NYT

Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times and has undergone emergency surgery. His condition remains serious, officials said.

At a summit with China’s leader, in Beijing, the Russian president called for stronger economic ties between the countries, as he intensifies his war effort.

He built Sarvodaya, an organization that battled dismal living conditions in his country’s villages and championed peace and mediation during a vicious civil war.

The men were killed as they were fighting in a dense area, a spokesman said, adding that the incident was “under review.”

Venezuela’s election features an opposition candidate with a slim, if improbable, chance of defeating the country’s long-ruling authoritarian leader.

At least one party, the opposition Progress Slovakia, said it would suspend its campaign, in a move to help “end the spiral of attacks and blame.”

The Louvre is joining in the celebration for the Olympics by opening up for dance and exercise classes early in the morning. Tickets sold out in a flash.

Ukraine said it was slowing Russia’s push near Kharkiv, where the president met with top commanders, but still faced pitched battles in that area and farther south.

A deal to allow the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler to cash out his mining positions in the Democratic Republic of Congo has enraged human rights activists and some government officials.

Also, Antony Blinken visited Kyiv and President Biden announced new Chinese tariffs.

Much of the recent international discussion of Mr. Fico’s leadership has focused on his ties to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.

Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times in what officials said was a politically motivated assassination attempt. The deputy prime minister told the BBC the surgery appeared to have gone well.

The agreement excludes the populist politician Geert Wilders from becoming prime minister.

Slovakia is one of two nations born out of the former Czechoslovakia, a multiethnic nation established at the end of World War I.

Ousman Sonko, who served under an autocratic president now in exile, was found guilty of multiple counts of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment against citizens of the West African country.

The ruthless assault that freed a prisoner and set off a manhunt has turned attention to a multibillion-dollar drug trade fueling gang warfare.

The French authorities have undertaken a “massive” mobilization of security forces since violence broke out over a constitutional amendment that changes voting rules in the South Pacific territory.

Here’s what you need to know.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, an ally of Vladimir V. Putin and Viktor Orban, was shot multiple times on Wednesday, stoking fears that Europe’s polarized politics were tipping into violence.