BEST OF THE WEB: Slovakian government suspects gunman who attempted to assassinate PM Robert Fico 'was not working alone'

The man suspected of attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Robert Fico may not have been working alone, Slovakia's interior minister says. A team is investigating the possibility Wednesday's attack was not carried out by a "lone wolf", as previously believed, Matus Sutaj Estok told reporters on Sunday. Mr Fico's life is no longer in danger following hours of surgery, but the 59-year-old still requires intensive care, his deputy said earlier. On Saturday, the man charged with his attempted murder was placed in custody until his trial. The alleged assailant has not been formally named, but Slovak reports have widely identified him as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula from the town of Levice. Local media have described him as a poet who has been involved in political organisations with various ideologies.

Canada's CSIS claims those who oppose gender ideology are a 'violent threat'

CSIS suggested that Canadians having issues with the gender ideology are driven by "beliefs stemming from misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, religious interpretations, conspiracy theories, or a generalized fear of sociocultural change." In its annual report for 2023 the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says that Canadians opposed to gender ideology are a possible "violent threat." The annual report states, "CSIS assesses that the violent threat posed by the anti-gender movement is almost certain to continue over the coming year and that violent actors may be inspired by the University of Waterloo attack to carry out their own extreme violence against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or against other targets they view as representing the gender ideology agenda."

WaPo grudgingly admits Russia already outperformed Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive

Russian forces have taken more territory in six weeks than Ukraine managed in six months last year, the Washington Post admitted on Friday, describing the 2023 effort by Kiev as "lackluster" and "disappointing." The spring counteroffensive was war-gamed by British and American generals in Germany and supplied with 1,500 armored vehicles - including Leopard, Challenger and Abrams tanks, and Bradley armored vehicles. Once it finally began in June, it got stuck in Russian defenses and resulted in gains of only 199 square miles (515 square kilometers) worth of territory by December, according to the Post. Russia has taken 553 square miles (1,432 square kilometers) so far this year, of which 294 (761 square kilometers) just since the beginning of April, the US outlet noted.

Media Research Center: Liberal billionaire George Soros has spent $80 million to 'silence' Americans

'Leftists are trying their best to shut down the voices of half of America,' Dan Schneider says Free Press, a media group financed by liberal billionaire George Soros, "is looking to incorporate global pressure to push Big Tech platforms to juice their censorship operations before the 2024 U.S. presidential election," according to the Media Research Center (MRC). Free Press, which is not affiliated with journalist Bari Weiss' The Free Press, bills itself as an organization that "closely watches as the decisions shaping the media landscape are made and sounds the alarm when people's rights to connect and communicate are in danger." However, in a new report, the conservative MRC found that Soros gave over $80 million to affiliated groups calling for "censorship" ahead of November's critical election. "One of the wealthiest men in the world is using his vast wealth and power to silence regular Americans ahead of the 2024 election. At a time when defending free speech is key, leftists...

The smoking gun in America: COVID-19 virus transmits in American lab animals but not Chinese lab animals

Is it now case closed on the Wuhan lab leak? After EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak appeared before the U.S. Congress last week and revealed himself as a man of dubious honesty, that's what many are saying. Some of Daszak's key earlier claims, such as that he knew what was in the hidden Wuhan virus database (he now admits he had no access to it and has never seen it) and that he had published every SARS-like virus from the WIV (he confessed he hasn't published any discovered after 2015), collapsed under questioning. In response, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has now suspended EcoHealth Alliance from receiving federal funds and initiated debarment proceedings against it. Daszak's performance, as well as that of University of North Carolina virologist Professor Ralph Baric (the transcript of whose January closed-door session was released last week) has added to the sense that the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is now all but confirmed. Something like a consensus -...

Netherlands: Geert Wilders government set to bring in 'strictest-ever' asylum policy

The new coalition parties said they would file a request to the European Commission for an opt-out on European asylum policy 'as soon as possible' The Netherlands has today said it will opt out of European Union rules and bring in its 'strictest-ever' asylum policy following ' shock election victory. The newly agreed Dutch coalition government said the new policy will see people removed from the European country 'by force' - setting up a clash with leaders in Brussels even before it has taken office. The 26-page coalition agreement emerged early this morning after six months of gruelling talks between four parties following last years' stunning election victory by Wilders, the long-time Euro-sceptic and leader of the far-Right PVV party.

