Noi Nilthes after his surrender on Nov. 6, 2019 in Khao Chakan, Sa Kaeo.
SA KAEO — A manhunt for drug suspects who staged a dramatic breakout from a Pattaya court came to an end Wednesday with one of the fugitives attempting to kill himself and police arresting the other two.
Bart Allen Helmus briefly held his wife and accomplice Sirinapa Wisetrit as a hostage at gunpoint as police were closing on them in Sa Kaeo province. He then shoots Sirinapa before turning the gun on himself. The other suspect, Noi Nilthes, also surrendered himself to the police on the same day.
Although initial reports from the scene said Helmus died from the gunshot wound, police later said he survived with serious injuries.
Noi stabbed a guard at the court building before fleeing the custody with Helmus and Sirinapa. The guard was hospitalized with injuries to his torso.
Sa Kaeo provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Prasai Chittisonthi said a province-wide police operation was launched on Tuesday to search for fleeing suspects, who were considered to be armed and dangerous.
Prasai said the operation involves more than 300 officers, drones, and a paramotor to provide a vantage point from the sky.
Two people were also apprehended on Tuesday for helping the suspects in a getaway.
According to the police, a man identified as “Max” had been seen dropping off a pickup truck – which was used as a getaway car by the suspects – outside the Rojana Industrial Estate in Chonburi on Tuesday before his girlfriend “Orn” rode a motorcycle to collect Max from the scene.
The identity of the helpers has not been released, but the police said they have a close connection with Noi.
A 50,000 baht bounty was offered by the police for information which leads to the recapture of suspects.
The trio were previously arrested on an allegation of possessing 1 kilogram of crystal meth and up to 229,000 tablets of amphetamine.
Pattaya acting police chief Col. Thanapong Phothi said the suspects have been charged with attempted murder of a police officer and possession of firearms as a result of their escape.
At least three getaway cars have been used in the apparent coordinated escape, the police said. Investigation is underway on how the suspects managed to obtain the weapons used in their breakout.
Sirinapa after her arrest on Nov. 6, 2019 in Khao Chakan, Sa Kaeo.Shirtless Noi surrendering to the police on Nov. 6, 2019 in Khao Chakan, Sa Kaeo.
Embroidered robes prepared for Pope Francis’ visit to Thailand in November 2019.
BANGKOK — Pope Francis will don liturgical robes made of Thai silk during his visit to the country in two weeks.
Twelve tailors are working 10 hours a day to create over 200 vestments to be worn by Pope Francis and accompanying bishops. The robes are made of Thai silk and produced by the famed silk purveyor Jim Thompson, according to a statement released Tuesday by Thai Catholic officials.
There are two designs of chasubles, or the outermost vestment worn by clergy when presiding a mass.
The gold and white chasuble will be worn by Pope Francis during the Holy Mass at the National Stadium on Nov. 21, while the red chasuble has been chosen for the Holy Mass for youths at Assumption Cathedral on Nov. 22.
Sister Sukanya Sukchai.
“Gold and white colors symbolize both the innocence and joyfulness. These colors are chosen because the mass [at the national stadium] falls on the same day as the Presentation of Mary,” liturgy service coordinator Father Peter Chetha Chaiyadej said. “Red represents the reminiscence of St. Cecilia who was a martyr and her love, blood bled for the love of God.”
Both robes will feature Thai bird pattern embroidery, also known as kanok.
“These kanok patterns are a Thai form of art that is adapted to be modern,” Chetha said.
Catholic bishops will wear 120 robes on the first mass, and the other 76 on the second mass. The bishops’ robes, unlike the Pope’s, will be printed rather than embroidered.
Pornsawan Saengpradab, a tailor for Pope Francis’ sacred vestments, said that the Thai Catholic mission only had a couple months to prepare all of the clothes.
“This is the highest honor possible for someone in my career,” Pornsawan said.
Sister Sukanya Sukchai is one of the nuns working on the robes. She says she works from morning until 6pm each day.
“I’m honored to serve God and the church in Thailand each day,” she said.
Security officers investigate a suspected insurgent attack in Yala province on Oct. 28, 2019.
HATYAI, Thailand (AP) — Thai police say attackers fired into security checkpoints in southern Thailand and killed 14 volunteer officers.
Pol. Col. Thaweesak Thongsongsi, a superintendent in a police station in Yala province, said an unknown number of assailants used heavy weapons in the attack late Tuesday night that also injured five volunteer officers.
