Saudi restores full ties with Thailand after diamond dispute
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By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia has ordered the restoration of full diplomatic ties with Thailand and said the countries agreed to trade ambassadors. The announcement during Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s visit closed the chapter on three decades of mistrust and hostility that stemmed from a sensational jewelry heist. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic ties with Thailand over the 1989 theft, known as the Blue Diamond affair. A Thai janitor’s theft of an estimated $20 million worth of gems and jewelry from a Saudi prince’s palace caused a scandal that wrecked relations between the countries.