Slovak PM Fico undergoes Operation Candidate, 5 others killed during rally in Mexico Houthi rebels claim US drone shootdown British village enters third day of boil order | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Slovak Prime Minister Fico undergoes surgery

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has undergone further surgery two days after being shot multiple times and remains in serious condition, officials said Friday.

Fico, 59, was attacked as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. A suspected attacker has been arrested.

Miriam Lapunikova, director of the University FD Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Fico was taken by helicopter after being shot, said Fico underwent a CT scan and is currently awake and stable in an intensive care unit. She described his condition as ‘very serious’.

She said the surgery removed dead tissues left in Fico’s body.

“I think it will take a few more days before we will definitively know the direction of further development,” Robert Kaliniak, defense minister and deputy prime minister, told reporters at the hospital.

Still, Kaliniak emphasized that the government continues to work.

“The ministries are working on all their tasks, nothing is frozen or stopped, the country continues,” he told reporters. “The condition is stable and today the patient is also stable.”

Candidate, 5 others killed at rally in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — A mayoral candidate and five other people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a campaign rally in southern Mexico’s violence-wracked state of Chiapas, officials said.

Prosecutors said a young girl was among six people killed in Thursday’s gunfire, along with mayoral candidate Lucero López Maza. Two others were injured, they said.

“A confrontation broke out between armed civilians during a political campaign,” prosecutors said in a statement.

It was unclear whether López Maza was the intended target of the attack because shootings in the area have become so common and widespread.

The mass shooting took place at an intersection in the rural town of La Concordia, Chiapas, about 80 miles from the border with Guatemala.

The area near the Guatemalan border is a major drug and migrant smuggling route, and Mexico’s two main drug cartels are fighting for control of the region.

Houthi rebels claim downing of US drones

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down a US drone on Friday, hours after images circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper drone. The US military did not immediately acknowledge the incident.

If confirmed, this would be yet another Reaper downed by the Houthis as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. General Yahya Saree claimed that rebels shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile on Thursday. He described the drone as “carrying out hostile actions” in Yemen’s Marib province, which remains controlled by allies of Yemen’s exiled, internationally recognized government.

The Houthis later released images they said showed the surface-to-air missile being launched at night, along with night-vision footage of the missile hitting the drone. A man whose voice was digitally altered to apparently prevent identification chanted the Houthis’ slogan: “God is greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

Online video showed wreckage similar to the Reaper’s pieces on the ground, as well as images of that wreckage on fire.

British village enters third day of cooking

LONDON — A picturesque fishing village in southwest England was instructed Friday to boil tap water for a third day after a parasite sickened more than 45 people in the latest example of Britain’s troubled water system.

Around 16,000 homes and businesses in the Brixham area of ​​Devon were told to boil water after cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that causes diarrhea, was found in the water. At least 46 cases of cryptosporidiosis have been confirmed and more than 100 other people have reported similar symptoms, the UK Health Security Agency said. The symptoms can last longer than two weeks.

Sally Dart, who runs a homewares shop near Brixham harbour, said people in the town first started feeling ill two weeks ago during a pirate festival.

“Nobody checked the quality of the water and we all got sick and it sucks,” she said.

South West Water chief executive Susan Davy apologized for the outbreak and said technicians were working around the clock to identify and resolve the problem which may have originated from a pipe in a cattle pasture.

“I am truly sorry for the disruption and wider concern this has caused,” Davy said. “I know that on this occasion we have fallen significantly short of what you expect of us.”

Water companies have been under fire for more than a year to stop the frequent overflow of sewage into rivers and oceans, which has literally caused stenches, sick swimmers and polluted fish streams and led to a call from the public to clean up their act.

FILE – Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, January 16, 2024. A man accused of attempting to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was escorted by police came to his home on Friday morning, May 17, 2024, with media saying it was part of a search for evidence. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)

The FD Roosevelt University Hospital building is reflected in a fountain sculpture called Flower of Life, created by Stefan Imrich, a Slovak architect in 1983, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded, is being treated in Banska Bystrica. Central Slovakia, Friday, May 17, 2024. Fico, 59, was shot several times on Wednesday as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. Officials initially said doctors were fighting for his life, but after a five-hour operation his condition was described as serious but stable. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Police escort a man in a car, center right, believed to be the suspect in Wednesday’s assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from his home in Levice, Slovakia, Friday, May 17, 2024. Fico, 59, was attacked as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. Prosecutors have told police not to publicly identify the suspect or other details about the case. (TVNoviny via AP)

Visitors enter the building of the FD Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded, is being treated, in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, on Friday, May 17, 2024. Fico, 59, was shot several times Wednesday when he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. Officials initially said doctors were fighting for his life, but after a five-hour operation his condition was described as serious but stable. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Hospital director Miriam Lapunikova speaks during a media briefing, outside the FD Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded on May 15, is being treated, in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Slovak populist prime minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and seriously injured on Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Police escort a man, center, believed to be the suspect in Wednesday’s assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from his home in Levice, Slovakia, on Friday, May 17, 2024. Fico, 59, was attacked as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. Prosecutors have told police not to publicly identify the suspect or other details about the case. (TVNoviny via AP)

Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Slovakia Robert Kalinak speaks during a media briefing outside the FD Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded on May 15, is being treated in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Friday. May 17, 2024. Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and seriously injured on Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Hospital director Miriam Lapunikova speaks during a media briefing, outside the FD Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded on May 15, is being treated, in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Slovak populist prime minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and seriously injured on Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Television news crews report from outside the FD Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded, is being treated, in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Friday, May 17, 2024. Fico, 59, was shot multiple times Wednesday as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the former mining town of Handlova. Officials initially said doctors were fighting for his life, but after a five-hour operation his condition was described as serious but stable. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)