Slovak PM Fico Makes First Public Appearance since Assassination Attempt

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP)
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP)
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Slovak PM Fico Makes First Public Appearance since Assassination Attempt

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP)
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP)

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico appeared in public on Friday for the first time since a May assassination attempt.

Fico, who is recovering after being shot four times at close range in mid-May, spoke at a podium at an evening ceremony marking Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, a public holiday in Slovakia.

Fico, a four-time leftist prime minister who returned to power after winning an election last September, had been shot when he greeted supporters at a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova, leaving him needing hours of surgery.

He has been recovering at home since the end of May.

His attacker, a man identified by prosecutors as 71-year old Juraj C., was detained and charged with attempted premeditated murder. Prosecutors this week upgraded the case to a terrorist attack.

The attack on Fico has highlighted the deep polarization of politics in the central European country of 5.4 million.

In a video message posted on Facebook in early June, Fico called his attacker an opposition activist, but said he felt no hatred toward the attacker and would not seek damages.

His return to power has marked a sharp shift in policy which critics say raises worries about the rule of law and media freedom, as well as hurting relations with the European Union and NATO member state's allies.

The detained man has, according to court documents, said he had wanted to hurt the prime minister, but not kill him, because he disagreed with policies including cancelling a special prosecutor's office and stopping state military aid to Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion.

The leftist-nationalist government has also faced opposition-led protests and has fought with Slovakia's mainstream media outlets.

This month, it began the transformation of the public broadcaster despite worries from opposition and media watchdogs that it will limit press freedom.



US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
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US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)

US House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the parliament on June 22, he said on Wednesday.

"Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements," Johnson said in an emailed statement.

Punchbowl News, which first reported Johnson's plan, said the House Speaker was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the trip.

Johnson did not provide further details on the planned trip.

Johnson announced the visit as Israel presses on with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 months after it launched its offensive there in response to a deadly incursion into Israel led by the Palestinian group Hamas.

On Tuesday, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel called the action "outrageous" and said the Israeli government would hold a meeting early next week to decide how to respond.