https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2025/07/06/brit-jailed-for-child-sex-trafficking-after-2023-prostitution-crackdown-on-pattayas-notorious-soi-6/

British man jailed for 21 years in Thailand for trafficking a 16-year-old girl into prostitution on Pattaya’s notorious Soi 6. William Bilton ran the Flirt Bar, advertised the victim online, sparking a major crackdown on sex trafficking amid efforts to clean up “Sin City.”

A Bangkok court has jailed a British man for more than 21 years for trafficking a girl under 16 in Pattaya. William Reece Bilton, 33, from northern England, ran the Flirt Bar on the city’s infamous Soi 6 strip—a hotspot for sex tourism. He was found guilty of human trafficking and child exploitation by the Criminal Court this week. Bilton had been out on bail since police raided the venue in April 2023. But now, he’s behind bars. The court heard he lured the girl into prostitution and advertised her online. Pattaya, dubbed “Sin City,” has long faced international scrutiny over its seedy underworld. This case is one of the most serious yet.

Tucker Carlson continues to perform historic interviews in the pursuit of journalism, much to the dismay of legacy news outlets
Tucker Carlson has now interviewed the president of Iran
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tucker-carlson-says-air-interview-with-president-iran-2025-07-05/
Tucker Carlson says to air interview with president of Iran

WASHINGTON, July 5 (Reuters) - U.S. conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.

Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which "should be in a day or two."

Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, "What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?"

"There are all kinds of questions that I didn't ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, 'was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the U.S. government a week and a half ago?'" he said.

Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.

Trump said Tehran's nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent U.S. strikes that followed Israel's attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program.

Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/federal-forecast-concerns-surface-in-texas-deadly-flooding-debate/

KERR COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — State and local officials are calling out federal forecasters amid deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the extended Fourth of July weekend. The criticism comes, as funding cuts and staff shortages plague the National Weather Service and other emergency management agencies nationwide.

Texas Department of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd told reporters Friday original forecasts from the National Weather Service predicted 4 to 8 inches of rain in that area, “but the amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”

“Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service, right?” Kidd said. “You all got it, you’re all in media, you got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.”

Kidd added TDEM “worked with our own meteorologist to finetune that weather statement” but did not elaborate on any updated interpretation that would have led to more urgent warnings for evacuations.

The area actually received a much more significant amount of rain that night, with NWS observed totals exceeding 10 inches just west of Kerrville, near where dozens were killed or remain missing – including several children at a summer camp.

Localized LCRA rainfall totals in the region have exceeded 18 inches in some places.

The Guadalupe River in Kerrville measured just under a foot on Thursday, leading up to midnight. At about 4 a.m. Friday, the river rose over 30 feet in less than two hours, according USGS data.

> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2hwXIIGycA

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/mexico/protests-mass-tourism-gentrification-mexico-city-rcna217013

> MEXICO CITY — A protest by hundreds against gentrification and mass tourism that began peacefully Friday in Mexico City neighborhoods popular with tourists turned violent when a small number of people began smashing storefronts and harassing foreigners.

> Masked protesters smashed through the windows and looted high-end businesses in the touristic areas of Condesa and Roma, and screamed at tourists in the area. Graffiti on glass shattered glass being smashed through with rocks read: “get out of Mexico.” Protesters held signs reading “gringos, stop stealing our home” and demanding local legislation to better regulate tourism levels and stricter housing laws.

> Marchers then continued on to protest outside the U.S. Embassy and chanted inside the city’s metro system. Police reinforcements gathered outside the Embassy building as police sirens rung out in the city center Friday evening.

>It marked a violent end to a more peaceful march throughout the day calling out against masses of mostly American tourists who have flooded into Mexico’s capital in recent years.

https://www.tpr.org/border-immigration/2025-07-03/ice-releases-6-year-old-with-leukemia-from-detention-following-lawsuit-public-outcry

Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday released a Honduran family — including a 6-year-old boy with leukemia and his 9-year-old sister — following a lawsuit and mounting public pressure.

The story captured attention for being a stark contradiction from President Trump's promise to target "violent criminals" in mass deportations.

In this case, a mother and her two children showed up to Los Angeles Immigration Court to make their case for asylum.

Like thousands of immigrants across the country, they saw their case quickly dismissed — with ICE agents waiting to arrest them in the hallway.

They were detained and transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where they were held for the last month. During that time, the 6-year-old missed a medical appointment in Los Angeles to be treated for leukemia.

