THAILAND: When the Thai military says cadets cannot bring phones to training, they mean it.

Thai military courts have jailed two people, one for 30 years and the other for 28 years, for insulting the monarchy on Facebook, the heaviest sentences for the crime in the country’s history, lawyers and a legal monitoring group said.

THAILAND’S government insisted a crackdown on Red Shirt protesters will continue despite their plea for UN-mediated talks to end four days of street clashes with troops that have killed 30 people.

THE Thai government is seeking closer links with Muslim countries, part of a two-pronged strategy to end separatist violence in three of its southern provinces.

The Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra tonight, circling his offices with tanks, seizing control of television stations and declaring a provisional authority loyal to the king.