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In the sun-drenched province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, a chilling scene unfolded under the unassuming guise of an afternoon at a local fruit shop. What seemed like a simple business operation turned into a grim crime tableau, concealing more than just the fresh produce on display. The lifeless body of Ittiphat, more colloquially known as Pond, lay outside his humble fruit shop. At just 29 years old, Pond’s journey from a notorious drug dealer to a self-proclaimed reformed fruit vendor had reached a tragic conclusion. Clad in a black t-shirt and matching shorts, he bore the unmistakable marks of a violent end—three gunshots that signed his untimely death warrant. Yet amidst this tragic scene, an unexpected item caught the eye of investigators— a torn gold necklace clasped tightly in Pond’s left hand. In the midst of this planned chaos, suspicion stirred with whispers of deception. The necklace, valued at approximately…

In a move that has stirred quite the controversy, a prominent political activist has called for the introduction of legislation that would ban individuals under the age of 22 from engaging in sexual activities. This proposal comes as an effort to curb the rising number of HIV cases in Thailand, which has become a growing concern. During a parliamentary session, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Chaichana Daecho, acknowledged the surge in HIV infections among young Thais, emphasizing the ministry’s commitment to tackling the issue. The goal is ambitious—to slash new HIV infections to fewer than 1,000 cases per year and to reduce HIV-related deaths to under 4,000 annually. The first phase of this campaign focuses on spreading awareness about HIV among students, particularly those at the university level. As a proactive measure, the government intends to distribute free condoms to teenagers, promoting the practice of safe sex. Just yesterday, July…

In a recent string of unfortunate events on the bustling streets of Pattaya, a young bartender named Thanakrit Sanamphon—affectionately called Jay by those who know him—found himself at the receiving end of a reckless driver’s carelessness. As the night stretched beyond twilight into the early hours of July 8th, Jay was en route home, riding his trusty Kawasaki Z900. Everything seemed routine until he approached the Naklua traffic lights on the ever-busy Sukhumvit Road, heading towards Chon Buri. The tranquility of his journey was abruptly shattered when a white Honda City, driven by someone appearing to be late for a date with disaster, disregarded the glaring red light. The vehicle made a brazen right turn, colliding with Jay’s motorbike. The impact sent Jay and his bike soaring into a stationary pickup truck, causing not just physical but emotional turbulence. Despite the severity of the crash, Jay was fortunate to escape…

At the break of dawn in bustling Bangkok, law enforcement officers uncovered a staggering 2.75 million methamphetamine pills nestled within the confines of an unassuming black Mitsubishi Pajero. This vehicle, laden with ill-gotten narcotics, belonged to one Samrit, a 36-year-old who had embarked on a dubious journey as a drug courier. His motivations were monetary, scooping up 30,000 baht a ride—a tidy, though illegal, profit. July 8 marked a triumph for Police Lieutenant General Siam Boonsom and his hardworking force from the Metropolitan Police Bureau. Together with seasoned officers from narcotics teams and robust support from the Military Police and Army’s special operations centre, they orchestrated a seamless bust. Intelligence had tipped them off, revealing a clandestine network funneling drugs from the fringes of Bangkok to a shadowy storage in Ramkhamhaeng 112 alley, all ready to permeate the local community. The day was punctuated by high-stakes drama at 1.40am. Officers…

Military personnel, alongside paramilitary forces, disrupted a motorcycle smuggling operation along the Thai-Cambodia border, arresting one person while seven others evaded capture. Eight motorcycles, popular in Cambodia, were seized yesterday, July 8. Police had received intelligence regarding the smuggling of stolen and untaxed motorcycles destined for Cambodia. Security forces lie in wait along agricultural routes …

The story Thai forces disrupt cross-border motorcycle smuggling operation as seen on Thaiger News.

Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Visits Former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte Inside ICC Detention Facility RODRIGO DUTERTE – The former President wants cremation of his remains if he dies during his detention in The Netherlands. Former Pres. Duterte was arrested by the Philippine authorities last March 11. His custody was immediately transferred to the International Criminal Court ... Read more

The post Rodrigo Duterte Wants Cremation if He Dies during Detention in Netherlands appeared first on PhilNews.

