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 Filipino activists denounced China's coast guard for turning water cannon on Philippine fishing boats in disputed waters, near where hundreds of Filipino and American Marines landed on a beach in a mock assault.



theguardian.com An Indonesian court has found a US couple guilty of murdering the woman's mother and stuffing her battered body into a suitcase on the resort island of Bali.

abcnews.go.com Tommy Schaefer, 21, guilty of battering Sheila von Wiese-Mack to death in a hotel room on the resort island of Bali, was sentenced to an 18-year term. Schaefer's girlfriend, Heather Mack, 19, was sentenced to 10 years.



thestar.com Hard Rock Cafe withdrew a promotional campaign in Malaysia after public anger at the photoshopped depiction of an orangutan baring its teeth and playing an electric guitar.

todayonline.com The protest by a group of Muslims in Selangor who called for a new church to remove a cross outside its premises has drawn a strong reaction from a broad coalition of moderate Muslims and politicians, exposing the rift between ultra and moderate Muslims and prompting the Cabinet to announce that the police will launch an investigation.



todayonline.com Ikea Singapore has decided to continue promoting a magic show by Pastor Lawrence Khong, who has publicly spoken out against homosexuality in the past, despite the flurry of objections since it put up an advertisement on the event last week.



cambodiadaily.com As many as five of the hundreds of asylum seekers Australia is holding on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru have agreed to be the first to take up an offer from Cambodia to resettle here, according to a refugee advocacy group.

rfa.org An 89-year-old woman infected with HIV/AIDS has become the eighth person to die of the deadly virus in a village in remote western Cambodia, after being infected by an unauthorized medical worker who reused syringes. More than 200 have been affected.



theguardian.com The day after the North Vietnamese took Saigon, the city was woken by triumphal song. During the night the engineers of the victorious army had rigged up loudspeakers, and from about 5am the same tinny liberation melodies were incessantly played. It was 30 April 1975, and sharp early sunlight illuminated Saigon's largely empty streets, at a time when the city's frenetic traffic would normally have already begun to buzz. But hardly anybody knew what to do.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/21/40-years-on-from-fall-of-saigon-witnessing-end-of-vietnam-war



xinhua Laos and China pledged in Vientiane to consolidate and deepen cooperation between the two countries.



lowyinterpreter.org There has been an outcry in Burma and abroad against what many have seen as a return to the 'bad old days' of 'officially sponsored thugs' being used to crush popular dissent. The use of such tactics has added to growing scepticism about the November elections and the Government's willingness to permit criticism of its policies in the lead-up to the poll.