A Muslim separatist insurgency has left about 7,000 people dead since 2004 in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. Police, teachers and other government representatives are often targets of the violence.
Thaweesak said Wednesday that several other incidents were reported in the area. A small explosive was found placed near an electrical pole to knock out power, and nails were scattered on a highway to disable vehicles entering Yala. Several burning tires were left at a school.
In this Oct. 31, 2019 photo Frieder Reimold the former Berlin bureau chief of The Associated Press' German service shows an undated photo from late 1989 or early 1990 showing the staff of the Associated Press German service Berlin offices, in his house in Stansdorf near Berlin. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
BERLIN (AP) — After months of overtime writing about upheaval and protests in East Germany, AP’s Frieder Reimold settled in on Nov. 9, 1989, to watch a televised evening briefing by Guenter Schabowski, a member of the Communist country’s Politburo.
History didn’t give Reimold a break that night. About an hour into the rambling news conference, Schabowski mentioned that East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across its border into West Germany. Pressed on when the new regulations would take effect, he looked at his notes and stammered, “As far as I know, this enters into force … this is immediately, without delay.”
It was so offhanded that it took Reimold a little time to recognize the implications of the statement — that East Germany was opening the Berlin Wall and the heavily fortified border with West Germany. Carefully, Reimold, then the Berlin bureau chief of The Associated Press’ German service, typed out what has become his iconic alert: “DDR oeffnet Grenzen” — “East Germany opens borders.”
This Oct. 31, 2019 photo shows an original print from iconic Associated Press German service news alert, “DDR oeffnet Grenze,” or “East Germany opens border” in Stansdorf near Berlin. Frieder Reimold was the AP staffer who sent out the iconic AP news alert that further accelerated events that night. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
At first, nothing happened. In the days before the smartphone, news traveled more slowly. But less than one hour later, as West German broadcasters and West Berlin radio station RIAS began picking up the AP alert at the top of the hour in their news programs, East Berliners began jamming border crossings in Berlin. Border guards had received no orders to let anyone across, but within hours gave up trying to hold back the crowds.
“This was the alert that changed the course of the night,” Reimold says, looking back as Germany celebrates the 30-year-anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The alert sped up a development that sooner or later would have been inevitable in any case.”
Built in 1961, the Wall stood for 28 years at the front line of the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets.
It had carved a 156.4-kilometer (97.2-mile) swath through Berlin’s heart and the surrounding countryside, and through the hearts of many of its people. Seeming as permanent as death, it cut off East Germans from the supposed ideological contamination of the West and stemmed the tide of people fleeing East Germany.
Despite the formidable obstacle and threat of stiff punishment, many tried to escape by tunneling under it, swimming past it, climbing or flying over it. At least 140 people died in the attempt, according to the latest academic research.
This Nov. 10, 1989 file photo shows East and West Berliners celebrating in front of a control station on East Berlin territory, during the opening of the borders to the West following the announcement by the East German government that the border to the West would be open. Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (AP Photo/Jockel Finck, File)
In the weeks leading up to Schabowski’s announcement the pressure had been building, with street protests in Leipzig, East Berlin and elsewhere. Thousands of East Germans had fled the country by seeking refuge in the West German embassy in Prague.
“As reporters and journalists, we had experienced everything up-close and under extreme pressure,” recalled Reimold, 75, who retired a decade ago. “We had cracked lips and red eyes from the exhaustion, we felt like we couldn’t go on any longer.”
Nobody had expected the border to be opened as quickly as it happened, however — and certainly not with such a humdrum announcement, which Reimold strained to listen to in the din of the AP’s West Berlin newsroom.
“One colleague was sitting next to the TV across the room from me and screaming over everything Schabowski had said, which was quite awkward,” Reimold remembered. “I had to simultaneously listen to him, listen to what Schabowski was saying on TV and at the same time write about it.”
In this early Friday morning, Nov. 10, 1989 file photo, East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall which has divided the city since the end of World War II, near the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). The citizens facing the West celebrate the opening of the order that was announced by the East German Communist government hours before. (AP Photo/Jockel Finck, File)
Despite the confusion, Reimold sent out his alert at 7:05 p.m. Other wire services alerted the news as well, but none went so far that moment as to say that Schabowski’s announcement in fact meant that East Germany had opened its border.
