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.



thejakartapost.com Delegations participating in the special meeting on irregular migration in the Indian Ocean in Bangkok, Thailand, have declined to mention the plight of the Rohingya during discussions out of respect for Myanmar (Burma), according to an Indonesian delegation. Foreign Ministry's director for human rights and humanitarian affairs said the Myanmar delegation has played an important role, demonstrating a strong will to engage in finding solutions.



christiantoday.com Thousands of Bangladeshi and ethnic Rohingya migrants are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as trafficking syndicates, who refuse to abandon their business, hold their captives in '''camp boats.''

globalresearch.ca By all accounts, Wirathu is a violent criminal leading mobs which have cost thousands of people their lives and has created a humanitarian crisis that is slowly engulfing all of Southeast Asia. Yet Wirathu is still counted among Aung San Suu Kyi's most vocal supporters and frequently weighs in on high level decisions made by Suu Kyi's political party.



theborneopost.com Everybody knows everybody else [in the district where the mass graves were found.]. So identifying any Malaysian or non-Malaysian suspected of involvement of human sale can't be difficult. Malaysia must prove to the world that we mean business in controlling human trafficking.

themalaysianinsoder.com Malaysia is mulling over the idea to hold a mini Asean summit to enable member countries to discuss and find solutions to the issue of human trafficking, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

huffingtonpost.com Malaysia's grim human rights record has become a problem for the Obama administration as it tries to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging trade pact between the US, Malaysia and 10 other countries that border the Pacific Ocean.

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channelnewsasia.com FIFA suspended Indonesia after the government in Jakarta sought to oust the country's football association, the latest crisis to hit the sport in Indonesia. The decision means Indonesian sides will no longer be able to take part in world football.



theguardian.com America needs to provide Vietnam with more defensive weapons, Senator John McCain said as tensions in the Asia Pacific region heightened over China's expanding land reclamation projects in the South China Sea.



smh.com.au Singapore has warned that south-east Asia has emerged as a key recruitment centre for Islamic extremists and raised the prospect of them establishing a base in the region.

scmp.com China's Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded response to a speech by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter at a high-level security forum in Singapore, in a conspicuous turn from relative mild comments by Chinese officials earlier in the day.

channelnewsasia.com Malaysia's Minister for Defence Hishammuddin Hussein warned that the South China Sea conflict could become one of the deadliest conflicts the world has ever known: ''Just because a region appears to be peaceful and prosperous doesn't mean the prospects of conflict do not arise.''

bloomberg Countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea - including China - should carry out joint peace patrols there to reduce the risk of conflict, Indonesia's defence minister said.



forbes.com Cambodia's 14 clusters of casinos in towns just over its borders with Thailand and Vietnam function as Macau does for China, offering a nearby, culturally familiar setting for gamblers from the other side of the border to do what they can't do back home. Australia listed Donaco International likes the picture enough to pay $360 million for Star Vegas, widely recognised as the best casino in Poipet.



thedailymeal.com Pink's Hot Dogs, the iconic LA hot dog stand, is partnering with the owners of French restaurant Republique to open in the Philippines.