Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
Thailand is the world's 51st-largest country in terms of total area, with an area of approximately 513,000 km2 (198,000 sq mi), and is the 20th-most-populous country, with around 64 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, which is Thailand's political, commercial, industrial and cultural hub. About 75% of the population is ethnically Thai, 14% is of Chinese origin, and 3% is ethnically Malay; the rest belong to minority groups including Mons, Khmers and various hill tribes. The country's official language is Thai. The primary religion is Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the population.
The Royal Thai Armed Forces constitute the military of the Kingdom of Thailand. They consist of the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy, and the Royal Thai Air Force. It also incorporates various paramilitary forces.
Currently, the Royal Thai Armed Forces has a combined manpower of about 800,000 personnel. The Head of the Thai Armed Forces is King Bhumibol Adulyadej, although this position is only nominal. The Armed Forces is managed by the Ministry of Defence of Thailand, which is headed by the Minister of Defence (a member of the Cabinet of Thailand) and commanded by the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters, which in turn is headed by the Chief of Defence Forces of Thailand. In 2011, Thailand's known military expenditure totalled approximately US$5.1 billion. [source: wikipedia]
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France24 news
written by AFP staff
Thursday March 28, 2013
A Thai man was sentenced to more than three years in prison on Thursday for selling copies of a controversial Australian documentary about Thailand's royal family, his lawyer said.
The imprisonment of Eakachai Hongkangwan, 37, is the latest in a series of tough sentences handed down by the kingdom's courts for royal defamation, to the dismay of human rights campaigners.
"The court found him guilty of lese majeste and sentenced him to five years, but due to his useful testimony, the sentence was reduced to three years and four months," lawyer Anon Numpa said afterwards, adding his client would appeal.
Eakachai was also fined 64,000 baht ($2,200) for selling CDs without a licence.
The documentary was broadcast by the state-funded Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) in 2010 in the midst of a military crackdown on anti-government "Red Shirt" demonstrations in Bangkok.
Thailand warned at the time that the broadcast could affect ties with Australia.
The royal family is an extremely sensitive subject in politically turbulent Thailand. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 85, is revered by many Thais but has been in hospital since September 2009.
Rights groups have criticised the kingdom's royal insult laws as an attack on freedom of expression.
Under the legislation, anyone convicted of insulting the Thai king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
In January the European Union said it was "deeply concerned" by an 11-year jail sentence handed to a former magazine editor in connection with two articles deemed offensive to the royals.
Thailand has been riven by political divisions since the Red Shirts' hero, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was topped by royalist generals in a coup in 2006.
Two months of mass street protests by the Red Shirts against the previous government in early 2010 triggered the kingdom's worst civil violence in decades with 90 people killed, mostly in a bloody military crackdown.
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