Woman apologizes for kicking migrants

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Hungarian camerawoman caught on video kicking and tripping migrants near the Serbian border has offered a qualified apology for her behavior.

Petra Laszlo said in the letter published Friday in the daily Magyar Nemzet newspaper that she was “sincerely sorry for what happened,” but she also sought to defend her actions.

The 40-year-old was fired by the right-wing N1TV online channel after footage of her kicking and tripping migrants Tuesday near the village of Roszke went viral on social media. Laszlo was seen sticking out her leg to trip a running man carrying a young boy, sending both crashing to the ground as the man fell on the boy. She also was seen delivering sideways kicks to the knees of a young man and a ponytailed girl as they ran past her.

But in her letter, Laszlo sought to describe her kicks and stuck-out leg as a reasonable response to a chaotic situation. She was filming people running away from a field that police use to put newly arrived migrants on buses for asylum registration centers.

“I was scared as they streamed toward me, and then something snapped inside me,” she wrote. “With the camera in my hands, I didn’t see who was coming toward me. I just thought they were on the attack and I had to defend myself. It’s hard to make good decisions when one is panicking.”

She criticized those who condemned her on social media sites and said she had received death threats.

“I am not a heartless, child-kicking, racist camera operator. I do not deserve the political witch hunt that has been launched against me, nor do I deserve the abusive threats that often call for my death. I am just a woman, who has recently become an unemployed mother,” she wrote.

Police questioned Laszlo on suspicion of disorderly conduct Thursday, released her without charge, and say the investigation is continuing. Her former employer, N1TV, regularly carries reports supportive to Jobbik, an ultranationalist party that calls for all foreigners to be deported.

China asked to look for bombing suspect

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities are casting a wider net in the search for the perpetrators of the Aug. 17 bombing in Bangkok that killed 20 people, asking China to check whether a prime suspect had fled there.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has confirmed reports that a man carrying a Chinese passport in the name Abudureheman Abudusataer had gone from Thailand on Aug. 16 to Bangladesh and continued on to China. Prayuth said Friday that he did not know whether China would hand over the suspect if or when he was arrested.

Bangladesh’s ambassador to Thailand confirmed to reporters that the suspect left Bangladesh on Aug. 30 and was supposed to transit in Delhi on his way to China but never got to his final destination.

Spilled wine causes fatal accident in China

BEIJING (AP) — A slick of rice wine spilled from a truck caused a traffic accident Friday that killed 12 people in central China, authorities said.

A bus following the truck overturned on the slippery road, and another freight truck then crashed into the bus shortly after midnight, said the Xinxian county government in Henan province.

Nine people were killed at the scene and three more died in hospital, the Xinxian government said on its website. Nineteen other people were hospitalized, including two people with serious injuries.

Police have detained the drivers of the bus and the truck carrying the rice wine.

The accident took place at Xinyang, Henan, on the Daqing-Guangzhou expressway.

Pakistan: Work on pipeline to start soon

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says Turkmenistan will begin construction on a much-delayed gas pipeline stretching from Central Asia to South Asia by the end of this year.

Sharif told a meeting of business leaders on Friday that he will travel to Turkmenistan in December for project’s ground-breaking ceremony, which will be attended by other South Asian leaders as well. In his televised comments, Sharif did not give further details about the project, which is known as TAPI, an abbreviation for the four countries involved: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The countries reached an understanding on the multibillion dollar 1,735-kilometer (1,140-mile) pipeline in 2010, to export gas from energyrich Turkmenistan. However, construction could not begin due to differences over price-fixing and India’s concerns over the pipeline’s security.

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