Bangkok - Two short, sharp border clashes with Cambodia that left at least two Thai soldiers dead last week will not sour essentially good relations between the two neighbours, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday.

Thai and Cambodia troops engaged in at least two brisk shootouts Friday that killed two Thai soldiers and wounded a dozen more on disputed ground near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, located 350 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.

Bangkok - A woman who released three pit bull terriers from their cage for the night was pounced on by the dogs who mauled her to death, said police in the central town of Nakhon Sawan Saturday.

The woman went out at about midnight Friday to free the dogs who guarded the family house but she did not return, prompting her mother-in-law to go out to investigate.

She found her daughter-in-law, 37, in a terrible state. Nearby was the dead body of a small pet dog.

Bangkok  - Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has rejected a government offer of reconciliation talks, asking instead for a massive show of protest support, media reports said Saturday.

Thaksin used a video link to tell a protest rally in Bangkok that negotiations were impossible because the future of the country was as stake.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday he would welcome any moves to defuse political tensions with mediated talks, and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had earlier offered to talk to Thaksin personally.

Taipei  - Thailand is luring lovers with a Made in Thailand (MIT) tourist tag that encourages them to conceive a baby while on holiday.

The Thailand Authority of Tourism (TAT) on Friday launched the MIT project to encourage Taiwan couples to go on sightseeing trips and conceive a baby in Thailand.

Under the programme, from now until October 31, if Taiwan couples visit Thailand and the wife conceives there, they have the chance of winning three free return flight tickets.

Bangkok - A Bangkok court jailed an oil engineer for 10 years Friday for posting a picture deemed insulting to the Thai monarch on a website, the first verdict using new computer crime laws enacted in 2007.

Suwicha Thakho was initially sentenced to 20 years but the court lowered the term because of his guilty plea. Suwicha, a married man with children, wept after the sentencing, the Nation newspaper reported.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodian and Thai soldiers exchanged gunfire Friday morning at a disputed border area where a fatal skirmish between the South-East Asian neighbours erupted last year, a government spokesman in Phnom Penh said.

No casualties were reported in the clash at the ninth-century Preah Vihear temple, government spokesman Phay Siphan said.

He said about a dozen Thai troops crossed the border about 7.15 am (0015 GMT) and were immediately confronted by Cambodian soldiers.