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.

Bangkok - Thailand's share prices plummeted 9.6 per cent Friday, prompting regulators to close the market for 30 minutes after midday trading when share values had dropped more than 10 per cent.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 451.96, down 48.03 points, or 9.6 per cent.

After the midday break, the index slipped to 449.91, down 50.08 points, or 10.02 per cent, prompting authorities to close trading for half an hour in keeping with the bourse's regulations.

The bourse resumed trading in the afternoon.

Bangkok - Thailand's stock market regulator

Bangkok - A Thai tour bus taking university students on a field trip overturned on a road ramp Friday, killing 22 people and injuring 27 others, police said.

The driver apparently lost control of the vehicle about 3 am when it was coming down a steep hill in Nadi district, Prachinburi province, 140 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, and it overturned after crashing into a road guard up a dirt ramp.

The driver died in the crash along with 18 male and three female students from Kaset Techno Khon Kaen University.

Prachinburi police chief Major General Sanchai Chaiamporn said authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.

Bangkok - Top leaders of an anti-government movement that has occupied Thailand's seat of government since August surrendered Friday to police, news reports said, a day after treason charges were dropped against them.

The leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) still face charges of resisting arrest and gathering illegally for the actions of their group, which was involved in deadly clashes with police this week and seized Government House August 26 in its five months of demonstrations aimed at toppling the government.

The treason charges dropped Thursday by Thailand's Appeals Court carried a maximum sentence of death. Under the lesser charges, the nine PAD leaders now face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison if convicted.

Bangkok - Former deputy prime minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has called for a military coup as the only means of solving Thailand's political stalemate, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.

"There is no other way out," said Chavalit, in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post, an English-language daily.

"I see a putsch. After the military steps in, power should immediately be returned to the people and an interim government can be formed in which every party takes part," he said.