Thaksin's kin elected new Thai PM

A brother-in-law of deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra was elected the new prime minister of Thailand in a parliamentary vote yesterday, setting up a showdown with protesters determined to tear down his political legacy.

Somchai Wongsawat, a 61-year-old bureaucrat who is married to Thaksin's sister, appealed for national unity shortly after the vote.

He declined to answer a question about his infamous relative, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and is now in exile in London.