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.



AS THE FEUD between Sihanoukville's two richest and most powerful Russians intensifies, things are getting are getting even crazier down on the coast. ''It's like Russia in the 1990s. That era has come here,'' says long-time Sihanoukville businessman Nikolai Doroshenko. ''Very dangerous people are coming.''
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/big-trouble-little-russia



bloomberg Singapore reduced its forecast for foreign visitor arrivals and tourism receipts this year, citing competition from rival destinations. The city-state forecasts 15.1 million to 15.5 million visitor arrivals and expects S$23.5 billion (555 billion baht) to S$24 billion in tourism receipts in 2015.



AFP Several thousand people marched through Kuala Lumpur to demand the release of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was jailed last month for five years on sodomy charges.

AP If the massive undersea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 turns up nothing by the end of May, the three countries leading the effort will go ''back to the drawing board,'' Malaysia's transport minister said Saturday, a day before the anniversary of the plane's disappearance.



AP Australia's fight to save Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from imminent execution, and Indonesia's fight to maintain control of its own legal system, has devolved into a diplomatic battle rife with accusations of hypocrisy, power plays and moral superiority. And it serves as a stark reminder of why the death penalty is often considered the ultimate diplomatic challenge: How do you negotiate the non-negotiable?



rappler.com The governor of Romblon province criticized the team of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who discovered a Titanic-like shipwreck from World War II in Philippine waters, for allegedly failing to inform Philippine authorities about their activities.



afp Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), working with Burma on several nationwide transport projects, warns that ''Rangoon's roads will be paralysed'' without urgent improvements to infrastructure.



reuters China hopes to finish talks on creating an Asian free-trade bloc estimated to cover 28 percent of the world economy by the end of this year, the country's trade minister said. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership comprises of the 10-nation Asean club plus six others - China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand - and is a Beijing-backed trade framework that has gained prominence as an alternative to US trade plans.