PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a new column, Asean Today.



9news.com.au Residents of the western Philippines are being asked to turn off their refrigerators so there will be enough electricity to watch this weekend's fight between local boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.



bbc.com Vietnam's prime minister has spoken of ''countless barbarous crimes'' committed by the US during the Vietnam War. Nguyen Tan Dung was speaking at an event in Ho Chi Minh City to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the war.

AP Forty years after the end of the Vietnam War, its North-South wounds still linger, both between families torn apart by conflict, and society as a whole.

thediplomat.com Vietnam is in the process of acquiring 50 anti-ship and land attack 3M-14E Klub supersonic cruise missiles for its burgeoning fleet of SSK Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines, Der Spiegel Online reports.



bbc.com UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed ''deep regret'' over Indonesia's execution of eight people convicted of drug offences. The seven foreigners and one Indonesian were executed by firing squad on Wednesday, sparking diplomatic fury.

dailymail.co.uk A Twitter war has erupted between Indonesian and Australian social media users, causing the hashtag #BoycottAustralia to trend on Thursday night.



afp Six men, including an Indonesian suspected to be an arms expert, were charged on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to plot terror attacks in Malaysia. The men, aged between 25 and 48, were charged with being ''party to a conspiracy to promote terror in Malaysia'', according to court documents obtained by AFP.

ibtimes.co.uk Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, 66, has opted to press ahead with an application for a top-level review, despite being blocked from appealing the 2008 conviction.



rbth.com Russia and its Cold War-era ally Laos are looking at the idea of starting direct or charter flights, according to recent media reports. At the moment, Thailand is used as the main transit point for any traffic between Russia and Laos.



bnionline.net Villagers from Welgyi Chaung and Linsin Yoarthit villages in Kyauktaw Township,Rakhine State, were arrested and tortured by the Burma Army according to other villagers. They said that about 70 villagers are still under arrest and were tortured from April 23 to 28.



news.artnet.com A Cambodian military police officer suspected of smuggling antiquities was arrested after Thai soldiers found three Cambodian Buddhist statues in his car, Phnom Penh Post reports.



bloomberg Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, who owns Spain's Valencia football team, has hired Christina Teo from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton's private-equity arm to run a new investment unit, people familiar with the matter said. Mr Lim, a former stockbroker, made his fortune through holdings in palm oil producers and a chain of Manchester United cafes in Asia.