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 Malaysia's medical tourism received a boost when the country was named ''Medical Travel Destination of the Year'' at the International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ) Medical Travel Awards 2015 in London.



cnn.com The Indonesian government has ordered preparations for the execution of 10 inmates on death row, including Filipino maid Mary Jane Veloso and Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The inmates, from Australia, France, Ghana, the Philippines, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia, had their petitions for clemency denied by President Joko Widodo in late 2014.

euractiv.com The EU attacked the death sentence imposed on a Frenchman in Indonesia, which is expected to be carried out shortly, saying it was no answer to drug trafficking.



time.com As the executions of 10 drug convicts loom in Indonesia, a massive social-media campaign has kicked off in support of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina maid set to face the firing squad.



theglobeandmail.com Vietnam's government says its relationship with Ottawa has been damaged by a Canadian bill meant to commemorate the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees in Canada after the fall of Saigon. The bill sets April 30 as Journey to Freedom Day, a symbolic gesture that has nonetheless generated controversy and raised questions about relations between Ottawa and Hanoi.



abc.net.au An asylum seeker held on Nauru has agreed to resettle in Cambodia, according to messages seen by the ABC. Cambodia has agreed to take refugees from Nauru who tried to reach Australia by boat. The first charter flight to Phnom Penh was expected to leave as early as Monday. The ABC has seen a Facebook conversation an advocate said is with a male Iranian asylum seeker, who said he approached officials wanting to take the deal.



theaustralian.com.au Unlike 16,000 Allied POWs and up to 100,000 Malay and Burmese workers, Neil MacPherson, now 92, survived to return to the Death Railway this week with son Alan and granddaughter Krishna Vanderweide for Anzac Day ceremonies at Hellfire Pass and in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

independent.co.uk Genocide Watch, a group monitoring atrocities around the world, has declared an emergency in the state of Rakhine where around one million members of the minority are believed to live. In the last three years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds of Rohingya dead and 140,000 trapped in camps where they live without access to adequate health care, education or jobs.



The relatives of two Lao human trafficking victims rescued from Thai fishing boats in Indonesia earlier this month appealed to the Lao Embassy in Thailand for assistance in returning the men to their homes in Laos. The two were among a group of eight Lao victims rescued from captivity on Indonesia's Ambon Island nearly three weeks ago, along with 455 migrant fishermen from Myanmar and 94 from Cambodia, according to Reuters news agency.

Singapore

straitstimes.com The property market continued to feel the sting of cooling measures, as private home prices fell for the sixth straight quarter.