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.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
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