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The court ruled that Thaksin had abused his power and become unusually richer while holding the post of prime minister and abused his authority to benefit his own company, Shin Corp, before selling his shareholding to Temasek.

However, the court said it would be unfair to confiscate all of the 76 billion baht in frozen assets held in local banks, as requested by the Office of the Attorney-General, because part of it was acquired before Thaksin became prime minister.

The 46.3 billion baht to be confiscated comprises 6.8 billion baht in dividends and 39.4 billion baht from the sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek.

Immediately after the court's verdict, Thaksin told his supporters in a video link from Dubai that the verdict was unfair, politically motivated and "an international joke".

Bureau commissioner Wuthi Liptapallop said Thailand was known worldwide as a haven for criminals because of its relatively easy-going visa policies.

''I don't want Thailand to be known as a place where foreign criminals hide and conduct illegal activities _ but they do, especially in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Phuket,'' Pol Lt Gen Wuthi said in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday.

''We want these and other places in Thailand to be tourist destinations, not places for foreign criminals and gangs.''

Hundreds of the fugitive billionaire's red-shirted supporters gathered outside army barracks in at least 10 provinces and in Bangkok, calling on soldiers to join their movement and saying they wanted to pre-empt another military coup.

Niphon Maksompop, president of the Satellite Television Association, said consumers should be the ones who make decisions about the reliability and accuracy of content they watch on TV.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Taya Teepsuwan yesterday said the tendering would proceed as planned and insisted the procurement would be conducted in a transparent manner.

"He is free to come and go," he replied when asked about the purpuse of Thaksin's visit. "He doesn't need to have a motive to come here."

He said he did not know if Thaksin would meet with members of the Puea Thai Party, as he had on previous visits.

Khieu Kanharith, Cambodia's minister of information, said Thaksin came to give economic advice to the government, and he and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had dinner together on Wednesday night.

Presenter: Ron Corben
Speakers: Panitan Wattanayagorn, Thai government spokesman; Kudeb Saikrajang, spokesman for Puea Thai Party; Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University.

CORBEN: The special presentation at Government House saw Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva give an almost hour long presentation promoting the achievements of his six party coalition government's first year in office.

Mr. Abhisit told national audiences the government's main achievement had been on the economic front with growth forecast at over 4 per cent in the last quarter of the year, with unemployment half the 800,000 it had reached in the early months of 2009.

Thailand had also faced political upheavals in the early months of the year as supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attempted to bring the government down, including the storming of a meeting of Asia Pacific regional leaders back in April in Pattaya. This was followed by three days of street demonstrations in Bangkok before calm was restored.

Local authorities in 50 districts of Bangkok have been instructed to inspect the capital's 808 entertainment venues in order to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy which struck the Santika Club during last year's New Year celebration.

The Santika Club blaze in the Ekkamai area left 66 Thais and foreigners dead after they joined the New Year countdown party on December 31, 2008.

Officials have inspected 801 venues so far and advised 531 entertainment places considered unsafe to make adjustments including showing clear signs for exits and installing warning sirens in case of emergency. Meanwhile, 176 venues were ordered to temporarily suspend operations to make improvements.

It's well known that China will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest car market this year. Less noticed is the fact that India will top Japan for the first time in sales of super-compact cars. It overtook Japan as the world's number one producer of basic cars in 2007.

General Surayud also said that media has misinterpretated his statement.

He said that he had invited the military beat reporters to join his mission in the central province of Phitsanulok and then had some informal discussions with them.

On New Year's Eve last year, the fire at Santika pub in Bangkok's Thong Lor area was caused by fireworks. The blaze claimed 66 lives and left more more than 200 people with  scars and other injuries.

Pol Lt Gen Santhan said city police would enforce the 'December 2009' operation plan to maintain order and security during Christmas and New Year`s Eve.

Former prime minister Samak Sundaravej died of liver cancer at 8.48am on Tuesday at Bamrungrad Hospital, his younger brother Sumitr said.

Samak, 74, was the country's 25th prime minister. As the leader of the since-disbanded People Power Party, he filled the positions of prime minister and defence minister from Jan 29, 2008 to Sept 9, 2008.

He was disqualified from the prime ministership when the Constitution Court found he breached the constitution by being an employee of a private firm while in office. Mr Samak was the popular host of a popular, politically oriented TV cooking programme Chim Pai, Bon Pai (Tasting While Grumbling) which many people thought was the epitome of the man himself.

Although the constitution allowed him to regain the prime minister's job if MPs voted him back into office, he instead chose to resign from the leadership of the People Power Party.

An independent and colourful character, the veteran politician was a former governor of Bangkok and founder of the Prachakorn Thai Party. He also held the offices of minister of the interior, minister of transport and deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister.

Samak sought treatment for liver cancer in November 2008 in Los Angeles and returned to Bangkok on January this year but made no public appearances from then on.

Regional political analysts say relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh are the worst they have been in several years.

On Friday, Cambodia withdrew its ambassador to Thailand, in retaliation for Bangkok's withdrawal of its ambassador the day before. Thailand's action came after the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed fugitive Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the appointment interference in its domestic affairs and a failure to respect its judicial system.

Thani Thonthongpakdi is a Foreign Ministry spokesman. He says Thai-Cambodia relations have been tested for over a year, and tensions are rising.

Organisers said they had collected at least five million signatures in support of Thaksin, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and fled the kingdom last August to escape a two-year jail term for corruption.

``I would like to say thank you to my fellow Thais, who have a good attitude towards me and to Thailand,'' Thaksin said in a speech broadcast live by video from an undisclosed location to the cheering crowd in downtown Bangkok.

``We are here today to inform our father, the King of every Thai, that we want to see unity and reconciliation,'' said Thaksin, wearing the trademark red shirt favoured by his backers.