CharlieH

Maine's top election official has ruled that Donald Trump cannot run for president next year in the state, citing a constitutional insurrection clause. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Mr Trump was not eligible because of his actions leading up to the US Capitol riot in 2021. Maine now joins Colorado as the two states to ban Mr Trump from the ballot. The decisions increase pressure on the Supreme Court to weigh in. Colorado votes reliably Democratic, however, Maine is more politically competitive and would be more significant for Mr Trump - the Republican frontrunner - to lose. Hours after Maine's decision, California announced that Mr Trump would remain on the ballot. Michigan top court rejects Trump election ban bid Mrs Bellows' 34-page ruling says Mr Trump must be removed from Maine's primary ballot because of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution - which bans anyone from holding office that has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion". In her order, Mrs Bellows, a Democrat, says that Mr Trump "over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol". She added that his "occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions". Speaking with BBC News, Mrs Bellows said it was her duty to uphold election laws in her state, and that she hoped the "Supreme Court will settle this matter nationwide". "I'm mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on section three of the 14th Amendment. But I'm also mindful that no presidential candidate has, ever before, engaged in insurrection." FULL STORY

An estimated 150,000 Palestinians are being forced to flee areas of central Gaza, the UN has said, as Israeli forces advance on refugee camps there. Witnesses and Hamas's armed wing reported that tanks had reached the eastern outskirts of Bureij camp. Israel's military recently expanded its ground offensive to target Bureij and nearby Nuseirat and Maghazi camps. Israeli bombardment also killed dozens of people across Gaza on Thursday, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Egypt has confirmed that it has put forward a three-stage proposal to stop the fighting which ends with a ceasefire. A Hamas delegation is said to have arrived in Cairo to give its response to the plan. The war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and about 240 others taken hostage. More than 21,300 people have been killed in Gaza - mostly children and women - during 11 weeks of fighting, according to the health ministry. Israel warns Hezbollah and Lebanon over border fighting Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza? The Israeli military has called for the evacuation of a strip of land stretching across central Gaza that includes Bureij and Nuseirat camps, and told the almost 90,000 residents and 61,000 displaced people in the affected areas to move southwards to the town of Deir al-Balah. However, the UN warned on Thursday that they had nowhere to go because Deir al-Balah was already overcrowded, with several hundred thousand displaced people sheltering there. The UN says that Rafah - which had already become the most densely populated town in Gaza - has seen about 100,000 new arrivals in recent days as Israeli ground forces have pushed into new neighbourhoods. FULL STORY

MOVED to Real Estate forum

MOVED to Banking forum

CLOSED

Around 80 unidentified Palestinian bodies have been buried in a mass grave in Rafah, southern Gaza. Sources in the Hamas-run health ministry told AFP news agency they had been transported "from morgues and graves" to Israel for authorities to check there were no hostages among them. They were later returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza. Israel's army has not yet commented. Israel says 129 out of 240 people are still unaccounted for after they were abducted and taken to Gaza on 7 October. The attacks on that day, led by Hamas, killed 1,200 people. Over 20,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments since then, according to Gaza's health ministry. REPORT

Israel is engaged in a “multi-front war”, its defence minister has said, hinting at military operations across the Middle East as the war in Gaza showed new signs of a dangerous regional escalation. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Yoav Gallant said Israel was “coming under attack from seven theatres: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria [an Israeli term for the West Bank], Iraq, Yemen and Iran”. “We have already responded and taken action in six of these theatres,” he told the Knesset, without specifying. Iran-allied militias around the Middle East have attacked Israel and US military installations across the region since Hamas launched its devastating attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,140 people and taking up to 250 hostage. Israel’s retaliatory war on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has already become one of the most destructive conflicts of the 21st century, with estimates suggesting more than 20,600 people have been killed, 55,000 injured, and 85% of the Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million people forced to flee their homes. Fighting in the 41km-by-12km (25 mile-by-7 mile) territory has intensified since a seven-day ceasefire collapsed at the beginning of December. Israeli forces continued to bombard refugee camps in the centre of the strip for a fourth day on Tuesday, in an apparent sign of its promised broadening of the offensive. A total of 241 people had been killed and 382 injured over the past 24 hours, the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday afternoon. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant casualties, but about 70% of the toll is estimated to be women and children. Gallant’s comments on Tuesday came as the war in Gaza threatened to spill outside the borders of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Earlier in the day, Egypt said a drone was shot down near the Red Sea resort city of Dahab, the second such occurrence in a month. FULL STORY

At my immigration office there is a nice young lady sat in the corner, if you give her the forms and all supporting documents to her, she completes them, collates them, takes whatever copies are needed and creates a complete bundle all clipped together, just sign where needed and hand it in. So easy, no frustration, no hassle. Cost 200bt. That works for me.

