3 students, including 2 from Japan, found alive in cave

HUA HIN, Thailand — A wave of coordinated explosions rattled multiple cities across southern Thailand, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more, police said Friday. Among the injured were 10 foreigners in the seaside resort town of Hua Hin.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks, but police said the violence was not linked to Islamic terrorism. The timing and scope suggested the bombs were set off by opponents of the Southeast Asian nation's ruling junta, which last weekend organized a successful referendum on a constitution that critics say will bolster the military's power for years to come.

The explosions all occurred south of Bangkok and several of the blasts — including one on Patong beach in the tourist resort of Phuket — appeared designed to hit the tourism industry.

Thailand's economy has sagged since the military seized power in a 2014 coup, but tourism has remained one of the few bright spots, with more than 14 million people visiting in 2016 so far — up from 12.5 million the year before.

The first two explosions occurred overnight on a busy street in the tourist city of Hua Hin, which was hit again by another blast on Friday morning. The city is home to a swath of beachfront resorts as well as a royal palace.

Police and Thai media reported other blasts the southern cities of Phuket, Trang and Surat Thani.

Royal Thai Police official Col. Krisana Patanacharoen said it was too soon say who was behind the attacks, but “we are sure that it is not linked to terrorism.”

Friday's blast took place on the birthday of Thailand's Queen Sirikit. The junta has repeatedly said that defending the monarchy is a top priority, and the army and its allies are keen to ensure a smooth succession for ailing 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is the world's longest CINCINNATI — Some friends don't let friends talk politics anymore on Facebook.

Others are on “unfriending” sprees.

And some, such as Adolfo Olivas of Hamilton, Ohio, have decided to just shut down their accounts, as the divisive presidential campaign causes a deluge of news feeds amid photos of reigning monarch.

Tourist Shane Brett told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. from his hotel room in Hua Hin that there was panic after the first explosion, which police said killed one Thai woman and wounded about 20 others, half of them foreigners.

“I was at a bar in the main bar district in Hua Hin right outside the Hilton Hotel and at first I heard kind of a bang ... and everyone kind of panicked,” Brett said.

He looked outside the bar and said saw people running. Half an hour later, he made it back to his hotel. On the way, he said he saw “a good few people injured and the whole area just panicking ... the whole area was just shut down with police cars, ambulances.”

The bombs Thursday were set off by remote control, half an hour apart, according to Pol. Gen. Sithichai Srisopacharoenrath, the superintendent smiling kids' first day of school and what's on the grill for dinner.

The last straw for the former Republican mayor came after GOP nominee Donald Trump's criticism of fellow Gold Star parents, the Muslim parents of Iraq war casualty Humayun Khan.

“Just reading all of those comments justifying Mr. Trump's outbursts,” explained Olivas, whose of police in Hua Hin, and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Samer Yousamran.

Sithichai said both devices were hidden inside plants on a street filled with restaurants, bars and food vendors that is popular with tourists and local residents. He said a Samsung cell phone had been recovered that they believe was used to detonate at least one the bombs.

The fatality Thursday was described in Thai media as a female street food vendor. Several of the injured were in serious condition, the reports said. Pol. Lt Chaiyot Tisawong, an officer in Hua Hin, said 10 of the injured were foreigners. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

On Friday morning, two more bombs exploded in Hua Hin, killing one person and wounding four, according to police.

Another pair of bombs exploded in front of two police son Nicholas, 20, was killed on Army patrol in Afghanistan in 2012. “I cannot stand to put up with the stupidity of those who will try to justify those words!”

The giant social network has emerged as a virtual town hall for political debate, an easy place to share opinions — and vitriolic attacks — about the two polarizing presidential candidates. stations half an hour apart in Surat Thani in southern Thailand.

Earlier Thursday, another bomb blew up in the southern province of Trang, killing one person and injuring six, according to Thai press reports.

Trang is on the fringes of Thailand's deep south, where a low-level Muslim separatist insurgency had killed more than 5,000 people since 2004. Almost all the violence has been in the three southernmost provinces.

Thailand has been plagued by political violence, including several bombings, since the populist billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup after demonstrations accused him of corruption, abuse of power and insulting King Bhumibol.

Thaksin's ouster set off sometimes bloody battles for power between his supporters and opponents, who

Facebook says that from Jan. 1 through Aug. 1, 100 million people on Facebook in the United States generated 4 billion posts, comments, shares and reactions about the election. More than 1 billion of those came in July, the month of the national conventions officially nominating Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Facebook counts 205 million active include the military. The government of his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, who became prime minister in 2011, was ousted in the country's last coup in 2014.

On Sunday, Thai voters approved a referendum on a new constitution that is supposed to lead to an election next year. Critics say it is undemocratic and is fashioned to keep the military in control for at least five more years even if a free election is held.

In a speech Wednesday night, junta chief and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha took credit for bringing stability back to Thailand after an extended period of unrest.

Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a junta spokesman, said Prayuth “expressed his sadness over the unexpected and tragic incident (in Hua Hin)” and said ordered police and soldiers in the area to step up security measures. monthly users in the United States.

Katie Harbath, Facebook's global politics and government outreach director, said in a statement that the network “is giving more people a voice in the political process, enabling a robust two-way dialogue between candidates and voters the likes we haven't seen before.” CUSHMAN, Ark. — An American student and two Japanese students who went missing inside of a cave overnight were found alive, Arkansas State University and emergency officials said Thursday.

The university said in a statement that rescue teams had found Casey Sherwood, a 25-year-old senior from Jonesboro; 19-year-old Daiki Itoh, of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa; and 18-year-old Daisuke Takagi, of Kawagoe, Hyogo.

"On behalf of all the faculty, students and staff of Arkansas State, I want to thank the rescue teams of Independence County and all the volunteers who came forward to assist," Acting Arkansas State University Chancellor Lynita Cooksey said in a statement released by the school. "We are so grateful for their hard work in locating Daiki, Daisuke and Casey."

Local television footage and a photo posted on Arkansas State's Facebook page showed the three covered in mud after their rescue. A university official at the scene said the three weren't injured.

"They appeared to be fine. I think more tired than anything," said Shane Broadway, vice president of university relations for the university system.

Crews had been searching for the students in Blowing Cave near Cushman, 110 miles north of Little Rock, with help from cave-mapping experts, since early Thursday morning. Sherwood's wife had reported him missing Wednesday night. Arkansas State said Sherwood was leading the spelunking trip.

Sherwood said he felt a "little bit of panic" when he realized they were lost in the cave, but decided to stay in place. He said the three would regularly shout for help or whistle so rescuers could find them, and stayed close together to keep warm.

"What we would do is we would sit back to back to back in a little triangle keeping ourselves warm and huddling ourselves up inside of our shirts and breathing hot air into us," Sherwood told KATVTV. "So that kept us going the whole time."

Independence County Office of Emergency Management coordinator Glen Willis told KAIT-TV the three were found 30 minutes from the entrance of the cave, but he did not know if any of the three were injured. Willis did not return calls from The Associated Press.