Military Tightens Grip, PM Flees Thailand After Coup

London - "Following a bloodless coup overnight, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has fled to London from New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Thaksin, a close ally of the U.S., cancelled a speech he was due to give at the U.N. on Tuesday evening, as news of the coup emerged.

His official spokesman, Surapong Suebwonglee, initially declared confidence that the coup would fail, but as events in the Thai capital unfolded, he told the Associated Press: 'We have to accept what happened. We are not coming back soon.'

Thaksin chartered a Russian plane to fly him and his entourage to the U.K. early Wednesday, according to a Thai reporter accompanying him."