Supporters gather at airport to welcome home former prime minister who was removed in a 2006 military coup. Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is on his way back to Thailand after nearly 17 years in exile. Thaksin boarded a private plane in Singapore and was on his way to Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, also a former prime minister, posted on Facebook on Tuesday. Thaksin, who made his fortune in the telecommunications business, is expected to arrive in Bangkok at about 9am (02:00 GMT) local time....

He is one of the most divisive figures in Thai history, a brash, politically-ambitious tycoon whose repeated successes in elections going back more than two decades provoked strong reactions from conservative forces - ranging from military coups, the occupations of government ministries and airports, to contentious court verdicts which have sacked three prime ministers and dissolved three pro-Thaksin political parties. Now he is on his way back, presumably after striking a quiet deal with his royalist adversaries to keep him out of prison. He has sentences of about 10 years...

For decades, politics in Thailand has been defined by a battle between ardent royalists (known as “yellow shirts”) and redshirted supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist tycoon-turned-political-leader. The parliamentary elections held on May 14th appear to have dramatically reshaped that struggle. The big winner was a third force, Move Forward, a party of young liberal activists that campaigned on a promise to reform the monarchy and armed forces, two institutions that have long dominated Thailand.

As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Thais voted overwhelmingly for change on Sunday, but the military-appointed Senate could still block the opposition’s nomination for prime minister. The two opposition parties that won the largest share of the vote in Thailand’s general election over the weekend said on Monday that they had agreed to form a coalition government. It remained unclear, however, whether the ruling junta would hand over power easily. The results of the election were a stinging...

Ballots tallied Monday showed voters in Thailand wanted change after nine years under a former general who took power in a coup, with the main opposition parties easily besting other contenders in the general election. The opposition Move Forward Party outperformed even optimistic projections and appeared poised to capture almost all 33 House seats in the capital Bangkok. Along with the Pheu Thai Party, the favored opposition group, Move Forward campaigned for reform of the military and the monarchy. Move Forward put those issues closer to the heart of its...

With nearly all of the votes counted, Thailand's main opposition parties came out on top in Sunday's election. The liberal Move Forward party and populist Pheu Thai Party are both set to win more than triple the number of seats of the junta's political vehicle, Palang Pracharat, and the army-backed United Thai Nation, according to a Reuters calculation. About 75 percent of registered voters — 39.5 million people — turned out for the election. It is not guaranteed that a new government will be easily formed; as The Associated Press...

An Oakland County judge set bond at $1 million cash for a woman who fled to her native Thailand on Jan. 3 − two days after police said she killed a Michigan State University student as he walked on a road in Rochester Hills in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 1. Tubtim “Sue” Howson, 57, was charged with failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death – a 5-year felony – in the crash that killed 22-year-old Benjamin Kable. Judge Lisa Asadoorian of 52-3 District Court said...