Bangkok - The number of political prisoners in Myanmar jails has almost doubled to more than 2,000 over the past year, a report compiled by anti-government activists revealed on Sunday.

Myanmar's prisons now hold 2,123 political prisoners, compared with 1,192 in June 2007, the last time the United Nations ventured an estimate on inmates in the military-run state, according to a report compiled by the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and the US-based US Campaign for Burma.

Bangkok - Thai police on Sunday arrested Chamlong Srimuang, one of nine leaders of the protest movement that has occupied government headquarters for the past 41 days, to face treason charges.

Chamlong was arrested shortly after he left Government House and cast his vote in Bangkok's gubernatorial election.

Bangkok - Residents of Thailand's capital Bangkok went to the polls Sunday to elect a new governor after an eventful gubernatorial race that included one death by drowning and a punch-up between a candidate and a popular television anchor.

According to opinion polls, the front-runner in Sunday's election was Apirak Kosayodhin, the incumbent governor who is seeking a second term.

Election results will be known by midnight Sunday.

Bangkok - Thai police on Friday arrested one of nine leaders of the protest movement that has occupied government headquarters for the past 39 days and detained him to face treason charges.

Chaiwat Sinsuwong, a leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) that stormed Government House with thousands of followers on August 26 and have occupied the seat of the executive power since, was arrested as he left the house of Thai politician Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of the opposition Democrat Party.

Chaiwat and eight other leaders of the PAD have been charged with treason, for which the maximum penalty is death.

Bangkok - A US tourist was badly beaten up Friday by a bar owner at Thailand's Pattaya beach resort for refusing to pay 170 baht (5 dollars) for a bottle of beer, news reports said.

Dennis Leo Greenwood, 51, was hospitalized 12:30 am Friday morning at Pattaya Memorial Hospital for treatment of facial injuries, a head wound and several missing teeth, said The Nation online news service.

His Thai girlfriend, Suparp Mahasen, told police that a Pattaya bar owner and another employee had beaten up Greenwood after he refused to pay 170 baht for a bottle of beer, arguing that he had been overcharged.

Bangkok - Foreign husbands of women from Thailand's Buriram province are pumping 230 million baht (6.7 million dollars) into the local economy each year in remittances and spending, a recent survey of the income-generation of mixed marriages revealed Friday.

According to a survey of 967 mixed marriages registered in Buriram province, 300 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, foreign husbands have proved good providers for the local economy, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.