CharlieH

Deal agreed to extend Gaza ceasefire for two days, say Hamas and Qatar Palestinian group says it has agreed to continuation of truce with same conditions, but Israel has not commented Israel-Hamas war – live updates A deal to extend the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by two days has been agreed after a frantic dash by mediators with just over 12 hours remaining before hostilities in Gaza were due to resume. Hamas said it had agreed to the extension of the four-day truce by 48 hours after the intervention of Qatar and Egypt, the principal mediators for the initial agreement, and with the same conditions. There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, but António Guterres, the UN secretary general, hailed the extension as “a glimpse of hope and humanity in the middle of the darkness of war”. There are widespread fears that any break in the conflict that has devastated swaths of Gaza and killed many thousands of civilians will only be brief. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, told troops on Monday that when fighting recommenced its “strength will be greater, and it will take place throughout the entire strip”. “You now have a few days, we will return to fighting, we will use the same amount of power and more,” Gallant said. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pledged to crush Hamas. FULL STORY

The Ukrainian government is planning to change its conscription practices as it seeks to sustain fighting capacity after nearly two years of full-fledged war with Russia. The changes, expected to be announced this week, will include the use of commercial recruitment companies to carry out more targeted conscription and to reassure conscripts they will be deployed in roles that match their skills and not simply sent to the front, according to one senior official. “Some people are scared, scared to die, scared to shoot, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be involved in other activities … Now we have a new minister with a new approach,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s security council, told the Guardian. In early September, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sacked Oleksii Reznikov, who had been defence minister since the beginning of the war, and replaced him with Rustem Umerov, who spent the early part of the war working on doomed negotiations with Russia. On Friday, Zelenskiy said he expected Umerov’s ministry to provide him with a package of new mobilisation policies this week. “The plan will be worked out and all the answers will be there – next week I will see this plan,” Zelenskiy told a news conference, without giving further details. Danilov said the army would work with two of Ukraine’s biggest recruitment companies in order to identify people with specific skills, and to dissuade skilled Ukrainians who wanted to help the army but did not want to go to the front from trying to evade the draft. “The mobilisation will become more flexible, those specialities that are required will be announced, and people will be volunteering for a concrete position. For example, they need welders or mechanics and so on,” said Danilov. FULL STORY

Instagram and Facebook parent company also knowingly allowed underage users to hold accounts, unsealed legal complaint says Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta purposefully engineered its platforms to addict children and knowingly allowed underage users to hold accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint. The complaint is a key part of a lawsuit filed against Meta by the attorneys general of 33 states in late October and was originally redacted. It alleges the social media company knew – but never disclosed – it had received millions of complaints about underage users on Instagram but only disabled a fraction of those accounts. The large number of underage users was an “open secret” at the company, the suit alleges, citing internal company documents. In one example, the lawsuit cites an internal email thread in which employees discuss why a 12-year-old girl’s four accounts were not deleted following complaints from the girl’s mother stating her daughter was 12 years old and requesting the accounts to be taken down. The employees concluded that “the accounts were ignored” in part because representatives of Meta “couldn’t tell for sure the user was underage”. The complaint said that in 2021, Meta received over 402,000 reports of under-13 users on Instagram but that 164,000 – far fewer than half of the reported accounts – were “disabled for potentially being under the age of 13” that year. The complaint noted that at times Meta has a backlog of up to 2.5m accounts of younger children awaiting action. The complaint alleges this and other incidents violate the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act, which requires that social media companies provide notice and get parental consent before collecting data from children. FULL STORY

Defense Production Act of 1950, passed to streamline production during Korean war, was last used during Covid pandemic. The White House has announced it plans to use a cold-war era law to ease supply chain issues that the administration argues are contributing to higher inflation – a key electoral challenge to Joe Biden’s re-election chances next year as polling consistently suggests voters are not buying his Bidenomics pitch. In a statement, the White House said Biden will use the Defense Production Act to improve the domestic manufacturing of medicines deemed crucial for national security and will convene the first meeting of the president’s supply chain resilience council to announce other measures tied to the production and shipment of goods. “We’re determined to keep working to bring down prices for American consumers and ensure the resilience of our supply chains for the future,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House national economic council and a co-chair of the new supply chain council, in a separate statement. The Defense Production Act of 1950, which was passed to streamline production during the Korean war, was last used in early 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic to accelerate and expand the availability of ventilators and personal protective equipment. The supply chain council is set to address issues ranging from improved data sharing between government agencies, supplying renewable energy resources and freight logistics. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, will be co-chair of the council, which includes the heads of cabinet departments, the administration’s council of economic advisers, the US director of national intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and other agencies. FULL STORY

