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.



reuters Four plainclothes soldiers were shot dead in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in Thailand's southern province of Yala, police said.



theaustralian.com The first group of refugees from Nauru who accepted resettlement in Cambodia under a bipartisan deal with the Australian government are due to arrive in the country's capital of Phnom Penh today, a Cambodian government spokesman said.

cambodiadaily.com The Cambodian navy formally took control of Koh Damlong, a remote island that was slated to become the crown jewel of Sergei Polonsky's offshore tourism project before the Russian developer was deported to Moscow to stand trial on serious fraud charges, officials said.



themalaymailonline.com English language daily the New Straits Times reported that Home Minister Ahmad Zahid is seeking army personnel to replace law enforcement officers manning Malaysian borders to stem the scourge of corruption by smuggling syndicates.

sundaily.my Malaysia is a beacon for Rohingya fleeing Myanmar, but countless migrants, like Mohammed Ismail, are still searching for the promised land. ''Every day, I regret coming to Malaysia but I had no choice,'' said Ismail, 40, who fled his home in Myanmar in 1992 to escape being forced by authorities into a labor camp.



ttrweekly.com The new Attapeu International Airport opened, with officials promising to build tourism and trade links. The airport is located in southern Laos and only the second to be designated for international flights along side Champassak.



reuters Burma brought ashore more than 700 ''boat people'' it had kept at sea for days aboard a seized vessel, as the United States called on the country to help solve a migrant crisis by recognizing the rights of its Muslim Rohingya minority. The 727 migrants were found drifting in the Andaman Sea.

reuters A Myanmar court sentenced writer Htin Lin Oo to two years in jail and hard labor for insulting Buddhism, his lawyer said, a verdict derided by activists as a blow to free speech and religious tolerance. He had made a speech he said was intended to discourage Buddhist extremism.



telegraph.co.uk Addressing business leaders in Tokyo, the president of the Philippines, Beniigno Aquino, has compared modern-day China with Nazi Germany in an outspoken critique of Beijing's aggressive expansion in the South China Sea.



bloomberg Vietnam will offer more visa exemptions and set up a US$100-million tourism fund to promote the country's attractions in a bid to reverse a drop in foreign visitors that's hurting the economy.

cbc.ca Canadian Dennis Surrendi placed an advertisement in the May 27 edition of the Nanton News, saying he never served in Vietnam and that much of the material in his 2014 self-published book 'Set Me Free' was stolen from 'Chickenhawk,' a memoir written more than 30 years ago.



usatoday.com Surrounded by oceans but lacking adequate clean water resources, Singapore hopes to get 55 percent of its drinking water from recycled sewer water by 2060. It's bottled as ''NEWwater''.



wsj.com Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd., under pressure from environmental groups and banks after a tepid start with a sustainability plan last year, unveiled a promise to halt deforestation that was welcomed by the pulp-and-paper company's biggest critics.



news.asiaone.com One of the suspects of a murder case in Kuala Belait was found dead while in police custody.Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) confirmed that Muhammad Hakimi Rizal Abdullah Eyan Anak Beritin, died from ''unnatural causes''. He was 33.