Former Thai PM Thaksin Formally Charged in Royal Insult Case

Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra was formally charged in a royal insult case Tuesday, part of a series of legal cases that threaten to plunge the Southeast Asian country into political turmoil. 

Thaksin, a two-time former prime minister and the de facto leader of the ruling Pheu Thai party, was arraigned under Thailand’s stringent lèse-majesté law that protects the royal family from criticism, according to a spokesman with the attorney general’s office.