This is just a non stop carousel of the same people and the same arguments going round and round. So tiresome it is now CLOSED.

Troll comment and response removed.

MOVED

PLEASE POST IN SUPPORT FORUM. https://aseannow.com/forum/19-forum-support-desk/

Data shows one in every 21 Giga Texas workers was injured on the job in 2022 And now an attorney aiding contract laborers at the factory tells DailyMail.com that there's evidence Tesla UNDER-REPORTED accidents to state regulators A Tesla engineer was attacked by a robot during a brutal and bloody malfunction at the company's Giga Texas factory near Austin.Two witnesses watched in horror as their fellow employee was attacked by the machine designed to grab and move freshly cast aluminum car parts. The robot had pinned the man, who was then programming software for two disabled Tesla robots nearby, before sinking its metal claws into the worker's back and arm, leaving a 'trail of blood' along the factory surface. The incident - which left the victim with an 'open wound' on his left hand - was revealed in a 2021 injury report filed to Travis county and federal regulators, which has been reviewed by DailyMail.com. While no other robot-related injures were reported to regulators by Tesla at the Texas factory in either 2021 or 2022, the incident comes amid years of heightened concerns over the risks of automated robots in the workplace. FULL STORY

Nope don't eat it.Parasites potential is too high.Thought of raw fish would have me throwing up.

And no mention of WHERE they are for others to go ?

6.4% of the population are Muslim around 4 million as of 2021. Source

How many Muslims are on benefits in the UK? Similarly, over 10% of those surveyed noted that they lived in social or council housing whilst a further 40% indicated that they were in receipt of some form of benefits. In both groups, over two-thirds of Muslims noted that they have experienced difficulty in affording at least one household bill. https://muslimcensus.co.uk/cost-of-living-crisis/#:~:text=Similarly%2C over 10% of those,at least one household bill.

King Charles has praised the work of volunteers, calling them a “selfless army of people” who form an “essential backbone of our society”. In his second Christmas speech, the king said he was delighted that hundreds of volunteers and their representatives attended his coronation in May, saying their presence “emphasised the meaning of coronation itself, above all, a call to us all to serve one another, to love and care for all”. In an apparent reference to rising homelessness, and people housing displaced victims of conflicts, such as Ukrainians, the monarch highlighted one part of the story of Jesus when “Mary and Joseph were offered shelter in their hour of need by strangers”. Last Christmas he had underlined the cost of living crisis and the “great anxiety and hardship” of many struggling to “pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm”. In November, he launched the Coronation Food Project, which will distribute otherwise wasted food to people struck by food poverty. In Monday’s speech, he said “we need to build on existing ways to support others less fortunate than ourselves”. FULL STORY

Another personal attack and response to it removed.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the shooting down of two Russian fighter jets on Christmas Eve and said “this Christmas sets the right mood for the entire year ahead”. In a Christmas message marking the first time Ukraine has officially observed the holiday on 25 December rather than 7 January, Zelenskiy also referred to Ukraine’s claim to have destroyed a further three Russian fighter planes on Friday. “The stronger our air defence, the fewer Russian devils will be in our skies and on our land,” the Ukrainian president said, praising the country’s “capabilities in negotiations with partners, capabilities in bolstering our sky shield, capabilities in defending our homeland from Russian terrorists”. His upbeat assessment came amid growing concern about battlefield disappointments and the future of western aid for Ukraine’s war effort. Despite high hopes for a summer counteroffensive, the frontline has barely moved and political disputes in allied countries have left billions of dollars of aid in doubt. On Monday the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Moscow’s forces had taken control of Marinka, a now-deserted strategic town about 20km (12 miles) west of Donetsk, the largest city in Russian-held territory. “This allows us today to more effectively protect Donetsk from attacks,” Shoigu said at a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian officials did not comment on the possible seizure of the town. Ukraine said that along with the two Russian planes that were shot down during the night, its air defence forces intercepted 28 Russian drones. The air force said 31 drones were launched, but no details were given about what the three that were not intercepted may have struck. A summary from the Ukrainian presidential office said that one civilian was killed and at least four wounded in Russian attacks over the previous 24 hours. The death occurred in the town of Chornobaivka in the Kherson region, which is under Ukrainian control and is frequently attacked. FULL STORY

