A roadside bomb killed 10 government-hired paramilitary troops in southern Thailand's Bannang Sata district, Yala province, as they returned from negotiations with Muslim protesters May 31. Almost immediately after the bombing, gunmen opened fire on a group of Muslim villagers leaving a mosque after evening prayers in nearby Sabayoi district of Songkhla province, killing seven. (Xinhua, AP, June 1)

The Philippine government and the country's largest Islamic rebel group are moving closer to a deal on defining Muslim ancestral, leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have announced. "It's almost in the bag," said Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman. "The two sides are prepared to resume negotiations right after the dust of the elections settles. We're close to an agreement on the territory issue." The nearly 40-year-old conflict has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million in the southern island of Mindanao.

Renewed violence in Dili left one dead as Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in May 20 as East Timor's president. UN police to fire teargas and warning shots, and arrested 42. Following the first election since independence in 2002, Ramos-Horta was sworn in to replace the former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao on the same day that East Timor marked five years since independence. Gusmao, a close Ramos-Horta ally, did not contest the election for the largely ceremonial job of president, but will run for the more powerful post of prime minister in next month's parliamentary polls. Ramos-Horta was sworn in by the man he trounced in the May 9 election, parliament speaker Francisco Guterres from the ruling Fretilin party. The street violence was apparently between Ramos-Horta supporters and Fretilin youth. (AFP, May 21)

A home-made bomb ripped through a bus terminal in Mindanao's Cotabato City May 18, killing three and injuring 15 others. About half of the casualties were children. Authorities said the motive was probably extortion, as the bus company had been receiving letters from armed groups demanding money. But Mindanao has been hit by seven bombings this year, many of them blamed on Muslim extremists linked to the Jemaah Islamiah or al-Qaeda terror networks. The bombing came barely a week after Australia and the United States warned their citizens of possible terror attacks in Central Mindanao. On May 8, a device went off in a crowded market in Tacurong, killing eight. (Manila Times, May 19; GMA, May 18)

A roadside bomb has killed seven Special Forces soldiers in an ambush in Narathiwat's Rangae district, in southern Thailand [May 10]. [The Nation, Thailand, May 10] Two policemen have also been killed in a raid on a security checkpoint in the Narathiwat province, while a local government official has been gunned down. [AFP, May 11] The separatists are purported to be changing their tactics, increasingly concentrating attacks on security forces rather than on civilians. [Reuters, May 11]

Twenty people have been injured after a bomb exploded in a busy night market in the southern Thai province of Pattani on [May 1]. Officials believe that Muslim fighters carried out the attack as a means of stirring up communal tensions and in revenge for a mosque bombing on [April 29]. [AlJazeera, May 1]

The following account makes it sound like the the litigants were whining and frivolous, just looking for a cynical buck. But a photo caption accompanying the story in the Denver Post read: "Protesters display a photo of a sick child whose disease believed to have been caused by pollution from the Newmont mining during a demonstration against the mining company outside a court in Manado, 24 April 2007." From the AP, April 24:

Hundreds of Buddhist monks rallied outside the parliament building in Bangkok April 17 calling for Buddhism to be enshrined in the constitution as Thailand's national religion. The country's military-appointed government plans to unveil a new national constitution this month. In 1997, a campaign to make Buddhism the national religion was dropped amid concerns that it would divide the country. Since then, an Islamist insurgency has flared in Thailand's south, leaving more than 2,000 dead in the last three years. Previous Thai constitutions have never declared a state religion, although the current constitution states that the king must be a Buddhist and upholder of all religions. (MWC News, April 18)