SLOVAKIA
Fico’s condition stabilized
Prime Minister Robert Fico’s life is no longer in danger following an assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters yesterday. “He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and he requires intensive care,” Kalinak said. The prime minister, 59, was shot at five times at point-blank range in an attack on Wednesday. The Special Criminal Court on Saturday ruled that the suspect, identified by prosecutors as Juraj C., would remain in custody after being charged with attempted murder.
NEW CALEDONIA
Forces smash roadblocks
French forces smashed through about 60 roadblocks to clear the way from the capital to the airport, but have still not reopened the route, a top government official said yesterday. After six nights of violence that has left six dead and hundreds injured, security forces would launch “harassment” raids to reclaim other parts of the Pacific territory, High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said. “Republican order will be re-established whatever the cost,” he said. The unrest, which started on Monday last week, was sparked by French plans to impose new voting rules.
TUNISIA
Dozens missing for weeks
Twenty-three people trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe from Tunisia have been missing for the past two weeks, the National Guard said in a statement on Saturday. It said that searches were still under way after the group departed early this month. “They set sail overnight between May 3 and 4” from Nabeul, it said, adding that relatives of the missing only contacted the authorities 10 days later. Acting on orders from prosecutors in Nabeul, the National Guard said it had arrested five people allegedly involved in organizing the crossing. It said it recovered four bodies later on Saturday, after intercepting two crossing attempts to Europe and rescuing “52 migrants” near Sfax, a main departure point for Italy.
JAPAN
Police attacked by bears
Authorities have warned residents to be aware of wild bears in the northeast after several people were attacked, including police officers. The bears, measuring about 50cm in height, were seen in the area, including in Akita and Fukushima prefectures. Two police officers were attacked on Saturday in Akita’s Kazuno while recovering the body of a missing man, news reports said. The man had gone hunting for bamboo shoots in the mountains a few days earlier where he was found dead in the area with gash wounds. It remains unclear if he died due to a bear attack. The officers are in a serious condition, although it is not life-threatening, reports said.
UNITED STATES
Not enough Kyles in Kyle
Another attempt by Kyle, Texas, to break the world record for the largest gathering of people with one name fell short on Saturday, despite 706 Kyles of all ages turning up at a park in the suburbs of Austin. The crown is currently held by a town in Bosnia that got 2,325 people named Ivan together in 2017, according to Guinness World Records. It was not the first time the Kyles came gunning for the Ivans. Last year, the official count at what has become known as the Gathering of the Kyles clocked in at 1,490. Kyle is not a chart-topper among popular names in the US, Social Security Administration data showed. Kyle ranked 416th among male names last year, while Ivan ranked 153rd.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home