Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been released on parole from a Bangkok hospital where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses. The telecoms billionaire was toppled in a 2006 coup but voluntarily returned from self-exile to Thailand in August last year and reported to prison to begin serving an eight-year sentence. Critics charged that the 74-year-old Thaksin’s early release on Sunday reeked of a deal that short-circuited justice for political reasons. The former leader had won unprecedented electoral support but also influential enemies among Thailand’s traditional royalist ruling class during his time in office in 2001-2006.  (Feb. 19) (AP Video: Jerry Harmer, Jutarat Skulpichetrat and Tian Macleod Ji)