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 The steaming mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, caused by a gas-exploration drilling accident, could continue for years, officials say, as they prepare to route the mud towards the sea, despite warnings from environmental groups. Drilling crews are seeking the source of the hot mud, which they say is a hole the size of a large pizza. (CNA) Malaysia opens its national space center, the first in Southeast Asia. It is seen as a strategic milestone for the country, which is sending its first astronaut to the International Space Station next year. (AFP) (BERNAMA)- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says he's "taken note" of Lee Kuan Yew's apology on statements he made about Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia and calls for Lee to make assurances "that such a statement should not be made again." (NST) (Star)
 India is transferring some military hardware to Myanmar in a bid to counter the influence of China and to aid the junta in fighting such insurgent groups as the United Liberation Front of Asom and the Nagaland Rebels, which seek shelter in Myanmar's jungles. (IANS)(IANS) Singapore Airlines says it wants to be compensated for delays in the Airbus A380. As the new jumbo jet's first customer, the airline expected delivery this year but it has now been delayed until October 2007. (CNA)- Typhoon Xangsane:
 Officials reported 110 dead and 79 missing. Officials say 59 people were killed, with floods submerging thousands of homes as rains continue. (AP)
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- The haze hits the unhealthy stage for the first time in years, reaching a PSI of 150 by 2100 hours, the worse in a decade, and triggering the first health advisory by the National Environment Agency. (CNA)
- The largest shopping mall in Singapore, VivoCity, opens with 1,100,000 square feet (102,000 m²) of retail space. (CNA)
- In response to an editorial in the recently banned Far Eastern Economic Review, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts advises the magazine to seek legal redress (FEER) (AFP) (CNA)
 Flooding is problematic throughout Thailand, including Chanthaburi, where residents waded through chest-deep waters because of a shortage of rescue boats. Two people died there, along with one each in Loei and Prachin Buri. (Bangkok Post) (Nation)- Around 1,200 pieces of luggage is lost in the baggage-handling system at Suvarnabhumi Airport after a malfunction shuts down the computerized system for an hour, leaving more than 6,700 pieces to be moved by hand. (AP)
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- Sixteen provinces are affected by flooding, which has caused 32 deaths, 138,000 to be ill and affected nearly 1.8 million people. (Nation)
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 Communist Party of Vietnam secretary-general Nông Đức Mạnh arrives for a four-day visit in Laos, where he's to meet his counterpart, Choummaly Sayasone, as well as Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh. (AFP)- Southeast Asian haze:
- Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment minister Azmi Khalid says talks with his counterparts from Singapore and Indonesia are being planned. (AFP) (CNA) (Reuters)
- Malaysia's Meteorological Services Department reports improved visibility in northern regions of peninsular Malaysia. (BERNAMA)
- More than 1,000 delegates gather in Yangon for the reconvening of the constitutional convention in Myanmar, chaired by the junta, which lashes out at the United Nations Security Council for its discussion of the country in sessions last month. (Guardian) (BBC) (AFP)
- Six people are killed and at least 42 injured in a bombing during a town celebration in Makilala, Cotabato on Mindanao. Two others are killed and four injured in a blast at a market in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Officials blame Muslim extremist groups. (AFP) (Sun.Star) (BBC) (CNN)
- Heavy rains cause flooding in Bangkok, with footpaths in Siam Square under water and key roads snarled with traffic. However, King Bhumibol Adulyadej orders flood runoff from the Chao Phraya River diverted to the royal family's land in Ayutthaya, largely sparing the capital. (Nation) (Nation) (Nation) (TNA)
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 Southeast Asian haze: Environment ministers from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand will meet in Pakanbaru, Riau, to discuss the haze. (AFP) East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta says his country does not want a United Nations peacekeeping force and will continue to rely on troops deployed by regional neighbors, such as Australia, which were sent after the political crisis. Cambodia says it plans to send troops.(News.com.au) (Reuters)- Thailand interim civilian government: A new parliament, comprising 242 members selected by the Council for National Security is endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Members include Chamlong Srimuang, one of the leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy; former Thai Rak Thai party member and interior minister Purachai Piumsombun, former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan, and Wissanu Krea-ngam, who served as deputy prime minister in the Thaksin administration. The new body may question government policy but has no power to change laws or remove government officials from office. (AFP) (TNA)
