SHINAWATRA ALLOWED TO LEAVE COUNTRY

Thailand’s former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was today granted permission by the military junta to travel to Europe for a 20-day trip for the first time after the first woman premier was ousted in a coup. Yingluck, 46, is expected to travel to Paris next week to attend the 65th birthday party of Thaksin Shinawatra, her elder brother and the fugitive former premier. Thaksin’s birthday celebration is expected to be held on July 26. He has lived in self-imposed exile except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008. “The National Council for Peace and Order on Wednesday approved prime minister Yingluck’s request to leave the country because since the coup she has never shown that she was against the NCPO’s work,” army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said.