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.



todayonline.com Smokers will soon no longer be allowed to light up at all eateries across Malaysia, even in open air premises, the Health Ministry said. According to The Star, the ministry said the ban will include even mamak stalls and food courts, apart from air-conditioned restaurants.

malaysia-chronicle.com So why, with the strong westerly winds the roaring forties north of Antarctica, has not even one item of debris washed up on the shores of Tasmania, the South Island of New Zealand or Chile. MH370 did not crash. It was ditched under control, according to Boeing 777 flight manual procedures, that is gear up, into wind as slow as possible.



cambodiadaily.com Senior government officials this week promised temporary closure for hotels and restaurants along Sihanoukville's heavily touristed beachfront that they say are routinely pumping raw sewage into the sea. The initiative was announced at a meeting of hundreds of government officials, where Interior Minister Sar Kheng said local officials had a duty to enforce regulations ensuring that the tourism industry grows responsibly and sustainably.
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hotels-warned-over-pumping-sewage-into-sea-83440/

xinhua Cambodia registered 502 dengue fever cases in the first four months of 2015, a 67 percent rise from 300 cases over the same period last year, a health official said in a statement.



theguardian.com Thousands of people have been evacuated from part of the Philippines before the arrival of a typhoon expected to bring winds of more than 100mph. Typhoon Noul is forecast to bring gusts of up to 122mph as well as sustained speeds of 100mph, plus heavy rain that prompted warnings of landslides in mountainous areas and a 2.5m storm surge along the coast.

gulfnews.com Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said receiving states have an obligation to provide migrant workers with adequate access to the legal assistance as she urged joint action by Asean countries to combat human trafficking.



AP Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., said he met a Vietnamese woman who spent more than four years in jail for trying to organise an independent labor union. Levin is the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, which handles trade bills. He said the fast-track legislation and Trans-Pacific trade talks don't do enough to force Vietnam to raise its labor standards.

forbes.com There is one thing hard to understand: how removing US tariffs of footwear and apparel made in Vietnam will induce producers of such products as Nike Inc to make them here rather than there.



straitstimes.com If Asean were to disappear overnight, Singaporeans would wake up to discover that they lived in a region of greater uncertainty. One key reason why Singapore's economy is thriving is that we are in the epicentre of a relatively peaceful and increasingly prosperous region.



afp Indonesian President Joko Widodo insists the death penalty is ''positive'' for his country after the execution of seven foreign drug convicts by firing squad sparked international outrage.



xinhua Myanmar and Laos formally opened the first-ever friendship bridge across the Mekong River that links Myanmar's Tachileik in Shan state and Laungnamtha Province of Laos, according to the live report of MNTV Channel.



ifpress.com With a quarter of parliamentary seats and an effective veto on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's presidential hopes, unelected military men have a major role in the country's delicate political transition, regardless of the result of landmark elections later this year.

expressandstar.com ''We were still in Burma when VE Day actually happened and that would continue until August 15, so at first we didn't know too much about what had happened. We were told by our superiors that the Nazis had surrendered, and we were all delighted. But it was a strange feeling in a way because then our jobs just carried on and we got on with it.''