Thai election panel disqualifies princess as PM candidate

The Election Commission released the official list of parties' candidates for prime minister without the name of Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, 67, the king's elder sister.The list excluded Ubolratana "because every member of the royal family comes within the application of the same rule requiring the monarch to be above politics and to be politically neutral," the panel said in a statement after a meeting.The princess had accepted the nomination of the Thai Raksa Chart par