Jailed former Thai PM Thaksin gets parole

BANGKOK, Feb 13, (AP): Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year returned from more than a decade of self-imposed exile to serve a prison sentence for misdeeds committed while in office, has been granted parole and could be released this weekend, the country’s justice minister announced Tuesday.

Parole for Thaksin would be a symbol of reconciliation between his populist political party and the country’s conservative establishment, a rivalry that defined Thai politics for nearly 20 years and led to two military coups.

Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told reporters ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Bangkok that Thaksin qualified for early release because he is in the eligible category of inmates who have serious illnesses, are disabled or are aged over 70. Thaksin is 74 years old.

Tawee did not confirm the date that Thaksin will be released, but it is widely expected he could be released as soon as this weekend.

He is currently confined to a police hospital in Bangkok where he is serving time for convictions related to corruption and abuse of power while in office, convictions he decried as politically motivated.

Also: JAKARTA, Indonesia:

When Indonesians cast their votes on Wednesday for a new president in one of the world’s biggest elections, the stakes will also be high for the and and their mounting rivalry in the region.

The Southeast Asian nation is a key battleground economically and politically in a region where the global powers have long been on a collision course over human rights, military deployments and Beijing’s aggressive actions in disputed waters, including the South China Sea. Outgoing President

foreign policy has avoided criticising either or but also rejected alignment with either power.

The delicate balancing act has paved the way for substantial Chinese trade and investment for Indonesia, including a $7.3 billion high-speed railway that was largely funded by China, while Jakarta has also boosted defense ties and intensified military exercises with the U.S.

United States Taiwan, Beijing ❑ ❑ ❑ China U.S. Joko Widodo’s Washington,

armed groups in Central African Republic (CAR) more than a decade after civil war broke out, the government said Monday.

Marthe Kirima, the minister for family

Jesús Esperanza Ventura, who helps care for her great-grandchildren, sits on the bed her granddaughter Juana Guadalupe Recinos used to sleep on, in Santa Ana, El Salvador, on Jan 31, 2024. Recinos, a single mother of two, was detained last year during the government’s crackdown on its war against drugs, leaving her sons motherless for more than a year. (AP)