Peter Pellegrini

Hungary has dropped its opposition to Mark Rutte's candidacy for NATO secretary general after a meeting between Rutte and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the EU leaders' council in Brussels, as reported by media outlets in the Netherlands, Agence France-Presse, and the Financial Times.

Picture taken on May 16, 2024 shows the hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is being treated after he was shot "multiple times" the day before

Authorities charged an alleged gunman Thursday with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying the shooting was sparked by the election win last month of a Fico ally.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico fought for his life in the hospital Wednesday after being shot multiple times in what the government called a "political assault," as world leaders reacted with shock and condemnation after the shooting.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he strongly condemns "the heinous assassination attempt" against the PM and wished him a speedy recovery.

Slovakia will on Saturday hold the first round of a presidential election that is a battle between the Central European country's Russia-leaning ruling camp and a pro-Ukraine opposition-backed candidate.

Parliament speaker Peter Pellegrini and liberal ex-foreign minister Ivan Korcok are the clear frontrunners among nine contenders.

Day 623 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Slovak police have accused the intelligence chief and other senior security officials of creating a criminal group and conspiring to abuse power in a case just weeks before early elections, Reuters reported.

The ruthless double murder of two innocent people on February 21, 2018, triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in Slovakia's modern history.

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Live: Coronavirus Updates

Democracy Digest: Slovakia's Infectious 'Infodemic'

"We need to overcome our prejudices that when a person wears a mask, he must be sick or infected," Puskarova said in the studio on March 13, urging the politicians to be role models for the public.

"No other government in Slovak history has ever started in such a complicated situation," President Zuzana Caputova said in a speech on March 19, expressing confidence that the cabinet would lead the country through the coronavirus crisis..

Although the number of cases is small compared with other countries, the outgoing government of Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, who has doubled as health minister for the past few months, has introduced widespread prevention measures.