CharlieH

Russia's Supreme Court has declared what it calls "the international LGBT public movement" an extremist organisation and banned its activities across the country. The ruling was prompted by a motion from the justice ministry, even though no such organisation exists as a legal entity. The hearing was held behind closed doors, but reporters were allowed in to hear the court's decision. Nobody from "the defendant's side" had been present, the court said. Russia's constitution was changed three years ago to make it clear that marriage means a union between a man and a woman. Same-sex unions are not recognised here. Ahead of the ruling, I asked Sergei Troshin, a municipal deputy in St Petersburg who came out as gay last year, what effect it would have. "I think this will mean that anyone whom the state considers an LGBT activist could receive a long prison sentence for 'participating in an extremist organisation'," he said. "For the organiser of such a group, the prison term will be even longer. "This is real repression. There is panic in Russia's LGBT community. People are emigrating urgently. The actual word we're using is evacuation. We're having to evacuate from our own country. It's terrible." FULL STORY

New satellite images commissioned by the BBC reveal the extent of destruction across northern Gaza, before the start of the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The satellite images were taken last Thursday, just before the suspension of hostilities came into force, following weeks of Israeli air strikes and on-the-ground fighting. Separate satellite data analysis also provides a snapshot of the destruction across the whole of Gaza. Drone footage and verified video also show buildings and entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. While northern Gaza has been the focus of the Israeli ground offensive and has borne the brunt of the destruction, widespread damage extends across the entire strip. Israel says northern Gaza, which includes the major urban centre of Gaza City, was a "centre of gravity of Hamas", the group behind the deadly 7 October attacks on Israel. Israel says its bombing campaign has successfully targeted Hamas commanders and fighters and accuses the group of embedding itself in civilian areas. Satellite data analysis suggests that almost 98,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip may have suffered damage, with most of it concentrated in the north - as shown in the above map. FULL STORY

Some have mentioned Porn, I have never understood the attraction etc as its predictable , repetitive, you know literally what's going to happen and how it ends. Never been interested except as kid when I hadn't yet had the real thing, but as an adult, just never appealed to me, later in life couldn't be bothered. Takes allsorts I guess, each to their own and all that.

Is this for a PC or a phone ? Device an operating system please.

Henry Kissinger, a former US secretary of state and national security adviser who escaped Nazi Germany in his youth to become one of the most influential and controversial foreign policy figures in American history, has died, according to a statement from his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates. He was 100. Kissinger was synonymous with US foreign policy in the 1970s. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for helping arrange the end of US military involvement in the Vietnam War and is credited with secret diplomacy that helped President Richard Nixon open communist China to the United States and the West, highlighted by Nixon’s visit to the country in 1972. But he was also reviled by many over the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War that led to the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and for his support of a coup against a democratic government in Chile. In the Middle East, Kissinger performed what came to be known as “shuttle diplomacy” to separate Israeli and Arab forces after the fallout of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. His “détente” approach to US-Soviet relations, which helped relax tensions and led to several arms control agreements, largely guided US posture until the Reagan era. But many members of Congress objected to the secretiveness of the Nixon-Kissinger approach to foreign policy, and human rights activists assailed what they saw as Kissinger’s neglect of human rights in other countries. No issue complicated Kissinger’s legacy more than the Vietnam War. When Nixon took office in 1969 – after promising a “secret plan” to end the war – roughly 30,000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam. FULL STORY

True, some would say the whole period is just a commercial event. and the "true meaning" has been lost a long time ago. I still think its a nice time of year for families to come together etc.

Air pollution from fossil fuel use is killing 5 million people worldwide every year, a death toll much higher than previously estimated, according to the largest study of its kind. The stark figures, published on the eve of the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, will increase pressure on world leaders to take action. Among the decisions they must make at the UN conference will be whether to agree, for the first time, to gradually “phase out” fossil fuels. Research has shown that switching from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources would save many lives from air pollution and help combat global heating. However, until now, mortality estimates have varied widely. A new modelling study suggests air pollution, from the use of fossil fuels in industry, power generation, and transportation, accounts for 5.1 million avoidable deaths a year globally. These findings were published in The BMJ. The contribution of fossil fuels equates to 61% of a total estimated 8.3 million deaths worldwide due to outdoor air pollution from all sources in 2019. The new estimates of fossil fuel-related deaths are larger than most previously reported values, suggesting that phasing out fossil fuels might have a greater impact on attributable mortality than previously thought. FULL STORY

A 10-month-old baby who was the youngest hostage kidnapped and taken to Gaza has reportedly been killed in an Israeli bombing alongside his mother and brother, Hamas has claimed. Kfir Bibas was taken from the Nir Oz kibbutz along with his four-year-old brother, Ariel, and their mother, Shiri. His father, Yarden, was also abducted during the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage. Footage of the family’s abduction showed a terrified Shiri clutching her two sons as they were bundled away. Yarden appeared in a separate video with an apparent head injury. Earlier on Wednesday relatives said their loved ones were not among the hostages due to be released as negotiations to extend the truce continued. Shortly before Wednesday’s planned release of women and children, the military wing of Hamas said Kfir had been killed in an earlier Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip, along with his brother and their mother. Yarden was not mentioned. In a statement released through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the relatives said: “Our family has learned of Hamas’s latest claims. We are waiting for the information to be confirmed and hopefully refuted by military officials. We thank the people of Israel for their warm support but kindly request privacy during this difficult time.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was trying to verifying the claims. It said in a statement: “IDF representatives spoke with the Bibas family following the recent reports and are with them at this difficult time. The IDF is assessing the accuracy of the information. “Hamas is wholly responsible for the security of all hostages in the Gaza Strip. Hamas must be held accountable. Hamas’s actions continue to endanger the hostages, which include nine children. Hamas must immediately release our hostages.” FULL STORY

James Cohen, a longtime Republican voter from Virginia Beach, said support for Ukraine has remained pretty strong in his GOP circles. But he’s grown increasingly concerned as the party splinters over supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. Cohen, 60, blames the worrying trend on divisive politics and general anger with President Biden less than a year out from the 2024 election. “Biden is seen as incompetent and corrupt. So unfortunately, the way politics works, it’s guilt by association,” he said. “Where they stand on funding, whether it’s Ukraine or anything else, it’s very polarized.” But Cohen, who has extended relatives in Ukraine, said his party needs to understand that failing to stop Russia now would be “strategic suicide” and potentially widen the conflict in Europe. “Right now, we’ve got a situation where America has to decide: Do we want to support an ally?” he asked. “Or do we want to wait until we have World War III, and we’ve got to send our kids over there?” On the other side of the growing GOP divide over Ukraine is Dave Culpepper, a lifelong Republican from Chesapeake, Va. He said the U.S. is “throwing money” at a war while deeply in debt and with “no clear objective” to end the conflict. “The fact that it’s gone on as long as it has, tells me that there’s more going on here,” he said. “And we taxpayers are footing the bill for it. That seems to me the only objective — to spend money.” FULL STORY

Tech billionaire Elon Musk told the companies pulling advertisements from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to “go f— yourself” following the companies’ decision to nix ads from the platform after Musk appeared to endorse an antisemitic remark earlier this week. Asked Wednesday in an interview at The New York Times Dealbook Summit if he does not want the companies to advertise, Musk responded, “Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f— yourself.” Musk was responding to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s previous comments during the summit where he explained the company’s decision to slash advertisements from X. “Go f— yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise,” Musk continued. The comment prompted some laughs from the audience. Musk came under fire earlier this month after he appeared to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The post sparked widespread criticism of the X owner, who later said that claims he is antisemitic “couldn’t be farther from the truth.” Days later, liberal watchdog Media Matters for America released a report that said it found ads for companies including Apple, Bravo, Oracle, Xfinity and IBM placed next to posts celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party on the platform. Several companies, including Disney and Apple, halted their ad spending in the wake of the report. Musk is suing Media Matters in response, calling the report a “fraudulent attack.” FULL STORY

And yet all the shopping malls etc have Christmas trees, supermarkets have Christmas stock and decorations everywhere.😀

Waste of money or Festive Fun ?

That's enough ! Let's not have yet another topic descend into a Bickerfest.

Hell of a trip! Probably around 14hrs and close to 800 km. Do it over 2-3 days and enjoy some stop overs on the way. 👍😀

The file size is far in excess of your requirement. I would suggest it may be file type or connection issue.

Watery ? Every version I have seen is pretty dry unless stipulated otherwise. 57bt with kai dow is about right dependent in where this was.

Almost three years on from its bloody coup, Myanmar’s military junta is facing the biggest threat to its hold on power as it fights wars on multiple fronts across the Southeast Asian nation. In recent weeks, powerful armed ethnic militias have joined with resistance forces to mount major new offensives with unprecedented coordination, exposing the limits of the deeply unpopular junta’s capabilities as it loses strategic border towns, key military positions and vital trade routes at a scale not seen in decades, according to experts. “The junta is actively collapsing right now and that’s only become possible because there is this wider effort across the country,” said Matthew Arnold, an independent Myanmar analyst. Calling it an “existential moment for the military,” Arnold said the resistance is “now focused on taking major towns to fundamentally defeat the junta.” An offensive named Operation 1027, launched in late October by an alliance of three powerful ethnic rebel armies in the country’s northeast, has since catalyzed into a nationwide push to take control of towns and areas in Myanmar’s north, west and southeast. Nearly 200 civilians have been killed and 335,000 people newly displaced by the fighting since October 27, according to the United Nations. Civil war between Myanmar’s myriad ethnic armies and successive military governments has raged for decades. But the latest escalation in fighting comes off the back of nationwide public resistance to army chief Min Aung Hlaing’s February 2021 coup, which sacked the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. FULL STORY