IT is a Tuesday evening and the room is buzzing with the sound of people chatting over a cuppa.

Around 40 people, aged 20 to 60, are gathered at Woodley Baptist Church, near Reading.

Lorna Roach

Sarah Ibrahim, 43, reveals she spent £150,000 over 15 years on coke – and couldn’t afford to buy her son a pair of cheap pyjamas[/caption]

Supplied

Sarah, pictured when she was an addict and, right, now[/caption]

Joining them, it feels just like I’m attending a mid-week social.

But this is a meeting of Cocaine Anonymous, where participants hope to be saved from an addiction that, in many cases, has come close to killing them.

Meeting rules dictate that what’s said in the room, stays in the room.

But later, Sarah Ibrahim, 43 — tells me how she spent £150,000 over 15 years on coke.

It left her with no money to buy her six-year-old son Marshall a pair of cheap pyjamas.

“I would be up most of the night, doing lines of coke at 2am, 3am, or 4am by torchlight,” says Sarah, who lived with her mum at the time.

“Then my son would come in at 5am and say, ‘Mummy, mummy’.

“I had no energy. I wasn’t working, but I would easily spend £80 to £100 a day.

“I owed a lot of people money and, by the time I stopped, I owed £22,000 on credit cards.

“Over a 15-year period, I spent £150,000 on cocaine, but I didn’t have enough money to buy my son a £6 pair of pyjamas from Primark. I hated myself.”

Sarah attended a few CA sessions as a student in 2010, after her then-boyfriend discovered she had spent her student loan on cocaine.

“He kicked me out, so I had to be seen to be doing something,” says Sarah, from East London. “But it wasn’t the right time for me.”

Her coke habit continued on and off and, when she got pregnant with Marshall following a one-night stand, she told herself she had quit for good.

‘Out of my shell’

But a few months after his birth, she accepted a line. During early lockdowns, her habit was getting out of control.

But on May 21, 2021, she did coke for the last time. “Nobody was more surprised than me,” says Sarah, now a recovery coach.

“That last time, I thought, ‘I don’t even want this’.”

Cocaine Anonymous is less well known than Alcoholics Anonymous, yet each week there are 950 CA meetings across the UK. The organisation was set up in 1982 in Los Angeles by a member of the film industry.

In Britain, cocaine use is rife, with the domestic market estimated to be worth £4billion a year, according to the Priory Group. There are approximately 976,000 users each year and half of those suffer from cocaine- induced psychosis.

I owed a lot of people money and, by the time I stopped, I owed £22,000 on credit cards.

Sarah Ibrahim

I’ve been granted a rare invitation to a CA meeting, which follows a similar format to AA.

There are the same 12 Steps, which range from admitting to being powerless over the drug that has you in its hold to a “spiritual awakening”.

The meeting starts with the attendees — men and women — saying their name, followed by the word “addict”. At the front of the room, the host — a former addict — and the “sharer” tell their story.

Other mums I speak to afterwards lay bare the devastation caused by their cocaine addiction.

A recurring theme is the fear their children would find them dead —or, at times, how things were so bad they wished they were no longer here.

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Sarah, pictured before turning her life around, is now a qualified recovery coach[/caption]

Parents were also terrified social services would take their children away.

Jenny, 39, a mum of three, had her first line of coke at a party in London at 16. “I felt very glamorous and grown-up,” she says.

“Cocaine made me feel I could come out of my shell.”

Within a month she was hooked, taking the drug four or five times a week.

At 20, Jenny got pregnant. During that time,“I would be in my house and think people were coming for me,” she says. “It started to drive me mad.”

Jenny fled to Surrey to get away from the drugs scene, but there was no escape.

“I was on 2-3 grammes a day, spending £100-£150,” she says. Sometimes, she would have her first line at 9am.

“I was working in customer service and sometimes I’d have it at work.

“I’d lie in bed each night, praying, ‘Please keep me alive’.

“One day I thought, ‘I can’t do this any more’. I went to CA.”

That was nearly three years ago and Jenny has not taken cocaine since. “Each day is a miracle,” she says.

Cocaine made me feel I could come out of my shell.

