Attackers strike Thai tourist sites

Attackers strike Thai tourist sites

HUA HIN, Thailand

Attackers struck a series of tourist resort towns across southern Thailand with homemade explosives and firebombs in some of the worst violence to hit the country since a military coup two years ago. Police said at least four people were killed and dozens wounded, including 11 foreigners.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks Thursday and Friday, which followed a successful referendum held last weekend on a new constitution that critics say will bolster the military’s power for years to come.

UN OKs stronger Sudan peace force

UNITED NATIONS

United Nations peacekeepers in South Sudan have a robust new mandate and thousands of additional troops despite government opposition to the move, raising the possibility of clashes between blue helmets and the country’s armed forces.

The Security Council on Friday approved a U.S.-drafted resolution granting expanded powers to peacekeepers requiring them to use “all necessary means” to protect U.N. personnel and installations and to take “proactive” measures to protect civilians from threats. The resolution also adds an additional 4,000 soldiers from Africa nations.

Conviction reversed

MADISON, Wis.

A judge on Friday overturned the conviction of a Wisconsin man found guilty of helping his uncle kill a woman in a case profiled in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” ruling that investigators coerced a confession using deceptive tactics.

U.S. Magistrate William Duffin in Milwaukee ordered Brendan Dassey freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry him. The state Department of Justice, which handled the case, declined to comment Friday. The state could also appeal the ruling.

Boy dies in hot car

HELOTES, Texas

A 7-month-old boy died Friday after being left all day in a hot sport utility vehicle in a San Antonio-area Wal-Mart parking lot.

The child’s father is employed at the store in Helotes, a San Antonio suburb, and told officers that he forgot to drop the child off at day care before going to work about 6:15 a.m., said Helotes police Capt. Anthony Burges. When the father finished work and returned to the SUV about 3 p.m., he found his child dead. The father was taken to a hospital after reporting chest pains, Burges said.

No charges have been filed, and the identities of the father and boy have not been released. Temperatures in the area hovered around 100 degrees much of the afternoon.

Brother kills infant; mother is charged

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

A 6-year-old boy beat his newborn sister to death after their 62-year-old mother left her young children alone in a car for more than a half hour while she went to get her cellphone fixed, authorities on Florida’s Gulf Coast said.

Now the mother, Kathleen Marie Steele, is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gulatieri said she went to a cellphone repair business in St. Petersburg on Monday and left her children in the car — the infant, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old.

While Steele was gone, the baby began crying and the 6-year-old began beating her to make her stop, the sheriff said.

Soldier convicted

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

A soldier accused of killing his then-14-year-old girlfriend’s mother because she disapproved of their relationship has been found guilty of first- degree murder. It took the jury about four hours to reach its verdict Friday in the trial of Army Spc. Caleb Barnes, First degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Barnes will be sentenced on Sept. 19.

Associated Press