Reimold’s AP alert is widely seen as having helped nudge the process along, and in a nod to its significance his words are today immortalized in a plaque in the sidewalk on Bornholmer Strasse, the border crossing where people first walked over from East to West.
That night, Reimold worked until 2 a.m. When he had finally sent out his last report, he got up and walked over to the office window overlooking the corner of Fasanenstrasse and Kurfuerstendamm — West Berlin’s most glamourous boulevard. Thousands of people from both parts of the city were streaming past the glitzy stores, drinking beer, celebrating freedom.
“And then along comes this little Trabi,” Reimold remembers, using the nickname for the typical East German Trabant cars. “It stops, scared, doesn’t know what to do with all the masses ahead.”
In this Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019 photo Frieder Reimold the former Berlin bureau chief of The Associated Press’ German service casts his shadow on the ground at a remembrance plug with the AP news alert “DDR oeffnet Grenze,” or “East Germany opens border” during an interview with the Associated Press in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
“Until somebody in the crowd notices what’s going on, pulls open the car’s doors, gets other people to join, and all of them bang their hands on the roof of the car and say: ‘Welcome, welcome, welcome to the West!’”
This was the moment, Reimold said, that he realized something in Germany had “definitively changed and was irreversible.”
“And that’s when I noticed that tears were running down my cheeks,” he said.
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Randy Herschaft and Francesca Pitaro contributed reporting from New York.
In this Aug. 12, 2019, photo, pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho, left, attends a demonstration of an anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
HONG KONG (AP) — An anti-government supporter stabbed and wounded a pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker who was campaigning for local elections Wednesday, police said, marking another escalation in five months of protests demanding political reforms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
The government condemned the attack against Junius Ho and said police arrested the assailant. A police official, who requested anonymity as he isn’t authorized to make statements, says Ho, his assistant and the attacker were hospitalized.
Ho told reporters after an initial treatment that the stab left a minor 2-centimer (0.79-inch) deep wound and was blocked by his rib cage.
A video circulating on social media showed a young man giving flowers to Ho before asking permission to snap a picture with him. Instead, he drew a knife from his bag and stabbed Ho’s chest but was quickly overpowered by Ho and several others.
The man kept hurling abuses at Ho, calling him “human scum.”
Ho has become a hate figure in the protest movement over his alleged links with armed masked men in white T-shirts who had violently attacked demonstrators and passengers at a subway station in northern Yuen Long on July 21.
At least 45 people were injured in the attack that marked a dark turn in the unrest and raised accusations that police, who were slow to arrive, colluded with the attackers. Police later said members of triad gangs, a branch of organized crime, were involved in the attack. Ho was seen shaking hands with some of the attackers that night.
Ho, whose constituency includes Yuen Long, denied colluding with triads. He claimed he bumped into the men after dinner and had thanked them for “defending their homes” but claimed he didn’t know about the violence until later.
Protesters have thrashed Ho’s office several times and desecrated his parents’ graves.
The protests began in early June against a now-abandoned extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be sent for trials in mainland China, which many saw as infringing of Hong Kong’s judicial freedoms and other rights that were guaranteed when the former British colony returned to China in 1997. The movement has since grown into calls for greater democracy and police accountability.
More than 3,300 people have been arrested. In another bloody incident Sunday night, a knife-wielding man believed to be a Beijing supporter slashed two people after an argument and bit off part of a local politician’s ear outside a mall. Police have arrested the assailant and two men who attacked him.
XIAMEN (Xinhua) — Chinese space engineers are tackling the key technologies needed to explore a near-Earth asteroid and a main-belt comet with one space probe.
The proposed mission is to send a probe around an asteroid named 2016HO3 and then land on it to collect samples, Huang Jiangchuan, a researcher from the China Academy of Space Technology, recently told the first China Space Science Assembly in Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province.
The probe will then fly back to the proximity of Earth, and release a capsule to return the samples. After that, the probe will continue its journey. With the assistance of the gravity of Earth and Mars, it will finally arrive at the main asteroid belt and orbit comet 133P, Huang said.
Asteroid 2016HO3 has a very close relationship with Earth and is known as a “mini moon” or a quasi satellite. It has a diameter of about 40 to 100 meters and a density of about 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, said Huang.
“Where is it from? What’s its relationship with the Earth and Moon? Those are questions we want to know,” he said.
