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 Myanmar's military rulers show off their new capital for the first time to the outside world. The new city, called Naypyidaw, or Abode of Kings, is being built about 460km (300 miles) north of the old capital, Rangoon. (BBC) (BBC) Pictures Thailand's central bank denies it is planning to put a limit on the value of the baht, but has asked banks to avoid pushing the currency any higher. The banks have been asked to return their currency holdings to the position they were in at the end of 2006. The baht hit nine-year highs against the dollar last week but has since fallen back on rumours of intervention. (BBC)
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- Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been charged with tax evasion. She was charged, along with her brother and her secretary, at Bangkok Criminal Court before being released on bail. The case relates to the transfer of shares in 1997 in a family telecoms firm, now known as Shin Corp. (BBC)
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- Bangkok's recently decomnissioned airport Don Mueang has reopened to help ease congestion at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport as it undergoes repairs. Don Mueang airport - decommissioned six months ago - is expected to handle about 140 daily domestic flights. (BBC)
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 A former chief of police has been given a seven year jail sentence for detaining a woman for more than two months without charge. It is one of a series of brutality charges facing the former head of Phnom Penh police, Heng Pov. He was cleared of separate kidnapping charges on Wednesday, but is already serving an 18-year jail sentence for ordering a judge's murder, and faces at least two more trials, for murder and attempted murder. (BBC)
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- Prime Minister Soe Win, 73, is being treated at a hospital in Singapore. No details have been given of his illness, except that it is a "serious health matter". The Irrawaddy, a publication run by Burmese journalists in exile, reported last week that the prime minister may be suffering from leukaemia. (BBC)
 Police say they have arrested a number of suspected members of militant Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). One man was shot as he resisted arrest in Yogyakarta. The suspects are believed to have links to Indonesian militant Abu Dujana, who police say is the current leader of JI. (BBC)- Three Muslim militants are sentenced to jail for beheading three Christian schoolgirls in Central Sulawesi in 2005. Hasanuddin, 34, was given 20 years for planning the attack, while two accomplices were given 14 years. Hasanuddin had told the court he helped plan the attack but rejected allegations he masterminded it. [(BBC)]
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- The Sidoarjo mud flow temporarily halts for 30 minutes. Engineers have dropped hundreds of giant, chain-linked spheres into the mouth of the hole so far. (BBC)
- Thai police have recommended that former PM Thaksin Shinawatra is charged on three counts of insulting the king. Police chief Sereepisut Taemeeyaves said he was also investigating several possible lese majeste cases, including a recent TV interview of Mr Thaksin. (BBC)
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  The Mekong and Salween rivers are named by the World Wide Fund for Nature among the world's most threatened by pollution and climate change. (AFP)
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- At least three teenage students have been killed in an attack on an Islamic school in southern Thailand. Explosives were thrown into the school in Songkhla province before the assailants opened fire on the sleeping quarters. Seven other students were wounded in the attack late on Saturday. The police have blamed the attack on Muslim separatists, but villagers disputed the police account and later staged a protest. (BBC)
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- Cambodian and international judges have resolved most of their differences over procedures for a planned Khmer Rouge tribunal, court officials say. But a key disagreement about the role of foreign lawyers remains unresolved. The judges have held 10 days of talks in Phnom Penh on rules for the trials, which aim to put surviving leaders of the brutal Maoist regime in the dock. The judges have called a full meeting of legal officials to approve the rules at the end of April. (BBC)
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 Clouded Leopards found on Sumatra and Borneo represent a new species, research by genetic scientists and the conservation group WWF indicates. Until now it had been thought they belonged to the species that is found on mainland southeast Asia. Clouded leopards are the biggest predators on Borneo, and can grow as large as small panthers. WWF, which maintains a large conservation operation on Borneo, estimates there are between 5,000 and 11,000 clouded leopards on the island, with a further 3,000 to 7,000 on Sumatra. (BBC)
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 Police have stormed a courtroom in Taguig City, killing a gunman to end a day-long hostage drama. Hostage-taker Almario Villegas was shot dead during the operation inside the Taguig Hall of Justice. Mr Villegas seized the hostages in a dispute over land ownership. (BBC)- Nine people have been killed in an attack on a minibus in southern Thailand. The incident, which also left one person injured, has been blamed on suspected Muslim insurgents. The minibus was taking people from the province of Yala to Hat Yai in the neighbouring province of Songkhla. (BBC)
