Bangkok - Thai authorities are preparing to seize 2.3 billion dollars in frozen assets belonging to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, who fled the country last weekend, media reports said Wednesday.

The foreign ministry is also preparing to cancel Thaksin's diplomatic passport, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

London, Aug 11 : Thailand’s deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said that he and his family had fled to Britain.

The millionaire Manchester City boss spoke after he and his wife skipped a hearing on corruption charges in a Bangkok court.

A hand-written statement from Thaksin said he fled because he could not expect justice in Thai courts. It came amid newspaper reports that he would seek asylum in Britain, the Daily Express reported.

“My wife and I have traveled to reside in England," Thaksin said in the statement.

Bangkok  - Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman failed to appear at the Supreme Court Monday, as ordered, amid speculation that the former first couple were seeking asylum abroad.

The court on July 29 granted Thaksin and Pojaman, who face several abuse-of-power and corruption cases in Thailand, permission to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing on Friday.

Bangkok - Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country, has revived ceremonial worship of the Rice Goddess to commemorate the queen's upcoming birthday and boost the morale of the country's 3.7 million rice-farming families, news reports said Sunday.

The Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday held a ritual to worship Mae Phosop, or the Rice Goddess, at a demonstration farm in Ang Thong province, the Bangkok Post reported.

The ceremony was presided over by Queen Sirikit, the royal consort of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who will celebrate her 76th birthday on Tuesday.

Pattani, Thailand - Suspected separatists decapitated a 60-year-old Thai-Muslim man in Thailand's violence-wracked province of Pattani, police said Saturday.

Madu Ramae, a rubber plantation labourer, was stabbed to death and then decapitated Friday night in the Yarang district of Pattani, about 750 kilometres south of Bangkok, police said.

His head was found 5 metres away from his body.

Bangkok - Thailand's first major outcome from the Beijing Olympics is expected this weekend when it will be clear whether the kingdom will lose former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife to self-exile, media reports said Saturday.

Thaksin, whose 2001-2006 premiership was terminated by a coup, was granted court permission to fly to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday. But he must return by Monday to stand trial in an abuse-of-power case.