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.



voanews.com The European Union has joined the United States in condemning Thailand's forced deportation of more than 100 ethnic Uighurs to China, where they could face harsh treatment and a lack of due process. An EU statement called the deportation a violation of core principles of international humanitarian law.

reuters Uighurs from China's Xinjiang are being given Turkish identity papers in Southeast Asia by Turkish diplomats and then taken to Turkey where some are sold to fight for groups like Islamic State as ''cannon fodder,'' a senior Chinese official said.



AP Malaysian authorities are investigating allegations that 2 million ringgit ($529,000) were deposited into the accounts of the wife of embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier this year. Rosmah Mansor's lawyers say the news report is ''menacing and false'' and denied she took money from 1MDB.

straitstimes.com A memorial service was held at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday to mark the first year anniversary of the Malaysia Airlines tragedy. Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Ukraine on July 17 last year, killing all 298 passengers and crew - mostly Dutch, Malaysians and Australians.



malaysiakini.com Burma, in particular, should be considered for downgrade to Tier 3, as its persecution of Rohingya is at the root of the recent boat crisis. It has not only failed to meet minimal standards, but has also actively exacerbated the problem of human trafficking and human rights abuses toward victims in the region through its policies toward Rohingya.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/304838

karennews.org Dengue fever outbreaks on the Thai Burma border have affected hundreds of students, with many having to be hospitalised. Heavy wet season rains that drench communities on both sides of the Thai Burma border, are an early warning sign that it is the time of year that dengue fever strikes.



cnn.com Hundreds of people in at least six towns and a city in Surigao del Sur were hospitalised after being allegedly poisoned by durian candy.



rt.com Two former pilots for Indonesian airlines were found to have been radicalised by Islamic State after they expressed sympathy for the jihadist group online, while still performing passenger flights, a leaked Australian police report said.

AP Ash spewing from a volcano on Indonesia's main island of Java sparked chaos for holidaymakers as airports closed and international airlines cancelled flights to tourist hotspot Bali, stranding thousands. Bali's Ngurah Rai airport reopened Saturday morning.



xinhua Cambodia has seen 57 landmine casualties in the first five months of 2015, down 36 percent compared with 89 casualties over the same period of last year, the latest report said.



todayonline.com The Singapore Government has contributed to Taiwan three pallets of medical supplies, which include artificial skin and other materials required for the treatment of the burn victims of a water park blast, said the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei.



VNS The top prosecution agencies of Viet Nam and Mangolia signed a two-year (2016-2017) co-operation agreement. The agreement was signed following talks between Procurator General Nguyen Hoa Binh and Mongolian General Prosecutor M. Enkh-Amgalan.



ozy.com It took a bit of time for Mark, a 65-year-old retiree from London, to understand why so many middle-aged white men were hanging out alone in the sad-looking bar of his hotel in Vientiane, Laos, when he visited in 2013. Then he saw all the local young women loitering nearby. And that's when Mark realized that, unlike him, those dudes hadn't come to Laos for its stunning 16th-century temples or spectacular waterfalls.



insidethegames.biz The Philippines has agreed to host the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games instead of Brunei, who pulled out last month because they claimed they would not be ready in time. The event is expected to feature nearly 4500 athletes from 11 countries competing in 36 sports.