Mum-of-three Jenny

Helen, 54, from London, has a son aged 13 and an 11-year-old daughter with autism. “I lived on a council estate where it was all around,” she says.

“I was drinking alcohol at 14, speed at 18, then heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.

“In my twenties, I had my elder son. My family brought him up. I wasn’t present.”

Not long after she turned 40, Helen became pregnant again. But she was still taking a variety of drugs.

When she went into labour, it was evident to doctors and nurses at the hospital she had a serious addiction.

Social services turned up. “They told me I wouldn’t be able to leave with the baby,” she says. “I was frightened.”

Social services gave Helen support. She replaced heroin with methadone, but was still secretly drinking.

Alamy

In Britain, cocaine use is rife, with the domestic market estimated to be worth £4billion a year, according to the Priory Group[/caption]

Nine months after her son’s birth, a key worker introduced her to CA.

“That was the start of my recovery,” says Helen, who was reunited with her son when he was two and now helps other female addicts.

“It’s so important for women to know about anonymity. Countless women will not get help because they fear social services will take their kids.”

Katie, 55, has five children aged between 12 and 32, and is separated.

She began taking coke after meeting a boyfriend who dealt it.

“I was working as a contracts manager, I drank a lot and cocaine sobered me up,” she says.

“I would sit with people who smoked crack, sniffed cocaine. I was taking whatever I could get my hands on.”

Katie’s life soon spiralled out of control. “One day in 2011 I walked into a pub and went into a six-week drinking blackout. When I came round, I’d jog on the spot to try to remember where I’d been. Once, my daughter, who was 15 at the time, came in while I was jogging.

“I panicked. I had no idea where my younger kids were.

“My daughter said, ‘Don’t you remember picking them up from school?’.

“I just wanted my life to end. I couldn’t see myself ever being a decent mother.”

Friends suggested CA and, on May 15, 2011, Katie attended her first meeting.

“For 90 days, I went to a meeting every day,” she says. “I haven’t had a drink or drugs in 14 years, I graduated with a psychology degree in 2023. I’m proud of that.”

As the Woodley meeting ends, attendees gather in a circle and put their arms around one other’s backs.

It’s a moment of unity that sustains them ’til next time.

• To find a CA meeting, either search online for Cocaine Anonymous or download the CA Meeting Finder app.
• *Some names and details have been changed.

A DIY enthusiast has revealed that rather than splashing the cash on a posh water feature, she decided to make her own.

The bargain hunter and savvy mum who is from the UK, used two cheap buys from Temu to turn a plant pot into a DIY display – and people think it looks “beautiful.”

tiktok/@the_restingrichface

If you’re looking to add style to your outside space and want to make your own water feature, you’ve come to the right place[/caption]

tiktok/@the_restingrichface

Here, a bargain hunter reveals how she made a DIY water feature for less than £8.50 – and there’s “no fuss” involved[/caption]

Not only this, but Emma, who often shares cleaning and crafts content online, explained that with her garden project, there’s “no fuss” involved.

Posting on social media, Emma demonstrated how she used just two products from Temu to add style to her garden.

She explained that she already had a large plant pot and slate stones, but used a solar fountain and silver gazing balls from Temu to keep the costs down.

Emma spent £8.41 in total – just £4.44 on the solar fountain pump and £3.97 on the stainless steel gazing balls. 

To create the water feature, Emma placed a cheap plant pot into a larger, more stylish plant pot she already had, that she originally purchased from Home Bargains.

She then filled the pot with slate stones, which she had previously purchased from B&Q.

Following this, she added the solar fountain to the pot and poured in some water.

According to Emma, the affordable solar fountain has “no wires” and is “no fuss.”

With Emma’s water feature, all you need is sunlight and water, for what Emma described as “instant zen vibes.” 

The mother finished off the water feature by adding the silver balls to the large pot to “add a touch of reflective decor.” 

The content creator’s daughters even got involved in the process too, as she beamed: “The girls enjoyed helping.” 

Clearly thrilled with her bargain water feature, Emma described it as “affordable, stylish and fun to make.” 

And it’s clear that others are equally as impressed with Emma’s garden project, as her TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @the_restingrichface, has quickly racked up 48,600 views, 533 likes and 26 comments.  

