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Dutch police have arrested a gunman who killed at least three people in twin shootings in the city of Rotterdam. They say the male attacker, 32, opened fire in a home before setting it alight, then stormed the city's Erasmus Medical Center on Thursday. He was a student at Erasmus University, which is affiliated with the hospital. A woman, 39, and her 14-year old daughter were killed in the first shooting. A male lecturer, 43, was shot dead at the hospital. Footage has emerged showing a man in camouflaged clothing being taken from the hospital building in handcuffs. The motives for the attack were not immediately known. A security guard who says he was first on the scene told the BBC it was a "shocking" day. "It was terrible, terrible," he said, visibly shaken and not wanting to give his name. He said that the gunman had not entered the medical centre through the main entrance. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote in a post on social media: "My thoughts go out to the victims of the violence, their loved ones and to all the people who have been in great fear." FULL STORY

A New York appeals court has rejected former President Donald Trump's bid to delay a civil fraud trial against him in a case that leaves his business empire in jeopardy. The decision paves the way for a trial to begin next Monday. Mr Trump and three of his adult children are expected to be called as witnesses in the case. The decision comes after New York Judge Arthur Engoron this week ruled Mr Trump was liable for business fraud. New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump Organization of inflating the value of their properties by more than $2bn (£1.65bn) to suit the needs of their business. In his ruling issued on Tuesday, Judge Engoron agreed, finding Mr Trump had misrepresented his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr Trump's legal team had sought to delay the case while his attorneys challenged earlier rulings. The New York buildings that Trump could lose Are Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties over-valued? Mr Trump and the other defendants in the case have argued that they never committed fraud. But Thursday's appeals court ruling means a trial in the case will go ahead as scheduled on Monday 2 October. The case is a bench trial, meaning it will be decided not by a jury but by Judge Engoron, who is presiding over the trial. He has said it could take as long as three months to hear the case. Judge Engoron's Tuesday ruling resolved the key claim of fraud in Ms James' lawsuit, leaving the trial to focus on a more narrow set of six remaining fraud claims and on determining penalties against Mr Trump. Ms James is seeking a fine of $250m (£204m) and a ban on Mr Trump doing business in his home state. FULL STORY

House Republicans have branded the first day of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden a success, saying they justified their case. But expert witnesses called by Republicans cautioned there was not yet enough proof for impeachment. Thursday's hearing was dominated by the business dealings of the president's son, Hunter, who Republicans allege was selling access to his father. The White House has called the inquiry a "political stunt". House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry in early September to look into allegations that Hunter Biden engaged in improper business dealings that benefited the president. The formal inquiry granted lawmakers greater legal authority to investigate possible misconduct, after months of Republican probes failed to unearth any concrete evidence. At the first hearing in the inquiry, it was Hunter Biden - not the president - who took up most of the Republican's oxygen. Republican James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the powerful Oversight Committee, said the panel would examine more than "two dozen pieces of evidence", including emails and bank records, which he said would reveal Joe Biden's "corruption and abuse of public office". "At least 10 times, Joe Biden lied to the American people that he never spoke to his family about their business dealings," he said. "The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption." Following the hearing, he announced subpoenas that will force Hunter Biden and President Biden's brother, James, to release their personal and business bank records to the committee. Failure to comply with the order, which Mr Comer called "the next step in the investigation", could result in criminal charges. Mr Biden has previously said he "never" discussed business with his son. FULL STORY

The last sentence.... "You leave your Instructions with them and they will handle it accordingly. Very simple and easy solution." So if your instruction is just "forward" they dont open it, if your insruction is "open it and tell me what it is" then of course they have to open it but its on your instruction not otherwise.

And once again you missed out "if required" in that sentence, just using the first part "There are many mai services that you can redirect your mail to.They will scan and email the contents if required.You leave your Instructions with them and they will handle it accordingly" The underline bit expalins they will do it "if required" does not mean its done automatically.

You nmade no reference to "opening mail" you said "Not sure i'd trust a total stranger with my mail " ! and as for the second part you conveniently missed "if required"

So the Post man and all the Post office staff are your family then ?...lol...you do it everyday with the mail service, its no diffeent.

