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AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn

Thai junta chief given seal of approval by the country's royal family

Sights are now being set on bringing growing protests under control.

THAILAND’S COUP LEADER has received royal endorsement to lead the politically divided kingdom and quickly threatened to crack down on any further agitation after a weekend of angry protests.

The palace officially appointed army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha as leader of a military junta that has deposed the government and assumed extensive powers in the Southeast Asian nation of 67 million.

“To restore peace and order in the country and for the sake of unity, the king appointed General Prayut Chan-O-Cha as head of the National Council of Peace and Order to run the country,” according to a royal command, referring to the military council set up as the country’s all-powerful ruling force.

The constitutional monarchy headed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 86, commands great respect among many Thais and the king’s blessing has traditionally been a key step in legitimising the country’s recurring military takeovers.

The latest coup has triggered a small but growing backlash on the streets, with more than 1,000 anti-coup demonstrators marching through Bangkok on Sunday.

Dozens of protesters faced off against lines of armed soldiers. Scuffles broke out and at least two demonstrators were taken away by troops, one bleeding.

Shortly after getting the royal nod, Prayut, 60, held his first press conference as junta head and threatened to “intensify law enforcement” against anti-coup protesters who have pledged to rally in Bangkok again on Monday.

He also warned that demonstrators could be tried in tough military courts.

The junta has detained former premier Yingluck Shinawatra along with about 200 ousted government leaders, political figures, critics and academics in a sweeping roundup since the coup, which has drawn sharp international criticism.

Thailand Politics Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks at the start of his first press conference since Thursday's coup. AP Photo / Sakchai Lalit AP Photo / Sakchai Lalit / Sakchai Lalit

An army commander has indicated Yingluck remained under military control, but declined to reveal her whereabouts.

“We are taking care of her. She is fine. She can choose to stay wherever she wants,” Lieutenant General Thirachai Nakwanich, central region army commander, told AFP when asked of Yingluck’s fate.

Yingluck was ousted by a court ruling earlier this month, but her embattled government had remained in place until last week under a caretaker premier.

In one of the first legal steps taken against a prominent detainee since the coup, the attorney general’s office granted bail to Suthep Thaugsuban, a firebrand leader of nearly seven months of anti-government protests, over an insurrection charge, according to one of his lawyers.

He was still to face court on Monday on a separate outstanding murder charge linked to a bloody military crackdown on opposition protests against a previous government in 2010.

Under the junta, civil liberties have been curbed, media restrictions imposed and most of the constitution abrogated. Prayut also has assumed all authority for making laws.

- © AFP, 2014

Read: Thailand’s coup leaders to hold ousted government to give them “time to think” >

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    Finn
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    Mute Finn
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:20 PM

    It says more about America’s healthcare and insurances industries than it does about the people involved.

    524
    LENA
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    Mute LENA
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:26 PM

    exactly! I’d do the same and pretend to “sue” my nephew and get the insurance company to pay my overly expensive medical bills if his parents were ok with it.

    205
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    Mute BevinArmageddon
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:54 PM

    I don’t think this has anything to do with insurance. Sounds like she has a good job in human resources and can afford to live on the upper east side of Manhattan, so it would be highly unusual for someone in her situation not to have good health insurance. This just sounds like she’s being a greedy bitch and wanted more money to cover the “emotional distress” she experienced and knew the young lad had it to spare because of inheritance from his mothers death.

    109
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    Mute Karl Walsh
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    Oct 15th 2015, 9:27 PM

    Id say she does have good health insurance,so good they cover the $127000 hospital bill but also with a stipulation that she sues whoever caused the damage to try and recover the money,insurance companies always try to recover the money.She probably sued her nephew after getting assurances from a solicitor that the case would be thrown out immediately. If she had to pay those hospital bills herself she could have went bankrupt,over a broken wrist,that is the bigger story.

    41
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    Mute BevinArmageddon
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    Oct 15th 2015, 10:40 PM

    That’s not how Health insurance works in NYC. So there’s no such stipulations, Karl.

    8
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    Mute Karl Walsh
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    Oct 16th 2015, 12:45 AM

    If the family had contents or liabilities insurance thats exactly how it would work.

    10
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    Mute BevinArmageddon
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    Oct 16th 2015, 2:12 AM

    I live in NYC, I have health insurance and I’ve had to make plenty of claims. If you’re covered, you generally pay very little and there’s no such stipulations like you describe in order to have your medical bills payed. It’s not like car insurance where you claim it back, it’s paid automatically and you just pay a small co-pay/deductible. Thrust me, that is ridicules.

    11
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    Mute Paul O'Neill
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:14 PM

    Awful backwards country at times.

    178
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    Mute BevinArmageddon
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:21 PM

    No, it was one idiot who was told to fck off by a jury.

    78
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    Mute Paul O'Neill
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:42 PM

    True, but it says she basically had to sue to get her medical expenses paid. I’m delighted she was told to fck off, but the fact that she had to go down that avenue is backwards.

    96
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    Mute Aidan Ryan
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:08 PM

    I’d break her other wrist…stupid b**ch !!!

