Eurotopics.net

A run-off election this Saturday will decide who becomes Slovakia's new head of state. The liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korčok faces off against leftist parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini, who belongs to the camp of the controversial Prime Minister Robert Fico's government. Korčok won the first round with a lead of five and a half percentage points.

Over 12,000 young people and adults were baptised by the Catholic Church in France on the Easter weekend - an increase of 31 percent compared to the previous year. Commentators analyse the impact of the wave of new members on the Church as an institution.

The Turkish parliament on Tuesday voted clearly in favour of Sweden joining Nato. For eighteen months Turkey opposed the move, after also blocking Finland's membership for a long time. Once President Erdoğan has signed, only Hungary's approval will still be pending. What does this mean for the three countries - and the transatlantic alliance?

A Russian military transport plane has apparently been shot down in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border. According to Russia, in addition to the crew and three guards, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were also on board, en route to a prisoner exchange. The Ukrainian military intelligence, however, says it has no reliable information about the identity of the passengers.