Amethyst

This is a World News topic, and there already is a thread on the subject running there, and may also be updated later with a new thread there. Therefore, this topic is CLOSED.// This subforum: General Topics A forum for general interest and discussion topics related to Thailand only and not covered by other sub forums. The General Forum is not a place for political topics, chit chat, banter or observations about daily life. [emphasis added]

Several off-topic posts have been removed for contravening the forum's Community Standards, specifically: 31. You will not publicly discuss other members...

CLOSED per request of OP.

Several off-topic posts have been removed.

Several trolling and flame posts by one member have been removed for contravening the forum's Community Standards: 9. You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages. You will respect other members and post in a civil manner. Personal attacks, insults or hate speech posted on the forum or sent by private message are not allowed.

For some reason, in Thai news reports, it's very comment for them to wrongly use the term "congenital" when what they're actually talking about is a "chronic" illness.

Regarding COVID vaccines, the government policy all along is that they have been FREE for resident expats -- those with annual or longer visas or extensions of stay. And people should bring and show evidence of their status when they go for a COVID vaccine. On the flip side, if a person is here visa exempt or on a tourist visa, then their policy has been to charge for the vaccines at government facilities.

The current developments in the Georgia case are already running in a current World News thread. So this thread is CLOSED. // See the following:

Expert scientists in the field who have publicly reviewed this study confirmed Rabas' post above -- that the COVID vaccine dose given to the rats in this study, a normal human dose, was nonetheless in the range of 350 times the equivalent human dose, because the rats here weigh about 1/350th the weight of an average adult body (about 80 kilograms). Therefore, this thread is CLOSED. //

The House and the Senate have both approved a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through early March. The bill now heads to President Biden's desk for a signature. With some federal agencies, including those that oversee agriculture, transportation and veterans' services, set to run out of funding Friday night at midnight and a winter storm toward the nation's capitol, lawmakers were under pressure to finish their work and leave town. The new spending measure maintains a two-tier structure where some agencies would run out of money on March 1 and others would remain funded through March 8. The measure is the latest in a series of short-term measures meant to buy lawmakers time to do the more arduous work of drafting and advancing the full suite of 12 annual government spending bills, which have so far been waylaid in large part because of internal disagreements among the wafer-thin House Republican majority. (more) https://www.npr.org/2024/01/18/1225369336/congress-races-against-the-clock-and-the-weather-to-fund-the-government

Co-defendant Michael Roman requests DA be stood down over claims of improper romantic relationship with special prosecutor The Georgia judge overseeing the racketeering case charging Donald Trump and allies with attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in the state has scheduled a hearing for February to weigh whether the Fulton county district attorney should be disqualified from prosecuting the charges. In a one-page order, the Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee set an evidentiary hearing for 15 February to address allegations raised by Trump’s co-defendant Michael Roman that the district attorney Fani Willis had an improper romantic relationship with one of her prosecutors. The judge also ordered the district attorney to file a response to the allegations by 2 February. Earlier this week, Willis’s office had privately told at least two lawyers involved in the case that they intended to submit their written response by that date, people familiar with the matter said. The [Trump] case is unlikely to be dismissed outright even if the allegations are proven true. But that could result in the disqualification of Willis, which, under Georgia caselaw, would necessitate the disqualification of the entire Fulton county district attorney’s office, as well. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/18/fani-willis-misconduct-hearing-nathan-wade-relationship-trump-georgia

South Korea, the US and Japan conduct a trilateral exercise featuring the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the waters and air south of Jeju island between January 15 and 17, 2024. Seoul, South Korea CNN — North Korea on Friday claimed it had successfully tested an underwater nuclear weapons system earlier this week in response to naval drills by the United States, South Korea and Japan. According to North Korean state media, its military conducted a new test of its underwater nuclear-capable drone, the Haeil, in waters off the southern end of the peninsula, in response to what it described as “frantic” and “provocative” US allied military exercises. Following tests of the Haeil system last year, North Korean state media said it could carry a nuclear warhead that could create a “radioactive tsunami,” though analysts at the time said Pyongyang offered no proof. North Korean state media on Friday did not show evidence for the success of the latest test, but warned the US, South Korea and Japan of the “catastrophic consequences” of their actions. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/19/asia/north-korea-underwater-nuclear-drone-test-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

This week Al Israa University became the latest major public building in Gaza to disappear from the map, blown up and destroyed by Israeli forces who had reportedly used it as a military base for several weeks. The war in Gaza has already let to an unprecedented loss of life, but there's also growing concern about the destruction of public and private buildings. Now a senior UN official has told BBC News of his fears that the widespread damage will lead to a "lost generation" of young people. ... Its latest updates say that at least 60% of homes or housing units in Gaza have been "destroyed or damaged". Nine in every 10 schools have suffered "significant damage". Hospitals, public buildings and electricity networks have also been hit. (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68023080

Measles is likely to spread rapidly across more parts of the UK unless more people take up the vaccine, a senior health official has warned. Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), says vaccination rates are "well below" what is recommended by the World Health Organization. Pop-up clinics are being introduced to get more children vaccinated as cases continue to rise. Measles is a highly contagious disease. It is spread by coughs and sneezes. More than 200 cases have been confirmed in the West Midlands in recent months, mostly in Birmingham. (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68028530

