayed by Matovič attacks on the media.
Smer chair Fico attacks journalists again, calling them an organised crime group.
Fico's Smer party files criminal complaints against three journalists.

Slovakia with top schools for foreign doctors

The Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin. (source: SME - Ján Krošlák)

At Slovak medical faculties, the number of foreign students continues to increase year by year. Almost half study at Comenius University’s Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, central Slovakia.

In the European Union, Slovak medical faculties have become the top schools that educate foreign doctors who then return home with a degree.

SONG FOR MONDAY

Young drive meets old calm

Slovak singer-songwriter Richard Müller and Czech actor, singer and presenter Emma Smetana, have banded together for the first time to create a single called Tahle Jedna Sekunda (This One Second).

In other news

General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka is trusted by 42 percent of people, while 49 percent do not. Police Corps President is trusted by 28 percent as opposed to 60 percent who do not. In third place is Special Prosecutor Daniel Lipšic, trusted by 25 percent. This stems from a new survey by the Focus polling agency for the private television Markíza.
The National Highway Company is reminding drivers that the right lane of the D2 motorway in the direction of the Czech Republic is closed at Sekule bridge near the border due to repairs. The restriction will be in place as of Monday until 6 PM on Wednesday, June 28.
Defence Minister Martin Sklenár visited the Lešť military training centre in the Banská Bystrica Region to inspect new military equipment and soldiers who have come to serve as part of a NATO multinational battlegroup. "We're very pleased that such a group is operating in Slovakia, significantly contributing to the defence of the country as well as to the capabilities of the Slovak Armed Forces," he said on Monday.
Slovakia will receive €5.24 million from the EU to compensate farmers who have been facing problems related to logistical obstacles, resulting from imports of certain farm products from Ukraine.