What happened
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times Wednesday as he addressed supporters outside in Handlova. Doctors said early Thursday he is in stable but serious condition after surgery. Fortunately, the five-hour operation "went well and I guess in the end he will survive," Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC.
Who said what
The suspected gunman, identified in local media as a 71-year-old writer and activist, is in custody, and a primary investigation found "a clear political motivation," Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.
Estok "did not specify what the motivation was," The Associated Press said, but Fico's divisive "return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message" threatened to derail Slovakia's long-established democratic, "pro-Western course."
What next?
Some politicians in Fico's Smer party have called this "a declaration of war," and it "will be a useful excuse for doing all the things they wanted to do" anyway, notably taking control of public media and weakening anticorruption tools, Pavol Hardos, a political scientist at Bratislava's Comenius University, said to The Washington Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
‘Businesses that lose money and are uncompetitive won’t survive’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Under siege: Argentina’s president drops his chainsawTalking Point The self-proclaimed ‘first anarcho-capitalist president in world history’ faces mounting troubles
-
Gunman kills 1 detainee, wounds 2 at ICE facilitySpeed Read A sniper shot three detainees at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office before fatally shooting himself
-
Nadine Menendez gets 4.5 years in bribery caseSpeed Read Menendez's husband was previously sentenced to 11 years in prison
-
Koreans detained in US Hyundai raid return homeSpeed Read Over 300 Koreans were detained at the plant last week
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for coup attemptSpeed Read Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting to stay in power following his 2022 election loss
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purgeSpeed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk shot dead at 31Speed Read Kirk was holding a debate session at Utah Valley University
