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.



AP Despite China's objections, the US and the Philippines will call for a stop to island-building work, military deployments and other aggressive actions that raise tensions in the disputed South China Sea in an annual diplomatic meeting in Malaysia, officials said.

wsj.com At the start of a summit involving the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said it was time for Asean to ''take a more active role'' in safeguarding regional security, including handling ''overlapping [territorial] claims.''

voanews.com US Secretary of State John Kerry said the 12 nations negotiating the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal have made ''good progress'' toward reaching a final agreement, but that some details remain to be worked out.



nationalinterest.org One of America's most advanced submarines, the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Chicago (SSN 721), began a port call in the Philippines. The port call coincides with a major Asean regional security conference in Kuala Lumpur.



reuters Thailand has arrested five people suspected of trafficking Thai women into sex slavery in China and believed to be part of a ring that has also trafficked women into Malaysia and Singapore, Thai police said.



cambodiadaily.com Russian serial pedophile Stanislav Molodyakovhas been sentenced to 11 years in prison for raping dozens of schoolgirls he lured to his mansion in Cambodia with the promise of modeling contracts in the early 2000s, according to Russian media.



ft.com The EU concluded a major trade agreement with Vietnam, opening up one of Asia's fastest-growing economies and a consumer market of more than 90m people to European companies.



ft.com ''Sales have been bad since the beginning of the year,'' says Toni Rebuin, a sales executive at a Toyota showroom in central Jakarta. ''Everyone who has money wants to have a car but it is likely that people are waiting for the economic situation to improve.''



AP Flooding in Burma is likely to spread further south, the UN announced. Over 200,000 people have been affected, and 46 killed, by the heavy monsoon rain which has caused flashfloods and landslides in central and northern areas of the country.



ttrweekly.com Human capital development, identifying top tourism products, and marketing and promotion resonated as key areas on which Lao tourism needs to focus in preparing for the Asean Economic Community's launch.



huffingtonpost.com Singapore is one of the best places to be born in and to live in. Quite amazingly, a society destined to fail in 1965 has become one of the world's greatest success stories. Still, Singapore has its fair share of detractors. Its political system was widely viewed as being an ''enlightened dictatorship,'' even though free elections have been held every five years.