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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Thailand court ousts PM Yingluck Shinawatra | Thailand court ousts PM Yingluck Shinawatra |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Thai court has ruled that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra must step down over abuse of power charges. | A Thai court has ruled that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra must step down over abuse of power charges. |
| The Constitutional Court ruled that Ms Yingluck acted illegally when she transferred her national security head. | |
| The court has also ruled that some cabinet ministers involved in the transfer must also step down. | |
| The ruling follows months of political deadlock. Anti-government protesters have been trying to oust Ms Yingluck since November 2013. | |
| The move is likely to trigger protests by supporters of the government, which remains very popular in rural areas. | |
| Ms Yingluck had been accused of improperly transferring Thawil Pliensri, her national security chief appointed by the opposition-led administration, in 2011. | |
| Appearing court on Tuesday, she had rejected the suggestion that her party had benefited from the move - but the court ruled against her. | |
| "The prime minister's status has ended, Yingluck can no longer stay in her position acting as caretaker prime minister," a judge said in a statement. | |
| It is not yet clear whether one of Ms Yingluck's ministers can step in or whether Thailand now faces a political vacuum. | |
| Power struggle | |
| Anti-government protests began in the Thai capital late last year, with demonstrators blockading several parts of the city. | |
| In response, Ms Yingluck called a snap general election in February that her party was widely expected to win. But the protesters disrupted the polls and the election was later annulled. | |
| Ms Yingluck's supporters believe that the courts are biased against her and side with the urban elite at the heart of the protest movement. | |
| Thailand has faced a power struggle since Ms Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by the military as prime minister in a 2006 coup. | |
| Mr Thaksin and his family are hated by an urban and middle-class elite who accuse them of corruption and abuse of power. | |
| But Mr Thaksin's policies won him huge support in rural areas, and both the elections since the coup have returned Thaksin-allied governments to power. |