Niwatthumrong is Thailand's caretaker PM

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan is now the caretaker prime minister, The Nation reported Deputy PM Phongthep Thepkanjana as saying.

Phongthep said Article 10 of the Country Administration Act was invoked to make Niwatthumrong the caretaker PM.

Earlier today, Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office for abuse of power, in a ruling that threatens to unleash a new wave of political unrest in the kingdom.

The court, which has played a key role in deposing Shinawatra-linked governments in recent turbulent chapters of Thai politics, ruled unanimously that she acted illegally by transferring a top security official in 2011, wrote AFP.

"Therefore her prime minister status has ended... Yingluck can no longer stay in her position acting as caretaker prime minister," presiding judge Charoon Intachan said in a televised ruling.