Biden invokes executive privilege to shield Robert Hur interview tapes from House

President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege Thursday to keep the recording of his deposition about storing classified documents at his home confidential as House Republicans set two committee votes to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to release the recording. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel determined the recording falls under executive privilege and Garland shouldn't be punished for following the president's order to keep the recording confidential, according to Carlos Uriarte, an associate attorney general. The Office of Legal Counsel has long held that executive privilege extends to a "closed criminal investigation where disclosure is likely to damage future law enforcement efforts," Garland wrote to Biden on Wednesday.

Xi outlines solution to Ukraine conflict

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed that peace negotiations recognized by both Russia and Ukraine are the best way to end the ongoing conflict between the two nations. Speaking during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the Chinese leader's residential compound at Zhongnanhai, Xi argued that the entire global security architecture must be amended in order to end the fighting and avoid similar hostilities in the future, according to the Xinhua news outlet. Putin is on his first state visit to China since he took office for the fifth time earlier this month. Xi was cited as saying: "China supports the timely convening of an international peace conference recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation by all parties, and fair discussion of all options. Beijing is willing to aid in brokering the peace talks." "Global powers must address both the symptoms and the root cause [of the conflict], and we must consider both the present and the...

Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche: Healthcare is much more corrupt than people think

Anyone who has taken an interest in the dark side of the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry is most probably familiar with the name of Danish professor emeritus of medicine Peter Christian Gøtzsche. Gøtzsche can be regarded as one of the greatest figures of evidence-based medicine of our time. There are probably not many people in the world who know and understand the pharmaceutical industry, clinical trials, the regulatory oversight of medicines, and the whole system surrounding the field better than Gøtzsche. He holds master's degrees in chemistry and biology. He started his career at the Astra Group and continued in Astra-Syntex, a joint venture between the Swedish pharmaceutical company Astra and the US pharmaceutical company Syntex. Astra is the same company that later merged with the British Zeneca group in 1999, so the first half of the Astra-Zeneca name is its direct descendant. At Astra-Syntex, Gøtzsche established a medical department responsible for conducting...

Behavioural science at its worst

As Laura Dodsworth writes in a recent article, the claim by members of SPI-B (the U.K. Government's Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours) that they opposed the use of fear to control public behaviour is demonstrably false. It's a minuted fact that they advised directly threatening a sizeable proportion of the U.K. population: It's disturbing enough that a group of senior academics see fit to deny historical fact in a major medical journal, yet Dodsworth's other anxiety is even more troubling: My second significant concern was the astonishing idea that the authors could "leave aside the ethical and political dimensions of this argument". How can psychologists leave aside the ethical dimensions of using fear, whether for an article or advising Government and drafting the plans in the first place? The psychologists base their claim that they wouldn't have recommended threat (even though they did) on a selective reading of the literature: The scientific literature tells a...

BEST OF THE WEB: Helicopter carrying Iranian president crashes - reports

The aircraft with Ebrahim Raisi on board suffered a "hard landing," according to some media. A helicopter on which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was a passenger encountered a "hard landing" on Sunday, according to reports by Iranian state television and other media outlets. The Interior Minister of Iran Ahmad Vahidi has reportedly confirmed that the helicopter with Raisi on board had made a hard landing in the city of Jolfa in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan. Several other senior officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Governor of East Azarbaijan Malek Rahmati, were traveling with the president, reports claim. About an hour after the incident, rescue teams reportedly managed to reach the area and began a search operation that is currently ongoing.

Putin and Xi are world statesmen while Western elites are shown to be the real threat to global peace

The combined military and economic strength of Russia and China along with the political wisdom of their leaders are a guarantor for a better world. This week, for those willing to perceive reality objectively, displayed two kinds of world order. The heartening news is that one will prevail over the other and thereby produce a better world for humanity, one of dignity and development for the common good. It was a momentous occasion this week when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China where he was warmly greeted by Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Both leaders affirmed their friendship and their vision of a multipolar world based on partnership and mutual benefit. Putin and Xi signed numerous agreements on a wide range of trade and development projects covering energy, technology, engineering, construction, agriculture, infrastructure and military defense. The visit was Putin's second to China since October last year. It was his first foreign trip since he was inaugurated...

Russia 'done' with Western Europe 'for at least a generation' - Lavrov

An "acute phase of the military-political confrontation with the West is in full swing," Moscow's foreign minister has said Russia won't view Western European countries as partners again for "at least one generation," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has predicted.The diplomat remarked that Moscow and the West are already locked in a confrontation that has no end in sight. Top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly described Moscow's ongoing military conflict with Kiev as a proxy war waged by NATO against Russia. Evidence of this, the Kremlin says, is the material aid, the training, and the intelligence that the US and many European countries have been providing to defend Ukraine.

Russia-obsessed Western elites acting like delinquents - Moscow

Testing Russia's resolve seems to be the life goal of some leaders in the West, Deputy Foreign minister Sergey Ryakbov has said Some Western leaders are so obsessed with sticking it to Moscow that they're behaving like delinquent youths who have no regard for the consequences of their actions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. He made the comment in an extensive interview with TASS on Friday, during which he discussed the poor state of US-Russia relations. Washington and its allies are "prepared to balance on the edge of direct armed conflict with us," even though it undermines their national security, he added. "There are plenty of people among those in power in the US and other key Western states, who are de facto provocateurs. They've made testing Moscow's resolve the goal of their existence," Ryabkov said.

Teen dies in flash flood at waterfall in Tamil Nadu, India

A 16-year-old boy died after being washed away in flash floods that hit the Old Courtallam Waterfalls in Tamil Nadu's Tenkasi district on Friday. The incident happened in the evening when several people were bathing in the waterfall. The flash floods took them by surprise after water began to gush out as the level of the waterfall rose. A search operation was launched to find the missing teenager. A few hours later, his body was recovered from between rocks, a few metres away from the waterfall. The teenager had gone to the waterfall with his relatives to take a dip. Visuals showed people running out of the waterfall frantically as its level began swelling.

Rare deep-sea angler fish found near Cannon Beach, Oregon - 1st time for the state

A rarely seen deep-sea fish was found on a beach just south of Cannon Beach, the Seaside Aquarium announced Saturday. According to the aquarium, the angler fish - a Pacific football fish - was found by local beachcombers, and is the first football fish reported found on an Oregon beach. Previously, 31 specimens have been reported found, spread across New Zealand, Japan, Russia, Ecuador, Chile, and in the U.S. - in Hawaii and California. The fish live in complete darkness around 2,000 to 3,300 feet below the surface. The aquarium said that, like other angler fish, football fish attract prey using light that shines from a phosphorescent bulb on their forehead, and eat anything that can fit into their mouths. Only females actively hunt. The males are 10 times smaller than females, which they fuse themselves onto. They lose their eyes and internal organs and get all their nutrients from their female partners. In return, they provide females with a steady source of sperm. How males find...

Flood kills at least 80 in Faryab province, Afghanistan

Recent floods in the Faryab province of Afghanistan have resulted in a significant loss of life, with at least 80 reported deaths, 5 injuries, and 5 individuals missing, according to local sources. The floods, which occurred last Friday, have devastated several districts, including Bulcharagh, Pashtunkot, Khwaja Sabzposh, Qaisar, and Almar, leaving dozens dead and wounded, as reported by local media outlets in Faryab province. This comes despite earlier statements by Esmaeil Muradi, the spokesperson for the governor in Faryab, who had informed the press on Saturday that the floods on Friday had resulted in 18 deaths and 2 injuries. However, the latest reports indicate that the floods in Faryab have claimed the lives of at least 80 individuals, injured five, and left five others missing.

North Carolina could ban face masks in public

The North Carolina state Senate voted along party lines Wednesday to ban anyone from wearing masks in public, even for health reasons. Republican supporters of the ban said it would help law enforcement crack down on protesters who wear masks. They say demonstrators are abusing COVID-19 pandemic-era practices to hide their identities following a wave of pro-Palestine protests nationwide and at North Carolina universities. The bill goes even further and repeals an exception that's been state law since the early stages of the pandemic that allows people to wear masks in public for health and safety reasons.

Shallow magnitude 6.0 earthquake near Aleutian Islands, Alaska

A very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near Amukta Island island, USA, in the early morning of Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 12.35 am local time (GMT -9). The quake had a very shallow depth of 30 km (18 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so). No significant damage or impact is expected from this quake and no particular alert was issued.

UK's Sky News one of many Western media outlets expressing barely concealed delight at the shooting of Robert Fico

British broadcaster Sky News has drawn criticism for suggesting that Wednesday's attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was to be expected, given the politician's controversial views and "pro-Russian" stance. "It's worth thinking about who this individual is," a Sky News anchor said of Fico shortly after he was critically wounded while greeting supporters in the small town of Handlova. Sky News military analyst Michael Clarke replied, "That would make sense. Slovakia is a very conflicted place at the moment." Clarke, who also works as a security adviser to UK lawmakers, went on to note that Fico had pushed for ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, rather than continuing to send weapons to Kiev. "He's become very pro-Russian over the years," the analyst said. "One wonders why and how, but maybe that's his conviction."