Mo Chit is 24hrs, the desks however are not, they close after the last bus leaves and open a short while before the first Bus departs. Those times vary each day. You can also buy Bus Tickets online This website appears to be up-to-date https://touristbangkok.com/getting-around-thailand/bangkok-bus-terminal/

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At least 94 people have died and 100 others are injured after a fire broke out during a wedding in Iraq's biggest Christian town on Tuesday night. Hundreds were celebrating at a banqueting hall in Qaraqosh, in Nineveh province, when the tragedy happened. Witnesses and civil defence officials said the fire was sparked by fireworks set off as the bride and groom danced. Highly flammable metal and plastic composite panels that covered the hall fuelled the blaze, they added. Security forces arrested 10 of the venue's staff, its owner and three people involved with the fireworks on Wednesday. In the afternoon, hundreds of mourners attended a funeral for more than 40 of the victims at a cemetery in Qaraqosh, which is also known as al-Hamdaniya and Bakhdida. Some carried portraits of their deceased loved ones. 'It was like Hell's doors opened' What we know about wedding blaze in Iraq's Qaraqosh In an address, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako described the fire as a "complete and total catastrophe", according to Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw. Alsumaria TV, meanwhile, showed footage of a man at the funeral who it identified as the groom. BBC Verify ran an image of his face through facial recognition software, comparing it to a picture of the groom before the wedding, and is confident that the report is correct. Civil defence officials told BBC News Arabic that both the groom and his bride survived, though initial reports said they had perished. FULL STORY

The German government on Wednesday banned a far-right, racist group known for its indoctrination of children as police raided dozens of homes of its members and other buildings early in the morning. A statement from the German interior ministry said it banned the Artgemeinschaft group, an anti-democratic association with around 150 members. All of its sub-organizations, including the Gefaehrtschaften, Gilden, Freundeskreise, and Familienwerk e.V., were also banned, the ministry said. “We are banning a sectarian, deeply racist and antisemitic association,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said. “This is another hard blow against right-wing extremism and (those) who continue to spread Nazi ideologies to this day,” she said, adding that the organization had attempted to indoctrinate their children and young people with their anti-democratic ideology. Under the cover of a pseudo-religious Germanic belief in gods, the Artgemeinschaft spread its Nazi world view, the ministry said. “The group’s central goal was the preservation and promotion of one’s own ‘kind,’ which can be equated with the National Socialist term ‘race’,” according to the statement. In addition to the ideology of racial doctrine, the symbolism, narratives and activities of the group showed further parallels to the Nazis’ ideology. The group gave its members instructions on how to choose a “proper spouse” within the Northern and Central European “human kind” in order to pass on the “correct” genetic makeup according to the association’s racist ideology. People of other origins were degraded, the ministry said in its statement. In early morning raids across 12 states, police searched 26 apartments of 39 group members as well as the organization’s club houses. Last week, the German government banned the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins Germany and raided homes of dozens of its members. The group was an offshoot of an American ring-wing extremist group and played a prominent role in the far-right scene across Europe. FULL STORY

Ramaswamy calls transgenderism 'a mental health disorder' Vivek Ramaswamy says that transgenderism "a mental health disorder" and said it was cruel to "affirm a kid's confusion" about their gender -- in response to a question about parents' rights in schools. "Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder. We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is," the entrepreneur said. "Parents have the right to know," he went on to say when pushed about parental rights. "The very people who say that this increases the risk of suicide are also the ones saying that parents don't have the right to know about that increased risk of suicide," he said. "And sorry, it is not compassionate to affirm a kid's confusion, that is not compassion, that is cruelty. I met two young women, Chloe and Katie, early in this campaign who are in their twenties now regret getting double mastectomies and a hysterectomy. One of them will never have children and the fact that we allowed that to happen in this country is barbaric. So I will ban genital mutilation or chemical castration under the age of 18." FULL STORY

Former Vice President Mike Pence during Wednesday night’s second GOP debate called for an expedited federal death penalty as punishment for the perpetrators of mass shootings. “I’m someone that believes that justice delayed is justice denied. … As a grandfather of three beautiful little girls, I’m sick and tired of the mass shootings happening in the United States of America,” Pence said from his podium on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library stage in Simi Valley, Calif. “And if I’m president of the United States, I’m going to go to the Congress of the United States and we’re going to pass a federal expedited death penalty for anyone involved in a mass shooting so they will meet their fate in months, not years,” Pence said. The former vice president said it’s “unconscionable” that the perpetrator of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was sentenced to life in prison. “That’s not justice. We have to meet out justice and send a message to the would-be killers that you are not going to live out your days behind bars,” Pence said. Pence has made the push for an expedited death penalty before. He’s also argued the U.S. should place more focus on institutionalizing the mentally ill as a means of addressing gun violence. FULL STORY

