عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Slovak PM Fico No Longer in Immediate Danger but Condition Serious, Deputy Says

Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak addresses a press conference in front of the F D Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by FERENC ISZA / AFP)
Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak addresses a press conference in front of the F D Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by FERENC ISZA / AFP)
TT
TT

Slovak PM Fico No Longer in Immediate Danger but Condition Serious, Deputy Says

Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak addresses a press conference in front of the F D Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by FERENC ISZA / AFP)
Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak addresses a press conference in front of the F D Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by FERENC ISZA / AFP)

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in immediate danger but still in a serious condition, his deputy said on Sunday, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.
"We are all a little calmer," Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak told a news conference outside the hospital where Fico is being treated in the central Slovak town of Banska Bystrica.
The prime minister, 59, was hit by four bullets on Wednesday in an attack that raised alarm over the polarized state of politics in the central European country of 5.4 million people.
Kalinak told journalists that Fico's condition was still too serious to consider transferring him to a hospital in the capital. But the worst fears had passed for now, Reuters reported.
"When we were saying that we want to get closer to a positive prognosis, then I believe that we are a step closer to that," he added. "The prime minister has stepped away from his life being in danger, but his condition remains serious and requires intensive care."
The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years, and has drawn international condemnation. Political analysts and lawmakers say it has exposed an increasingly febrile and polarized political climate both in Slovakia and across Europe.
The Slovak Specialized Criminal Court ruled on Saturday that the suspect, identified by prosecutors as Juraj C., would remain in custody after being charged with attempted murder.
Local news media say the suspect is a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

US Judge Lets More Epstein Grand Jury Materials Be Made Public

A protester calling for a release of the Epstein files holds a sign while awaiting the arrival of Trump administration officials who are expected to discuss strategy amid the deepening political crisis over the administration’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the US Naval Observatory - Reuters
A protester calling for a release of the Epstein files holds a sign while awaiting the arrival of Trump administration officials who are expected to discuss strategy amid the deepening political crisis over the administration’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the US Naval Observatory - Reuters
TT
TT

US Judge Lets More Epstein Grand Jury Materials Be Made Public

A protester calling for a release of the Epstein files holds a sign while awaiting the arrival of Trump administration officials who are expected to discuss strategy amid the deepening political crisis over the administration’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the US Naval Observatory - Reuters
A protester calling for a release of the Epstein files holds a sign while awaiting the arrival of Trump administration officials who are expected to discuss strategy amid the deepening political crisis over the administration’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the US Naval Observatory - Reuters

A US judge in Manhattan on Wednesday allowed for the public release of records from a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein because of a law recently passed by Congress, the latest in a string of similar rulings.

The order by US District Judge Richard Berman came one day after another judge granted a similar request in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in prison for sex trafficking underage girls with Epstein, according to Reuters.

The rulings could lead to disclosure of materials that shed more light on Epstein's ties to rich and powerful people, including President Donald Trump.

Berman in August had denied a prior Justice Department request to unseal the grand jury materials, which are normally permanently sealed by law, citing “possible threats to victims’ safety and privacy." But the judge said in Wednesday's order that disclosure was now warranted because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into law last month.

Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein's ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.

Trump, who said he ended his friendship with Epstein long before the financier’s 2019 arrest, had opposed the release of the files but reversed course shortly before lawmakers voted on legislation.

World

Israeli Druze Leader Seeks US Security Guarantees for Syrian Minority

Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
TT
TT

Israeli Druze Leader Seeks US Security Guarantees for Syrian Minority

Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta

Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif urged the United States to guarantee the security of the Druze community in Syria to prevent a recurrence of intense violence earlier this year in Sweida.

Washington needed to fulfill its "duty" to safeguard the rights of Syria's minorities in order to encourage stability, Tarif told Reuters on Tuesday during an official visit to the UN in Geneva, adding that US support would also remove the need for Israeli intervention in Syria's south.

"We hope that the United States, President Trump, and America as a great power, we want it to guarantee the rights of all minorities in Syria ... preventing any further massacres," he said.
US President Donald Trump vowed in November to do everything he can to make Syria successful after landmark talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

BLOODY CLASHES IN JULY

The Druze are a minority group whose faith is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Israel, Syria and Lebanon.

In July, clashes between Druze and Bedouin residents broke out in Sweida after tit-for-tat kidnappings, leading to a week of bloodletting that shattered generations of fragile coexistence.

The violence worsened when government forces dispatched to restore order clashed with Druze militiamen, with widespread reports of looting, summary killings and other abuses. Israel entered the fray with encouragement from its Druze minority, attacking government forces with the stated aims of protecting Syrian Druze and keeping its borders free from militants. Tens of thousands of people from both communities were uprooted, with the unrest all but ending the Bedouins’ presence across much of Sweida.

In the aftermath, Druze leaders called for a humanitarian corridor from the Israeli-occupied Golan to Sweida and demanded self-determination, which the government rejects.

'NEED TO REBUILD TRUST'

Asked about proposals by influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari to separate Sweida from Syria, Tarif took a different stance, stressing the need for internal autonomy or self-governance within Syria as a way of protecting minorities and their rights and pointing to federal systems in Switzerland and Germany as examples.

It was inconceivable to ask the Druze to surrender their weapons, he said. Talks to bring Sweida's former police force onto Damascus' payroll — while allowing the Druze to retain wide local autonomy — had been making steady progress until July's bloodshed derailed them.

Al-Sharaa has vowed to protect the Druze. However, Hajari insists he poses an existential threat to his community and in September rejected a 13-point, US-brokered roadmap to resolve the conflict, according to Reuters.

Asked if talks should be revived, Tarif said trust had to be rebuilt by allowing residents to return to their homes, and permitting full humanitarian access to Sweida.

"There is no trust today ... Trust must be rebuilt," he said.

World

UK's Starmer Says Europe is Strong and United Behind Ukraine

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
TT
TT

UK's Starmer Says Europe is Strong and United Behind Ukraine

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that Europe was strong and he would stand up for its values of freedom and democracy after US President Donald Trump said the continent was decaying. In an interview with Politico on Tuesday, Trump called Europe's political leaders weak and denounced Europe for failing to end the war in Ukraine. Trump's comments followed the publication last week of the US national security strategy that warned Europe faced "civilizational erasure" and must change course.

"What I see is a strong Europe, united behind Ukraine and united behind our long-standing values of freedom and democracy, and I will always stand up for those freedoms," Starmer said, responding to a question by a British lawmaker in parliament about the national security strategy, Reuters reported.

Trump, in his interview with Politico, also described London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a "disaster."

Khan, who represents Starmer's centre-left Labour Party, in 2016 became the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London.

The US president has long been critical of Khan, and the two men have clashed repeatedly in recent years.

Starmer's press secretary said on Wednesday that Trump's comments were "wrong" and defended Khan's record.

"The prime minister is hugely proud of the Mayor of London's record, and proud to call him a colleague and a friend."

Khan's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaking to Reuters from Brazil ahead of the COP30 environmental summit last month, Khan defended his record.

"London, like New York, is a city that is liberal, multicultural, progressive, and also incredibly successful," he said. "We are the antithesis of everything that Donald Trump is about," he added, as he hailed Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayoral race.

Mamdani describes himself as a democratic socialist and is the first Muslim mayor of New York.