Boxing Day weather also predicted to be volatile across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with more thunderstorms and rain forecast Follow the Boxing Day weather updates live Sydney to Hobart race: sailors warned of thunderstorms and ‘gusty and erratic’ winds Wild Christmas weather: woman killed, more than 100,000 homes without power after Queensland storms Boxing Day weather also predicted to be volatile across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with more thunderstorms and rain forecast Follow the Boxing Day weather updates live Sydney to Hobart race: sailors warned of thunderstorms and ‘gusty and erratic’ winds A woman has died and more than 100,000 homes been left without power as a result of severe thunderstorms in south-east Queensland on Christmas night, with warnings of more bad weather to come on Boxing Day across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Intense storms affected all three eastern states on Monday, with more than 1,200 calls for help to state emergency services and Sydney airport recording its wettest Christmas Day on record. The Queensland Ambulance Service on Tuesday confirmed that a woman had died in Helensvale on the Gold Coast after being hit by a falling tree on Monday night. Paramedic Jaye Newton told AAP the scene where the woman died was “confronting”. He described scenes “like a disaster zone” as he was forced to drive around fallen trees on the motorway. “It was an extraordinary weather event,” he said. “There were trees all over the road. We are talking whole big trees uprooted.” A man in his 70s was injured by a tree branch that fell onto a tent, also in Helensvale. He was in a stable condition in hospital with pelvic and back injuries. Another man in his 90s was also in a stable condition with head injuries after a roof collapsed on him. The deputy commissioner of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, Kevin Walsh, told ABC News Breakfast winds reached up to 120km/h and led to “a number of trees falling on to homes, other buildings and a whole range of situations”. FULL STORY

Israeli prime minister facing domestic pressure to bring home the more than 100 hostages thought still held by Hamas in Gaza Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the offensive in Gaza “isn’t close to finished”, as he faces heavy domestic pressure to reach a deal to bring home the more than 100 Israeli hostages thought to remain in captivity in Gaza. “We are expanding the fight in the coming days and this will be a long battle,” Netanyahu said after visiting Gaza on Monday, according to a statement from his Likud party. As he vowed to continue the war during a speech in parliament, relatives of the hostages interrupted him and called for their immediate return. “Now! Now!” they shouted. Families who have been awaiting their loved ones’ return after 80 days in captivity booed the prime minister, as Netanyahu said Israeli forces needed “more time” to increase military pressure on Hamas, which he argued would help to secure the captives’ release. Later, protesters gathered near the defence ministry headquarters in central Tel Aviv before a war cabinet meeting, holding posters demanding “Free our hostages now – at any cost!” On Monday, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said Israel needed to “bring the hostages home now”, adding: “We are not doing enough.” His comments were met with applause from the families of hostages. FULL STORY

A plane carrying hundreds of Indian nationals who were held for days at an airport in France over human trafficking fears has arrived in India. The chartered Airbus A340, which had been flying from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Nicaragua, aroused suspicion during a refuelling stop. It left with 276 passengers but 25 people including two minors remained in France after applying for asylum. Two suspected traffickers also remain in France for further investigation. However the two were set free by the courts. The Legend Airlines flight landed in Mumbai early on Tuesday local time. It had initially been prevented from leaving Châlons-Vatry Airport, about 130km (81 miles) from Paris, on Thursday after authorities received an anonymous tip-off that some passengers might be "victims of human trafficking", Parisian prosecutors say. Most of those aboard are believed to be Indian citizens working in the UAE. A third of the passengers are reported to be from India's affluent western state of Gujarat. French authorities reportedly also suspected that the people on board might have been travelling to Nicaragua before attempting to enter the US or Canada. It was not clear whether authorities had definitively determined that no crime had been committed before allowing the plane to leave. It is also unclear why the flight went to Mumbai instead of resuming its journey to Nicaragua. Legend Airlines is a Romanian charter airline with a fleet of four planes, according to the online flight tracker Flightradar. Full Story Video Story

Better to ask in local Isaan forum MOVED

Come on a boat FLY home for Christmas ? So why not fly in to start with and do it properly ? Scam artists after the freebies! Hardly persecuted if going back home for Christmas.