Slovak PM Fico’s attacker convicted of terrorism, jailed for 21 years

October 21, 2025 3:20 PM

Slovak PM Fico’s attacker convicted of terrorism, jailed for 21 years

A Slovak court ruled on Tuesday that a man who shot and wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico last year was guilty of terrorism charges and handed him a 21-year jail sentence. Juraj Cintula, 72, shot at Fico five times from just over a one-metre distance as the prime minister greeted people in the central Slovak town of Handlova in May 2024. The verdict of the Specialised Criminal Court in the city of Banska Bystrica closes a trial that began in July and whose main question was whether Cintula, w...

America on edge: Experts warn of “vicious spiral” in political violence after Charlie Kirk’s killing

September 11, 2025 9:18 AM

America on edge: Experts warn of “vicious spiral” in political violence after Charlie Kirk’s killing

The assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk marks a watershed moment in a surge of U.S. political violence, one that some experts fear will inflame an already-fractured country and inspire more unrest. ”This event is horrifying, alarming, but not necessarily surprising,” said Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, which has tracked such violence in a terrorism database since 1970. In the first six months of the year, the U.S. experienced about 150 politically-...