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 A bomb explodes in a packed market in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, killing three people and wounding 33. Police said it was not clear who was behind the blast, which comes a week before national elections and two weeks after warnings of imminent terror attacks in the area.(AFP) (BBC) The annual US-Thai joint military exercise, Cobra Gold, gets under way. Joining the US and Thailand in the 10-day exercise are troops from Singapore, Japan and Indonesia. (TNA)
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 Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta and National Parliament president Francisco Guterres face each other in a runoff election for president. Turnout is fairly high and only minor problems are reported. Results are expected by Friday night. (AFP) (BBC) Human Rights Watch urges Malaysia to disband a volunteer security force, the Ikatan Relawan Rakyat, or RELA. The rights groups says the 500,000-strong force is responsible for numerous cases of violence and illegal detentions, mainly against migrant workers. (AP)- One hundred people have been killed in vote-related violence in the run-up to elections next week in the Philippines, police say. The latest deaths occurred in Nueva Ecija, where two candidates, a village councillor in Gapan City, and a mayoral candidate in Dulong Bayan, were fatally shot. (AFP)
- South Thailand insurgency: Seven Special Forces soldiers are killed in an attack in Narathiwat after the truck they were riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. The insurgents shot at each of the six dead soldiers' heads, as well as the sole badly-injured survivor who has taken refuge in a drain. They then snatched the soldiers' M16 rifles and handguns. Earlier, four people were killed in three separate incidents in the southern provinces, police say. (Nation) (AFP)
- Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla hails a deal brokered by former US president Bill Clinton in which two Indian drugmakers will provide low-cost antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients. Mongkol says Clinton's deal supports Thailand's decision to import or produce generic versions of key drugs in defiance of such pharmaceutical giants as Merck, Abbott Laboratories and Bristol-Myers Squibb. (TNA) (AFP) (BBC)
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- José Ramos-Horta declares victory in the East Timorese presidential election. With 90% of the ballots counted, Ramos-Horta held 73% of the votes over his opponent, Francisco Guterres. "I will do my best not to fail the people who have voted for me, and not lose their trust and lose sight of their aspirations," Ramos-Horta said. (AFP) (BBC)
 The militaries of Indonesia and Malaysia agree on expanded cooperative security efforts along the countries' shared borders after joint patrols in the Malacca Strait proved successful. Officials said piracy dropped 99% as a result of the cooperative patrols.(AFP) (Bernama)- Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked from his post and jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges, will be the likely leader of the new opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or People's Justice Party. Anwar's sodomy conviction was overturned, but not the corruption conviction, which bars him from vying for public office until 2008, but there is nothing to prevent him from campaigning for the party. (AFP)
- Philippines violence:
- South Thailand insurgency: A Buddhist man is fatally shot, as are two Muslims in three separate drive-by shootings in Narathiwat. (AFP)
- Sacred oxen in the Royal Ploughing Ceremony eat corn, rice and grass, heralding what court astrologers say will be a year of plentiful crops and abundant water. The annual rite, marking the traditional beginning of the rice-planting season, is presided over by Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. (TNA) (Nation)
 Three dissidents, Le Nguyen Sang, 48; Nguyen Bac Truyen, 39; and Huynh Nguyen Dao, 39, are jailed for being members of a banned political party and having suspected ties to expelled Vietnamese-American activist Cong Thanh Do. (BBC) (AP)
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- Francisco Guterres concedes defeat in the East Timorese presidential election. The winner, Nobel laureate José Ramos-Horta, is to be sworn in on May 20. Ramos-Horta pledges to unite the divided, fledgling nation. "I will honor what I told the people in the campaign: I will work for the poor, with the entire country, to unite it, and heal its wounds." (IHT) (AP) (BBC)
- Dulmatin, a key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, eludes capture on remote Simunul island. Philippines military and police agents raided a safe house from which Dulmatin had fled hours before and found only his four children. (AFP)
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 Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi voices optimism over talks next with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to build a new bridge between Malaysia and Singapore, replacing the Johor-Singapore Causeway. (AFP)
