SUMMARY-Tuesday-August 20, 2019 - 10 p.m.

BRATISLAVA - The Government's Legislative Council on Tuesday okayed a draft hospital reform, the so-called stratification, sponsored by the Health Ministry. BRATISLAVA - The leadership of the Smer-SD party has signed a declaration denying information stemming from the published chats of Marian K. that the senior governing party looked for support from the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) shortly after the murder of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova took place early last year in order to stay in power, Smer-SD spokesperson Jan Mazgut announced on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - If a parliamentary election had been held in mid-August, Smer-SD would have come out on top with 20.8 percent of the votes, followed by the Progressive Slovakia-Together coalition on 14.9 percent and the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia on 11.4 percent, according to a poll conducted by Focus agency on a sample of 1,010 respondents between August 13-19. BRATISLAVA - The registered unemployment rate in July stood at 4.97 percent, dropping by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year and remaining on the same level as in June, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (UPSVR) reported on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - President Zuzana Caputova will depart on Wednesday for a two-day visit to Germany, where she'll meet her counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel. BRATISLAVA - The number of African swine fever virus (ASFV) cases has increased, with one domestically bred pig infected in the village of Brehov in Trebisov district (Kosice region) and two more cases among wild boars, said State Veterinary and Food Administration executive director Jozef Bires at a press conference on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - Tourism in Slovakia was successful in the first half of 2019, with stays in accommodation facilities increasing by 11 percent year-on-year and the number of visitors reaching almost 2.9 million, TASR learnt on Tuesday from the latest data from the Statistics Office. BRATISLAVA - The Judicial Council will publish an official list of candidates for the post of Supreme Court chair on Wednesday (August 21), TASR learnt from Judicial Council spokesperson Veronika Muller on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - At a meeting with Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) on Tuesday, Bratislava Mayor Matus Vallo suggested that the city could receive several tens of millions of euros from the state each year that Bratislava will use to ensure the obligations of the capital, TASR learnt on the same day. BRATISLAVA - President Zuzana Caputova received at an initial audience new US Ambassador to Slovakia Bridget Brink, who handed over her credentials, TASR learnt from president's website on Tuesday. am