BANGKOK: Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra addressed by telephone tens of thousands of his devout red-clad followers surrounding the prime minister's offices on Thursday. Thaksin thanked the estimated 35,000-strong crowd which has besieged Government House in Bangkok for their support as they step up efforts to topple the three-month-old government of premier Abhisit Vejjajiva. Ousted in a coup in 2006, Thaksin is currently living in exile to avoid a two-year jail sentence for corruption. He said he could not speak for longer as he was currently travelling between countries, without saying which ones. Around 6,000 soldiers and more than 2,000 police were guarding Government House while authorities had placed barbed wire atop the fences of the building, officials said. The protest was one of the biggest of several held by Thaksin loyalists since Abhisit came to power in December following the controversial dissolution of the previous, pro-Thaksin government by a court.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
Comments