- The Singapore Grand Prix has been confirmed for the Formula One 2008 season, with a planned 4.8km (3.0 miles) long street circuit around the downtown area. It is planned to be the event's first night race when safety and logistical concerns are addressed. (CNA)
- A Republic of China Air Force F-5/F crashes into a military base in Hukou, Taiwan, killing the two Taiwanese crewmen as well as two Singaporean soldiers who were part of an unrelated overseas training stint on the ground. Another nine Singaporeans were injured, with two sustaining serious burn injuries. (CNA) (CNA) (MINDEF)
- The Thai government drops plans to file a criminal lèse majesté lawsuit against YouTube after the video-sharing website said it would remove 12 clips deemed offensive to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. However, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology issues a new demand that YouTube provide it with the ISP addresses of the offending video uploaders. The site remains blocked in Thailand. (TNA) (AP) (Bangkok Post) (AFP)
- South Thailand insurgency: Two policemen are killed in a raid by separatist militants on a security checkpoint in Narathiwat. Elsewhere in the same province, three Muslim men are fatally shot in separate attacks. (AFP)
- Two more dissidents are sentenced to jail in a crackdown on political activism. Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan are sentenced to five and four years respectively by the Hanoi People's Court. Both are human rights lawyers, arrested on March 6 and accused on collaborating with overseas democracy groups and using the Internet to spread their views. (BBC)
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- A policeman is killed in a clash with gunmen in Danglas, Abra as campaigning ends ahead of Monday's general election. Nationwide, more than 100 people have been killed in violence in the run-up to the vote. In Abra, congressman Luis Bersamin was assassinated in December, while six relatives of a political ally seeking to replace his vacant seat were fatally shot in an ambush on May 4. (AFP) (Manila Times)
- South Thailand insurgency: Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont visits Yala and calls for local authorities to rebuild trust in a bid to bring peace in the restive Pattani region. After the premier's visit, three Muslim rubber tappers are fatally shot in Yala by suspected separatists. Overnight, a Muslim village chief was fatally shot at a wedding party in Yala, and a Buddhist man was killed in a drive-by shooting in Narathiwat Province. (TNA) (AFP)
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- A pregnant woman's death is confirmed as the 76th fatality from bird flu in Indonesia. The woman, 26, who was four months pregnant, died on Saturday at a hospital in Medan, North Sumatra. (AFP)
- Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, 81, is hospitalized in Langkawi after suffering breathing difficulties. He is reported in stable condition.(AFP) (Bernama) (Star)
 Nearly 60 former heads of state issue a demand that Myanmar's junta release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Among those signing the statement to Senior General Than Shwe are former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. (VOA) (AP)- More violence mars voting in the Philippine general election, with at least seven people killed. At stake are seats in the 275-strong House of Representatives, half the 24-seat Senate and 17,000 local posts. Opposition parties hope to gain enough seats to impeach President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but opinion polls suggest that her supporters will retain control of the House. (AP) (AFP) (BBC)
- Potjaman Shinawatra, the wife of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, pleads not guilty to charges of tax evasion in the sale of the family's stock in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings. Her brother, Banpot Damapong, and her secretary Kanchanapa Honghern, also plead innocent. (AFP) (Nation) (TNA) (Bangkok Post)
- South Thailand insurgency: Two married couples are killed in separate attacks by suspected insurgents in Yala Province. The heads of Buddhist couple are removed after they are killed in a fruit orchard. A Muslim couple is killed on their way to a rubber plantation. (Nation)
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 Judges will meet from May 31 in a bid to resolve ongoing disputes that have delayed the start of the Khmer Rouge genocide trials. "We fully expect on June 13 ... that we will be announcing the adoption of the internal rules," tribunal spokesman Peter Foster says. (AFP)- A colony of Pelochelys cantorii, the Asian Giant soft-shelled Turtle or Cantor’s giant soft-shell turtle, thought to be near extinction, was found in March along the Mekong in Stung Treng Province, researchers for Conservation International and the World Wide Fund for Nature say. (AP) (Reuters)
 A 6.1-Mw earthquake strikes in remote northern Laos, and is felt as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi, where shoppers fled malls and high-rise buildings are evacuated. In Luang Prabang, 92 km. from the epicenter, residents say they felt only minor shaking. There are no reports of injuries or severe damage. (AP) (AFP) (Nation) (BBC) (Reuters) (TNA) (USGS)- A 19-year-old orangutan undergoes cataract surgery at Matang Wildlife Center in Sarawak on Borneo. It is the first-ever such operation on a great ape, an official says. (AP)
