Property tycoon Srettha Thavisin has been elected as Thailand's next prime minister. The candidate from the Pheu Thai Party — backed by the powerful Shinawatra family — won the vote in both Houses of Parliament and is expected be sworn in soon.

• It comes on the same day that fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned from 15 years of self-exile and was sentenced to prison for eight years.
• Thailand went to the polls in May but the progressive winning party Move Forward's leader Pita Limjaroenrat was blocked from becoming prime minister by the military-appointed Senate.
• Today's events are the latest twist in a nearly two-decade power struggle between Pheu Thai, which has won five elections, and a nexus of conservatives, generals and wealthy families that have long wielded influence on Thai politics.