<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Slovak interior minister said Thursday that a “lone wolf” has been charged in the shooting that seriously wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico and prompted soul-searching among leaders in the deeply divided society.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fico was in serious but stable condition Thursday, a hospital official said, after the populist leader was hit multiple times in an attempt on his life that shook the small country and reverberated across the continent weeks before European elections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The attempted assassination has shocked the small central European nation, with many blaming the attack in part on extreme political polarization that has divided the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said Wednesday that an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” behind the attack on Fico while he was attending a government meeting in a former coal mining town. However, he said Thursday that the suspect charged was a lone wolf who “did not belong to any political groups.”</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The minister did not specify what the motivation was. Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would abandon his country's pro-Western course. - AP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>