- Police temporarily detain 15 activists who were holding a vigil at a Buddhist temple in Yangon, praying for the release of detained National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Other news reports state that 10 people were arrested on their way to the pagoda, adding to around 30 Suu Kyi supporters who were arrested on Tuesday. (AP) (AFP) (Reuters)
- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo predicts victory in the Philippine general election, declaring the polling "good, peaceful, free and fair." But, opposition leaders warn of irregularities in the tally. In more election-related violence, seven soldiers helping to guard a road where ballot boxes were transported are killed in an attack by communist guerrillas in Abra. (AP)
- Singapore-based investment firm Temasek Holdings announces it has established the Temasek Trust, valued at S$500 million, to benefit a new foundation, the Temasek Foundation, which will promote health-care, research and cross-cultural exchanges in Asia. (CNA)
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- The U.S. State Department says that Myanmar has "neither the regulatory or legal frame nor safeguard provisions" to support a nuclear reactor, voicing criticism over the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency's deal to help build a nuclear program in the country. (BBC)
- Ahead of a May 27 review of her detention, Myanmar's junta defends its continued detention of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a recent crackdown on her supporters. A statement in the government newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar says that the supporters were "detained for attempting to disrupt peace and tranquility and cause unrest in the country. Arrest and detention like this are nothing unusual." (AFP) (BBC) (Irrawaddy)
- Philippine general election:
- Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, a vocal critic of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is re-elected, defeating Arroyo-backed rival, Lito Lapid. (AFP)
- Opposition candidates also lead the race to fill 12 seats in the Senate. (AFP) (ABS-CBN)
- Arroyo allies are poised to retain control of the House, and the President Arroyo said the results were a vote of confidence. "I'm very happy that we have a bigger majority in the House now and almost a complete sweep of the local [races]," she is quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. (AFP)
- Police fatally shoot a gunman who attempted to assassinate the wife of a mayoral candidate. Non-government groups estimate nearly 140 people have been killed since campaigning for Monday's polls began in January but the police have slashed their own toll to 41 fatalities from 126, saying most of the shootouts were not politically motivated. (ABS-CBN)
- Doctors at Siriraj Hospital say they have developed a vaccine to treat the allergy to house dust mites. The development is hailed as the first internationally standardized vaccine of its kind in Southeast Asia. (Bangkok Post) (TNA)
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- High waves along the Indian Ocean coasts destroy homes and fishing boats, forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated on Java. On Bali, tourists are warned to stay away from Kuta beach. (AFP)
- Lt. General Thein Sein is named acting prime minister to stand in for an ailing Soe Win, who has returned to a private hospital in Singapore to receive medical treatment. The junta says Soe Win has a "serious health matter", but did not reveal the cause of the illness. It is generally thought he is suffering from leukemia. Thein, who holds the post of Secretary-1 in the junta, is the fifth-ranking general in the regime and also heads the government's National Convention. (AFP) (BBC) (Irrawaddy)
- U.S. President George W. Bush has renewed sanctions on Myanmar, with a White House statement criticizing the junta for becoming "more brutal", and calling for the release of detained National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Reuters)
- The first Filipino women to reach the summit of Mount Everest are also the first women to do so by traversing the two main climbing routes on the world's highest mountain, setting a world record. The three, Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino, are also the first women from an ASEAN-member nation to reach the summit. (ABS-CBN)
- A bomb explodes in a bus terminal in Cotabato City, killing a 5-year-old boy and two adults. About three dozen other people are injured. Police do not believe the attack is related to the general election, and that extortion was the likely motive. (ABS-CBN) (AFP) (AP) (BBC)
- The government's Public Relations Department has shut down three community radio stations after they received telephone calls from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and aired the ousted premier's comments. "The Public Relations Department is checking content on every community radio station to see whether it violates our national security," Phachern Khamphoe, deputy director general of the department, says. Additionally, three supporters of Thaksin are detained. The three were said to be organizing an anti-government rally in Chiang Mai. (AFP) (AFP) (AFP) (Bangkok Post) (TNA)