- South Thailand insurgency: Three people are fatally shot in separate attacks. One was a rubber factory worker in Yala. Another was a man who was gunned down at his home in Narathiwat. The third was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani. (AFP)
- Thailand floods:
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- Southeast Asian haze:
- At a meeting of environment ministers in Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia appeals for help from its neighbours to deal with blazes that are creating the regionwide smog. "We are open to suggestions that will increase our effectiveness in suppressing current and future fires, and we welcome assistance from within and outside the region to overcome this dreadful problem which affects millions of lives," Indonesian environment minister Rachmat Witoelar says. (AFP)
- Indonesia is "respectfully urged" by its neighbors to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong also calls on Indonesia to sign the treaty. (AFP) (CNA)
- South Thailand insurgency: A police sergeant is injured in Yala as he inspects a suspicious object left in a food shop. (Nation)
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- Southeast Asian haze:
- Rain brings relief to residents in Pekanbaru on Sumatra but firefighters working to douse forest fires in Central Kalimantan are hampered by a lack of adequate equipment. (CNA)
- Civil servants in Central Kalimantan Province are offered two days off work if they help fight fires in the Borneo jungles. Visibility in Palangkaraya is less than 100 meters. In Jambi on Sumatra, visibility is less than 300 meters and flights from the provincial airport have been suspended indefinitely. (AFP)
- Indonesia confirms the 55th death from H5N1. The victim is a 27-year-old woman from Central Java. (AFP)
- Lapindo Brantas, the gas-drilling company that officials say is responsible for the mudspill that has left 12,000 people homeless in Sidoarjo, East Java, will pay more than US$100 million this year towards the clean up. The company's parent, Energi Mega Persada, says it will spend around $106 million on the disaster, for which it has yet to admit any responsibility. The mudflow, meanwhile, is being routed towards the sea. (AFP) (AP)
- South Thailand insurgency: A policeman is fatally shot while guarding a bank in Yala, bringing to 13 the number of people killed in violence in the southern provinces since Sunday. Five people were killed late Monday in drive-by shootings: four people in Yala and a one person in Pattani. (AFP)
- Tarisa Watanagase is appointed governor of the Bank of Thailand, replacing Pridiyathorn Devakula who was appointed finance minister in the interim government. Tarisa, 57, was an assistant governor of the BoT and is the first female governor in the bank's 64-year history. (TNA)
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 Prince Norodom Ranariddh is ousted as leader of the Funcinpec party. Ranariddh, who is in Malaysia when the party meeting takes place, calls the ouster "illegal". The party names Keo Puth Rasmey, Cambodia's ambassasor to Germany, as its new head. (Reuters) (AP)- The United Nations issues its report on the East Timor crisis, which calls for former prime minister Mari Alkatiri and other officials to be criminally investigated. The 79-page report clears President Xanana Gusmão of ordering former military police chief Major Alfredo Reinado "to carry out criminal actions," but says Reinado himself, who was jailed on weapons charges but later escaped in a prison break, could be "reasonably suspected of having committed crimes." (AFP) (Age)
- Southeast Asian haze:
- Air quality in Kuala Lumpur and Johor hit unhealthy levels due to the land-clearing fires in Indonesia. In Kuala Lumpur, the API is 108. (AFP)
- Visibility improves in Singapore, which reports a PSI falling from 92 to 70, but hazey conditions are likely to return on Thursday. (CNA)
- Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont meets with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar during a visit to re-affirm ties and discuss security issues, including the South Thailand insurgency. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad says the insurgents want to hold talks. "I think they are at a stage where they want to talk, so they need a response from the government," he told the New Straits Times, and says he's willing to continue as a negotiator. (AFP) (TNA) (NST)
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- Southeast Asian haze: 12 airlines cancel domestic flights from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport due to smog at many destinations, including Jambi, Banjarmasin, Jayapura, Semarang, Surabaya, Bengkulu, Denpasar, Makassar, Pekanbaru and Padang.(Antara)