Members of Lords criticise PM’s ‘bizarre’ and ‘vacuous’ calls for swift approval of legislation to ensure deportation flights by spring Rishi Sunak’s pledge to begin flying asylum seekers to Rwanda by spring looked more distant than ever after members of the House of Lords approved a timetable that would not see the bill passed before late March. On Thursday the prime minister urged peers to pass his asylum bill as soon as possible after its approval by the Commons on Wednesday night, telling them that it reflected the “will of the people”. By Thursday evening, however, his comments appeared to have backfired, with members of the Lords calling them “bizarre”, “vacuous” and “weird” and then approving a two-month timetable to scrutinise the bill. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/18/rishi-sunak-rwanda-bill-pledge-flights-house-of-lords-timetable

Everything I'm seeing from the USA shows the standard stopovers in Taipei enroute to BKK or CNX... So not exactly "seamless".

Their BKK to LAX flight I just checked shows them using the AIRBUS A350-900 for the Taiwan to LAX segment... Anyone flown on one of those before? Better or worse than EVA's 777s?

The weblink to the airline in the Thaiger article appears broken/malformed. It works if you use the address they post and then add a "www" in front of it. https://www.starlux-airlines.com/en-US

A series of off-topic posts having nothing to do with the legal cases against Donald Trump have been removed.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel is expected to soon decide whether to dismiss Trump's federal election interference case based on his presidential immunity claims As former President Donald Trump awaits a ruling from a federal appeals court on his broad claim of presidential immunity, he said early Thursday that a U.S. president "must have complete and total presidential immunity." "A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function," Trump said in a lengthy post on Truth Social in all caps. "Any mistake, even if well intended, would be met with almost certain indictment by the opposing party at term end. Even events that 'cross the line' must fall under total immunity, or it will be years of trauma trying to determine good from bad." ... A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is expected to soon issue a ruling in the case brought by Trump in his effort to dismiss the federal election interference case against him. He has claimed that he should be immune from prosecution because his efforts to overturn the 2020 election fell within his official duties as president. (more) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-awaiting-ruling-says-presidents-must-complete-total-immunity-rcna134483

The self-proclaimed ‘anarcho-capitalist’ president is making his first overseas tour, even as he battles a major economic crisis at home Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei praised free markets and slammed socialism at Davos during the first overseas tour for the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist”, who is battling to fix a major economic crisis at home. The trip marks a test for right-wing Milei, a relative political newcomer who took office last month after a rapid ascent from acid-tongued economist and television pundit to the presidency. He is keen to win backing for his economic ideas, which include shutting the central bank and adopting the dollar. “Socialism is a phenomenon that creates poverty,” he said in a special address to a large and well-heeled crowd at the World Economic Forum, where he is later set to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva. (more) https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3248835/argentinas-javier-milei-praises-free-markets-slams-socialism-davos

LONDON/WASHINGTON/DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Wednesday returned the Yemen-based Houthi rebels to a list of terrorist groups, as the militants attacked their second U.S.-operated vessel in the Red Sea region this week and the U.S. military carried out fresh strikes. Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza. The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include U.S. ships in response to American and British strikes on the group's positions. (more) https://www.reuters.com/business/business-heads-see-red-sea-tensions-causing-lengthy-trade-dislocation-2024-01-17/

Nineteen students and two teachers died in the shooting at Robb Elementary A scathing Justice Department report into the 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, described "cascading failures of leadership" during the attack and an "unprecedented" level of misinformation in its aftermath that crippled the community's attempts to recover. A review team empowered by the department to investigate the shooting "identified several critical failures and other breakdowns prior to, during, and after the Robb Elementary School response," the report found. An 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, killing 19 students and two teachers before law enforcement breached the classroom and killed the shooter. Responding officers from state and local outfits waited some 77 minutes before breaching a classroom and killing the shooter. (more) https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-report-uvalde-shooting-cites-cascading-failures/story?id=106478020

Rishi Sunak urges Lords to back Rwanda bill Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged the House of Lords to pass his flagship Rwanda bill, as he warned peers not to "frustrate the will of the people". Giving a press conference after the legislation was approved by MPs, Mr Sunak said it was now up to the Lords to "do the right thing". He told the BBC the government was still aiming for deportation flights to take off by the spring. But he added that peers needed to pass the bill "as quickly as possible". (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68017310

(CNN) -- The British parliament has approved a controversial bill to allow the country to send refugees arriving in the UK to Rwanda, in east Africa, as the government overcame rebels in its own party and defied critics who warn the bill breaches international law. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government won the vote in parliament by a majority of 320 to 276. The victory was a huge relief for Sunak: only 24 hours earlier 60 of his own Conservative MPs had rebelled by backing amendments to strengthen the bill. The amendments were defeated, causing concern that these MPs would also rebel on the main bill. The Rwanda Safety Bill is supposed to end legal challenges that have thus far prevented Britain from sending refugees to Rwanda, after the two countries struck a deal back in 2022. The deal came after a dramatic increase in refugees arriving in Britain via small boats arranged by human trafficking gangs. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/europe/uk-lawmakers-pass-sunak-rwanda-asylum-plan-intl/index.html