BANGKOK (AP) — Anutin Charnvirakul, a veteran politician best known for successfully lobbying to decriminalize cannabis in Thailand, became the country’s prime minister after receiving a royal endorsement Sunday, two days after he was chosen by Parliament following a court order that removed his predecessor.

Anutin, 58, succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party, dismissed last week after being found guilty of ethics violations over a politically compromising phone call with neighboring Cambodia’s Senate President Hun Sen before a border dispute between the two nations turned into a deadly five-day armed conflict in July that raised fears of a full-blown war in the region.

Thailand’s new prime minister had served in Paetongtarn’s Cabinet as a deputy prime minister and an inte

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