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.



nytimes.com Two Chinese diplomats were killed and a third was wounded in a shooting at a restaurant in the central Philippine city of Cebu. The diplomats were having a birthday lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant around 1.20pm when a man, a citizen of China and a guest at the celebration, opened fire, the police said.

AP The death toll from the tropical storm that battered the Philippines' main island over the weekend climbed to at least 39, officials said.



scmp.com Three Chinese air passengers were thrown off a flight in Cambodia after a scuffle broke out on board before the plane took off, according to a newspaper report.

cambodiadaily.com Immigration police rounded up nearly 80 Vietnamese migrant workers along with six European engineers at the construction site of a new Cambodia Beer factory in Phnom Penh because they did not possess work permits, according to an immigration official.



thediplomat.com Thailand's military plans to establish a new cyber warfare unit, officials confirmed this week.



bbc.com Six leaders of a huge Singaporean church have been convicted of fraud in a case worth S$50m. The judge ruled City Harvest Church's pastor, Kong Hee, and others used church finances to fund the music career of his wife, Sun Ho, or falsified accounts to cover it up.



inquirer.net A Brunei-bound aircraft was forced to return to Manila after its left engine conked out after takeoff. According to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the pilot of the Royal Brunei Airline plane with nearly 150 passengers and crew on board safely maneuvered the aircraft back to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.



abcnews.go.com Thousands of men, women and children from a minority group in Myanmar called the Rohingya are desperate enough to risk death and slavery to escape the country as refugees in search of a better life. ''It is so bad here that the best option is to face death, torture or abuses at sea or in Thailand just to escape,'' said Matt Smith, an activist and founder of Fortify Rights.




AP Two Russian jets that can drop 12.5 tons of water arrived on Sumatra to help douse Indonesia's massive forest fires that have spread smoky haze over parts of Southeast Asia.

weather.com There is ''no way human intervention can put out the fires,'' Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Malaysia's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, told the Australian Broadcasting Company.



channelnews.asia Thai police have finally given their Malaysia counterparts approval to question a Swiss man imprisoned in Bangkok to aid investigations into an alleged plot to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak's government. Malaysia's police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said local authorities will head to Thailand ''soon'' to speak to Xavier Andre Justo.

todayonline.com The Malaysian government is studying Singapore's new transboundary law to ascertain if it can be adopted in Malaysia, said natural resources and environment minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.



cnbc.com After years of stop-and-go efforts at privatising its state-owned enterprises, Vietnam's latest push appears set to successfully offload some shares and boost its stock market. The fresh move came last week as the government ordered its wealth fund, State Capital and Investment Corp. (SCIC) to sell stakes in 10 companies, including Vinamilk, the country's biggest listed company.



calvinayre.com The government of Laos has put the Savan Vegas casino up for sale, but prospective buyers might wish to inquire about the fate of the previous owners.