The second target, comet 133P, is the first comet found within the main asteroid belt that displays characteristics of both an asteroid and a comet.
Main-belt comets are apparently icy bodies recently discovered within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and have shown comet-like activity during part of their orbit, scientists say.
The largest diameter of the cometary nucleus of 133P is about 5.4 kilometers, and its density is about 1.4 grams per cubic centimeter, Huang said.
“Probing small celestial bodies is a new frontier of space exploration, but with a high threshold. The main difficulties are the micro-gravity, uncertainties and the unknown environment of the small bodies. It’s hard to learn about their shape, composition, structure and other features through observation from Earth,” said Huang.
“We face great technological challenges in exploring asteroids and comets because so little is known about their detailed features,” he added.
“Through ground observation, we presume that asteroid 2016HO3 rotates very fast, making one rotation in about half an hour. The structure of small celestial bodies is usually loose. It’s very hard to land on such fast-rotating small bodies.”
Comet 113P is larger than the first target, but is also largely unknown. It’s at the outer edge of the main asteroid belt, adjacent to Jupiter. Its distance from Earth would make the orbit measurement very difficult, Huang said.
“Another challenge is how we connect the two tasks of exploring the asteroid and then the comet,” he said.
The scientific objective includes studying the formulation and evolution of the solar system, the role of near-Earth asteroid and main-belt comet impacts on the origin of life, and the dynamics of small bodies in the solar system.
The probe will be equipped with advanced scientific detectors, electric propulsion technology, automated navigation and intelligent control functions.
On Dec. 13, 2012, China’s second lunar probe, Chang’e-2, after successfully completing its mission, rendezvoused with the asteroid Toutatis at a distance of 770 meters, as the space rock, bigger than a city block, swept by Earth at a distance of around 7 million kilometers.
It was the world’s first close fly-by observation of Toutatis. The probe took high-resolution images providing a number of discoveries.
“Compared with Japan, Europe and the United States, China is a latecomer in the exploration of asteroids and comets. We need to go faster, and we hope the mission will have multiple goals and can satisfy scientists’ curiosity,” said Huang.
“There are so many small bodies like asteroids and comets in space, but only a few have been detected. The exploration could help us prevent threats to the Earth, as well as exploit their resources.”
The China National Space Administration is pushing forward the asteroid and comet exploration project, and inviting scientists around the world to participate. China has offered to carry instruments developed by other countries on the mission.
Chinese PM Li Keqiang and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok on Nov. 5, 2019.
BANGKOK (Xinhua) — China and Thailand on Tuesday pledged to expand cooperation in various areas and work together to facilitate trade and investment to boost regional connectivity and build a more open world economy.
In a joint press statement released during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s official visit to the Southeast Asian country, the two sides also agreed on closer cooperation and coordination in various multilateral platforms to address growing protectionism.
China and Thailand agreed to respect each other’s development path, share experiences and best practices in national governance, and understand and support each other’s core interests and major concerns.
The two sides said they welcome closer engagements and support more frequent exchanges between the two countries’ government agencies, legislative bodies, political parties, armed forces and local authorities.
Chinese PM Li Keqiang and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok on Nov. 5, 2019.
The two countries, which enjoy a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, highlighted in the statement the significance of economic and infrastructure cooperation in enhancing growth and prosperity of the two countries, the sub-region and the region as a whole.
According to the statement, the two sides agreed to build the China-Thailand railway into a successful example in bilateral cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, and vowed to speed up the implementation of the railway project connecting Thailand’s Nong Khai and Laos’ Vientiane, and increase railway connections among the three countries.
Meanwhile, they agreed to further facilitate bilateral trade and expand cooperation in agricultural trade and e-commerce, and pledged to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in such sectors as next-generation automobile, hi-tech medical equipment, new energy, energy-saving vehicles and rubber.
In the statement, the two sides agreed to boost bilateral cooperation between China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), so as to increase connectivity between the two areas and beyond.
The two sides also pledged to strengthen financial cooperation, expand the use of their currencies in trade and investment, and enhance collaboration on cross-border supervision.
On tourism cooperation, they said they are satisfied with the growing numbers of tourists between the two countries. The leaders of the two countries, according to the statement, have agreed to push forward cooperation in the tourism sector and further increase two-way movement of people.
As for cooperation on innovation, both sides agreed that it is a highlight in the BRI cooperation.
