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.

Bangkok  - Thailand's anti-government Red Shirt movement is ready for six months of countrywide protests to force a new election and defeat their critics, Jakrapob Penkair, a leader of political group loyal to fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said Thursday.

Jakrapob's group - the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship - is now focused on a creating a huge show of popular anger against an "illegitimate government" next Wednesday, he said.

Bangkok - Thai shares climbed 2.96 per cent Thursday on the back of a robust overnight performance by Wall Street and a shiver of optimism over the global financial crisis although prices remained dogged by local political worries, analysts said.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand index ended at 422.96, up 12.87 points.