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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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