By JOCELYN GECKER and NATTASUDA ANUSONADISAI
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) – A police manhunt was underway in Thailand for an “unidentified foreign man” shown in a security video leaving a backpack at a popular Bangkok shrine just minutes before a bomb exploded there.

Two other people seen on the video near the man are also considered suspects in Monday’s deadly bombing, police said late Wednesday.

Authorities released a sketch of the man who left behind the backpack and offered a 1 million baht ($28,000) reward for information leading to his arrest. But apart from the rough portrait, they had few solid leads in Monday’s bombing at the Erawan Shrine that killed 20 people and wounded 120 others.

The grainy security video shows the man, wearing a yellow T-shirt and shorts, sitting down on a bench at the shrine, taking off a black backpack and leaving it behind as he stands up and walks away. Time stamps show he left the shrine 15 minutes before the explosion, which struck just before 7 p.m.

The two possible accomplices are seen standing in front of the man, said police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri. One of the men was wearing a red shirt and the other was in white, and they were seen leaving the area shortly before the man in yellow also leaves.

At a news conference, Prawut expressed uncertainty about the man’s origin, saying the suspect “looks like a foreigner” but “might have been in a disguise and wearing a fake nose” to conceal his identity.

Prawut told reporters Wednesday night that police would continue to scrutinize closed-circuit TV footage of the area from before the blast for clues about suspects. He said that if the men in red and white shirts were innocent and aware of the suspicions against them, they should report to police.

Two days after the attack, which authorities have called the worst in Thai history, the shrine reopened to the public. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast at one of the capital’s busiest intersections during evening rush hour.

“If citizens or anyone can give us information or clues that lead to the arrest of this man, I have set a reward of 1 million baht,” National Police Chief Somyot Poompanmoung said.

“He didn’t do it alone, for sure. It’s a network,” he said.

Police composed the sketch based on the video and a description provided by a motorcycle taxi driver believed to have given him a ride on Monday night.

The sketch shows a young man in eyeglasses with bushy, dark hair that is cropped at the sides. The warrant describes him as tall, with a pointed nose and thick lips. He faces six charges including conspiring to commit premeditated murder and conspiring to commit a bombing that resulted in death and severe injuries.

The attack has raised concerns about safety in a city that draws millions of tourists.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha “is worried about the security of people and tourists in Thailand,” the police chief said.

Prayuth has called the attack “the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand” and vowed to track down those responsible.

On Wednesday night, police spokesman Prawut led dozens of officers on a confidence-boosting inspection of Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy nightlife area, popular with foreign visitors. He told reporters there that he was “completely” confident that police can ensure security in Thai capital.

The Erawan Shrine is a revered site for Thais and tourists that transcends religion. It is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is extremely popular among Thailand’s Buddhists as well as Chinese visitors.

Although Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, Hinduism has an influence on its religious practices and language. The shrine’s location adds to its popularity, offering an open-air place for prayer amid the capital’s gleaming shopping malls and five-star hotels.

On Wednesday, people knelt in prayer, lit incense and placed flowers at the site of the bombing. Buddhist monks in saffron robes joined the public to chant prayers.

Among those who paid respects was office worker Nuansupha Sarunsikarin, who expressed shock and sadness over the attack.

“I’m depressed for those innocent people who had to pay for something they’re not involved with and now have no chance to live their lives,” Nuansupha said.

Thai authorities identified six victims as Thai and four as Malaysians, along with four Chinese, two people from Hong Kong including a British citizen, one Indonesian and one Singaporean. Two victims remain unidentified.

A funeral was held Wednesday for 45-year-old Waraporn Changtam, one of the victims of the bombing. Her grieving older sister, Sawaros Kumrit, had a message for those responsible for the blast.

“I don’t know who you are mad at, but don’t take it out on my family,” she said, adding that those killed by the bomb “were good people. They were innocent.”

Bangkok was rattled by another blast Tuesday at the popular Sathorn Pier, used by river ferries. The pipe bomb exploded in the Chao Phraya River but caused no injuries. Prawut said that bombing could be related to the shrine attack.

Thailand has seen many violent attacks in recent years, particularly in a long-running insurgency by Muslim separatists that has killed over 5,000 in the country’s south. Those attacks have never reached the capital, however.

Bangkok has seen politically charged violence in the past decade. The deadliest, in 2010, killed more than 90 people in two months and was centered on the same intersection where Monday’s bomb went off. But none of those attacks included a bomb that seemed intended to produce mass casualties.

This story has been corrected to show that the comments about the suspect possibly wearing a disguise were made by the police spokesman, not the police chief.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Posted: Friday, August 21, 2015 10:00 am

Spain’s tourism hits new record: 38 million in 7 months

Associated Press |

MADRID (AP) — Authorities say Spain has seen a record 38 million tourists in the first seven months of the year as a weak euro and security issues in other beach resort nations like Tunisia make it a more attractive destination.

The state tourism office said Friday the January-through-July figure was 4.7 percent up on the record set in the same period in 2014. British tourist arrivals, at nearly nine million, topped the list for the period.

The tourism office said July saw a record number of 8.8 million visitors, up 6.3 percent on July 2014.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says the country expects a record 68 million tourists for all of 2015, three million more than the record set in 2014.

Tourism represents about 11 percent of Spain’s GDP.

© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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And he emphasized that the site will continue to be used for agriculture even after the solar project is completed, using an arrangement Olsen has made at other solar projects.

In partnership with Sun Raised Farms, he has arranged for about 1,000 sheep to graze on the site. O2 will plant grasses specified by the sheep farmer and the sheep will help O2 keep the vegetation from growing over the solar panels.

Hudson says he had sought the postilion on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and its Energy and Power Subcommittee, because of his personal interest in the industry.

Energy background

Hudson said he served as chief of staff to Rep. Mike Conway, a Republican from Midland, Texas, and from that job learned about the importance of the energy industry and how many jobs depend on it.

“So I’m here educating myself, trying to learn about solar and other aspects of the industry,” he says.

Hudson has intervened on behalf of the energy industry in North Carolina in the past. When financing issues last year for the Swiss power storage company Alevo threatened to kill a deal it had negotiated to buy the 3.2-million square-foot former Philip Morris plant in Concord, developers enlisted Hudson’s aid in persuading Philip Morris to give Alevo extra time. He did, and the deal closed last October.

The afternoon visit to the Montgomery site was not his first energy-related appointment Wednesday. That morning he had toured Duke Energy’s massive Smith Energy Complex in Hamlet. That plant has two combined cycle natural gas units with a total capacity of 1,084 megawatts. Its also has five smaller combustion turbines Duke uses for additional power production at peak usage.

Olsen and other solar advocates who participated on the tour are happy to help him round out his education with information on solar.

North Carolina’s 35% tax credit for solar and other renewable energy products is slated to end Dec. 31, and the prospects for extending it in the General Assembly are uncertain at best.

Federal credits

The federal tax credit — pegged at 30% — is scheduled to end in 2017. Advocates are already pushing for an extension, and Hudson counts himself as undecided.

“I have not made a decision for myself,” he said. And he won’t speculate how it will fare in Congress.

“The truth is I don’t know,” he demurs. “I don’t have a sense yet for where the Congress is on that question.”

Hudson’s district covers parts of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Davidson Randolph, Robeson, Rowan, and Union counties as well as all of Anson, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland, and Stanly counties.