Crime, Courts, Calamity

BANGKOK — A court on Friday has acquitted a prominent singer of the charge of royal defamation, the second time this week a case of such a serious offense has been dropped against an activist.

Chaos erupted in the cave where 12 young footballers and their coach are missing after a rescue worker was said to have been shocked by a short-circuiting water pump.

“If you receive this, please respond quickly,” the note read. “Tell us where you are on the map, everyone here will do their best to rescue you.”

CHIANG RAI — Muddy floodwaters have reached near the entrance of a Thai cave despite attempts to drain the water so rescuers can search farther into the complex for 12 boys and their soccer coach now missing for a sixth day.

BANGKOK — The Department of Special Investigation announced Thursday it will investigate the high-profile disappearance of a Karen activist four years ago.

BANGKOK — A pro-democracy activist Thursday gave information to police about the purveyors of an online hoax which triggered a storm of rape threats against her and her son.

BANGKOK — The authorities on Thursday said they have not yet found the dozen young footballers and their coach who went missing inside a cave nearly a week ago, contrary to rumors on social media.

MILTON, Massachusetts — A onetime boarding school teacher returned to the U.S. from Thailand has pleaded not guilty to child rape charges.

CHIANG RAI — A U.S. military team and British cave experts have joined the rescue effort in northern Thailand for 12 boys and their soccer coach stranded for a fifth day inside a cave being flooded by near-constant rains.

CHIANG RAI — Along a muddy mountain path not far from the entrance to a flooded cave where 12 young members of a Thai soccer team have been missing for four days is a shrine to a mythical princess whose spirit is said to inhabit the caverns below.