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Slovakia’s prime minister is fighting for his life and undergoing surgery after being shot multiple times.

Robert Fico was airlifted to hospital and a suspect, reported to be 71 years old, was detained at the scene.

The shooting happened on Wednesday afternoon in Handlova, about 85 miles (136km) from the capital Bratislava, after a meeting at a cultural centre.

Follow live: Slovak prime minister in ‘life-threatening condition’

Slovakia‘s interior minister said there was a “clear political motivation” behind the attack, while local TV said Mr Fico was hit in the stomach.

The 59-year-old was taken to a local hospital and then flown to a larger facility in Banska Bystrica.

“The next few hours will decide,” said a post on Mr Fico’s Facebook page.

Pic: Reuters
Security officers move Slovak PM Robert Fico in a car after a shooting incident, after a Slovak government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, May 15, 2024. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa
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Security rushed Mr Fico into a car after the incident. Pic: Reuters

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Slovak PM bundled into car

Pic: Reuters
A person is detained after a shooting incident of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, after a Slovak government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, May 15, 2024. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa
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The man detained is said to be 71 years old. Pic: Reuters


A man was arrested at the scene. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

The prime minister was still in surgery on Wednesday evening, said the country’s defence minister, who described his condition as “extraordinarily serious”.

Interior minister Matus Sutaj-Estok told reporters outside the hospital that the gunman had fired five shots.

Two witnesses told local news outlet Diary N about the moment the shooting happened.

“I was just going to shake his hand,” said one.

“When the shots rang out, I almost became deaf,” said the other, who did not want to give her name.

She said there were three or four shots and that Mr Fico fell to the floor with blood on his chest and head.

Defence minister Robert Kalinak and interior minister spoke to media outside the hospital. Pic: AP
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The defence minister (left) and interior minister gave an update outside hospital. Pic: AP

Other witnesses said the gunman used a friendly nickname to call out to the prime minister as he approached a crowd of supporters.

Slovak media said he was a former security guard and an author of poetry collections.

‘A polarising political bruiser’

By Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent

Robert Fico has been in Slovak politics for decades, even before the country of Slovakia existed.

A towering figure, he is a political bruiser who has been polarising at home and throughout Europe.

His election last year seemed almost unimaginable until recently, after Fico was forced to resign following the murder of a famous journalist and allegations of corruption.

It appeared his political career was over.

However, he bounced back on a campaign to end military support for Ukraine.

He is also resistant to sanctions on Russia, a conservative on social issues and he attacks the EU project.

This populist approach has a large constituency with mainly rural, older, conservative voters helping him to a third term.

But not with everyone, his party did receive the largest number of votes, though it only amounted to 23%.

Slovakia, like many of its neighbours, is deeply divided with younger, more metropolitan voters angry with the nationalistic approach to politics.

They tend to be more pro-EU, in favour of Ukrainian support and liberal.

There is also widespread concern about an authoritarian approach to politics, curbing of media freedoms and opposition parties.

The result is a polarised country with a polarising prime minister who has never shown any sign of wanting reconciliation.

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Who is Robert Fico?

Pic: AP
Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovakia...s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
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Pic: AP


Pic: AP
Rescue workers take Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovakia...s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
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The prime minister was taken to a hospital in the town of Banska. Pic: AP

Robert Fico on the world stage

Robert Fico’s election victory last autumn meant NATO had another leader – alongside Hungary’s Victor Orban – who is sympathetic to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

He has previously opposed EU sanctions on Russia – and has been against Ukraine joining the defence treaty.

He believes the US and other nations should use their influence to force Russia and Ukraine to strike a compromise peace deal.

Mr Fico also repeated Mr Putin’s unsupported claim that the Ukrainian government runs a Nazi state from which ethnic Russians in the country need protection.

Critics have also voiced increasing fears Mr Fico would abandon Slovakia’s pro-Western course.

To read more, click here.

World leaders – including Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden – have been quick to condemn the shooting.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called it a “vile attack”, while Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said it was “shocking”.

“News of the cowardly assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Fico shocks me deeply,” said German leader Olaf Scholz.

“Violence must have no place in European politics.”

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About 5.5 million people live in the central European country

Robert Fico was shot in the town of Handlova

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X: “Shocking news from Slovakia. Robert, my thoughts are with you in this very difficult moment.”

Mr Fico is a three-time premier in Slovakia and a stalwart of the country’s political scene.

However, he is a divisive figure, with many critical of his more sympathetic stance towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and views on LGBTQ rights.

He won elections in September after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.

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President Putin said Mr Fico’s shooting was a “monstrous” crime with “no justification”.

In a Telegram post, he wished him “a speedy and full recovery”, adding: “I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man.

“I very much hope that these qualities will help him to survive this difficult situation.”

US President Joe Biden said his thoughts were “with his (Fico’s) family and the people of Slovakia”.

“We condemn this horrific act of violence. Our embassy is in close touch with the government of Slovakia and ready to assist,” said a statement.

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

More on Cop29

Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
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The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike

US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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Putin’s warning to the West

Russia war latest: Long-awaited US air defences arrive in Ukraine

He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

More on Russia

General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

Read more from Sky News:
What are storm shadow missiles?
How bionic limps are helping Ukrainian troops

Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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