- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
- Hezbollah vows vengeance on Israel for pager blasts
- Brook expects unified England after McCullum's white-ball takeover
- Kamindu Mendis century rescues Sri Lanka against New Zealand
- Two dead in botched armed raid on Russian retailer's office
- UK train drivers back govt pay deal to end strikes
- Man who copied French rapist says he deserves to punished
- Eriksen will wait to settle Man Utd future
- Former England striker Carroll signs for fourth-tier Bordeaux
- Van Dijk hails Liverpool's 'calm' response in win over AC Milan
- End of the party? Tupperware files for bankruptcy
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ |
Thailand's Thaksin indicted for insulting monarchy
Thai prosecutors on Tuesday formally indicted influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra under the kingdom's strict royal insult laws over comments he made nearly a decade ago.
The case against the 74-year-old billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, is one of four before the courts that could unleash fresh political instability in the coup-prone kingdom.
Thaksin, the patriarch of the Pheu Thai party that leads the coalition government, is accused of lese-majeste over an interview he gave to South Korean media in 2015.
"Today a state prosecutor indicted Thaksin Shinawatra and the court accepted the case," the attorney general's office said in a statement.
Thailand has some of the world's strictest royal defamation laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence.
Critics say the laws are misused to stifle legitimate political debate, and there has been a spike in their use since youth-led anti-government street protests in 2020 and 2021.
Thaksin is the biggest name among the more than 270 people charged under the laws since the protests, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal group that handles many cases.
Thaksin's case comes on the same day the Constitutional Court continues deliberating on three other cases that could spark a political crisis.
One seeks the ouster of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin under ethics rules, over the appointment of a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
In another, the election commission is seeking the dissolution of the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP), which won most seats at last year's general election but was blocked from forming the government.
The court is not expected to give a judgement in those cases on Tuesday, but is due to rule in a third case on whether the ongoing election for a new senate is lawful.
If the court decides to halt or even cancel the election, the current senators -- appointed by the last junta -- would continue in their role for the time being.
E.Borba--PC