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- José Ramos-Horta is sworn in as the second president of East Timor, succeeding Xanana Gusmão. Violence breaks out between youth gangs in Dili and one person is killed. (BBC) (Bloomberg) (News)
- Two candidates from the Malaysian astronaut program, Faiz Khaleed and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, will go the United States next month to undergo training with NASA before a mission in October. (AFP) (Star)
- Two council candidates in Bontoc, Mountain Province broke a tie in the general election by flipping a coin. Byrd Bellang, who chose heads, defeated Benjamin Ngeteg. (AP)
- South Thailand insurgency: A Buddhist woman and her son are attacked by gunmen in Yala, killing the woman and injuring the 17-year-old man. In Pattani, a truck driver is fatally shot, and then set on fire with his truck. A bombing in a Narathiwat grocery shop wounds 11 people. (AP)
- Revered Buddhist Zen master Nhat Hanh visits Bangkok, holding a talk in a ballroom in Lumpini Park. (Bangkok Post) (Nation)
- About 2,000 to 5,000 protesters against the Council for National Security junta gather at Democracy Monument and march to Sanam Luang in Bangkok to call for early elections. There are no arrests. (AFP) (Bangkok Post) (Nation)
- Opposition parliamentarian Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, formerly of the Workers' Party of Singapore, announces plans to form a new political party. (CNA) (Reuters) (Today)
- Voters go to the polls to elect members to the 500-seat National Assembly of Vietnam. (AFP) (AP) (BBC) (Reuters)
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 Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar urges ASEAN-member states to be united in demanding that the Myanmar junta release detained National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Her detention is scheduled to be reviewed by the junta on May 27. (AFP)- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives in the Myanmar capital, Naypyidaw, where he is welcomed by acting prime minister Thein Sein at the start of a three-day official visit. (AP)
- An extradition treaty and defense cooperation agreement signed by Indonesia and Singapore over the weekend during talks by prime ministers Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Lee Hsien Loong in Bali does not affect Indonesia's continued ban on the export of sand to Singapore, Singapore Senior Foreign Affairs Minister Zainul Abidin Rasheed says. (CNA)
- A mayor and a councilman in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, were fatally shot and six others wounded in an attack by a gunman at an agricultural fair, police say. Both the mayor, Philip Velasco, and councilman Marcelo Andaya had won in the general election. (AFP)
- The Singapore Armed Forces attains special law enforcement powers, while several MPs express concerns over possible abuse and inappriopriate use of power. (CNA)
- The Budget Terminal at Singapore Changi Airport now handles about 130,000 passengers a month, which constitutes 60% of its maximum capacity. (CNA)
- Commercial buildings in the Central Area are no longer permitted to convert to other uses until December 2008 under a new regulation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to avoid a glut of office space as demand soars. (CNA)
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- The World Health Organization says it has reached an agreement that will ensure all countries will share samples of H5N1, the bird flu virus. Indonesia has been reluctant to commit to the deal, fearing the resultant vaccine would be too expensive. Indonesia is the hardest hit country, confirming its 77th bird-flu death, a 5-year-old girl from Central Java. Vietnam, meanwhile, announces its first human case of H5N1 since 2005. (AFP) (AFP) (BBC)
- The University of New South Wales Asia announces its closure in June 2007 due to low student enrolment, just three months after opening in January 2007. (CNA)
- A gunman opens fire with an AK-47 in a market in Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok, killing a villager, a security guard and a police officer and critically injuring another six before he was shot dead by the police. (AFP) (Nation)
- Police are searching for a gunman wanted in the killings of two police officers and a civilian woman during a shooting rampage late Tuesday in Samut Sakhon. One of the dead policemen was suspected of having an affair with the gunman's former wife, police say. (Nation)
- South Thailand insurgency: Five people are killed in separate attacks, police say. In Yala, masked gunmen fired into a Muslim village, killing three men and a woman. In another attack, a Buddhist man was fatally shot while riding pillion on a motorcycle. Also, a roadside bomb exploded as a truck carrying 10 soldiers drove past. Three people were injured. Three soldiers were wounded in another ambush of a patrol truck. (Reuters)