- Thai interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont continues his round of visits to ASEAN neighbors, paying a one-day visit to Indonesia. He meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who encourages the junta-backed premier to lift martial law. (TNA) (AFP) (Antara)
- Flooding in Myanmar and Thailand has killed 143 people. Flooding since August in central and northern Thailand has claimed 124 lives, the government says. At its peak earlier this month, after heavy rains from Typhoon Xangsane, 46 provinces were affected; 16 are still affected. In central and eastern Myanmar, floods have killed 19 people, though the water has already subsided in most places. (AFP)
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- East Timor crisis: Fighting breaks out between two rival gangs after the mutilated remains of two bodies are found. Two men are stabbed in the fighting, and four others are injured. United Nations peacekeepers are brought in to restore order. (AFP) (AP)
- Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad meets with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi amidst hopes by their party, the United Malays National Organisation, that the two would put an end to their public bickering. However, after two hours, Mahathir emerges as critical as ever. "I can't say I am happy, I am satisfied I am able to say these things directly to him," he says. "I will continue to criticise if I feel something is done which is not beneficial to the country." (AFP)
- South Thailand insurgency: A bomb hidden in a wastebin in front of an electronics shop in Narathiwat explodes, killing a soldier and injuring a dozen people, including five Buddhist monks making their morning alms rounds. (AFP) (TNA)
- Thailand flooding:
- Already under pressure from flooding to the north, the Bangkok area is on the alert for floods during a period of hide tides. (TNA)
- The Department of Fisheries warns that crocodiles bred in illegal farms have been escaping from their confinement due to the floods encompassing much of the central provinces. (TNA)
- The total number of patients suffering from flood-related ailments has soared to 472,897 as measured up to October 20, a public health official says. (TNA)
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- Continuing his round of visits to neighboring countries, Thailand's interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont visits Manila, where he meets President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who backs his "very strong" commitment to undertake a "roadmap to constitutional democracy" in a year's time. Surayud says he discussed the South Thailand insurgency, noting that Manila is in talks with Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "I appreciate the role of the Philippine government in adopting the right approach to tackle insurgency in its southern region," Surayud said. "I told President Arroyo it might be a lesson for Thailand to learn from to end the ongoing insurgency in its three southern border provinces." (TNA) (INQ7) (AFP)
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- Princess Marie Ranariddh, the estranged wife of ousted Funcinpec leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, is appointed to a ministerial post by the National Assembly. The move makes public the much-rumored split of the royal couple.(AP)
- A Christian church is set ablaze in Poso where tensions have heightened since the execution last month of three Christian militants. One person died in a clash on Monday. (Reuters)
- Two Muslims, Sirojul Munir and Muhammad Rudi bin Salim, convicted in the 2002 Bali bombings, are released from prison. Both had been sentenced in 2003 to five years for their part in bombings. Their early releases spark condemnation from victims' families and the Australian government. (Australian) (Guardian)
- Jail time is reduced by six weeks for Tommy Suharto, the former dictator's son, who was sentenced to 15 years in 2002 for paying a hitman to kill a Supreme Court judge. His sentence had earlier been reduced to 10 years. (Age)
- South Thailand insurgency:
- Three Muslims are killed as celebrations begin for Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan. One is fatally shot in front of a mosque in Yala. Two others, including an iman, were shot on Monday in Pattani. (AFP)
- In a move the government hopes will pave the way towards peace in southern Thailand, the Cabinet endorses the revival of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center, which was shut down in 2001 by the Thaksin administration. The center will coordinate various government activities and serve as a mediation body. Its approval comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the Tak Bai Incident. (TNA) (Nation)
- Thailand interim civilian government:
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Portal:Southeast Asia/2006 October 29
Portal:Southeast Asia/2006 October 31
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[edit] Recently concluded
Ongoing:
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Holidays
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[edit] October
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