AKIPRESS.COM - Thailand has officially entered a one-year period of mourning, following the death of the country's beloved monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, at the age of 88.

Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in a hospital in the capital Bangkok on Thursday.

He had been in poor health for several years but his death plunged the Southeast Asian nation of 67 million people into grief.

The streets of Bangkok were busy as usual on Friday morning, 12 hours after news of the king's death broke. Most people dressed in black but shops opened for business, Al Jazeera reported.