SUMMARY-Thursday-January 16, 2020 - 10 p.m.

BRATISLAVA/VIENNA - The programme manifesto of the new Austrian Government includes a pledge to fight against the launching of new reactors at Slovakia's Mochovce (Nitra region) nuclear power plant, Opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) vice-chair Karol Galek said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that the Slovak Government was actually to blame for this. LOW TATRAS - A 28-year-old recreational skier from Belarus was killed in a collision with a 37-year-old Slovak on a slope at the Chopok South ski resort in the Low Tatra Mountains in central Slovakia on Thursday, the Mountain Rescue Service reported on the same day. BRATISLAVA - The Finance Ministry has presented two offers to the striking hauliers: one of them would burden the state budget with costs of €20.4 million and the other with €29.9 million this year, said Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) after "emotional" talks with two organisations of road carriers - CESMAD Slovakia and Union of Slovakia's Hauliers (UNAS) on Thursday. NITRA - Former prosecutor-general Dobroslav Trnka was questioned for more than eight hours by investigators of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) in Nitra on Thursday following his detention at his house in Hamuliakovo (Bratislava region) in the morning, TASR learnt on the same day. TRENCIN - President Zuzana Caputova, who is the commander-in-chief of the Slovak Armed Forces, on Thursday visited the Ground Forces Command and the NATO Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence in Trencin, praising the performance of both units and highlighting efforts of soldiers in the aftermath of a massive gas blast in an apartment block in Presov that claimed the lives of several people last month. BRATISLAVA - Justice Minister Gabor Gal (Most-Hid) lodged a motion to suspend the tenures of Bratislava District Court V's judge Zuzana Maruniakova and Bratislava District Court I's judge Denisa Cvikova over their questionable activities benefiting Marian K., TASR learnt from ministry spokesperson Zuzana Drobova on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - Between €20-30 million will be allocated by the EU during the 2021-2027 programme period for the European Capital of Culture project in 2026, which should feature one Slovak and one Finnish city as joint culture capitals, Slovak Vice-premier for Informatisation and Investment Richard Rasi (Smer-SD) said at a press conference on Thursday. BERLIN - The need to enlarge the EU and seek a new consensus on the opening of EU accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia was underlined by Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak in his speech delivered on Thursday at an international conference on the EU's 2020 strategic challenges in the Western Balkans held in Berlin, TASR learnt from the ministry press department on the same day. LEDNICKE ROVNE - A glassworks firm called Rona Lednicke Rovne exports its products to many countries of the world, contributing to an excellent representation of Slovakia abroad, President Zuzana Caputova stated during her visit to company facilities in Lednicke Rovne (Trencin region), where she tried glassblowing on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - President Zuzana Caputova is scheduled to meet with her predecessors for a joint lunch on Friday (January 17), Caputova's spokesman Martin Strizinec reported on Thursday. bub