Ex-PM Thaksin fears Thai junta will cling to power

NEW YORK: The Thai military junta wants to cling onto power as long as possible, the country’s fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in an interview in New York, not ruling out a return to politics.

The telecoms tycoon, who was toppled in a 2006 coup and now lives in self-exile overseas, said he “wished” he could go home but would consider a return only if it would “benefit the country and the people.”