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

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will meet his Thai counterpart, Taj Bunnag, on August 18 in an effort to settle a potentially explosive border dispute between the two countries, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday.

In a speech broadcast on state radio, Hun Sen said talks between Hor Namhong and Bunnag would be held in the Thai province of Hua Hin, where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has a sea-side palace.

"Hor Namhong will meet his Thai counterpart ... on August 18. Hor Namhong will then pay a courtesy visit to the Thai king," Hun Sen said at a rice farming ceremony in the south-western province of Kampong Speu, 40 kilometres west of the capital.

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.

Washington - US President George W Bush heads to Asia later Monday for a seven-day journey that will take him to South Korea, Thailand - where he is to deliver a major policy speech and liaise with Myanmar dissidents - and finally China for the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics.

Bush was to arrive Tuesday in Seoul, where he will meet with President Lee Myung Bak, who visited the US in March at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. The two men are marking the 55th anniversary of US-South Korean ties.

Bangkok- Thailand's inflation in July rose to 9.2 per cent year-on-year, the highest rate in a decade, the commerce ministry announced Friday.

Pairoh Sudsawang, Permanent Secretary for Commerce, said the Consumer Price Index in July was up 9.2 per cent compared with July, 2007, and up 0.3 per cent compared with last month's rate.

In June, inflation rose to 8.9 per cent, year-on-year, while in May it was 7.6 per cent.

Despite the steady rise over the past three months, Pairoh projected that the rate for all of 2008 will be about 6.6 per cent.

With international oil prices now on a gradual decline, Thailand's inflation rate is expected to lessen in August, the Kasikorn Research Centre (KCR) said.

Bangkok - Thailand will this month host the world's first international symposium on fireflies, attracting 200 experts from 20 countries to the kingdom to present the latest studies on the insects and discuss means of preserving them, media reports said Friday.

The International Symposium on Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies will be held on August 26 to 30 at the Botanical Garden Organization in Chiang Mai, 560 kilometres north of Bangkok.

Suyanee Vessburr, chief organizer of the event, said Chiang Mai was an appropriate venue for the symposium as the province was having trouble conserving their fireflies due to tourism, said the Bangkok Post newspaper.