Thailand's globe-trotting deposed leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, garnered an academic honor by visiting Moscow this week, but lost thousands of dollars and his passport when he stopped at a McDonald's in the Russian capital. Thaksin, who has been living in exile since a coup last year ousted him as prime minister, had entrusted his briefcase to an aide sitting at a nearby table as they had a meal on Monday, said his lawyer, Noppadol Pattama, in a phone interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok. When the party got up to leave, they found that Thaksin's briefcase, with his passport and about US $9,200 worth of money in US and Russian currency, had been snatched.

Thaksin was in Moscow to accept an honorary degree in science from the Plekhanov Russian Economic Academy. Noppadol said the Thai Embassy in Moscow had helped Thaksin, issuing him a new passport and other temporary travel documents. Thai government agencies are not usually so helpful to Thaksin. Several months after Thaksin was toppled, the Thai Foreign Ministry canceled his diplomatic passport, which former prime ministers are normally allowed to carry as a special privilege. He is slated to be a guest lecturer at Tokyo's Takushoku University, where he will give a talk on July 5, Japanese press reports said Thursday. He expected to talk about Asian business-economic models, based on his experience in the private sector, reported the Kyodo News Service. (AP)