The two sides vowed to push forward projects on communications technology, open innovation centers, high-tech industrial parks and technology transfer centers, and strengthen cooperation in digital economy, smart cities and other fields. They agreed to jointly build a Digital Silk Road.
In a bid to promote their economic and social prosperity and sustainable development, China and Thailand agreed to further expand cooperation in science, technology and innovation through joint research and development programs, researcher exchanges and technology transfer.
Chinese PM Li Keqiang and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok on Nov. 5, 2019.
Additionally, the two sides agreed to explore cooperation in such fields as biology, green circular economy and cutting-edge technology.
On education and people-to-people exchanges, China and Thailand expressed satisfaction with cooperation within the framework of the current memorandum of understanding on education cooperation, and agreed to strengthen education cooperation at all levels and in all fields through such efforts as joint education, special exchanges, academic exchanges and distance learning.
The two countries also pledged to strive for concrete outcomes in bilateral cultural exchanges, and agreed to jointly organize cultural events next year to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.
What’s more, China and Thailand, the statement said, agreed to increase cooperation and coordination in such platforms as the United Nations (UN), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Asia-Europe Meeting, and safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
China and Thailand also pledged to work together to safeguard the rules-based multilateral trade system, and jointly make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.
The two sides said they are satisfied with the strong, stable and reciprocal relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
China and Thailand will make more efforts to maintain the vitality of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership and make the partnership a key pillar of peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development in the region, the statement said.
Chinese PM Li Keqiang and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok on Nov. 5, 2019.
The two countries also said they support relevant parties to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, calling for more practical cooperation in such field as marine environment protection to make the South China Sea a sea of peace, stability and prosperity.
As for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), both countries welcomed the conclusion of the text-based negotiations of the RCEP agreement by relevant parties and pledged to work together to resolve the outstanding issues so as to sign the agreement in 2020, according to the statement.
In his four-day stay in Thailand, the Chinese premier also attended the 22nd China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting, the 22nd ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) leaders’ meeting, and the 14th East Asia Summit.
Austin Cloes points to a photo of relatives Rhonita Miller and her family, who were killed in Mexico, on a computer screen Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, in Herriman, Utah. Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering at least six children and three women all of them U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk, authorities said Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering six children and three women — all U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico — in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk, authorities said Tuesday.
The dead included 8-month-old twins. Eight youngsters were found alive after escaping from the vehicles and hiding in the brush. But at least five had gunshot wounds or other injuries and were being treated in the U.S., where they were listed as stable, officials and relatives said.
One woman was killed after she apparently jumped out of her vehicle and waved her hands to show she wasn’t a threat, according to family members and prosecutors.
Mexican Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said the gunmen may have mistaken the group’s large SUVs for those of rival gangs.
The bloodshed took place Monday in a remote, mountainous area in northern Mexico where the Sinaloa cartel has been engaged in a turf war. The victims had set out to visit relatives in Mexico; one woman was headed to the airport in Phoenix to meet her husband.
Chihuahua state police officers man a checkpoint in Janos, Chihuahua state, northern Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
While a drug-related violence has been raging for years in Mexico, the attack underscored the way cartel gunmen have become increasingly unconcerned about killing children as collateral damage. Around the ambush scene, which stretched for miles, investigators found over 200 shell casings, mostly from assault rifles.
“Lately it’s getting worse. This is a whole new level,” said Taylor Langford, a relative of the dead who splits his time between the Mexican community and his home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Herriman, Utah.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump offered to help Mexico “wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth.” But Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected that approach, saying his predecessors waged war, “and it didn’t work.”
The victims lived in Sonora state, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Douglas, Arizona, in the hamlet of La Mora, which was founded decades ago by an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many La Mora residents call themselves Mormons but are not affiliated with the church.
A number of such American farming communities are clustered around the Chihuahua-Sonora state border. Many members were born in Mexico and have dual citizenship. While some of the splinter groups were once polygamous, many no longer are.
All of the victims were apparently related to the extended LeBaron family in Chihuahua, whose members have run afoul of the drug traffickers over the years. Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who founded neighborhood patrols against cartels, was killed in 2009.
“My younger boys went to school with two of those boys. They found out in school what had happened,” said Brent LeBaron, a relative who was working construction in Montana when he received the news. “It was heartbreaking to hear their cries and sadness.”