The judge in Donald Trump's federal election meddling case has said she will not recuse herself, despite the ex-president's requests she step aside. His legal team argued some of her past comments create a perception of bias against the former president. She has now ruled his lawyers failed to present evidence of those claims. Judge Tanya Chutkan is overseeing the federal case in which Mr Trump is accused of a conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the case, which is being brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Last month's filing by Mr Trump's lawyers did not expressly call the judge prejudiced against him, but says certain statements she has made in her court "create a perception of pre-judgement incompatible with our justice system". How big are Donald Trump's legal problems? In her ruling on Wednesday, Judge Chutkan said the comments cited by his legal team "certainly do not manifest a deep-seated prejudice that would make fair judgement impossible". "It bears noting that the court has never taken the position the defence ascribes to it: that former 'President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned,'" Judge Chutkan wrote. "And the defence does not cite any instance of the court ever uttering those words or anything similar." Under US federal law, any judge of the United States must voluntarily recuse themselves in any proceeding in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. FULL STORY

OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed creator of ChatGPT, has confirmed the chatbot can now browse the internet to provide users with current information. The artificial intelligence-powered system was previously trained only using data up to September 2021. The move means some premium users will be able to ask the chatbot questions about current affairs, and access news. OpenAI said the feature would open up to all users soon. Earlier in the week, OpenAI also revealed the chatbot will soon be able to have voice conversations with users. ChatGPT and other similar systems use huge amounts of data to create convincing human-like responses to user queries. They are expected to dramatically change the way people search for information online. Can an AI chatbot write a joke about the news? But until now the viral chatbot's "knowledge" has been frozen in time. Its database has been drawn from the contents of the internet as it was in September 2021. It could not browse the net in real time. So, for example, ask the free version when an earthquake last struck Turkey, or whether Donald Trump is still alive and it replies "'I'm sorry, but I cannot provide real-time information". ChatGPT's inability to take recent events into account has been a turn-off for some potential users. FULL STORY

Meta has announced a series of new chatbots to be used in its Messenger service. The chatbots will have "personality" and specialise in certain subjects, like holidays or cooking advice. It is the latest salvo in a chatbot arms race between tech companies desperate to produce more accurate and personalised artificial intelligence. The chatbots are still a work in progress with "limitations", said boss Mark Zuckerberg. In California, during Meta's first in-person event since before the pandemic, Mr Zuckerberg said that it had been an "amazing year for AI". The company is calling its main chatbot "Meta AI" and can be used in messaging. For example, users can ask Meta AI questions in chat "to settle arguments" or ask other questions. The BBC has not yet tested the chatbot which is based on Llama 2, the large language model that the company released for public commercial use in July. Several celebrities have also signed up to lend their personalities to different types of chatbots, including Snoop Dogg and Kendall Jenner. The idea is to create chatbots that are not just designed to answer questions. "This isn't just going to be about answering queries," Zuckerberg said. "This is about entertainment". According to Meta, NFL star Tom Brady will play an AI character called 'Bru', "a wisecracking sports debater" and YouTube star MrBeast will play 'Zach', a big brother "who will roast you". FULL STORY

Apple has provided a software update for its iPhone 12 to French regulators following concerns about radiation levels of the smartphone. France suspended sales of iPhone 12 handsets last week after claiming it failed to pass tests relating to electromagnetic radiation exposure limits. The US tech giant risked a product recall if a fix was not found, while other European countries warned they may follow France’s initiative. French authorities received a software update from Apple for its iPhone 12 on Tuesday, a source at the French digital ministry told Reuters. Apple had earlier contested the French findings, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global standards. A spokesperson for Apple told The Independent that it was engaging with regulators in an effort to prove that its iPhone 12 is compliant. The US tech giant said it has provided France’s National Frequency Agency (ANFR) with independent third-party lab results proving the iPhone 12’s compliance, and met SAR regulations. Apple then said on 15 September it would issue a software update to accommodate the testing methods used in France. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The move by Paris to suspend sales of the iPhone 12 handsets had prompted concerns in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Belgium also reportedly requested the software update but it was limited to France, Belgian industry regulator said in an emailed statement. The Belgian regulator also said it expected more steps at a European level after the French authorities inform their peers about the fix and the fact that is not available widely in the European Union. French regulator Agence Nationale des Frequences did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FULL STORY

The UK economy will shrink this year and in 2024, according to a report by a leading US thinktank that said stubborn inflation and a shortage of workers would damage the prospects for growth more than most analysts expect. The Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) said a drop in GDP this year of 0.3% would be followed by a fall of 0.2% next year while the eurozone and the US were on course for growth this year and next. Ahead of revised forecasts by the International Monetary Fund in a fortnight, which are expected to show the UK expanding this year and staging a modest recovery in 2024, the PIIE president, Adam Posen, said he was gloomy about the UK’s prospects. Posen, who spent three years on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, said factors related to the underlying weakness of the UK economy and the fallout from Brexit would leave the UK behind while most other developed economies expanded. He said the UK was also suffering from an unequal recovery that benefited better-off households while the bottom half of the income scale continued to be affected by falling real incomes. Low-income households in the US and the eurozone had, by contrast, fared better in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Posen said: “The UK won’t be in recession all of next year, but the recovery will be held back by higher-than-expected inflation and in response, the Bank of England will need to keep interest rates higher for longer.” Cuts to government spending next year will also drag on economic growth as Jeremy Hunt soothes jittery financial markets with austerity measures, including tax increases, he added. The central bank held rates at 5.25% at its meeting last week, and betting on financial markets showed investors expect there will be no change at the next meeting in November. Posen said the next move could be upwards should inflation prove to be more stubborn than the central bank’s forecasts predict, despite a weakening of economic growth. FULL STORY

