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.



thestar.com.my Tourism Malaysia is looking to promote Malaysia as a top ''two-wheel tourism'' destination in Asean with its participation in this year's Phuket Bike Week 2015. Deputy director-general (promotion) Datuk Azizan Noordin said the popular annual bikers' gathering was the perfect platform for Tourism Malaysia to promote its motorcycle tour packages to the 10,000 enthusiasts expected at the event.

freemalaysiatoday.com We have not convincingly demonstrated our will to fight, plug and kill corruption, arrogance and greed despite having had one single political party ruling the country for nearly six decades and despite having witnessed how other nations have fought and are winning the battle, with promising hope.



theweek.com A new Human Rights Watch report reveals that conditions at the poor nation's garment factories aren't merely bad. They're often criminally abusive. Americans have reason to cringe over the sad conditions forced on Cambodian clothing makers. The US is the top destination for ''Made in Cambodia'' clothes. Major brands such as Gap, Marks & Spencer and Adidas all rely on Cambodians to stitch their clothing.
http://theweek.com/articles/546995/inside-cambodias-abusive-sweatshops

dpa Cambodian authorities evicted 10 Vietnamese from a navy-controlled island off Koh Kong province and destroyed their illegally-built shrines, media reports said.



philstar.com China said the US is the one that has the ''largest size and muscle in the world,'' in response to US President Barack Obama's expression of concern that China was using its ''sheer size and muscle'' to push around smaller nations like the Philippines that have claims in the South China Sea.



bangkokpost.com A remarkable yet little-noticed development in the US rebalance to the Asia Pacific has been Washington's overtures to Laos, a country long isolated and often overlooked by US officials. Shifts in geopolitical and regional economic trends in recent years have led the Lao government, which traditionally turned to Beijing or Hanoi for support, to explore opportunities to engage new partners and tap into the USs' renewed attention to the region.



bloomberg Overseas Vietnamese, known as Viet Kieu, have found themselves in the crosshairs of suspicion in both Vietnam and the US: When Nguyen moved to Ho Chi Minh City in 2002, police monitored him, giving him the code name ''the bald-headed scientist.''



straitstimes.com Indonesian President Joko Widodo is said to have given the green light to process the extradition of Singaporean Lim Yong Nam to the US, even as a court yesterday heard a suit that Mr Lim filed against the police for detaining him in Batam longer than is allowed by Indonesian law. Mr Lim, 40, is on the American wanted list for breaching a US trade embargo against Iran.



detroitnews.com Earl Lucas is well-suited to design luxury Lincolns for Ford Motor Co. Before his job creating automotive exteriors in Dearborn, he put the bling in the personal aircraft of the Sultan of Brunei: dazzling designs in diamonds and gold, with other top-end touches.



livescience.com Two hundred years after the biggest volcanic blast in recorded history, scientists have ranked the countries most at risk of a deadly volcanic eruption. April 10 marked the 200th anniversary of the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia.
http://theweek.com/articles/546995/inside-cambodias-abusive-sweatshops



channel4.com Police in Burma are trying to shake off their reputation for corruption and brutality with the help of trainers hired by the EU to help improve Burma's feared police force as the country moves towards democracy. Officers in Yangon have been learning basic community policing techniques, going on foot and bike patrols and chatting to local residents.