BANGKOK- FORMER premier Thaksin Shinawatra accused Thailand's embattled government of lying to cover up deaths in an army crackdown on protesters Monday.

Speaking to CNN from an undisclosed location, the fugitive tycoon said soldiers who were seen earlier firing rounds into the air to disperse his rioting supporters in Bangkok had killed 'many'.

THE Singapore Parliament was prorogued after its latest sitting on Monday, said a Goverment statement.

The second session of the 11th Parliament will be convened with the President's Address on May 18, at 8.30 pm.

At the opening of the new session, the President in his Address will announce the priorities, policies and programmes of the Government for the remainder of its current term of office, said the statement on Monday night.

SOME 1,000 people who packed the funeral mass of DBS chief executive Richard Stanley on Monday got a glimpse into his private life outside of his job as head of Singapore's largest lender.

Eulogies given by his father, close friends and colleagues painted Mr Stanley, who died on Saturday morning after a short battle with leukaemia, as a man who was not merely a 'tough' banker - but also one who 'showed great compassion'.

BANGKOK - BEWILDERED tourists in Bangkok feared for their safety or just wondered what was going on Monday, as soldiers just a few streets away opened fire above the heads of rampaging red-shirted protesters.

On the day the Thai capital should have been filled with revellers noisily celebrating Songkran, the biggest national festival, the sprawling city awoke to the crackle of automatic gunfire amid a state of emergency.