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Created
Fri, 19/04/2024 - 15:10

THAI communities from Port Macquarie to Grafton will gather together for the Songkran, or Water Festival, to celebrate Thai New Year on Sunday 21 April at Harbourside Markets alongside Coffs Harbour’s Jetty Beach. “A parade through the markets, celebrating the beginning of the festival, is a highlight of the day,” Robyn Lawrence, who has close...

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Created
Fri, 19/04/2024 - 14:21

COFFS HARBOUR artists Janet Besançon and John Thiering describe their decision to collaborate on creating works of art as “an ambitious thing to do”. The pair of friends decided to “let go of the preciousness” that can come with being a solitary painter and “see how we’d go working together on a piece”. Advertise with...

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Created
Fri, 19/04/2024 - 09:30
You can say that about a lot of things, can’t you? This example is about that impeachment trial yesterday from Steve Benen: More than a month after House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, despite the GOP’s inability to find any evidence of him committing high crimes, the articles were finally delivered to the Senate on Tuesday. Republicans in the upper chamber responded by demanding a full impeachment trial. They didn’t get one. As NBC News reported, the Senate Democratic majority dismissed both of the articles against the DHS chief just hours after the proceedings began. The speed of the impeachment trial was an embarrassing blow to Republicans who had threatened to gum up the Senate and delay the proceedings in a bid to highlight what they argue is Mayorkas’ failure to secure the border and stop the flow of thousands of undocumented migrants at the border. However, Democrats, who control the upper chamber, easily dispensed with the pair of impeachment articles — as well as several motions to adjourn the Senate.
Created
Fri, 19/04/2024 - 08:00
Wisconsin Rep.Mike Gallagher was once considered a major rising star in the GOP. Dar I say he might even have been a Great Whitebread Hope along the lines of a similar looking former Wisconsin superstar, Paul Ryan. But he decided to quit early and tomorrow is his last day. Why?  With just days until he leaves his seat in Congress, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., could be shedding some light on the reasoning behind his early resignation Gallagher announced in February he would not seek re-election after he was just one of a small handful of House Republicans to oppose the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Then, in March, he said he would be resigning his seat, effective April 19. In one of his last acts in Congress, Gallagher — who represents Wisconsin’s 8th District — chaired a Tuesday hearing of the House Select Committee on China concerning the country’s possible connection to fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. After the hearing, Gallagher spoke with reporters about the hearing and the end of his time in Congress.
Created
Fri, 19/04/2024 - 06:30
They make mistakes The NY Times reports: Israel was mere moments away from an airstrike on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders at Iran’s embassy complex in Syria when it told the United States what was about to happen. Israel’s closest ally had just been caught off guard. Aides quickly alerted Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser; Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser; Brett McGurk, Mr. Biden’s Middle East coordinator; and others, who saw that the strike could have serious consequences, a U.S. official said. Publicly, U.S. officials voiced support for Israel, but privately, they expressed anger that it would take such aggressive action against Iran without consulting Washington. The Israelis had badly miscalculated, thinking that Iran would not react strongly, according to multiple American officials who were involved in high-level discussions after the attack, a view shared by a senior Israeli official. On Saturday, Iran launched a retaliatory barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an unexpectedly large-scale response, if one that did minimal damage.