BANGKOK: Chiang Mai, Thailand’s northern city popular with tourists, was inundated by widespread flooding Saturday as its main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall.
Authorities ordered some evacuations and said they were working to pump water out of residential areas and clear obstructions from waterways and drains to help water recede faster.
Dozens of shelters were set up across the city to accommodate residents whose home were flooded. The Chiang Mai city government said the water level of the Ping River, which runs along the eastern edge of the city, was at critically high levels and was rising since Friday.
However, the provincial irrigation office on Saturday forecast that the water level was likely to remain stable and recede to normal in about five days.
Thai media reported that efforts to evacuate elephants and other animals from several sanctuaries and parks on the outskirts of the city were continuing Saturday. About 125 elephants along with other animals were taken to safety from the Elephant Nature Park, from where some escaped on their own to seek higher ground. About 10 animal shelters in the area have been flooded.
Chiang Mai Gov. Nirat Pongsitthavorn said that the latest flooding, the second in six weeks, exceeded expectations.
Thailand’s state railway suspended service to Chiang Mai, with trains on the northern line from Bangkok terminating at Lampang, about 1-1/2 hours ride to the south. Chiang Mai International Airport said it was operating as usual on Saturday.
Flooding was reported in 20 Thai provinces on Saturday, mostly in the north. At least 49 people have died and 28 were injured in floods since August, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said.
In the Thai capital Bangkok, the government said Saturday it will let more water flow out of the Chao Phraya Dam in the central province of Chai Nat over the next seven days, as it risks exceeding it capacity. The release of the water may affect residents downstream who live near waterways in Thailand’s central region, including Bangkok and surrounding areas.
Floods inundate Thailand’s northern tourist city of Chiang Mai
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Floods inundate Thailand’s northern tourist city of Chiang Mai
- Dozens of shelters were set up across the city to accommodate residents whose home were flooded
- Flooding was reported in 20 Thai provinces on Saturday, mostly in the north
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