Thought if you wanted to have someone tell you how to run your life, you got married ! 🤔

The village headman has stopped locals putting rice on the road. This is not a traffic law and I suggest is more intended as a local community safety action. It would be applicable to anyone living in that locality; there wouldnt be any need to post notices for outsiders, etc as they are highly unlikely to be putting rice on the road, and if they did the locals would soon put them straight.

Agreed, and that particular branch always seemed to be busy with an average wait of around 20 minutes if you needed counter service. The loss of the ATM there also means there is now just ONE ATM (kreung Thai)in that Big C.

Scientists urge people to not panic as thousands of children complain of pneumonia-like symptoms in China China’s hospitals have been flooded with cases of respiratory illnesses and sick children complaining of pneumonia-like symptoms, leading to increased scrutiny from the World Health Organisation (WHO). A Beijing children’s hospital earlier told state media CCTV that at least 7,000 patients were being admitted daily to the institution, far exceeding its capacity. Last week, the largest paediatric hospital in nearby Tianjin reportedly received more than 13,000 children at its outpatient and emergency departments. Liaoning province, about 690km northeast of the capital, is also grappling with high case numbers. The Chinese health ministry has asked local authorities to increase the number of fever clinics. FULL STORY

Former President Trump’s four criminal cases have dominated headlines since April, when he became the first president — current or former — to be indicted. But behind the scenes, a handful of state attorneys general are still investigating whether additional charges over efforts to keep him in power after losing the 2020 election could be brought. At least four 2020 swing states’ prosecutorial arms are still probing the slates of so-called fake electors who attempted to falsely certify that Trump had won the presidential election that year. The swing states’ investigations could prove consequential to Trump and his allies, spelling even more legal trouble for the former president, especially as his federal and Georgia cases over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results progress. The alternate electors scheme, spearheaded by Trump lawyer John Eastman and bolstered by other lawyers, relied on former Vice President Mike Pence to certify slates of Trump-supporting “fake” electors in battleground states instead of the true electoral votes cast for Biden. On Jan. 6, 2021 — the day of the election certification — Pence declined to go along with the plan, writing in a letter that his “oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol later that day in protest of the election results and Pence’s refusal to overturn them. Fake electors allegedly convened in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, claiming without basis that they were “duly elected” electors from their states. FULL STORY

A23a split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, but it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the Weddell Sea One of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey. The iceberg, known as A23a, split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. But it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the Weddell Sea. Not any more. Recent satellite images reveal that the iceberg, weighing nearly a trillion metric tonnes, is now drifting quickly past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, aided by strong winds and currents. The iceberg is about three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring about 4,000 sq km (1,500 square miles). It’s rare to see an iceberg of this size on the move, said British Antarctic Survey glaciologist Oliver Marsh, so scientists will be watching its trajectory closely. As it gains steam, the colossal iceberg will probably be launched into the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This will funnel it toward the Southern Ocean on a path known as “iceberg alley” where others of its kind can be found bobbing in dark waters. It is not clear why it is making a run for it now. “Over time it’s probably just thinned slightly and got that little bit of extra buoyancy that’s allowed it to lift off the ocean floor and get pushed by ocean currents,” said Marsh. A23a is also among the world’s oldest icebergs. FULL STORY

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the man tasked with reviving Ukraine’s domestic arms industry, has a dream for his country’s future. Even when the war with Russia is over, he believes, Ukraine should focus on arms production, turning itself into the “arsenal of the free world” and providing weapons for export. “For the next decades, defence should be the major industry in Ukraine. After the war it should be our core export product,” said Kamyshin, in a recent interview at his office in an unmarked building in central Kyiv. Kamyshin started the war as the head of Ukraine’s state railway network, and won plaudits for the way his team managed efforts to transport millions of refugees to the western borders in the first days of the war. In March, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appointed him minister of strategic industries. The title is a misnomer, said Kamyshin – for now, there should be only one strategic industry in the country. His job is to liaise with the army and defence ministry, as well as with Ukraine’s 70 state-run defence enterprises, to try to make sure the army gets what it needs. Generals have complained that even with western arms deliveries they are facing a chronic shortage of the weapons and ammunition they would need to push back Russians further. Before the full-scale invasion last February, Ukraine’s arms industry was a murky sector of scandals and dubious deals, and despite the years of low-grade conflict in Donbas, weapons stocks were fairly limited when the full-scale invasion came last year. FULL STORY

