BANGKOK: Some Thai anti-government protesters followed the advice of their leader yesterday, shunning products of firms linked to the family of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and handing back cellphone SIM cards. The protesters blocked main Bangkok intersections with tents, tyres and sandbags, seeking to unseat Yingluck.
This week, they targeted businesses linked, or once linked, to the Shinawatra family, sending stock prices tumbling. Some protesters answered leader Suthep Thaugsuban’s call to return their SIM cards belonging to mobile phone company Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS).
The company promptly sent a text message to clients saying it no longer had any connection with the Shinawatra family.
Aunjit Wongsampan, 65, lined up in central Bangkok to hand in her SIM card. When shown the company’s text message, she said: “I don’t believe them any more.
China in talks with Sri Lanka
COLOMBO: Chinese officials began three days of talks on economic cooperation with Sri Lanka yesterday, as Beijing strengthens relations with the Indian Ocean island that is a focal point for its regional rivalry with India.
“This visit will give an added impetus to opportunities accruing to Sri Lanka in the context of promoting the country as a regional ‘commercial hub’,” Sri Lanka’s external affairs ministry said in a statement.
China has increased its investments in Sri Lanka, funding airports, roads, railways and ports, something that has unsettled India, traditionally the closest economic partner of the island of 21 million people.
The Chinese delegation visit comes after Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris, on a trip to China this month, said a feasibility study on a free trade pact “is on the verge of completion” and the deal could be sealed by the end of the year.
Sri Lanka won China’s diplomatic support in a human right row this month when Beijing voiced support for Colombo after the United States said it would table a UN resolution over human rights on the island.
Agencies
