Latest news

The attempted assassination of Robert Fico
Slovakia's Robert Fico discharged from hospital

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been discharged from the hospital, Slovak media reports according to Reuters. Fico was seriously injured when he was shot in the chest in connection with his meeting with voters on May 15 this year.

He was operated on twice shortly after the incident. Earlier on Tuesday, the hospital confirmed that Fico's condition has improved and that he has begun rehabilitation.

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The new space race
South Korean goal: Land on Mars in 21 years

The South Korean government hopes to land on Mars in 2045. During an opening ceremony for the country's new space agency, South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol talked about the grandiose plans, writes the Yonhap news agency.

The country will invest the equivalent of just over 72 billion dollars in space projects over the next 21 years.

- We will land our space exploration vehicle on the moon in 2032 and put Taegeukgi on Mars in 2045, says the president, referring to the South Korean flag.

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Historically large effort against robots that spread viruses

Europol has arrested four people and shut down over 100 servers in several locations in Europe after a massive operation against virus-spreading robots. This is stated by the police cooperation in a press release. In recent days, Europol has carried out "the largest operation ever" against so-called botnets, networks of robots that spread viruses and other malicious code.

The operation, named "Operation Endgame", was led by France, Germany and the Netherlands. Several countries such as the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine also participated.

The arrests were made in Armenia and Ukraine. One of the main suspects has earned at least 69 million euros in cryptocurrency from the criminal acts. Law enforcement authorities have seized control of approximately 2,000 domains.

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The EU election The electoral movement in Europe
Private donations ring in the coffers of extreme parties

A quarter of all private donations to political parties in the EU go to fringe and populist parties on the right and left. It shows a compilation by The Guardian of annual reports from more than 200 parties in 25 countries.

The rules around reporting who the donors are vary and in some countries transparency is non-existent.

- Parties are not interested in transparency, says Fernando Casal Bértoa, researcher at the University of Nottingham.

Opinion polls show that the far right, Eurosceptics and pro-Russian parties will advance in the EU elections in June.

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Death of Ebrahim Raisi
USA: Does not participate in the UN commemoration ceremony for Raisi

The United States will boycott a memorial ceremony at the United Nations for Iran's former president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash two weeks ago, Reuters reports. It is the UN General Assembly and its 193 members that will meet on Thursday as a result of the death.

- The UN should support the people of Iran, not celebrate the memory of their oppressors, says an American official who chose to remain anonymous to the news agency.

Several world leaders offered their condolences to Iran after the fatal helicopter crash. Condolences from the White House have been sparse. Among other things, Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Raisi "had a lot of blood on his hands".