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 Malaysian Minister of Health Chua Soi Lek admits he is the man in a sex DVD that has been circulating in Johor and is the subject of media speculation. The young woman in the video was allegedly his personal friend. However, he refused to resign over the sex DVD. He says he has met with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to apologize. (AFP via CNA) (Star) (Bernama) (Bernama) A campaign against firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during the New Year's Eve celebrations results in a drop in injuries by nearly half to 446. Another report said 220 were injured, compared to 518 in 2006 and 1,200 in 2005.(AP via IHT) (AFP via CNA) Thai officials say the number of fatal traffic incidents was down slightly this Christmas and New Year's holiday period. The seven-day period saw 262 deaths and 3,081 injuries from 2,823 traffic wrecks. (Nation)
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 ASEAN rotation:
 A 5.8-magnitude earthquake near Manokwari, Papua, causes electrical short circuits which spark fires in more than 20 homes. (AP via IHT)- The health of former president Suharto is said to be improving after fluids were drained from his heart and lungs. He was visited over the weekend by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as former president Abdurrahman Wahid. Suharto, 86, has been treated since Friday at Pertamina Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. (AP via Google News) (NYT)
- Security forces launch a nationwide search for Wirahadi, an escaped prisoner who was serving a 19-year sentence in connection with the bombing of a South Sulawesi McDonald's in 2002. (AP via CNN)
 The World Health Organization reports a cholera outbreak in Xekong Province, where two people have died and nearly 200 are ill. (AP via Star) Singapore Airlines and Temasek Holdings are facing opposition in their bid for China Eastern Airlines from Air China, which may be joined its bid by Cathay Pacific. via CNA) (Reuters)- South Thailand insurgency: Prince of Songkhla University's Deep South Watch issues a report, saying 792 people were killed in 2007, bringing the total death toll from insurgency-related violence to 2,776.
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 An explosion in Naypyidaw kills one woman, a government official says. The blast was in a bathroom at a railway station in the Burmese junta's administrative capital. (AP via Google News)- National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets with labor minister Aung Kyi, the Burmese junta's official liason. It is their fourth meeting and the first in more than two months.(AP via Google News)
- Former president Suharto, 86, is being treated for a lung infection, and he is weak but conscious, his doctors say. (Reuters)
- Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vow to end ongoing disputes about cultural theft and treatment of migrant workers. A special panel to tackle thorny bi-lateral issues is set up. (Reuters) (Star)
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 Laos and Vietnam have signed an agreement for cooperation on economic, cultural and scientific cooperation. (Vietnam Net) (Xinhua)
- Assemblyman S. Krishnasamy of Tenggaroh is fatally shot inside a lift in his party's offices in Johor. He was a deputy state leader for the Malaysian Indian Congress. (Bernama) (AFP via CNA)
- Fifteen people are to be charged in the explosion at Glorietta Mall in October. Investigators say negligence and fire-code violations led to a buildup of methane and diesel fumes that triggered the blast. (AP via Google News)
- Singapore Airlines:
- SIA's Airbus A380 is lifted back onto the tarmac at Changi Airport after it became disconnected from a tow truck due to hydraulic failure and rolled off the taxiway onto a grass verge. No injuries to the 446 passengers or damage to the aircraft is reported. (CNA)
- Singapore Airlines takes delivery of a second A380 from Airbus. SIA is the first airline to put the superjumbo jetliner into operation. (Reuters)
- Smoking will be banned in nightclubs in Thailand from February 17, the Public Health Ministry says. (AP via Google News)
- Christopher Paul Neil, who was the subject of a global hunt by international law enforcement agencies, pleads not guilty to molesting underage boys in Bangkok Criminal Court. (Canadian Press via Google News) (Reuters)
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 At the first Mekong-Japan foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo, Japan pledges US$20 million in aid for development projects in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Left out of the aid picture was Burma, a former recipient of Japanese aid, whose foreign minister Nyan Win was present for the meeting. (Nation)
- Cambodian Interior Minister Khieu Sopheak says actress Mia Farrow will be barred from holding a protest at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum against China's involvement in Sudan. (AFP via Google News)
- Doctors for hospitalized former Indonesian president Suharto say they may try to take him off the ventilator if he remains in stable condition. (AFP via CNA)
- Wirahadi, the escaped prisoner serving a 19-year sentence in connection with the bombing of a McDonald's in South Sulawesi in 2002, is captured by police in Makassar. Another escaped bomber, Yasmin, serving a 20-year term for a 2004 cafe bombing, remains at large.(AFP via CNA)
- In the wake of shortages of cooking oil and flour, Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shafie Apdal says he will propose a new rule to prevent Singaporeans and Thais from purchasing subsided foodstuffs in Malaysia. (AFP via CNA)
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- Southeast Asian share prices tumbled on Monday as global share prices continue to fall. (AFP via CNA) (Reuters)
- Jakarta JSX C Index: 2485.879
 -125.253
- KL KLSE C Index: 1408.6 -30.89
- Manila PSE Index: 3152.3 -16.0
- Singapore STI: 2917.15 -187.1
- Bangkok SET Index: 766.53 -23.14
- A bus plunge near Kyaik Hto, about 65 miles east of Rangoon, killed 27 people and injured 10 people on Sunday, the New Light of Myanmar reports. (AP via Google News)
- Hospitalized former president Suharto's digestive system is not functioning properly, and he remains in critical condition, doctors say. (AFP via CNA)
