Video / Mark MitchellTravellers, airlines and tour operators had a rollercoaster few days after Thailand reinstated its Covid-19 vaccination entry requirement, only to drop it again just hours later. On Saturday, January 7, Thailand officials announced international visitors would have to provide proof of full vaccination before arriving in the country from Monday, January 9. Around 15 tourists were denied boarding a Turkish Airlines TK64 flight that left Istanbul last night, according to one traveller. One traveller told Barrow over 20 passengers had been turned away from a Kualar-Lumpur flight to Thailand after failing to provide vaccination documentation. One traveller claimed they tried to board a flight following the updated entry requirements but were still asked to show vaccination requirements.

Is this NZ's most notorious roundabout? Royal Oak residents say more needs to be done to the local roundabout, months after its most recent upgrade. The Royal Oak roundabout underwent changes late last year after 61 crashes over a four-year period. Cars spill on to Royal Oak roundabout from five entrances, and residents say it's a challenge for drivers picking their moment to enter the throng of vehicles. A cyclist was killed riding near the Royal Oak roundabout in March last year.

Scientists say Arctic warming could be to blame for blasts of extreme coldA chronological listing of news articles posted on theduring the past week: Sun, Dec 18, 2022 thru Sat, Dec 24, 2022. Story of the Week...

Those economic punters selling a short sharp recession point to a strong job market, tourism and high export prices to get us through 2023. Since 2008 economists have tried to understand what happened to global inflation after Central Banks printed $25Trillion in quantitive easing to stop the Global Financial Crisis. Our low unemployment rate is being generated by the closed border, the millisecond business can get those cheaper workers in, watch the unemployment rate jump. We are at risk of stagflation, not a short sharp recession. TDB Recommends NewzEngine.comIncreasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

TWO British aid volunteers have gone missing from the frontline in Ukraine, local police have said. Andrew Bagshaw, 48, and 28-year-old Christopher Parry disappeared on January 6 near Soledar, while helping to evacuate civilians. Bagshaw lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and has been working as part of a team of Ukrainian and international volunteers delivering aid and evacuating citizens, reports Stuff.co.nz. In a statement they said he was “a very intelligent, independently minded person”, who went to Ukraine as a volunteer to help people. He said Bagshaw had not been heard from for 48 hours and has been conducting “hot extractions” in Soledar.

A 40-seater Costa Coffee shop has opened at Plymouth Golf Centre, in a move that could benefit both organisations. The golf centre, a modern 33-bay driving range, invested ‘a significant amount of cash’ to build the branch, which has created nine jobs. Jonathan Philpotts, director at Plymouth Golf Centre, said the centre was looking to increase its food and drink offering, having been relying on vending machines. After seeing a Costa outlet at another driving range he decided to write to Costa to see if a franchise could be set up. In all about 30 people work at the centre spread across the golfing operation, the store and now the Costa.

Scientists say Arctic warming could be to blame for blasts of extreme coldA chronological listing of news articles posted on theduring the past week: Sun, Dec 18, 2022 thru Sat, Dec 24, 2022. Story of the Week...

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott have broken up (again)The couple apparently spent Christmas apart, with Jenner taking their two children on holiday in Aspen with celebrity buddies Hailey and Justin Bieber.

He farewelled the frigate Admiral Gorshkov on Thursday as it departed for the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It’s carrying Zircon hypersonic missiles – weapons capable of flying at about nine times the speed of sound (11,000km/h) to strike targets up to 1000km away. Kinzhal hypersonic missiles carrying conventional explosive warheads have been used – with minimal effect – against Ukrainian infrastructure. A recent Congressional Research Service report conceded that the US is behind in the race to develop hypersonic missiles. It is fitted with 16 multipurpose vertical-launch cells that can carry Zircon hypersonic missiles along with Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles.

By Melanie Earley ofPhoto: Supplied/PoliceThe family of a teenager who has been missing for 10 days are worried about her safety as police seek sightings of her. Emily Gurnick-Peacock, 16, was last seen at her central Whangārei home - where she lives with her mum - on 30 December, but she has not been seen since. Peacock said Emily was around 1.7m tall and had pronounced scarring on her head, mostly covered by hair, due to previous surgeries for an inoperable brain tumour. Peacock urged anyone who had seen her to contact police no matter how "big or small" the information was. The spokesperson asked anyone who had seen Emily to contact police on 105 or online, using update my report.

By Melanie Earley ofPhoto: Supplied/PoliceThe family of a teenager who has been missing for 10 days is concerned for her safety as the police demand to see her. Emily Gurnick-Peacock, 16, was last seen on Dec. 30 at her home in Whangārei, where she lives with her mother, but has not been seen since. Peacock said Emily was about 5 feet 9 inches (1.7 m) tall and had obvious scarring on her head, mostly covered in hair, from previous surgeries for an inoperable brain tumor. “We are all very concerned for her safety and miss her very much. The spokesperson asked anyone who saw Emily to contact police on 911 or online, via update my report.

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day. Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day. The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog, 3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing. EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

Photo / Sandra ConchieA total of 21,685 new Covid cases have been reported in the past week. More than a third of the cases (8609) were reinfections, the Ministry of Health said in today’s weekly update. Canterbury reported the highest number of cases in the past week (2696), followed by Counties Manukau (2537) and then Waitematā (2468). The Auckland region reported 2110 new cases. According to data on the Ministry of Health’s website, 40 per cent (886) of the daily cases reported on Sunday were reinfections.

And because China is exponentially more important for the stability of the global economy and the balance of geopolitical power than during Mao’s reign, Xi’s power has become a global problem. Finally, for foreign policy, Xi’s nationalist views and assertive style will define Beijing’s relations with rivals, allies, and the very large number of governments that are deeply reluctant to risk becoming either one. More destructive Russian behaviour, a virtual certainty in 2023, will colour US and European attitudes toward Xi and China. But Maximum Xi has already cost China and the Chinese people a great deal, and it will likely cost them even more in 2023. - Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and author The Power of Crisis.

But as regular readers know, there are two related surveys, the widely-reported Establishment (employer) survey, and the parallel Household survey. This second survey shows there is a 159.2 mln employed workforce, more than +15 mln higher than the employer survey. The US will release its December inflation data on Friday (NZT). It is also a good result for them, and like the Americans, both their participation rate rose and their jobless rate fell. From the prior month, inflation is slowing fast, running at an annualised -4.2% deflation rate now.