There are less than five days to go before the US government shuts down and Kevin McCarthy has a choice to make. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives must either find a way for his narrow Republican majority to fund federal agencies or seek the help of Democrats to do so. If he opts for the former, he will likely pass a bill that cannot make it through a Democrat-controlled Senate, practically ensuring a shutdown. But if Mr McCarthy decides on the latter, he is at risk of being ousted from the job that has been the pinnacle of his two decades in politics. Whichever way the California congressman goes, he will have to do it sooner rather than later. If Congress fails to provide funding by midnight on Saturday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed without pay and government services will be disrupted. What happens in a US government shutdown? Republicans leave Washington with shutdown looming On Tuesday, with House negotiations facing an uncertain future, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a bipartisan group in his chamber was close to finishing work on a short-term funding bill. The House Speaker, however, has not yet committed to bringing that proposal to the floor if his own efforts fail. FULL STORY

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that wind turbines off the coast of the US "are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before". These claims have attracted significant attention on social media, where a clip of Mr Trump's speech has now been viewed more than nine million times. But Mr Trump's claims are not backed up by evidence. What is being claimed? Speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Monday, Mr Trump suggested that "windmills" used to generate electricity are driving whales "crazy", and dead whales are washing ashore "on a weekly basis". Some conservationists have raised concerns about whale deaths near the development of an offshore wind farm off the US east coast. This series of strandings led some Republican lawmakers to call for a temporary halt to all development of offshore wind farms, and further research into possible links to humpback whale deaths. Since then, hundreds of posts wrongly linking wind farms to whale deaths have been spreading on social media, with hundreds of thousands of views. How many whales are dying? The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that, since 2016, a total of 208 humpback whales have been stranded along the country's east coast. The problem was deemed so serious that, in 2017, the US agency dubbed it an "unusual mortality event". FULL STORY

US President Joe Biden has backed striking cars workers in Michigan during a visit to their picket line - a first for a sitting US president. Mr Biden said that the workers "deserve" raises and other concessions they are seeking. The visit comes a day before his would-be challenger, Donald Trump, is due to arrive. But workers told the BBC they felt the rivals might politicise the strike, and urged them to "just stay away". In brief remarks to the picketing workers on Tuesday, the Democratic president said that they "deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits". He added that the workers should be doing as "incredibly well" as the companies that employ them. While US lawmakers - and presidential candidates - frequently appear at strikes to express solidarity with American workers, it is considered unprecedented for a sitting president to do so. Some workers said they hoped the attention from Mr Biden and his rival would help their cause, but others dismissed the visits as political stunts aimed at getting votes, which would have little practical impact on the negotiations. "We would much rather neither of them showed up," longtime Ford worker Billy Rowe told the BBC. "We don't want to divide people and when you bring politics into it, it's going to cause an argument." FULL STORY Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

Donald Trump "repeatedly" misrepresented his wealth by hundreds of millions to banks and insurers, a New York judge has ruled. The decision resolves the key claim made by New York's attorney general in her civil lawsuit against the former president. "The documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business," the judge wrote. It is a major blow for Mr Trump before the case goes to trial next Monday. An attorney for Mr Trump called the judge's decision "a miscarriage of justice" in a statement on Tuesday evening. Attorney General Letitia James sued Mr Trump last September, accusing him, his two adult sons and the Trump Organization of lying about his net worth and asset values between 2011 and 2021. Ms James claimed the defendants issued false business records and financial statements in order to get better terms on bank loans and insurance deals, and to pay less tax. In a trial that will now resolve six remaining claims in her suit, she will seek $250m in penalties and a ban on Mr Trump doing business in his home state. The non-jury trial is scheduled to begin 2 October and last until at least December. Who is NY prosecutor and Trump foe Letitia James? Trumps 'inflated net worth by billions' - lawsuit Trumps accused of inflating value of Scots resorts In a pre-trial phase of the case known as summary judgement, Ms James had asked Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan to rule on her claims. FULL STORY Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe