Bangkok - Hundreds of Myanmar activists protested outside the Chinese and Myanmar embassies in Bangkok Friday, marking the 20th anniversary of a brutal army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon that left thousands dead.

The protestors, mindful that Friday also marks the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Beijing, used the anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising to highlight China's role in supporting Myanmar's notoriously brutish military regime.

On August 8, 1988, thousands of pro-democracy protestors took to the streets in Yangon demanding the end of 26 years of military rule. Their demands were met with bullets and a bloodbath that left an estimated 3,000 dead.

Bangkok - Thailand's rice exports were expected to fall from an estimated 10 million tons this year to 8 million to 8.5 million in 2009 as India returns to the international market, media reports said Friday.

Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter for the past four decades, has benefited this year from India's and Vietnam's temporary bans on rice exports to assure a sufficient supply for their domestic markets.

Bangkok  - Thai shares jumped 4.1 per cent in value Thursday in response to falling world oil prices and an influx of foreign funds, brokers said.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 703.87, up 27.52 points or 4.1 per cent.

Brokers attributed SET's dramatic rise, which was not seen on other Asian markets Thursday, to an influx of investments from hedge funds and short-term buyers.

"Our market is always a bit out of sync with others," said Mongkol Phuanpaetra, an analyst at Adkinson Securities. "I think investors were buying for short-term gains today."

Bangkok - A Royal Thai Air Force helicopter crashed Wednesday in the conflict-ridden deep South, killing all six people on board, officials said.

Bangkok  - The Thai cabinet on Tuesday agreed to reduce its military presence around the disputed Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border, but stopped short of ordering a complete retreat.

Bangkok - Thailand has applied with the European Union for geographical indication (GI) protection for jasmine rice from the Thung Kula Ronghai paddy-growing area, to become the "champagne" of Thai rice if granted, reports said Tuesday.

Puangrat Asavapisit, director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Intellectual Property Department, said the application process was about 50 per cent completed and the approval process would take another two years, the Bangkok Post newspaper said.

The GI system protects a product by certifying it comes from a certain area and has characteristics that cannot be replicated elsewhere, a famous example being Champagne, the region in France where the bubbly wine is made.