- Indonesian airlines have not yet improved their safety record enough for the European Union to lift its ban, the EU's air safety chief says. (Reuters via San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declares Thaipusam as a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. (AFP via CNA) (Star)
- Aramil Sulayman, believed to be a sub-leader of the Abu Sayyaf has been arrested, police say. (Xinhua)
- Singapore and Moscow are the final shortlisted cities to host the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. (CNA) (IOC)
- A democratically elected National Assembly of Thailand convenes for the first time since the 2006 coup d'état. The majority of seats are held by the People's Power Party, which is allied with ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and has formed a coalition government with five smaller parties. (AFP via CNA) (CNN) (BBC)
- South Thailand insurgency: Outgoing Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont tours southern Thailand amidst attacks across Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces that leave six Muslim men dead and eight soldiers injured. (AFP via ABS-CBN) (DPA via Earth Times)
- High tides have washed away 18 homes and damaged 17 others along the coast in Binh Thuan Province, southern Vietnam. (AFP via News.com.au)
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- One person has been killed and five injured after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Nias, off the west coast of Sumatra. (AP via CNN) (Reuters) (AFP via CNA)
- Hospitalized former president Suharto suffers from infections and excess fluid in his lungs, and he cannot eat normally, doctors say. Though he is recovering from multiple organ failure, he remains in critical condition. (AFP via CNA)
- In a brief hearing at the Supreme Court, Potjaman Shinawatra pleads not guilty to corruption charges related to a land purchase. She tells the press that her husband, ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will return to Thailand in May to contest corruption charges. (CNN) (AP via Google News)
- H5N1 updates:
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- Amnesty International says 96 activists were arrested in November in Burma, despite promises by the junta that it had eased its crackdown since last year's anti-government protests. (Reuters) (AP via CNN)
 Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi will visit Brunei, Cambodia and Australia on official visits from January 31 to February 5, the Foreign Ministry says. (Xinhua)- Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont says a border agreement in the area of Prasat Preah Vihear must mutually benefit both Thailand and Cambodia. The 11th-century Angkorian temple is the subject of an ongoing border dispute as Cambodia seeks to have it declared a World Heritage Site. (TNA via MCOT)
- A rear tire bursts on the landing gear of a Thai Airways International flight from Bangkok as it lands at Phnom Penh International Airport. There are no injuries among the 160 passengers and crew. (AFP via ABC News)
 Monsoon storms have caused serious damage to homes and crops across East Timor, relief authorities say. (ABC News)- Suharto health updates:
- Overturning a 2006 decision, the Supreme Court sentences former Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto to 20 years in prison for the poisoning death of activist Munir Said Thalib. Priyanto had been convicted in 2005, but was later acquitted by the high court. (AP via Google News)
- Avian influenza updates:
- Norberto Manero, convicted in the killing of an Italian Catholic priest in 1985, is freed from prison. At the time, Manero claimed he'd eaten parts of the victim's brain, but he now denies that story.(Reuters)
- A total of 158 Singapore Airlines flights will be retimed in mid-February during the Singapore Airshow 2008 Exhibition. (CNA)
- Four museums in California have been raided by United States authorities searching for artifacts from Ban Chiang, who were acting on a tip from an undercover investigation in which a smuggler boasted of a scheme to have antiquities shipped to him from Thailand. (BBC) (Guardian) (AP via Google News)
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- Detained National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi holds her fifth round of talks with the Burmese junta's official liasion, Aung Kyi. She was also allowed to meet with NLD supporters. A party spokesman said Suu Kyi is frustrated by the lack of talks on political reform, quoting her as saying "Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst." (Reuters) (CNN)
- Nearly 800 children who had served as soldiers were returned to their parents between 2002 and 2007, according to a report by the New Light of Myanmar, citing statements by Major General Thura Myint Aung. On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for sanctions against countries or groups using child soldiers. (BBC)
- FBI director Robert Mueller visits Vietnam and Cambodia on a mission to expand legal cooperation. In Phnom Penh, he is to open a new FBI office. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News)
- A 6.6-magnitude earthquake shakes Maluku and triggers a tsunami alert, which is later lifted. The epicenter was on the sea bed about 160 miles northeast of Dili, East Timor. (AFP via CNA) (Xinhua)
- H5N1 update:
- A 32-year-old man from Tangerang is the 101st fatal victim of avian influenza in Indonesia, and the third death recorded in as many days. (AFP via CNA)
- Indonesian health officials launch a three-year program to combat bird flu, with a US$20 million grant from the European Union. The plan will focus on preventing new cases, curbing the spread of the virus and more research. (AFP via CNA)
- Three people are killed and 27 injured in a bomb explosion at a fish processing plant in General Santos City, South Cotabato. (AP via Google News) (Reuters)
- People's Power Party leader Samak Sundaravej is endorsed as prime minister by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. A Cabinet list with posts divided among the six-party coalition government's parties is being readied for endorsement by the monarch.(AP via Taipei Times) (The Nation) (Bangkok Post) (TNA via MCOT)
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