MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 22 August 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 21 August): BRATISLAVA - MP Anna Zaborska died at the age of 77 on Wednesday (20 August), the Christian Union (KU) party has announced on a social network. Zaborska was born on 7 June 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated from the Medical Faculty of Martin-based Comenius University. After 1989, she was actively engaged in establishing Christian Democratic (KDH) clubs. In 1993, she became the KDH chair in Prievidza (Trencin region) and also a member of the KDH Republican Council. She was the KDH vice-chair for foreign policy in 1999-2000 and a member of the KDH presidium between 2001 and 2003. She served as an MP for KDH between 1998 and 2004 and an MEP between 2004 and 2019. She quit KDH in 2019 to found a new conservative Christian Union party together with Branislav Skripek. She ran on a joint slate of parties and movements under the name 'OLANO and Friends' in the 2023 general election. BRATISLAVA - Lawyer Igor Dusenka is set to become a new MP following the death of MP Anna Zaborska, TASR was told by Michal Sipos, head of the 'Slovakia' party, For the People and Christian Union (KU) caucus, to which Zaborska belonged, adding that Dusenka should assume the MP's post at the upcoming House session starting on 9 September. "The replacement for the seat vacated due to the death of the MP should take the MP's oath on 9 September," the Parliament Office's communications department has confirmed for TASR. Dusenka ran in fourth spot on the OLANO [current 'Slovakia' party - ed. note], For the People and KU slate in the general election in 2023. BRATISLAVA - An analysis of the composition of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines has clearly shown that these vaccines contain only trace amounts of DNA molecules, far below the maximum level set, TASR learnt from the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) on Thursday. Statements and publications claiming high levels of DNA, including those that prompted the SAV analysis, are based on technically incorrect procedures and/or misinterpreted results. Such claims are false and misleading, according to a SAV statement sent by Andrea Nozdrovicka from the academy to TASR. SAV established that the small amount of residual DNA found in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines consists of very short segments that do not code for any functional proteins and originate from the DNA template used in mRNA production. The vaccines also do not contain any other impurities, and most importantly, they do not contain graphene compounds, clarified SAV. BRATISLAVA - The Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry again announced a call to support research and development in the field of digital transformation amounting to €45 million on Thursday, ministry State Secretary Radoslav Stefanek told a news conference on the same day. The ministry scrapped the previous call in mid-July due to alleged serious implementation risks and flaws. Firms have until September 30 to file applications for non-refundable financial contributions for their projects. The ministry plans to support 34 projects. The bottom limit for supported projects will be €300,000, while the ministry increased the ceiling limit when compared to the cancelled call to €2.2 million. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's social services are at the risk of collapse, said the opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) on Thursday, pointing out that the country faces a shortage of care-givers, partly due to the profession being financially unattractive and underpaid. Opposition MPs Andrea Turcanova, Martin Smilnak and Igor Janckulik (all KDH) raised the issue at a press conference on the same day. "Qualified and extremely demanding work in social service facilities is significantly underpaid. The number of clients with severe diagnoses, often psychiatric, is growing, and many are very aggressive, not only towards caregivers but also towards themselves," said Turcanova. BRATISLAVA - It is impossible for any big country to trample on the sovereign and legitimate claims of a smaller country or a neighbour and violate its sovereignty; superpowers mustn't violate international law, said Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) in a speech delivered at a commemorative event to mark the victims of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact Troops on August 21, 1968. Blanar promised that the government will support compliance with international law so that such events never happen again. "It isn't possible for any big country, with great power behind it, to trample on the sovereign and legitimate claims of any smaller country or neighbour and violate its sovereignty. And this is all the more important at these times when we are facing the erosion of international law," stated the minister. ko