Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has travelled to Singapore for a medical examination and insists he will return to Thailand within two days to hear the ruling in his extended hospital stay case on Sept 9, dismissing speculation that he intends to flee the country.

Chaikasem Nitisiri, the prime ministerial candidate from the Pheu Thai Party, has pledged to dissolve the House of Representatives immediately if elected on Friday.

About 200 HIV patients at Wat Phra Bat Nam Phu will be transferred to the state public health system as donations have fallen to near zero since details emerged of a financial scandal linked to former abbot Luang Phor Alongkot.

The Royal Thai Army has warned Cambodian people who trespass into Thai territory or destroy warning signs erected near the border at Ban Nong Chan in Sa Kaeo province that they would be prosecuted under Thai law, according to a spokesperson for the First Army Region.

Soldiers and forensic experts have found ball bearings from Cambodian rockets that hit a lower northeastern community when Cambodia opened fire at Thailand in July, and the evidence indicates a war crime, according to the Royal Thai Army.

The Pheu Thai Party will propose Chaikasem Nitisiri as its candidate for prime minister when the House of Representatives convenes on Friday, the party said on Thursday.