News Wrap: Slovakia’s prime minister shot in assassination attempt

Geoff Bennett:

In the day's other news: The U.S. Supreme Court is ordering Louisiana to hold congressional elections this year using a House map with a second mostly Black district. That's despite a lower court ruling that called the map illegal based on racial gerrymandering. About a third of the state is Black, and the ruling is seen as helping Democrats' chances of gaining control of the closely divided House if it's not challenged by further appeals or another court decision.

Slovakia's prime minister was shot multiple times today in an assassination attempt that has shocked his country and the region. Robert Fico had been attending a meeting of his government before the shooting. A 71-year-old suspect is now in custody.

The country's interior minister said the attack was politically motivated, and Slovakia's president expressed her outrage.

Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia (through interpreter): I'm shocked, we are all shocked by the terrible and vicious attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. A physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy.

Geoff Bennett:

Fico's anti-American position has made him a divisive figure both at home and abroad. He's called for an end to funding for Ukraine, which has worried European leaders ahead of regional elections in three weeks.

The number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. fell last year. Initial data from the CDC shows there were around 107,000 such fatalities in 2023. That's down 3 percent from the year before, but experts warn the decline is relatively small and that it's too soon to determine what was behind the fall.

The trial of Senator Bob Menendez got under way in a New York courtroom today after more than two days of jury selection. In their opening salvos, prosecutors called the New Jersey Democrat corrupt, while his lawyers called the prosecutors dead wrong. Menendez is charged with accepting bribes of gold bars, cash and a car in exchange for helping the governments of Qatar and Egypt. He has maintained his innocence.

Congress has passed a broad aviation bill aimed at increasing air safety and protecting consumers. The measure requires the FAA to hire more air traffic controllers. It also prohibits airlines from charging families to sit together, and it mandates refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights. The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.

In the Middle East, there's been intense fighting across the Gaza Strip, including in the southern city of Rafah. An Israeli government spokesperson said today that Israel will eliminate the four remaining Hamas battalions there, but not necessarily every Hamas fighter. Separately, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City. Medics say at least three people were killed and 20 others injured.

This all comes as Palestinians marked 76 years since the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to their mass expulsion from what today is Israel. Some displaced Gazans say the war now is even worse.

Faridah Abu Artema, Displaced Palestinian (through interpreter):

My mother and father told me about the Nakba, but this here is worse. This is destruction. What we have seen, no one else has seen. Every day is a catastrophe, the catastrophe of hunger, the catastrophe of illness.

Every day, we move from place to place. The children are sick. I don't know what to say.

Geoff Bennett:

The U.N. says more than 80 percent of Gaza's population have fled their homes since the start of the war. Many have relocated more than once.

Experts in Brazil are warning that floodwaters in the country's southernmost state could take weeks to recede. Parts of Rio Grande do Sul have been walloped by 25 inches of rain so far this month. The flooding has killed 148 people and forced more than half-a-million Brazilians from their homes. Forecasters say the timeline depends on rainfall, but it might not ease completely until mid-June.

In Texas today, a barge crashed into a bridge connecting the city of Galveston to a small island nearby. Aerial footage shows the scene of the collision and the streak of oil that was released into the surrounding water. Officials say a tugboat that was pushing the barge lost control due to bad currents and high tide. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

On Wall Street today, stocks bounded higher after a reassuring update on inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 350 points to close at 39908. The Nasdaq added more than 230 points to close at a new record. And the S&P 500 gained 61 points, also ending the day at a new high.

And it's part tradition, part challenge, part spectacle. The U.S. Naval Academy hosted the annual Herndon Climb this morning. Dozens of freshmen known as plebes worked together to climb the 21-foot Herndon Monument which had been coated in 200 pounds of lard. It took two hours and 19 minutes and a lot of slipping for someone to reach the top and replace a plebe's cap with an underclassman's hat. The annual event marks the end of their first year at the institution.