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.



straitstimes.com After the discovery of ''death camps'' in southern Thailand, reports are now trickling in that there may be similar slave camps housing illegal immigrants on the Malaysian side of the border. Kedah police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Zamri Yahya, however, has refuted allegations that such camps exist on the Malaysian side of the border.

bangkokpost.com Malaysian NGO Tenaganita said it has received reports of undocumented migrant workers going missing in Malaysia and called on authorities to investigate whether a deadly human-trafficking operation uncovered in neighboring Thailand was reaching across the border. Malaysia's economy is a magnet for migrants from Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh, but reports abound of worker abuse and a lack of official protections.

AP The new CEO of Malaysia Airlines said its financial situation is more challenging than anticipated and it will shrink in size as it tries to overcome a tarnished image with the travel industry and the public.



ttrweekly.com The International Civil Aviation Organisation is planning an audit of Cambodia's aviation authority this November. Phnom Penh Post reported that the pending review comes just months after an industry report warned that Cambodia's lax regulations could lead to ICAO blacklisting the country. Thailand was blacklisted earlier this year.

rfa.org Dozens of formerly enslaved Cambodian fishermen who were stranded on a remote island in Indonesia will be repatriated early next week after they were rescued by local authorities working in tandem with Cambodian Embassy personnel, an official said. The 59 Cambodians were among more than 300 men trafficked to work as slaves in the fishing industry and were recently freed by Indonesian authorities on the island of Benjina following an investigation by AP into the seafood industry.



telegraph.co.uk Newly released images show Vietnam has carried out significant land reclamation at two sites in the disputed South China Sea, though the scale and pace is dwarfed by that of China, a US research institute said. In response, China condemned Vietnam's actions.



wsj.com The trial of a teen video blogger charged with disparaging Christians is showcasing Singapore's struggle to adapt its tradition of censorship to the realities of the digital era. Sixteen-year-old Amos Yee is the latest online commentator to be prosecuted in the past year, on charges ranging from contempt of court to sedition.

Singapore Update ''Nothing Amos Yee said about religion in his famous video about Lee Kuan Yew justifies these criminal charges against him, and given what circulates on the internet these days, charging Yee with transmitting an obscene representation is laughably arbitrary and oh so very Singapore,'' said Phil Robertson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch. ''Yee was right to point out that even the bail terms that barred him from using social media are a gag order designed to strip him of his right to free expression.''

news.com.au A blog post detailing the struggles life as a flight attendant has gone viral in Singapore. The author, known only as ''Hilary,'' claims she was horribly overworked, harassed by passengers, and surrounded by temptation in the form of attractive co-workers and booze. So she decided to tell all about her time in the skies, to mark a year since she quit her job with Singapore Airlines: ''You literally walk to London.''



reuters Indonesia has executed 14 drug traffickers this year as part of President Joko Widodo's war on a ''narcotics emergency'' he says is killing at least 40 people a day, but researchers have questioned the reliability of the study that produced that figure. Amid international condemnation of the execution of mostly foreign drug convicts, the president's office has cited research by the country's narcotics agency (BNN), but five international experts contacted by Reuters said its methodology was unreliable.

thenewdaily.com.au Showing Jakarta that Australia won't be as generous with foreign aid in the future might help restore what the government lost by telling us to 'move on' after the executions. And it would seem a safe move: a recent Essential poll showed 79 percent of Australians think our foreign aid budget needs to be cut anyway.



nbcnews.com A Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats crashed killing six people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the ambassadors of Malaysia and Indonesia, the army said.

theglobeandmail.com Canada will provide counterterrorism and anti-crime support to police in the Philippines, part of an effort to boost security and commercial ties with one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.



towlerroad.com Cambodia and Laos sit between Thailand and Vietnam and are among the least developed countries in Southeast Asia. Tourism is a bright spot in both countries, and based on our short exploration, it is easy to see why. Despite the difficult history and circumstances, people greet visitors with enormous smiles and warmth.



todayonline.com Three years after Burma (Myanmar) liberalised its economy, a second wave of Singapore companies is flocking to the rapidly-developing South-east Asian country- setting up upmarket pre-school centres, swanky bars and eateries, as well as building posh condominiums. A distinguishing feature of the second wave of Singapore companies moving into Myanmar is their decidedly lifestyle bent: