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 said that an announcement by English premiership giants Liverpool on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s bid to buy a stake in the club was imminent and that a signing ceremony could be held at the end of this week.

Thailand has only a “50-50” chance of buying a key stake in Liverpool soccer club, Thailand’s billionaire prime minister said today as he braved a barrage of criticism over the unconventional deal at home and in England.