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.



scmp.com Indonesia is ready to execute seven foreign drug convicts on death row after their appeals for presidential clemency were rejected, an official said, in a move certain to set Jakarta on a collision course with international allies.

abc.net.au Indonesia's attorney-general says the two Australians drug smugglers on death row in Bali cannot submit for a judicial review of their case, meaning they could be executed within weeks.



bbc.com The Malaysian government has officially declared the disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight MH370 an accident and says there were no survivors. No trace of the Beijing-bound aircraft has been found since it disappeared on March 8, 2014.

usatoday.com There were 239 passengers and crew. Relatives of the 154 Chinese passengers on board the flight - many of whom cling to hope their loved ones are still alive - reacted with disbelief and anger to the announcement.



tolerance.ca Burma's human rights situation declined in 2014, setting back progress made since the reform process began three years ago, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2015.



afp The Cambodian government has ordered a hospital to stop advertising so-called virginity restoration procedures, saying it harms the "morality" of society. Cambodian clinics quietly offer hymenoplasty - a procedure commonly sought after in countries where a woman's virginity is prized. Phnom Penh's Victoria International Hospital is publicly advertising their services.

phnompenhpost.com Following reports of endemic corruption and suppression of dissent in the Kingdom last year, Cambodia was once again classified by global watchdog Freedom House as ''not free'' in a generally bleak report.



channelnewsasia.com Overall crime in the Republic increased by 7.4 percent last year, driven mainly by a spike in the number of scams involving e-commerce, the Singapore Police Force said.

forbes.com A new report from WealthInsight states the overall high net worth individual wealth in Singapore at US$748.8 billion in 2013, a figure that has risen 51.7 percent since the recovery from the global financial crisis began in 2009. The study expects Singaporean high net worth wealth to top a trillion by 2018.



thanhniennews.com An influenza A (H7N9) outbreak that killed three people and infecting many others in China is spreading southwards to the border with Vietnam, Vietnamese health authorities warned.



bangkokpost.com Seven Lao sex workers were arrested during a raid by anti-human trafficking police on a karaoke bar near a police station and a district office in Udon Thani in the early hours of Thursday. The owner and a caretaker were arrested.






reuters The Philippines and Vietnam are forging closer ties in a symbolic move after China stepped up activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea, raising tension in the potential flashpoint.