Bangkok  - Thai shares jumped 5.39 per cent in value Monday on regional and European rebounds as confidence returned somewhat to equity markets.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday that Thai troops had been turned back during an apparent attempted foray to view the area where two Thai soldiers were severely wounded by landmines just days earlier.

Hor Namhong said he had received word of the brief standoff during his several-hour-long meeting with his Thai counterpart Sompong Amornviwat in the capital which focused on resolving a simmering border dispute.

Phnom Penh - A meeting between the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers over an ongoing border dispute led to pledges for further meetings but a warning from Cambodia that its patience was finite, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday.

Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Sompong Amornviwat met for several hours but achieved little more than a promise of a joint border task force meeting for late October, the Cambodian side said.

Bangkok - Thailand's anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has called off a planned protest in Bangkok Monday, defusing political tensions after the prime minister apologized for a crackdown on the movement last week.

PAD leader Sonhdi Limthongkul announced the cancellation of a planned protest outside the National Polcie Bureau late Sunday night after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat publicly apologized for a police crackdown on the movement on October 7 that left two dead and almost 500 injured.

Bangkok - "Grandpa Yen," a 108-year-old Thai-Muslim who lived alone on a small boat on the Phetchaburi River for years, died Sunday from natural causes.

Yen Kaewmanee was found unconscious in his river boat by neighbours Sunday morning and rushed to Prachao Khlao Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:40 am, The Nation online news reported.

To save on rent, Yen had been living on small houseboats in the Phetchaburi River since his wife died when he was in his mid-90s.

Bangkok - Thailand's largest lingerie-manufacturer has refocused on the domestic market amid predictions that US demand for women's underwear will feel the pinch as a result of the financial crisis, news reports said Saturday.

"We can't rely much of the export market because the crisis will make other countries suspend orders," said Amnuay Bumroongwongtong, managing director of Thai Wacoal - the country's largest manufacturer of luxury lingerie.