PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a column, Asean Today, that will cease when Phuketwan closes on December 31.



freemalaysiatoday.com The deteriorating standard of English among Malaysian youth has alarmed Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who has suggested a single stream education system instead of the current national and vernacular schools.



AP A group of about 15 gunmen attacked a police station in Indonesia's restive Papua province, killing three officers and wounding two others, police said. Local police spokesman Col. Patrige Renwarin said the assailants attacked the station in Sinak town in the mountainous district of Puncak late Sunday while the victims were watching television.



scmp.com A Myanmar court has jailed a woman for six months for a Facebook post ''ridiculing'' the country's army chief and the color of a new uniform, the latest in an escalating crackdown on free speech. Chaw Sandi Tun, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was found guilty by the Ma-ubin Township Court in Ayeyawady Region.



xinhua China voiced strong dissatisfaction at the arrival of Filipino demonstrators on China's Zhongye Dao Island in the South China Sea. ''China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including the Zhongye Dao Island,'' said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in response to a question on the Filipino demonstrators, who landed on the island over the weekend.



channelnewsasia.com Banks are seeing their margins squeezed by a weak macroeconomy and some like Barclays and Standard Chartered have initiated job cuts globally. Singapore, being a key financial centre in Asia, is not immune to these layoffs.



tass.ru Vietnam supports the strengthening of Russia's role on the global arena, the country's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said in an interview with TASS.



khmertimeskh.com Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed not to pardon opposition leader Sam Rainsy for the third time. The Cambodia National Rescue Party leader is in exile facing an arrest warrant.



bangkokpost.com A Thai paramotor flyer missing since he strayed across the border into Laos on Saturday is safe in Xayaboury province and expected to be sent back home in a day or two, Phusang district chief Waradisorn Onnuch said.