Israel frees more prisoners in exchange but insists its military campaign in Gaza is far from over Israel-Hamas war – live updates The third exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel has taken place as the US expressed hope that a fragile four-day truce in Gaza would be extended beyond Monday, while Israel indicated its campaign was far from over. Israel said 17 hostages were released by Hamas, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, also women and children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said. The day brought several powerfully emotional moments, with the release from Gaza of a girl orphaned in Hamas’s attack in Israel last month and aid finally reaching the north of Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli bombardment. Joe Biden welcomed the release of four-year-old Abigail Edan, a US-Israeli dual national, and said he would like to “see the pause go on as long as prisoners are getting released”. The US president added that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”. FULL STORY

Venables started successful playing career at Chelsea As manager he got England to Euro 96 semi-final Terry Venables (1943-2023): a life in pictures The former England, Barcelona and Tottenham manager Terry Venables has died at the age of 80. Venables, who had a distinguished career as a player that brought two international caps, was in charge of England when they reached the semi-finals of Euro 96. “We are totally devastated by the loss of a wonderful husband and father who passed away peacefully yesterday after a long illness,” read a statement from Venables’ family. “We would ask that privacy be given at this incredibly sad time to allow us to mourn the loss of this lovely man who we were so lucky to have had in our lives.” FULL ARTICLE

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Typical and predictable troll bs removed.

I was surprised today, to see a tray of eggs in Makro is now 174 bt ! Not so long ago they were 120 bt that's quite a jump. Also dairy products like soft margarine spread are hit n miss is supply the last few months. Of course this may vary by region.

This is a continuation of the previous topic.

Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners Friday as part of the first round of exchanges with Hamas, which had earlier freed hostages from Israel, Thailand and the Philippines. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which mediated the negotiations on the deal to release detainees, has confirmed the 39 Palestinian prisoners were released Friday. The Palestinians were sent home at around the same time as the 24 hostages held by Hamas crossed into Egypt and then into Israel on Friday. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is transferring both Israeli and Palestinian prisoners and hostages, said so far 33 Palestinian detainees from the Israeli-run Ofer Prison have arrived in Ramallah, the de facto capitol of the West Bank. The exchange Friday is the first part of what is expected to be the release of a total of 50 hostages held by Hamas and 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail over four days. Over that period, there will also be a temporary pause in the fighting and the flow of more humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza. The Palestinian prisoners freed Friday were women and children, which Hamas had asked to be released in the first batch. Videos circulating on social media have shown some of the prisoners being greeted by family, friends and supporters. Hamas in turn has released 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thai and one Filipino, according to Qatar and Israeli authorities. FULL STORY

We have and are going through some major issues.We are back, but it will take a little more time to tweak various settings and peripheral "Bell n whistles" of a lower priority. Your patience and understanding is appreciated whilst we progress this.

CLOSED Please continue here.......

Sheryl, is unable to access the forum at present and has asked for this to be posted for you. “This sort of problem cannot be managed at a clinic. Only at a tertiary level hospital. As she is living in Pattaya first stop should be Chonburi Regional Hospital in Chonburi town, taking all records with her including whatever diagnosed the heart valve problem. Alternatively if she wants to be treated in Pitsanoluk should go to the government regional hospital in Pitsanoluk town or Naruesan University Hospital. In both cases they may have to refer her onward but at least this way it might be covered under the “30 baht” system — assuming that is what she is enrolled in and that one of these places is the hospital for the district where she is registered in a tabian ban. If she is registered elsewhere she will need a letter of referral from her primary hospital but suggest first going on her own then getting them to issue a letter back to the primary hospital, saves time. If on the other hand she is under Social Security (through her work) then have to start at whatever is her nominated SS hospital. Failure to go through the proper system of referral means that treatment would cost her not less than 200-300,000 baht , maybe more, even at a government hospital (as opposed to free/nearly free). Should not delay, this can be serious. “