- Abbott Laboratories, one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies has announced it will stop licensing any new drugs it develops for sale in Thailand. The US-based company said it was responding to the Thai government's decision to break the patent on the anti-HIV/Aids drug Kaletra. Thailand has announced it will either make or import cheap generic versions of three patented drugs. (BBC)
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- Former deputy trade minister Mai Van Dau goes on trial, charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes from textile companies. Dau, who was arrested in 2004, faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted. Twelve other people are standing trial with him, including his son Mai Thanh Hai and several senior officials. (BBC)
- Haze pollution in Northern Thailand becomes so problematic that Thai Airways International cancels flights to Mae Hong Son Province. (Nation)
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- Former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has announced that he is ready to return to active politics in defiance of a legal ban. Mr Anwar says if his People's Justice Party backs him, he will run for its presidency in June despite being barred from political office until April 2008. Mr Anwar served six years in prison for corruption and sodomy. But he was released in September 2004 after the courts overturned the latter charge on appeal. (BBC)
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- A 15-year-old girl from Laos has died from the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, becoming the country's first official fatality from the disease. The girl, who lived near the capital Vientiane, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in neighbouring Thailand. A 42-year-old woman, who also lived close to Vientiane, died of suspected bird flu a few days ago. Tests have yet to confirm whether she died of the H5N1 virus. (BBC)
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- Cambodian and international judges begin talks to prevent the possible collapse of the Khmer Rouge trials. The trials, which aim to put the surviving leaders of the Maoist regime in the dock, have ground to a halt over procedural differences. Foreign judges want full international legal standards, while the Cambodians say local law must take precedence. Trial hearings are theoretically due to start later this year. (BBC)
 Former East Timor interior minister Rogerio Lobato is sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for his role in last year's unrest. Lobato was found guilty of abuse of power and of distributing weapons illegally to militias charged with eliminating government opponents. (BBC)- Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 bursts into flames upon landing at Yogyakarta, killing at least 22 people. Among the passengers are Australian diplomats and journalists covering Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's visit to Indonesia. (AFP) (BBC)
- Thai television station iTV is given a reprieve by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who orders the government's Public Relations Department to continue relaying the embattled station's signal, reversing a decision to halt broadcasts. (TNA) (Nation)
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- Malaysian police are investigating claims a senior member of government took more than $1.5m in bribes to release three suspected crime bosses. Deputy Minister for Internal Security Johari Baharom has identified himself as the man at the centre of the allegations but denies any wrongdoing. (BBC)
- A delegation from the Vatican has arrived in Vietnam for the latest round of negotiations on establishing diplomatic ties between the two sides. The visit comes shortly after the detention of a Catholic priest as well as allegation of abuses of believers by local officials in the country. This is the 15th round of talks between Vietnam and the Vatican. (BBC)
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- Australian-led peacekeeping troops have taken control of a town where rebel former army officer Alfredo Reinado and his men have been under siege. The soldiers, backed by helicopters and armoured vehicles, entered the town of Same, 50km (30 miles) south of the capital Dili, under cover of darkness. Four of the rebel force are reported to have been killed but their leader, Major Alfredo Reinado, escaped. (BBC) (BBC)
- Landslides in Flores have killed at least 40 people. Bad weather continues to hamper the rescue efforts with blocked roads preventing the supply of the heavy machinery needed to move debris. (BBC)
- A 42-year-old woman has become the first person to die from bird flu in Laos. Authorities said they were awaiting further tests to see if the woman was infected with the H5N1 strain. The woman lived in a village near Vientiane, where the H5N1 virus has been found in poultry. On Thursday, the country confirmed a 15-year-old girl, also from Vientiane province, had been infected with H5N1. (BBC)
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- Malaysia emerges as the biggest investor in Indonesia in 2006. (Bernama)
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[edit] Recently concluded
[edit] Ongoing
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Holidays
and observances |
[edit] February
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Brunei
Cambodia
East Timor
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India)
Christmas Island (Australia)
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)
Hainan Island (PRC)
