Word: thai
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...Thai Lunar New Year is usually a time when guns line the streets of Bangkok. Water guns, that is, manned by revelers who spray passersby to summon plenty of rain for the coming year's harvest. But today, as this Thai New Year began, the usual neon-hued water guns were supplanted by submachine guns held by soldiers who were trying to disperse the agitated antigovernment protesters who have blockaded part of central Bangkok for days...
...Earlier in the day, one Red Shirt leader, Jatuporn Prompan, had called on his fellow protesters to attack Abhisit in order to hasten the government's ouster. That evening, Thaksin - who is in self-imposed exile presumably because of a two-year conflict-of-interest jail sentence by a Thai court - added fuel to the fire by saying the time might be right for a "revolution." (Read a TIME Q&A with Thaksin...
...next day, it was on to Koh Kong, a coastal frontier town on the Thai border, which until a couple of years ago was best accessed by boat. It is separated from the rest of Cambodia by the Cardamom Mountain range, a dense forest that houses endangered species like the Indochinese tiger and the Malayan sun bear, and used to be a Khmer Rouge stronghold. But a national highway built with help from the Thais, which includes four bridges spanning rivers once crossable only by ferry, has cut the drive to Koh Kong from the capital in half - to four...
...remotely by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 bloodless military coup. Subsequently convicted by the Supreme Court on conflict of interest charges over a land deal, Thaksin is now living in self-imposed exile to avoid serving a two-year prison sentence while another Thai court mulls the fate of about $2 billion of his assets seized on suspicion they were gained through corruption. The former leaders whereabouts are currently unknown, but allegations that he is in neighboring Cambodia have contributed to strained relations between the two countries. (See pictures of the August 2008 Thai...
...much energy Thais have for this permanent state of unrest is another question. Last year, the nation's all important tourist sector ground to a halt during the eight-day long protest at New Bangkok International Airport. A recent survey by the Suan Dusit polling agency shows that nearly 70% of Thais want Thaksin to stop inciting unrest and allow the government to work at solving the economic crisis. With the Thai economy set for a potential contraction of up to 4% this year, the Asian Development Bank said earlier this week that political infighting could hamper the effectiveness...