SUMMARY-Friday-August 10, 2018 - 10 p.m.

BRATISLAVA - Far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) demands a thorough investigation into the kidnapping of former Vietnamese state manager Trinh Xuan Thanh via Slovakia, with LSNS chair Marian Kotleba stating at a press conference on Friday that he has a bad feeling about the case. BRATISLAVA - An additional 18 Slovak soldiers are leaving to fulfil their tasks in the EUFOR ALTHEA mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where next year they will contribute to ensuring a stable environment and helping the Bosnian armed forces, TASR learnt from Defence Minister spokesperson Danka Capakova on Friday. BRATISLAVA - Had a general election been held at the beginning of August, coalition party Smer-SD would have placed first with 20.7 percent of votes, according to Focus agency's new public opinion survey. BRATISLAVA - The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) in its summarising evaluation report reproaches the Slovak Armed Forces, saying that the building of a heavy infantry brigade, which was supposed to be Slovakia's main priority, has been too slow and that the number of soldiers and military doctors is insufficient, TASR learnt from Martin Dubeci of the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, who published the review on Facebook. BRATISLAVA - A number of figures active in culture, including theatre heads, are calling upon Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) to dismiss Culture Minister Lubica Lassakova (Smer-SD) over what they perceive as her incompetence, lack of familiarity with the field and wantonness displayed in ousting Slovak National Theatre (SND) general director Marian Chudovsky, TASR learnt from one of the signatories Juraj Stern on Friday. BRATISLAVA - The average nominal monthly salary posted the highest annual rise in June in information and communications activities - by 13.3 percent to €1,893, the Slovak Statistics Office announced on Friday. BRATISLAVA - The Slovak industry was saved from red figures in June by car makers, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia analyst Lubomir Korsnak stated in his report on June industrial production. BRATISLAVA - NATO's criticism directed towards the Slovak Armed Forces is nothing new for the Defence Ministry, stated ministry's spokesperson Danka Capakova on Friday in response to the NATO summarising evaluation report that was published on Facebook by Martin Dubeci of the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia (PS) party. BRATISLAVA - An employee of Zapadoslovenska Energetika (ZSE) energy utility died on Friday while repairing the failure of the transformers in the Ostredky power station in Bratislava, TASR learnt from ZSE spokesperson Michaela Dobosova on the same day. tz