A summary of Friday's action in the FIFA World Cup 2026 UEFA Qualifiers.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in 'extremely serious' condition following a shooting attack on Wednesday, according to Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kalinak.
Germany secured a place at next year's World Cup by crushing Slovakia 6-0 in their final qualifier on Monday.
The result was only their second two-goal defeat in a qualifier, the last being the infamous 5-1 home thrashing by England in 2001.
Sweden's hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup are hanging by a thread after Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka scored from the spot to help the visitors win 2-0 in their qualifying Group B clash on Friday.
The Slovak Republic's President, Peter Pellegrini, has expressed interest in adopting a tree-planting initiative similar to India's "Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam," launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The inspiration came during a meeting with Indian President Droupadi Murmu, who was on a two-day state visit to Slovakia. During a tree-planting ceremony in Nitra, Murmu highlighted Modi's initiative to plant trees in the name of mothers. Pellegrini was impressed and suggested that Slovakia could consider a similar program. The initiative, launched on World Environment Day last year, encourages people to plant a tree in their mother's name as a symbolic gesture of love and respect.
A recent World Bank report placing India among the most equal countries globally may present a limited view of inequality, with economists suggesting that broader data sets could tell a different story. According to the report, India's Gini index (or coefficient/ratio), a key measure of inequality, stood at 25.5 in 2022-23, placing the country fourth globally in terms of equality, behind only the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Belarus.
Defending champions Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz powered into the second round of the French Open on Monday.
Outsiders Slovakia reached the Billie Jean King Cup final as doubles pairing Tereza Mihalikova and Viktoria Hruncakova completed a comeback victory in Malaga on Tuesday.
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved signing of an agreement with Slovak Republic for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion.
Images from Day 5 of the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Thursday.
The 22-year-old Burzalova said the proposal easily made up for a difficult race and 28th-place finish.
Promising paddler Sutirtha Mukherjee led Indian girls to a gold medal finish while the boys had to settle for a silver in the team championship of the Slovak Junior Open at Senec, Slovakia.
Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, and Mahesh Bhupathi have left their mark by collectively winning 10 US Open titles.
Czech Republic's Krystyna Pyszkova won the 71st Miss World beauty pageant.
Images from the Olympics tennis action at the Roland Garros, Paris, on Wednesday.
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has made it to the semi-finals on his Olympic Games debut.
Images from the Euro 2024 Group E matches between Slovakia and Romania, Ukraine and Belgium, in Germany on Wednesday.
Images from Day 5 of the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
Slovakia forward Robert Vittek admired the view from the top of the World Cup scoring table on Friday while his team-mates wondered how many more goals were up his sleeve after a barren spell in qualifying.
Glimpses of Ukranians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries after the Russian invasion.
Novak Djokovic split with his long-time coach Marian Vajda at the end of the 2021 season, ending one of tennis's most enduring and successful partnerships, the Serbian former world number one said.
Indian nationals stuck in Ukraine should stay calm and remain wherever they are residing, Russian diplomatic sources said on Friday amid India's diplomatic overdrive to evacuate its citizens from the eastern European nation.
21-year-old Real Sociedad striker shines as Sweden beat Slovakia.
The government is making efforts to evacuate Indian nationals from Ukraine through its land border crossings with its neighbouring countries and they would then be brought back home, official sources said on Friday.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, said the sixth flight under India's evacuation mission 'Operation Ganga' left for Delhi from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals.
Mehuli Ghosh and Shahu Tushar Mane won India's second gold medal of the on-going International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Changwon, Korea.
Three-times winner Serena Williams moved into the Toronto Open second round after beating Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Monday
' We have run out of food items and there is no place to stock up again. When will this end?'
The Indian embassy in Ukraine issued a fresh advisory in view of increasing Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities and reports of heavy fighting around the capital Kyiv.
Slovakia defender Milan Skriniar will be tasked with stopping Poland's Robert Lewandowski
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said all Indian nationals left Kyiv on Tuesday after the Indian embassy issued an advisory, asking them to get out of the Ukrainian capital urgently.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights in the last few days as part of the evacuation mission.
At the same time, it is learnt that Indian officials in Ukraine are facing growing complexities to evacuate the Indians to the neighbouring countries with Russian forces closing in on Ukrainian capital Kyiv and targeting several other key cities by land and air.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has also approached the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and requested it to be cognizant of the security interests of the Indian citizens and escort them out, wherever possible, when it starts its operation in Ukraine.
It is learnt that the camp office in Lviv would be able to coordinate the evacuation of Indians to Poland and Hungary while the one at Chernivtsi would facilitate exit to Romania.
Dominika Cibulkova kept her hopes of reaching the last four of the WTA Finals alive with a gritty 6-3, 7-6(5) Red Group victory over Simona Halep at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Thursday.
Just 24 hours after UEFA told Russia it would be expelled from the tournament if their fans caused more crowd trouble, the Slovaks outplayed them for large parts of a match contested under a closed roof because of forecasts of heavy rain.
Norway's Birk Ruud claimed the first men's freeski Big Air Olympic gold
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