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- A Malaysian company, Trans-Peninsula Petroleum, plans to build a 193-mile pipeline across northern Malaysia that would bypass the congested Malacca Strait. An Indonesian steel company, Bakrie & Brothers, and Saudi Arabia's Al-Banader International are partners in the US$7 billion deal. (BBC)
- A third Singaporean soldier dies in hospital as a result of the F-5/F crash into a military base in Hukou, Taiwan. A fourth soldier is still in critical condition, but is stable. (CNA) (MINDEF)
- The body of a man who drowned after his kayak overturned in Lower Seletar Reservoir is found. Khoka Mohammed Burhan, a 32-year-old engineer from India, was reported missing the day before. Nearby, divers from the Naval Diving Unit, Civil Defence Force and police discovered another body, a 60-year-old Indian woman. Police believe she had fallen into the water. (CNA)
- Security is being strengthened in Bangkok, ahead of a ruling on Wednesday by the Administrative Court that could dissolve the former ruling Thai Rak Thai party and the main opposition Democrat Party. There is concern that supporters of the parties might become violent if they find the rulings disappointing. (Nation) (TNA)
- South Thailand insurgency:
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- United Nations human rights envoy Yash Ghai, a harsh critic of the Hun Sen regime, arrives in Phnom Penh, but will likely not be received by any of Cambodia's government officials. (AFP)
- Adam Air has reached an agreement with US marine salvage firm Phoenix International to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from Adam Air Flight 574, a Boeing 737 that crashed into the sea on New Year's Day near Sulawesi, killing all 102 on board. (Aero-News) (Telegraph)
- A 6.1-magnitude undersea earthquake strikes off Bacan in the Maluku Islands, briefly cutting power in Labuha, North Maluku. No injuries or damage is reported. (AFP) (Reuters) (USGS)
- The new Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 will open on 9 January 2008, adding a handling capacity of 22 million for a grand total of 70 million passengers a year for the airport. (CNA)
- Deliberations by the Administrative Court begin to decide the fate of Thailand's former ruling party, Thai Rak Thai and the main opposition Democrat Party. Security in Bangkok is on high alert, with 13,000 troops assigned to keep order in case supporters of the two parties become disruptive. (AFP) (Bangkok Post) (CNA) (Nation) (TNA)
- South Thailand insurgency: A victim of Sunday's bombings in Hat Yai dies, while a bomb is thrown at Hat Yai hotel. There are no injuries, but it is the third consecutive day of bombings in Songkhla Province, which have caused a total of five deaths and injuries to more than three dozen people. (TNA) (TNA)
- The Communist Party of Vietnam wins more than 91% of seats in the new National Assembly. (AFP)
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- Australia apologizes in a diplomatic row with Indonesia after Jakarta governor Sutiyoso was questioned during a visit to New South Wales by police, who used a master key to enter Sutiyoso's hotel room. The police wanted the former Indonesian army general to give evidence at an inquest into the deaths of Australian journalists in 1975 in East Timor. (AFP) (News) (SMH)
- A man who died on Monday at a hospital in Surakarta is confirmed as Indonesia's 78th fatal victim of H5N1, the bird-flu virus. (AFP)
- Christian convert Lina Joy criticizes the Malaysian Federal Court in its denial of her appeal to have the word Islam removed from her national ID card. "I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons," she is quoted as saying by The Star. (AFP) (Star)
- Australia and the Philippines sign a security agreement allowing joint counter-terrorism exercises between the armed forces of the two nations. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo witnesses the signing during an official visit to Canberra. (AFP) (Australian) (Reuters)
- Thailand political party dissolution:
- Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin says thousands of troops will stay on alert following Wednesday night's verdict by the Constitutional Tribunal to dissolve the former ruling Thai Rak Thai party and ban its leaders from politics for five years. "Security measures have been stepped up since last night and will gradually be increased," Sonthi says. "The measures will be in place for a long time." (AFP) (TNA)
- Ousted prime minister and former Thai Rak Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra issues an apology to the party, saying "I, as founder and leader of the party ... apologize to all party members, executives and supporters who have met with this unexpected fate." Party supporters say they plan to protest the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling to dissolve Thai Rak Thai. (AFP) (AP) (BBC) (Nation)
- Supporters of the banned pro-Thaksin PTV satellite television station are involved in a brief skirmish with police, in which ralliers pelted police with water bottles. About 3,000 people demonstrated. There were no injuries or arrests. (Nation)
- South Thailand insurgency:
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