Australia's prime minister has given a national apology to survivors of the thalidomide scandal and their families. It comes over 60 years after the morning sickness drug started causing birth defects in babies globally. "This apology takes in one of the darkest chapters in Australia's medical history," Anthony Albanese told parliament on Wednesday. It is the first time the government has acknowledged its role in the tragedy. "To the survivors - we apologise for the pain thalidomide has inflicted on each and every one of you each and every day. We are sorry. We are more sorry than we can say," Mr Albanese said, addressing a crowd of survivors and their families in the chamber. The exact number of people affected in Australia remains unknown, but more than 140 survivors have registered for a financial support programme since 2020. In 2019, a report found that 20% of Australia's thalidomide cases could have been avoided if leaders had acted sooner. Survivor Trish Jackson, 61, told the BBC she hoped the apology would give "a bit of peace" to families. "[But] it should have been done years ago when parents were still alive, when mothers were still alive. Some survivors have even died and not gotten to hear this." Developed in Germany in the 1950s, thalidomide was originally used as a sedative or tranquiliser, but soon became widely promoted around the world as a morning sickness drug. FULL STORY

Former President Trump often made support for Israel a cornerstone of his foreign policy during his first term in office, but in recent weeks he has offered mixed messages about how he would handle Israel’s battle with Hamas if he were chief executive. Trump initially criticized Israeli leadership over the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 but has since reiterated his support for the country. He has insisted he would take a much harder line against Iran, which has long backed the military wing of Gaza’s governing body, but has suggested the Israel-Hamas conflict will have to play out. Trump’s comments and policy stances have offered clues about how he would handle the situation, providing a glimpse into how he and President Biden — the two men most likely to be on the ballot next November — differ on a major foreign policy issue. Hostage efforts Trump has joined a chorus of Republicans critical of the Biden White House for its dealings on hostages, which include Israelis, Americans and other foreign nationals, taken by Hamas. Over the weekend, in a deal brokered by the U.S., Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in fighting to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave and Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for a wave of hostages being freed. The first two waves, however, included no Americans. “Has anybody noticed that Hamas has returned people from other Countries but, so far, has not returned one American Hostage? There is only one reason for that, NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY OR OUR LEADERSHIP,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. FULL STORY

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) warned Monday that an impeachment vote on President Biden would be a “political disaster” for House Republicans. In an interview with “Just the News No Noise” on Real America’s Voice, Huckabee said House GOP members should not move to impeach the president without the support of some Democrats. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden in September that is centered on his family’s foreign business dealings. Huckabee cautioned it would be a “huge mistake” to move forward without getting more information. “To impeach Joe Biden in the House, knowing it’s not going to go to the Senate — there’s no point,” he said. “All it becomes is a political disaster.” Huckabee said that until some Democrats agree with Republicans in that “Joe Biden is hopelessly corrupt,” the GOP members of the House should focus on other things, such as winning elections. “Until that happens, the best thing Republicans can do is keep dribbling out the information of Joe’s ties to the Communist Chinese Party and business deals,” Huckabee said, adding that they should also “focus on a message that gets us elected, and reminding people how much better off they were when Donald Trump was president than they have been since Joe Biden has taken the reins.” Many Senate Republicans said that they were not happy with McCarthy’s decision shortly after the inquiry was opened. A handful of senators told The Hill at the time that they were worried an impeachment inquiry could backfire on the party. FULL STORY

Once a temporary truce ends between Israel and Hamas, fighting is expected to enter the deadliest phase of the war, when Israeli troops confront the main Hamas force in southern Gaza. Israeli troops inside of Gaza for about a month have largely cemented control over the northern half of the coastal strip, including the urban center of Gaza City, and will next focus on the south, where 1.7 million Palestinian civilians are sequestered. But southern Gaza is also currently home to the bulk of Hamas, most of which is still intact after nearly two months of war. Many Hamas fighters fled Gaza City and other strongholds in the north to hide down south. If Israel wants to destroy Hamas, as per its stated goal, that will require taking the fight south — where they will risk a high rate of civilian casualties and increased pressure for a cease-fire, which could magnify depending on how long the ongoing truce extends and how many hostages are released. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged “there is no place in Gaza that we will not reach,” brushing aside any calls to halt the campaign to annihilate Hamas for launching a deadly Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. “There is no hiding, no shelter, no refuge for the murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said earlier this month. At the moment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is committed to securing the release of the hostages during a temporary truce while preparing for the next stage of the war. FULL STORY

At my Office its required to be presented within 7 days of issue from the Amphur. The wife has to obtain a new one every year.

Perfumed Talcum powder, it messes up their GPS and they will not cross it. Put it around the base of the tree. Just a suggestion, it worked well for me.

Rooster used to work on the News Team, he was never a Moderator. He is no longer with the forum. CLOSED