Donors have raised close to half a million dollars for a factory worker who was suspended for heckling Donald Trump.

Ford worker TJ Sabula called the president a "paedophile protector" when he visited the plant in Detroit yesterday.

Trump gave Sabula the middle finger and appeared to twice say "f— you".

READ MORE: Clintons to face contempt proceedings

Ford responded by suspending Sabula without pay.

But the father of two young children said he had "definitely no regrets whatsoever".

"I don't feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity," Sabula told the Washington Post. 

"And today I think I did that."

A GoFundMe launched by a friend has already raised $US289,000 ($433,000).

READ MORE: Donald Trump flips off, appears to swear at heckler

Ford issued a statement which did not go into specifics about the exchange.

"One of our core values is respect, and we don't condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities," the auto giant's statement read.

"When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don't get into specific personnel matters."

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded with a statement to TMZ.

"A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response," Cheung said.

Meanwhile, United Auto Workers union representative Laura Dickerson spoke in Sabula's defence.

READ MORE: Trump hurls outrageous slur at female reporter

"He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job," she said.

"The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.

"Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behaviour by anyone – including the President of the United States."

Sabula has been supported by his representative in Congress, Rashida Tlaib.

READ MORE: Epstein letter referencing 'our president' is fake: Trump administration

"This worker is a national hero," Tlaib said.

"The president is, in fact, protecting paedophiles. Don't come to my district and expect a warm welcome. Detroit will always speak truth to power. "

Tlaib is a progressive Democratic firebrand and vociferous critic of Trump.

Sabula's jeer directed at Trump was in reference to the president's ties to notorious child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump long resisted releasing Department of Justice files connected to Epstein, with whom he had a long friendship.

When forced by legislation to do so, the Trump administration released only a fraction of files, and many of them were heavily redacted.

Trump called the investigation a "Democratic hoax".

None of Epstein's victims have implicated Trump in any criminal behaviour.

READ MORE: Less than one per cent of Jeffrey Epstein files released

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A senior congressman will begin contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton after the couple refused to comply with a subpoena for an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer threatened the contempt proceedings after the pair did not show up for a scheduled deposition.

"Epstein's survivors deserve justice and answers," Comer wrote on X.

READ MORE: Clintons refuse to testify in congressional Epstein probe

"Refusing to comply with a bipartisan, duly authorised congressional subpoena in our Epstein investigation is unacceptable.

"No one is above the law."

Comer's post on X included several photos of Mr Clinton which were released in the first batch of the Epstein files in December.

https://x.com/RepJamesComer/status/2011115404433764723

Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanour that can result in prison time.

Trump White House advisors Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were both jailed for four months in 2024 after defying a subpoena.

But the Clintons argued the subpoenas were "invalid and legally unenforceable" and "untethered to a valid legislative purpose".

In a letter sent from their lawyers, the couple described Comer's actions as "an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers".

Another letter penned by the Clintons themselves criticised Comer's priorities in investigating the Epstein case.

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"The decisions you have made, and the priorities you have set as chairman regarding the Epstein investigation, have prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government's role," the couple wrote.

They pointed out that of the other eight people also subpoenaed, seven were dismissed without any testimony.

The Clintons also criticised Comer for failing to force the Department of Justice to release "all of its Epstein files, including any material regarding us as we have publicly called for."

"We have tried to give you the little information we have," the Clintons said.

"We've done so because Mr Epstein's crimes were horrific."

The Clintons were both friends with financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Neither of the Clintons have been accused of any wrongdoing in connection to the Epstein case.

READ MORE: Less than one per cent of Jeffrey Epstein files released

But Epstein visited the White House 17 times during the Clinton presidency. The former president flew on Epstein's plane about 27 times.

"Continue to mislead Americans about what is truly at stake, and you will learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at burying it," the couple wrote.

"Continue to abet the dismantling of America, and you will learn that it takes more than a wrecking ball to demolish what Americans have built over 250 years."

https://x.com/BillClinton/status/2011098958236697021

Comer is regarded as an attack dog of the right in his powerful role chairing the House Oversight Committee.

But he noted every member of the committee, Republican and Democratic, voted for the Clinton subpoenas.

"This wasn't something that I just issued as chairman of the committee. This was voted on by the entire committee in a unanimous vote of the House Oversight Committee to subpoena former President Clinton and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton," he said.