Prosecutors said the woman who waved her arms, Christina Langford Johnson, was found 15 yards (meters) away from her Suburban van, shot to death. Her 7-month-old daughter, Faith Marie Johnson, was discovered uninjured in her car seat.
Kendra Miller, a relative, wrote that the baby’s car seat “seemed to be put on the floor by her mother to try and protect her. … She gave her life to try and save the rest.”
A short distance away, Dawna Ray Langford, 43, lay dead in the front seat of another Suburban, along with the bullet-riddled bodies of her sons, ages 11 and 2.
Of the children who escaped, one had been shot in the face, another in the foot. One girl suffered gunshot wounds to her back and foot.
Cowering in the brush, one boy hid the other children and then walked back to La Mora to get help. Another girl, who was initially listed as missing, walked off in another direction, despite her gunshot wounds, to get help.
A group of male relatives set out to try to rescue the youngsters but turned back when they heard gunfire ahead.
A relative of the dead who did not want his name used for fear of retaliation said in an interview that when they finally made it to the scene where the ambush started — about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from where the two other mothers were killed — they found a burned-out Chevy Tahoe.
Inside, they saw the charred remains of Rhonita Miller, 30, her 10-year-old daughter, a son, 12, and her 8-month-old twins. They were “burnt to a crisp,” the relative said.
The gunmen had riddled the vehicle with dozens of bullets and apparently hit the gas tank, causing it to explode.
“When we were there, the cartels from Sonora, there were probably 50 or 60 of them, armed to the teeth, about a mile on this side,” said the relative.
Aaron Staddon, a relative living in Arizona, said the five wounded children were recovering at a hospital in Tucson, Arizona, and that the one who was shot in the jaw would require extensive plastic surgery.
Trump tweeted that a “wonderful family” got “caught between two vicious drug cartels.”
He said the U.S. “stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” adding, “The cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!”
But Mexico’s president said: “The worst thing you can have is war.”
Later, the two leaders spoke by telephone, and Trump offered U.S. assistance “to ensure the perpetrators face justice,” the White House said without giving details.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who visited the site of the attack, said Mexico was sharing information about the case with the FBI.
It was the second failure in recent weeks for López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” anti-crime strategy. Two weeks ago, Mexican forces seized a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman but had to release him after cartel henchmen launched a furious counterattack in Culiacan, Sinaloa.
Prosecutors on Tuesday said a suspect was detained near Agua Prieta, but it was unclear whether the person had taken part in the ambush. The suspect had assault rifles and a .50-caliber sniper rifle and was holding two bound kidnap victims, authorities said.
The 2009 killing of Benjamin LeBaron marked a watershed in Mexico’s 2006-12 drug war. Gunmen tortured him in front of his family, then killed him and his brother-in-law.
But those killings — which sparked a further crackdown on cartels — also showed how much worse things have become: No children were killed back then.
In August in Chihuahua, cartel gunmen fired 123 bullets at a man and also killed three girls, ages 4, 13 and 14.
Taylor Langford said after Monday’s bloodshed: “I would like to see the government actually step in and do something about the cartels rather than back down every time they wave their guns at us.”
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Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami contributed to this report.
CPF and CP Group bring the parade of food products that highlight their “Kitchen of the World” mission to China International Import Expo 2019 (CIIE 2019), the world’s largest import expo. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, presided over the grandiose opening ceremony at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.
Mr. Prasit Boondoungprasert, Chief Executive Officer of Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CPF), said that CPF and sister companies under Charoen Pokphand Group are exhibiting fresh and ready-to-eat food products at CP Group’s booth, to reinforce their capability “Kitchen of the World”. The world-class group boasts advanced, integrated and solid production bases that encompass 5 continents.
CPF’s products on show range from fresh to ready-to-eat items, covering the products which have been exported to China and the products which will potentially win Chinese consumers’ hearts. They are exhibited under the “Put Our Heart into Food” concept, to reinforce the brand of an innovative Thai food producer. CPF takes pride in the integrated production system, to deliver safe, high-quality and tasty products through advanced technology. CPF also shows progress in terms of food innovations that address the preferences of consumers at all ages along with responsibility for society and the environment.
“CIIE 2019 provides us a good opportunity to showcase CPF’s food innovations that can answer the needs of new-generation Chinese consumers who possess high-purchasing power and tend to increasingly demand more imports. These consumers have confidence in Thai foods, thanks to the quality. We expect that the participation in the expo will help expand our business in China,” he said.