    163
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    Mute Jim Kier
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:16 PM

    Just what can expect here in the good old USofA. Being Irish and working in the US I keep a larger than normal personnel space between myself and

    22
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    Mute Jake Race
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:18 PM

    Did you even read the article? No, of course not.

    69
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    Mute Jim Kier
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:33 PM

    The story is all over the wire here twit. You obviously have never been sued and fraudulently at that. I spent a small fortune defending my business against spurious claim. Which involved oral dental damage to the tune of $70,000. The case was eventually thrown out after costing $12,000 in court cost that I will never recoup.

    50
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    Mute nicola evans
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    Oct 15th 2015, 7:45 PM

    Then she’d sue you for that. Sure where would it end then?! She’d have 2 snapped wrists, another date in court and you’d be sent to the Joy. Violence has its place for sure Aidan but not here… Unless she came at you with a hug and it was in self defense, it’s not called for.

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:16 PM

    “Get on the telly and tell ‘em you still love me, or I’ll crush you, you snotty nosed little twerp”.

    162
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    Mute TommyJung
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:20 PM

    My suspicions are that the two of them might have been conspiring on this one.
    He might have been on a nice little earner.

    97
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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:23 PM

    It probably wouldn’t haven taken much to pay off a kid either. “I’ll take the cash and buy you a bar of chocolate every day for a whole year”. “A whole year? Deal.”

    69
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    Mute TommyJung
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:42 PM

    ‘Can’t I even get to keep the suit Auntie Jennifer?’

    40
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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:55 PM

    “Suit? What do ya want a goddam suit for, you’re 12. I’ll give you a suit alright. A straight jacket is what you’ll be wearing if you don’t take that off right now and put it back into that suit bag before you get chocolate all over it. Don’t make me come over to ya.”

    36
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    Mute John Duncan
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    Oct 15th 2015, 8:13 PM

    The law suit you mean?

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    Mute TommyJung
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    Oct 15th 2015, 9:01 PM

    Well preserved without a doubt.
    She’s also a Human Resources Manager (chuckle)

    10
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    Mute Jake Race
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:17 PM

    Every publication who made a big deal out of this suit should be ashamed of itself.

    This was a non-story turned into a click-bait fiasco by the media.

    It is not unusual for people to sue as a means to (legitimately) get insurance money. You have unfairly made it look as though it was a pernicious act. It is utterly pathetic journalism.

    91
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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:38 PM

    I can’t believe her medical bills for a broken wrist was $1,27,000!!

    39
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    Mute TheBull
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:39 PM

    A bit like the case over here recently where the blind man fell out his friends window and had to sue his friends to claim off the house insurance.

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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Oct 15th 2015, 9:33 PM

    Deborah $127,000 for medical costs for a broken wrist in the US, sounds about right. Charge for trip to A+E is about $2,000 by itself. Then doctor’s fee X-ray, charge for cast or splint plus all the other charges. That’s just A+E. the article says nothing about how bad break was.

    12
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    Mute Brid Howard
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:18 PM

    The other side of is the health system over there is corrupt and if you don’t have health insurance, your screwed, most ppl end up in debt after hospital treatment .

    68
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    Mute TommyJung
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:18 PM

    This kid shows more maturity as a 12 year old than the aunt in question.

    41
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    Mute Jamsey
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:38 PM

    It’s quite common here after a traffic accident involving life changing injuries for say a wife to sue a husband for damages to be paid by his insurance and vice versa..It’s not personal and the couple remain married.It’s to pay for any losses and pain and suffering caused.Probably similar to what happened in this case.Although the woman in the case above seemed to take inordinately long to take the case.

    25
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    Mute IrishGravyTrain
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:18 PM

    She should get the Cersi treatment from Game of Thrones. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

    24
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    Mute D.A. Molony
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    Oct 15th 2015, 6:31 PM

    Jennifer Connell dropped the O for the soup I’d say

    8
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    Mute Miriam
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    Oct 15th 2015, 7:22 PM

    Saw this on Facebook and I really thought (and hoped) this was fake! What an absolute cow!

    4
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    Mute Pronnsias McCarthaigh
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    Oct 15th 2015, 7:21 PM

    Still loves her =

    The luck will turn on her…

    4
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    Mute Charlie Fogarty
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    Oct 15th 2015, 7:33 PM

    * Still loves her = 13

    WOW

    9
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    Mute Pronnsias McCarthaigh
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    Oct 15th 2015, 7:51 PM

    This story is another numbers game with probably Zero truth in it..

    “Disgrace” = 66
    “a complete shock” = 11
    accident happened on 18 March, 2011.> 13
    “Negligence And Carelessness” = 239 Plutonium.

    In other news ..”LAMOR ODOM” is a word for word anagram for “ALARM DOOM” .

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    Mute Pronnsias McCarthaigh
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    Oct 15th 2015, 8:02 PM

    Spelling Error : ”LAMAR ODOM” is a word for word anagram for “ALARM DOOM” .

    3
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    Mute Rebekah Corbett
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    Oct 15th 2015, 8:43 PM

    How can an 8 year old break your wrist by jumping into your arms?

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Oct 15th 2015, 8:51 PM

    In fairness, neither of them resorted to guns in order to sort out their differences. It’s hard to love the ones you kill.

    In the USA, real life is even more off the wall than the zaniest television drama.

    2
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