That's when the Texas Civil Rights Project and Columbia University Immigrant Rights Clinic stepped in and filed a lawsuit on their behalf in federal court in San Antonio.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-says-america-party-is-formed-us-2025-07-05/
A day after asking his followers on X whether a new U.S. political party should be created, Elon Musk said on Saturday that the "America Party is formed."
"By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!" he said in a post on X.
"Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom."

The announcement from Musk comes after President Donald Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla fiercely opposed.
Musk spent hundreds of millions on Trump's re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration aimed at slashing government spending, but the two have since fallen out over disagreements about the bill.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk's companies receive from the federal government.
Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

Republicans have expressed concern that Musk's on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

The perp has been at large for over a week and not a single outlet has ID'd her.

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- An employee at a 7-Eleven in Hollywood is brain dead after she was allegedly attacked by a manager, according to the victim's family.

Last Tuesday around 2:10 p.m., Los Angeles police responded to a battery call at the convenience store at Melrose Avenue and N. Arden Boulevard.

Police said there was a fight between two employees. One of the employees, Jessica McLaughlin, was taken to a hospital.

A GoFundMe campaign set up by McLaughlin's family says she was attacked by one of her managers.

Jessica's brother says the manager sat on top of her and didn't let her breathe.

"I don't know what, how we're gonna get past, it's gonna be a hard road, it's gonna be a struggle to get, to get past this one. I can't even explain. I'm just lost, I feel," said Sean McLaughlin.

McLaughlin's family says she's brain dead, and they are raising money for her funeral.

Police say the suspect is not in custody.

"Our hearts are with those impacted during this difficult time," 7-Eleven said in a statement. "The suspect has been terminated, and we continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement in their investigation."

The family's lawyer says they are looking for accountability and justice.

https://abc7.com/post/la-7-eleven-employee-brain-dead-attack-manager-family-says/16906210/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trans-teen-chess-win-germany-192521074.html
In competitive chess, where the clash of queens and bishops usually eclipses cultural warfare, a teenage girl has found herself at the center of Germany’s latest front in the debate over transgender women’s inclusion in sports.

Nora Heidemann, 17, a trans girl from North Rhine-Westphalia, made history this month by winning Germany’s under-18 girls’ chess championship, scoring 7.5 out of nine points and outperforming 27 rivals. Her victory, reported by Apollo News, a German political news outlet, and later detailed in The Times of London, has triggered a fierce conversation over who belongs in women’s competitions — even in pursuits where brainpower, not physical power, rules the day.

Heidemann’s competed in the open U18 division at her state-level event but failed to qualify directly, according to Apollo News. Her legal gender change was finalized only after the deadline for girls’ registration had passed. Ultimately, she secured one of five discretionary “free places,” awarded based on performance ratings, not gender identity, the outlet reports.

Still, her win has fueled skepticism from some quarters of the German chess community. Nadja Jussupow, head of the German Commission for Women’s Chess and a former champion, stated that more trans women have been entering women’s tournaments since Germany’s Self-Determination Act took effect in 2021. The Times reports that she claimed some cisgender women players were considering quitting, fearing unfair competition.

Jussupow suggested a one-year waiting period for newly legally recognized trans women before competing in women’s categories, a proposal that reportedly found support among some women’s chess referees.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/escalating-violence-and-mining-encroachment-spark-protests-in-the-philippines/

1 July, 2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ridsdel

>At the time of the kidnapping, he was retired. Prior to that he had been working for the mining company TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc.,[3] a subsidiary of Canada's TVI Pacific, where he was also a consultant.

>Ridsdel was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in the Philippines on 21 September 2015, in a raid on Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort, on Samal Island in the southern Philippines.[4] After the gunmen disarmed the resort's security guards, they abducted four people from the resort, the Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, the resort's Norwegian marina manager Kjartan Sekkingstad, and a Filipino woman, Teresita Flor.[5]

>The kidnappers later issued demands for a hefty ransom to be paid for the release of the hostages, reportedly 300 million pesos (around $6.5 million) for each of the three foreigners seized. As the deadline lapsed on 25 April 2016, they apparently beheaded Ridsdel.[6] Ridsdel's head was found in a plastic bag in Jolo.[7] A headless body, possibly Ridsdel's, was later found by villagers by a creek bed near Talipao. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an international murder investigation.[8]

The company he worked for was involved in torturing and killing indigenous Lumad people (Lumads are not Muslim btw)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVI_Pacific

>In 2015 TVI was mentioned along with several other mining companies as being the likely beneficiary of a series of government-funded murders of the indigenous Lumads who live in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, an area rich in mineral resources to which these companies would like better access.[3]

Although Islamist Abu Sayyaf didn't care about it, these Canadians were also criminals who helped genocide non-Muslim natives while Canadian media reported in them as they were taking an innocent vacation.