Mr Clinton was supposed to show up to testify today. Mrs Clinton is scheduled tomorrow.

Another close friend of Epstein, President Donald Trump, has not been subpoenaed.

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A man has been stabbed during a brawl of up to 50 people on a suburban street in Sydney's west.

Emergency services were called to Rebecca Road in Greenacre about 9pm yesterday following reports of a brawl.

Rechad Bechara, 25, was stabbed in the neck during the incident.

READ MORE: Sydney prayer hall linked to radical preacher permanently shuts down

"My son Rechad is very innocent," his mother said.

"He is not a troublemaker.

"He's got his own business, he looks after his family very well, and he's a church boy, every Sunday he takes his son to the church."

When officers arrived, they were told two groups had been arguing outside a home before a fight ensued.

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The violence lasted for several minutes, drawing neighbours out of their homes.

"The friends were like pulling each other apart. He said, 'No, trust me, go back inside', and one of them was putting on a balaclava," a neighbour who witnessed the ordeal told 9News.

"His mum came out and he was telling them, 'Make sure she's safe, make sure everything's alright', while he's bleeding out."

READ MORE: Sydney driver allegedly makes Nazi salute before road rage assault

Bechara is a construction worker, MMA fighter, and father of a one-year-old.

Paramedics treated him for non-life-threatening injuries before he was taken to hospital in a stable condition, where he remained today.

Despite some people who were allegedly involved in the fight fleeing, the riot squad was called in to de-escalate the situation. 

Police are reviewing CCTV footage to identify the dozens of people involved.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make an online report.

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One player will be feeling especially happy after tonight’s draw.

Three Māori providers also complained her behaviour undermined Māori culture.

The seven people received a range of injuries, from minor bruising to a fractured skull.

Three survivors, aged 17, 21 and 46, remain in hospital with critical injuries.

Waikato business said it had not been trading since September 2022 and was insolvent.

The NSW government has urged the federal government to review the capital gains tax, saying it is having a damaging effect on housing affordability and home ownership and is disproportionately skewed to benefit wealthy investors over first-home buyers.

The capital gains tax (CGT) discount, a 50 per cent reduction on investments held for over 12 months, was welcomed when it was first introduced by the Howard government in 1999, but has more recently been blamed for contributing to the country's housing crisis.

In a submission to a select committee investigating the discount, NSW Treasury called for it to be reduced or reworked due to the "major implications" it has had across Australia, but particularly in the state.

READ MORE: RBA governor takes stand against Donald Trump

"While intended to encourage long-term investment, the discount has contributed to increased investor demand for property, placing upward pressure on housing prices and exacerbating affordability challenges," the submission read.

"These effects have, in turn, made it more difficult for first-home buyers to enter the market, contributing to declining home ownership rates."

Australian home ownership rates have dropped from 71 per cent in 1999-00 to 66 per cent in 2019-20, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

The decline was also seen in lending patterns.

Data calculated by the Treasury showed $13 billion was lent to investors and $10 billion was lent to first-home buyers in Australia in 1994.

Last year, $139 billion was lent to investors, more than double the $64 billion lent to first-home buyers.

READ MORE: West Wing actor surrenders to police over child sex abuse allegations

Treasury wrote that the CGT discount benefited higher-income earners the most, and reducing the discount would reduce demand from investors and lead to either lower property prices or slower increases in property prices.

"The scale of the concession, its concentration among wealthier investors, and its role in distorting investment behaviour, particularly in the housing market, all highlight the importance of reconsidering the current settings," the submission read. 

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly ruled out any changes to the discount.

Labor has campaigned for CGT discount reductions in the 2016 and 2019 elections, but lost both times to the Coalition.

Australia has lost $23 billion in potential revenue due to the discount, with $8.7 billion of that from NSW.

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At least 22 people have been killed and another 79 are injured after a crane collapsed onto a train in Thailand.

It is believed a train travelling north from Bangkok was derailed when a construction crane fell onto a carriage as it was passing through Ban Thanon Khot in Nakhon Ratchasima.

A further seven people are feared dead after a car caught fire nearby.

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The State Railway of Thailand confirmed 195 people were travelling on the train when the crane fell.

The accident occurred about 9am local time (approx. 1pm AEDT) when a crane being used in the construction of a high-speed rail bridge fell onto a train.

Some of the passengers were school students, according to authorities.

Rescue operations are under way.

The State Railway said there would be a "thorough" investigation into how the incident occurred.

More to come.