Love it!!! The balls really make it look special!!!! Well done girls

TikTok user

DIY fans eagerly raced to the comments, keen to praise Emma’s “adordable” water feature. 

One person said: “Love it.” 

Another added: “Love it!!! The balls really make it look special!!!! Well done girls.” 

A third simply described it as “beautiful,” whilst a fourth commented: “Adordable.”

Meanwhile, someone else wondered: “How did you secure the balls?”

To this, Emma replied and confirmed: “They are just placed in. I haven’t secured them. They just add a nice extra touch.” 

At the same time, another user asked: “Do you find you need to keep topping up the water?”

In response, Emma wrote back and shared: “Yes we top it up occasionally… but it’s not too bad.” 

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IT may be July but shoppers are already stocking up for Christmas thanks to a super sale at B&M.

The high street retailer has slashed the prices of numerous toys in stores, with many being as low as £1.

FACEBOOK/EXTREMECOUPONINGANDBARGAINSUK

Shoppers are rushing to snap up discounted toys at B&M[/caption]

FACEBOOK/EXTREMECOUPONINGANDBARGAINSUK

There are numerous items in the sale, including £5 Ninja Turtle toys[/caption]

One shopper took to the Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK to show off the purse-friendly items they spotted, which could be perfect for kids.

First up they spotted a Tiffany’s pet shop which was reduced to just £3, and included pets and accessories. 

Next up were Ninja Turtles toys, which were down to £5, and had a number of characters to collect.

There was also a £1 Paw Patrol adventure case, and a £1 remote controlled car.

The bargain hunter also spotted Disney Lego down to £13.99 and £7 ‘magical’ colouring sets, which looked like they could keep youngsters entertained for hours.

She found the items in the Newcastle store, but people seemed keen to check their local stores too.

Many people said they wanted to stock up ahead of December to be organised.

One said: “We need to go and start for Christmas.”

Another added: “We could call and get some for Christmas.”

And a third commented: “we should start our Xmas shopping lol.”

Meanwhile, we shared how B&M has launched a huge Specialbuys sale as it tries to rival Aldi with prices starting at just 98p.

The beloved bargain store started the discount bonanza on July 7, giving customers just a few days to wait.

Products in store include a Kids Home 4 Cube Storage container for £12 and a blush double duvet set for £10.

FACEBOOK/EXTREMECOUPONINGANDBARGAINSUK

Some of the cheapest items included this £1 car and £1 Paws Patrol case[/caption]

FACEBOOK/EXTREMECOUPONINGANDBARGAINSUK

There were also Lego Disney items in the B&M sale[/caption]

The chain will also roll out a number of pet products including cat toys for 98p.

B&M will also sell a stylish bedside drawer for £14, with similar products advertised on Dunelm for £79.

Like Aldi, B&M said it’s Specialbuy offers will only be available for a limited time so if you are keen to shop the products you will have to be quick.

INTEREST in buying or plunging money into Super League has taken a step forward, with FIVE parties looking at investing.

And the NRL’s curiosity remains, with a proposed move to 14 teams for either 2026 or 2027 not thought to impact that.

SWPIX.COM

SunSport understands two groups from the Middle East, another pair from the USA and one from the UK have progressed their moves.

That involves requesting further information from Super League and signing non-disclosure agreements.

Talks of how any investment will affect the competition – what deciding role they may play, what return can be expected on investment and what exactly will they be investing in – are also ongoing.

One source described it as ‘slow-going stuff but moving in the right direction’ and a formal offer is not expected until about September.

Likewise, the much-discussed NRL interest in having a ‘heavy managerial influence’ has not actually become formal yet.

If it does, it is expected that will not involve a straight-cash investment, but offering better commercial deals.

Rugby league is currently undergoing a ‘club-led strategic review’ headed by former Rugby Football League chief executive Nigel Wood, who is now chairman of RL Commercial.

And while 14 teams is on the agenda, either for 2026 or 2027, along with ditching strategic partner IMG, it is believed no decisions have yet been made.

But talk of an expansion putting off the NRL is thought to be off the mark, with an insider insisting they are ‘not bothered about the number of clubs.’

However, firm choices may be made at a meeting of all clubs at Wakefield on July 15.