Labor ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in the capital city of Hanoi on May 24 in an effort to develop regional human resources for economic recovery and development.

Participants in the 21st ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting (ALMM) will deal with polices on human resource development, employment, social insurance, industrial relation, migrant workers and other issues relating to labor in the region, said Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Dam Huu Duc at a press briefing in Hanoi yesterday.

Regarding the human resource development, Mr Duc said the ministers will focus their discussions on how to improve skills for workers toward a common labor market in ASEAN, where a worker from a country can secure jobs in another country.

To set up the common labor market, Vietnam, as the chair of the meeting, will lead the delegates to discuss and build a set of skill standards for common professions in ASEAN, he added, elaborating that those workers who meet the standards can be accepted in all ASEAN member countries.

Several countries has re issued travel advisory for Thailand and warned tourists in their countries not to travel Thailand until the situation calms down in Bangkok.

A prolonged political protest in the Thai capital since March has escalated in the past five days. More than 30 civilians have died in violent clashes and "red shirt" protesters are now encircled by government troops.

Countries has confirmed that its not safe to travel Thailand at this point in time. Violence in the country doesn't seems like calming down and traveling Bangkok at this point in time possesses great danger for life.

Despite Red Shirt protests, lack of government support, and a diminishing pool of potential sponsors, one emerging Bangkok-based movie festival is determined to carry on. The new Bangkok IndieFest, slated for August 4-8 of this year, was set into motion as a grass-roots undertaking by Thai and International organizers last August, when times in Thailand were relatively untroubled.

Since then, hundreds of international and local filmmakers have submitted their work, eager to screen in Bangkok, Southeast Asia’s movie capital, despite the growing unrest.

“Many of the filmmakers have expressed an interest in attending the festival, even if we are unable to secure sponsorship for their trip – that’s the level of excitement that we’ve seen so far”, says IndieFest co-organizer, Jason Rosette, a US national and media producer who has been living in Southeast Asia since 2004.

Four days of intense fighting between Thai troops and anti-government protesters have left at least 31 people dead in Bangkok.

Bangkok emergency services said late Sunday that 230 people were also injured in violent clashes in the Thai capital that erupted on Thursday.

The government has promised to continue sealing the camped protesters inside a business district to cut them off from the rest of Bangkok, AFP reported.

The authorities have imposed a state of emergency in more than 20 provinces to allow security forces to control protests. Bangkok and several provinces are now under emergency rule.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Thailand's Southeast Asian neighbors like Singapore voiced concern. Mr. Ban called for de-escalation of the crisis and “a return to dialogue.” Singapore's Foreign Ministry expressed the view that “there is still time for a political solution” to this crisis in Thailand.

On a parallel political track, Thailand's military and civilian authorities, including Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, said they would press ahead with plans to end the prolonged occupation of the city's commercial hub by the protesters.

No timeline and tactics were announced.

The latest wave of confrontation began on Thursday, when the politically beleaguered Mr. Abhisit vowed to bring the two-month-long crisis to an end.

Thailand’s Prime Minister defended on Saturday the deadly Army crackdown on the Red Shirt protesters besieging the capital, saying there was no turning back as clashes raged in the center of Bangkok.

“The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country,” Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a national broadcast, striking a defiant tone that made it clear he was in no mood for a compromise.

The spiraling violence has raised concerns that Thailand was teetering toward instability. The political uncertainty has spooked foreign investors and damaged the vital tourism industry, which accounts for 6 per cent of the economy.

Soldiers opened fire on anti-government protesters who battled them with firebombs and homemade rockets Friday in a second straight day of escalating violence as troops tried to clear the rioters from the streets of downtown Bangkok.

The clashes have killed 16 people and wounded 157, including two soldiers, since authorities began Thursday to try to seal off the upscale neighborhoods occupied by the protesters, the government said. The troops used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds on demonstrators, who set fire to tires and a police bus.

Explosions echoed through streets emptied of shoppers and tourists, plumes of black smoke rose amid skyscrapers and hotels, and the deteriorating security raised concerns that Thailand - a key U.S. ally with Southeast Asia's second-largest economy - was teetering toward instability because of the two-month political crisis.

The Red Shirt protesters began their campaign to oust the government in March, saying it came to power illegitimately and is indifferent to the poor. In several rounds of violence since then, 37 people have been killed and more than 1,400 wounded.

The leader of the protests was fugitive Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, the radical leader of the Red Shirt movement. While giving interviews with foreign journalists, Sawasdipol appeared to have been shot in the head by a sniper. He was later taken to a local hospital for emergency treatment. One other protester, 25-year-old Chartchai Bualao, was killed in the incident, but it is still unclear as to who is responsible for the shooting. Thai military forces moved in quickly to suppress the protesters just after the shooting, aiming to put down the opposition movement and secure the area in which they had barricaded themselves since early April. The Thai government declared a state of emergency for 17 of the country's 76 provinces in the wake of the protests.

This incident is only the latest in an ongoing series of violent outbreaks among protesters and the Thai government. The violence is a result of the belief of the protesters that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took power through illegitimate means with the support of the Thai military.

The Thai government on Wednesday canceled plans for a November election and scrapped talks with protesters occupying Bangkok’s commercial district for nearly six weeks, but softened its line on an earlier crackdown threat.

Hours after announcing they would shut off power and cut water supplies from midnight to thousands of anti-government protesters, authorities postponed the plan, saying it would hurt residents in the ritzy district more than the demonstrators.

But the government said it would take other measures to seal off the central Bangkok area packed with hotels, embassies, businesses, high-end apartments and two public hospitals.

“Tonight, we will start preventing taxis and cars delivering protesters into the area and tomorrow, we will divert some public transportation into the area as well,” army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters. “Details are still being worked out.”

Singapore travelers will be able to fly to destinations farther afield on a budget airline for the first time by the end of this year.

Low-cost carrier Jetstar announced yesterday it will mount long-haul flights out of Changi Airport, the first such carrier to do so here. Services will be operated using the airline's new 303-seater Airbus 330-200 aircraft, the first of which will arrive in Singapore in November with a second due to be delivered early next year.

Jetstar executives at yesterday's media conference were tight-lipped about routes, saying that several options were being considered, including points in North Asia, Australia and Southern Europe, which includes Rome and France.