Bangkok  - Workers at a car factory blocked the main highway from Bangkok to the seaside resort of Pattaya Wednesday after rejecting a year-end bonus.

Several high-profile labour disputes have broken out in recent weeks as the economy slows down and employers try to cut jobs and pay.

Two companies of police commandos were deployed when 300 workers of a plant producing cars for Ford Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp at Rayong province south-east of Bangkok blocked the road after the company trimmed the workers' pay demands.

Bangkok  - Thailand's king gave his approval to the country's new cabinet Saturday, despite criticism that several cabinet members in charge of economic issues lack experience.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the new prime minister, told television stations his government was "good enough and committed enough" to restore an economy that has been rocked not only by the global economic crisis, but also months of local political turmoil culminating in the closure of Bangkok's two airports, from November 25 to December 3.

Bangkok - Thailand will run an ethical foreign policy untainted by personal business interests, the likely new foreign minister, former diplomat Kasit Piromya, said Friday.

Kasit said foreign policy moves made by the previous governments controlled by fugitive billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra were compromised by his personal interests.

"From now on there will be no personal business dealings on the side. This government will not mix business and politics," Kasit told an academic conference.

Former prime minister Thaksin was frequently accused of using official state trips to promote his family's sprawling telecoms empire, before it was sold two years ago.

Bangkok - Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Wednesday endorsed the election of former opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the country's 27th prime minister.

Abhisit, 44, leader of the Democrat Party which has been in the opposition since 2001, won the premiership Monday by a 235-198 vote in the lower house of parliament.

His selection was not official until it was endorsed by the king, who is head of state under Thailand's constitutional monarchy.

Abhisit said he would name his cabinet on Thursday, comprising ministers from a five-party coalition government.

Bangkok - An estimated 3 million foreign tourists are expected to go "missing" from Thailand this high season - December to March - as a result of the recent closure of Bangkok's two airports by protestors, the tourism council predicted Wednesday.

From November 25 to December 3, the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy seized and closed Bangkok's two international airports - Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang - stranding about 350,000 international travellers in the capital.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodian foreign affairs officials on Wednesday welcomed the ascent of a new government to power in Thailand but said it needed to take immediate action to resolve an ongoing border dispute between the two countries.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Kuy Kung said the new government was likely to improve relations between the two South-East Asian neighbours despite Thai prime minister-designate Abhisit Vejjajiva's history of strong rhetoric over the Preah Vihear temple dispute.

"We continue to have a good relationship with Thailand, and this will improve with the appointment of Abhisit Vejjajiva as prime minister," Kuy Kung said.