Ex-Thai PM Thaksin granted Nicaragua passport

Thailand's fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra now has a Nicaraguan passport, complicating efforts to extradite him, as Thai authorities pressed ahead yesterday with a search for his supporters accused of leading violent riots in Bangkok.
The Nicaraguan government announced late Wednesday it had named Thaksin a "Nicaraguan ambassador on a special mission" to bring investment to the Central American country and issued him a passport in January.
The announcement came just hours after the Thai government said it had revoked Thaksin's personal passport, accusing him of stoking the unrest that paralysed the Thai capital earlier this week.