Bangkok - Honda Motor Company's exports from Thailand reached 23.6 billion baht (674 million dollars) in the last quarter of 2008, down 12 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, the Japanese auto manufacturer revealed on Monday.

Total Honda exports from Thailand in 2008 amounted to 104.6 billion baht (2.9 billion dollars), up 4 per cent on the 2007 performance, according to figures released by Asian Honda Motor Company, Honda's regional office in South-East Asia.

Bangkok - Thai hospitals attracted an estimated 1.4 million foreign patients last year, earning the country about 70 billion baht (2 billion dollars) from medical tourism, media reports said Monday.

Tanatip Supparit, chief executive officer of Piyavate Hospital - one of about 30 Thai hospitals that cater to foreign patients - estimated that some 1.4 million foreigners received medical care in Thailand in 2008, with 800,000 receiving "complicated treatment," reported The Nation newspaper.

Bangkok - A free trade agreement between India and South-East Asia will be signed at the upcoming summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) if the Thai parliament approves the pact, officials said Monday.

"The ASEAN Economic ministers have invited the Indian commerce minister to sign the FTA on February 26," said Tharit Charungvat, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Bangkok  - Thick fog diverted 11 flights from Bangkok's international airport Thursday, forcing them to land at the Thai capital's domestic airport as well as farther afield in Chiang Mai and Phuket, airport officials said.

The fog, which reduced visibility to 800 metres, blanketed Suvarnabhumi Airport from 7 to 8 am, but lifted about 9 am, allowing traffic to resume, airport director Serirat Prasutanond said.

Bangkok  - A descendent of the Lao royal family on Thursday kicked off a grand sale of her treasured collection of antique silks and jewelry to raise money for scholarships for Buddhist monks in Asia.

Chao Soymala In-ieum na Jampasak, 67, said proceeds from the sale of her 1,000-item century-old silks and jewelry collection would be used to help cover costs for Buddhist monks from Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam to pursue religious studies at Thailand's Mahachulalongkornrajidyalaya University in Chiang Mai, 650 kilometres north of Bangkok.

"I need to raise at least a million dollars," Soymala said in a telephone interview.

Bangkok - Thailand's 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Tuesday congratulated Barrack Obama on his inauguration as the 44th president of the US and sent his wishes for greater "progress and prosperity" for the American people.

"I am pleased to extend to Your Excellency my sincere congratulations and best wishes for your success and happiness as well as for the greater progress and prosperity of the United States of America and her people," said the king in a congratulatory message to president-elect Obama.