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.



jta.org Conditions are ripe for genocide in Burma, according to a report by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Staffers from the Washington museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide visited the southeast Asian nation in March to investigate threats facing the Rohingya, a Muslim minority.

timesofisrael.com The Rohingya people, who are a Muslim minority in Myanmar, are being physically segregated in ghettos or internment camps after being violently displaced, according to a report from the center. Myanmar is undergoing a modern form of apartheid, the report states. They are the target of hate speech and are being denied citizenship and freedom of movement.



bbc.com When actress Tippi Hedren visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in California 40 years ago, the Hollywood star's long, polished fingernails dazzled the women there. Hedren flew in her personal manicurist to teach a group of 20 refugees the art of manicures. Those 20 women went on to transform the industry, which is now worth about $8bn and is dominated by Vietnamese Americans.



thejakartapost.com The number of foreign tourists coming to Indonesia in the first three months of the year reached 2.29 million, rising 3.51 percent from 2.22 million in the corresponding period last year, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said.



nationmultimedia.com Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's tweet from Langkawi Island - ''Waiting to take a traditional #ASEAN leaders' photo but someone's missing. #guesswho'' - went viral. Indeed, it served as a trailer for the intrigue among Asean leaders that outsiders were not aware of.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Todays-leaders-of-Asean-need-to-consult-more-not-l-30259278.html



mumbrella.asia Singapore's media regulator has suspended the licence to operate of socio-political blog The Real Singapore for publishing ''inflammatory'' content that it considered posed a threat to public order and national harmony in a bid to boost traffic. In a statement released by the Media Development Authority, the watchdog claimed that the site's ''foreign editors'' were responsible for several articles that ''sought to incite anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore.''



channelnewsasia.com Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is in Singapore to attend the annual Leaders' Retreat with his Singapore counterpart, Mr Lee Hsien Loong. The two-day meeting is a key bilateral platform for the prime ministers to drive relations forward.



nbcnews.com Sadness and disappointment gripped Filipinos after Manny Pacquiao's defeat in his much-anticipated fight against American Floyd Mayweather Jr. but they still considered the boxing icon a national hero.



au.news.yahoo.com White-cheeked gibbons are critically endangered in their natural habitats of Vietnam and Laos, with an estimated 1000 left in the wild. Habitat loss, poaching and illegal pet and wildlife trades account for their low numbers.