Thailand’s main international airport continued to clear a backlog of stranded tourists yesterday while the abrupt return of exiled Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s powerful ex-wife threatened to deepen the country’s political crisis.
The reopening of the airports, still partially crippled after a weeklong siege by protesters, had raised hopes the country was emerging from the chaos of the past months. However, many Thais were also following with trepidation the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, regarded as crucial to the country’s stability.
The palace announced on Friday night that he was suffering from an inflamed throat and fluctuating fever after he failed to give his annual birthday address.
PHOTO: AP
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport — Thailand’s main gateway to the world — officially reopened on Friday after protesters ended a weeklong siege that trapped more than 300,000 travelers. The occupation of the capital’s two airports by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) dealt a heavy blow to tourism.
The airport was operating at about 50 percent capacity on Friday, but a public relations official at the airport said yesterday that most international flights were now back on schedule.
“Flights to Asia are now operating in full gear. But there are a few airlines that are still checking their systems to ensure safety,” said the official, who demanded anonymity because she was not authorized to speak with the press.
The return to Bangkok on Friday of Thaksin’s ex-wife, Pojamarn Damapong, who faces a three-year jail term on a tax evasion conviction, added a complicating element to the political crisis. Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 military coup, remains at the epicenter of instability.
Thai media speculated Pojamarn might rally the ex-leader’s supporters following a court decision that dissolved the ruling political party made up of his allies and drove the prime minister from office.
But a spokesman for the ex-prime minister, Pongthep Thepkanchana, said Pojamarn had returned solely to visit her sick mother “not to manage the problems among factions in the party.”
A number of members of ousted Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat’s People Power Party have regrouped in a new party, Pheua Thai, and they retain the right to name a new prime minister within 30 days.
Local media said that the party would meet today to put forward a leader amid behind-the-scenes scurrying among several parties and factions.
Any move to reinstate Thaksin’s allies would likely set off more protests from the anti-government alliance, which charges that the party and the recently toppled government is merely a front for Thaksin.
The ousted prime minister and his ex-wife, a highly influential figure during his years in power, are hated by many of the country’s elite, who charge that they were trying to usurp royal authority. Their divorce is widely regarded as a ploy to reduce each party’s legal liability and preserve the family fortune, made in telecommunications.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS