BANGKOK: Thailand's former defence chief is set to be appointed acting prime minister on Thursday (Jul 3), capping a colourful career for the political heavyweight once nicknamed "Big Comrade". Phumtham Wechayachai earned his moniker over links in his youth to a 1970s student movement that rallied against the architect of a military coup, before their protests were violently crushed. He fled to the jungle where communist guerrillas were plotting uprisings against the nation's military, and