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.



reuters Airplane debris that washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and may belong to a vanished Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 arrived in France for investigators to study its origin.



independent.co.uk Kim Jong-un has been awarded a prize for global statesmanship. The North Korean dictator is to receive the award from the Bali-based Sukarno Centre. The news was announced by the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, after whom the award is named.



cambodiadaily.com Chin Sarin has been removed as Sihanoukville's governor, according to the Interior Ministry, less than four months after the city's police chief was sacked amid criticism that he was sleeping on the job as a violent crime wave swept through the seaside tourist hub.



theguardian.com The fate of the island of Phu Quoc seems similar to that of other destinations in this country undergoing the throes of commercialisation. Story after story in the Vietnamese press recounts how unspoiled natural spaces become strewn with rubbish and marred by ham-fisted infrastructure projects.



afp Delegates negotiating a vast Pacific free-trade agreement have failed to reach a final deal after several days of intense talks in Hawaii, dealing a setback to US President Barack Obama.



bt.com Actress Angelina Jolie has joined Burma's opposition leader and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi in meeting female factory workers on the outskirts of Yangon to learn more about their dire conditions.

bbc.com Reporting on the flooding crisis for Democratic Voice of Burma, one journalist filed a report from the southern city of Bago whilst up to his chest in water.



sandiegouniontribune.com The plan announced recently to re-open a former US naval base on the South China Sea was a complicated one for the Philippines, where a rip current of anxiety over Chinese militarization of the disputed waters is churning up national pride, economic concerns and debate over reinvigorated ties to American forces.



nytimes.com Many countries across the world have enhanced their campaigns against wildlife trafficking syndicates that are draining Asia's jungles and the African savanna of elephants, rhinoceroses and other animals, many of them considered choice foods in parts of Asia. But Laos, which is run by a secretive and authoritarian communist government, stands out as a bastion of impunity, say those involved in the crackdown.



channelnewsasia.com Private vehicles entering Malaysia from Singapore will have to pay a RM20 (S$7) fee from October 1, Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told The Star.