Slovakia PM Fico ‘approaching a positive prognosis’
It comes as a man charged with attempting to murder Robert Fico arrived in court on Saturday.
Missouri Republican party fails to boot KKK-linked candidate from gubernatorial ticket
Judge declines to remove Darrell McClanahan, who claims one-year honorary membership in terror group, from GOP primary race
A long-shot Missouri gubernatorial candidate with ties to the Ku Klux Klan will stay on the Republican ticket, a judge ruled on Friday.
Cole county circuit court judge Cotton Walker denied a request by the Missouri GOP to kick Darrell McClanahan out of the August Republican primary.
Continue reading...‘She’s in the pantheon now’: Kristi Noem and the politicians who hit self-destruct
The dog-killing South Dakota governor’s VP hopes are in tatters. But she’s not the first politician to flame out with an own goal
She could have been a contender. But then she wrote a book. And suddenly Kristi Noem was caught like a rabbit – or a rambunctious puppy – in the headlights.
The governor of South Dakota found herself insisting that a false claim she met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had been put in her book by accident. Wait, said Elizabeth Vargas of NewsNation, you recorded the whole audiobook version and read this passage out loud. Why didn’t you take it out then?
Continue reading...Attacked Navalny ally will ‘never give up’ fight
Leonid Volkov says his fight against Vladimir Putin will never end, speaking after a hammer attack outside his home.
Israeli abuse of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti ‘amounts to torture’
With thousands now held without charge, lawyers say Israel is
signalling that no detainee is safe
Marwan Barghouti spends his days huddled in a cramped, dark, solitary cell, with no way to tend to his wounds, and a shoulder injury from being dragged with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Barghouti holds almost mythic status within Palestinian politics, seen as a figure whose potential to unify different factions has only grown during his 24 years in prison.
Continue reading...Disappearing ink, fake polls and voter fraud: EU fears as Russian propaganda ads target Euro elections
Researcher uncovers vast Facebook campaign and accuses Meta of ‘lack of willingness’ to counter it
The stories are doom-laden, laced with vitriolic sneers about Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ursula von der Leyen. Ukrainians are “ready to depose” their leader, Macron is breaking French “rules” with aid to Ukraine, an “uncontrolled influx” from the east is “seriously harming the Germans”.
According to new research, these are just a few examples of a vast pro-Russian propaganda campaign washing over Facebook accounts of French and German citizens, before the European parliament elections next month.
Continue reading...Are seed-sowing drones the answer to global deforestation?
Drones are being used to replant degraded areas of forest in Brazil - how successful have they been so far?
Slovak PM Fico in ‘serious condition’ as shooting suspect appears in court
Court near Bratislava is considering prosecutor's request for pre-trial detention of accused in assassination attempt.
Eight climate activists arrested in Germany over airport protest
About 60 flights cancelled after members of Letzte Generation glue themselves to ground at Munich
Eight climate activists have been arrested after causing Munich airport to close, leading to about 60 flight cancellations.
Six activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, officials and local media reported.
Continue reading...Sri Lanka’s killing fields cast a long shadow
Impunity for crimes committed during the civil war has fuelled post-war repression in Sri Lanka.
Russia could increase Ukraine attacks, says Zelensky
Moscow continues to make military gains in the Kharkiv region as Ukraine struggles with resources.
Israel’s PR battle is getting harder
Eight months into the war on Gaza, disunity and disarray is making Israel’s PR and messaging much tougher.
Zelenskiy says situation in Kharkiv under control but he fears second Russian attack
Ukraine’s president says air defences must quadruple to halt Russian advance as morale falls among troops
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the north-east and warned Kyiv has only a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line.
Russian forces, which had made only moderate advances in recent months, launched a surprise assault in Kharkiv region on 10 May that has resulted in their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half.
Continue reading...Death toll rises to six in New Caledonia riots as unrest spreads
Hundreds of heavily armed marines and police patrol the French territory's capital Noumea after a night of violence.
At least 50 killed in heavy rains, floods in Afghanistan’s Ghor province
Officials in the central region expect the number of casualties to increase as rising waters destroy thousands of homes.
Zelenskyy warns Russia’s Kharkiv offensive may only be ‘first wave’
New laws overhauling army mobilisation rules in Ukraine take effect in effort to address acute troop shortages.
Lebanon’s economic crisis endures, as does the EU’s ‘fear’ of refugees
Analysts question whether EU grants to Lebanon have anything to do with getting its economy out of the hole it is in.
Parents overestimate sons’ maths skills more than daughters’, study finds
Gender stereotypes at home may hamper female students’ ability to progress in the classroom, research suggests
Parents are more likely to overestimate maths ability in sons than daughters, according to research that suggests that gender stereotypes at home may hinder the progress of female students.
The findings, presented in a lecture at University College London this week, found that parents tend to be overconfident about their children’s academic performance in reading and maths regardless of gender. But, in maths, parents overestimated boys’ skills to a significantly greater extent.
Continue reading...Fans queue round the block as tiny Mexican taco stand wins Michelin star
There was more business than usual and some bemused regulars after El Califa de León was rewarded for its ‘exceptional’ offering
El Califa de León, an unassuming taco joint in Mexico City, measures just 3 metres by 3 metres and has space for only about six people to stand at a squeeze. Locals usually wait for 5 minutes between ordering and picking up their food.
All that changed on Wednesday, however, when it became the first Mexican taco stand ever to win a Michelin star, putting it in the exalted company of fine dining restaurants around the world, and drawing crowds like it has never seen.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 814
As the war enters its 814th day, these are the main developments.