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 The world is watching Myanmar as election day nears. The governments of the US and other countries, which view this contest as a potential watershed for democracy, hope that Sunday's voting will be ''inclusive and credible.'' But with just days to go, the election is shaping up to be just the opposite. A central issue has been the deliberate exclusion of Myanmar's Muslim minority, including my people, the Rohingya.

cnn.com At least 44 people were killed in days of clashes in April 2013 after a dispute erupted between Muslims and Buddhists in a market in Meiktila, according to official figures. Asked if the violence could explode again, a local Buddhist monk named U Wie Douktah answered with a wry smile, ''There's a fifty-fifty chance.''

afp UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hit out at ''extreme elements'' in Myanmar who are sowing hate and bigotry towards religious minorities, days before the country votes in landmark elections.



khmertimeskh.com In one of his longest Facebook posts to date, Prime Minister Hun Sen recalled the past with a personal story of loss under the reign of the Khmer Rouge, which he described as a time when animals had more rights than human beings. Specifically, Mr. Hun Sen described the loss of his first son, the 39th anniversary of whose death is approaching.



abc.net.au A United Nations body has determined that former Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been jailed illegally and has called for his immediate release, according to a copy of the opinion released by his family. The ABC has also verified that the opinion by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Anwar's imprisonment was ''arbitrary,'' that he was denied a fair trial and was jailed for political reasons.



straitstimes.com Singapore's economy ranked first in the world in a global prosperity sub-index and Asean region, while the Republic ranked 17th among 142 countries in the index released by the Legatum Institute. Norway topped the index.

channelnewsasia.com The level of Internet freedom in Singapore declined this year, according to an annual report by US-based NGO Freedom House. Singapore scored 41 on a scale of 0-100, with 0 indicating the most free and 100 indicating the least, up from 40 last year.



ft.com Thailand is mired in its 10th month of deflation, as the latest figures highlight the junta's failure to revive the ailing economy, and serving as a reminder that the threat of deflation extends well beyond Europe and other developed economies.



qz.com The fires in Indonesia that are creating hellish amounts of toxic smoke are also doing their job: clearing land. This year they've removed about 21,000 square kilometers of forests and peatland,according to the country's National Space and Aviation Agency (link in Indonesian). For context, that's greater than the land area of the US state of New Jersey, or of the nations of Slovenia, Kuwait, or El Salvador.

esquire.com It should be on everyone's front page. It is hard to convey the scale of this inferno, but here's a comparison that might help: it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany.



philstar.com Ready or not, the Philippine business community has no choice but to face tougher competition from its regional counterparts. As the deadline for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) nears, business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan said the Philippines remains unready for the economic unification of the regional market.



fidh.org The EU must ensure that the Lao government makes firm commitments during upcoming bilateral human rights talks, FIDH and its member organisation Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) said. The two organisations made the call ahead of the 6th EU-Laos human rights dialogue, which will be held on November 6 in Vientiane.



bernama Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has sent a message of condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government and people of Russia to extend deepest sympathy following the crash of Flight 7K 9268 in Sinai, Egypt, Xinhua news agency reported.



fox6now.com ''Thank you for your service.'' Five simple words that were never heard by many of the millions of Americans who served during the Vietnam War.