CPF has put its emphasis on innovations, supported by the CPF RD Center at Wang Noi District, Ayutthaya province. The center sits on vast world-class food technologies, to deliver nutritious food and others that meet Chinese consumers’ demand for better health.
CPF’s product highlights at the expo are both fresh and processed items that show business potential in the Chinese market. These products, supplied by the production bases in Thailand, Vietnam and Europe, include Benja Chicken, U Farm-branded premium chicken meat that derives from 100% natural production process that includes fed by brown rice and zero use of antibiotics: and ready meals jointly created by CPF and leading chefs such as “Moshio Chicken breast Steak”.
Others include CP Selection cage-free chicken eggs from hens that roam freely in closed buildings accordingly to animal welfare standards; fresher-than-usual eggs; premium fresh shrimps; CP Kurobuta pork meat; Kitchen Joy-branded ready meals which are successful in the Scandinavian market; PURE-branded ready-to-eat food products from Belgium that boast shelf life and premium taste through microwave technology, zero additives, zero preservatives and degradable packaging; crispy fish products from Vietnam; and Jerhigh-branded dog food.
At CIIE 2019, CPF also emphasizes added values in terms of economic, social and environmental dimensions. It will present solutions to reduce greenhouse gases, increase clean energy ratio, adopt environmental-friendly packaging, reduce plastic usage, manage wastes, as well as honor human rights principles and labor management best practices. These are expected to help win confidence among Chinese consumers in CPF food products in a sustainable manner.
CIIE 2019 has been hosted for 2nd year. It was pushed by President Xi Jinping, to promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation with all countries across the globe as well as help revive the global economy.
Participating in the expo are over 2,800 companies from 130 countries, who showcase products in 7 focused sectors: sci-tech life, automobile, equipment, medical equipment & health care products, quality life, trade in services as well as food and agriculture products. With 240,000 square meters in exhibition areas, the expo expects to attract more than 150,000 visitors and generate trade worth as much as US$10 trillion.
Bangkok, Thailand, October 21, 2019 – Marriott Thailand Business Council and Operation Smile Thailand together hosted FIGHT NIGHT 2019, charity boxing event raise THB 3.3 Million fund for children with cleft nasal and facial deformity throughout Thailand, on October 10, 2019 at Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park.
After the previous success of FIGHT NIGHT, a fund raising event that aims to better the lives of children with cleft nasal and facial deformity, Marriott Thailand Business Council and Operation Smile Thailand once again hosted FIGHT NIGHT 2019. The 8th edition of the event invited amateur boxers to perform on stage in the charity event which was fashioned after Las Vegas-style extravagance where charitable guests donated to Operation Smile Thailand to give needed surgeries for the children with entry tickets and VIP tables at the ringside.
Mr. Simon Bell, General Manager of Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, said that, “This is another that FIGHT NIGHT concluded with great success. All the proceeds will go to Operation Smile Thailand to give surgeries and give back smiles on the faces of thousands of children in Thailand and beyond, just like we did the years before. As part of Marriott International, the co-organizer, I would like to thank all the support that made FIGHT NIGHT 2019 possible and raised fund for the children as planned. With these efforts and goodwill, we hope that the smiles return to you the same way we smile with pride and joy when giving back to society with an event such as this.”
Apart from the adrenaline rush boxing bouts, guests were treated to scrumptious food and drinks, fun games and giveaway and most importantly the opportunity to better the lives of children with cleft nasal and facial deformity, allowing them to support their family, their communities and their country.
Operation Smile Thailand is one of the world’s largest non-profit medical volunteer organizations. The mission is to give free operations for children with cleft nasal and facial deformity in Thailand and nearby countries. Since 1977, medical and non-medical volunteers as well as staff members of Operation Smile Thailand have been working tirelessly to perform more than 13,000 free surgeries for children in rural areas throughout Thailand. Marriott Thailand Business Council is operated under the resolution “Serve 360 – Doing Good in All Direction” of Marriott International with the determination to give back to the society until the year 2025. Apart from Operation Smile Thailand, Marriott Thailand Business Council has raised fund through various activities such as FIGHT NIGHT and Marriott Thailand Open. Marriott Thailand Business Council is resolved to give back to the communities and create beneficial activities wherever it operates.
