PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a column, Asean Today, that will cease when Phuketwan closes on December 31.



AP The International New York Times says it will cease printing and distributing its print edition in Thailand at the end of the year because of the rising cost of operating in the Southeast Asian country. The print edition will still be available in six other Southeast Asian nations



reuters The United Nations General Assembly's human rights committee criticised Myanmar for its treatment of the nation's Muslim minority and urged the Southeast Asian country to change its citizenship rules to make Rohingya full citizens.

nytimes.com Muslims in Myanmar wonder whether their lives will improve under the new government, led by the National League for Democracy. Not likely, according to comments from NLD officials. ''We have other priorities,'' said Mr Win Htein, a senior party leader. ''Peace, the peaceful transition of power, economic development and constitutional reform.''



reuters US President Barack Obama's visit to Malaysia on Friday for a Southeast Asia leaders' summit comes amid allegations by US lawmakers and rights groups that his administration ignored Malaysia's abuse of trafficking victims - including Rohingya - to secure the country's help sealing a high-profile trade deal and strengthen ties to offset China's growing political clout.



wsj.com Asia-Pacific leaders touted trade as the answer to flagging economic growth and shaky global security as the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation talks concluded in the Philippine capital.

reuters Police with full riot gear, including helmets, shields and wooden batons, fired water cannon at hundreds of protesters who tried to break through barricades about one kilometre from the summit venue.



amnesty.org Papuan pro-independence activist Filep Karma tasted freedom after being unjustly jailed for more than a decade for simply raising an independence flag at a political ceremony in 2004, Amnesty International said.

bbc.com Indonesia will not be executing death row prisoners in the near future, the country's top security minister said. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan told a news conference the government's priority was to address the economic slowdown.



dw.com Toilet coverage in rural areas has doubled in the last five years, from 23 to 46 percent, according to the Ministry of Rural Development. Production costs have also plunged, making toilets, which now cost as little as $55, accessible for an increasing proportion of the population.



reuters The extent of Singapore's land reclamation has come under criticism for causing environmental damage and caused tension with its neighbors. It has lead to loss of marine life, destruction of mangrove area and coral reefs, critics say.



breitbart.com In the past 10 days, two Christian activists have been detained by Vietnamese police and repeatedly beaten, as an example of what human rights groups are calling a systematic targeting of Christians for harassment by public officials.

reuters Vietnam's prime minister posted a letter online urging the public to use the Internet responsibly and build a civilized web environment, in rare comments promoting cyberspace in a country renowned for crushing dissent.



telegraph.co.uk Today is the day the antibiotic era ends. British scientists announced this week that they have found bacteria that are resistant to our final antibiotic frontier - polymyxins, a last-resort drug used when nothing else works. Discovered in hospitalised patients in China, the superbugs, similar to E.coli, have probably already spread to Laos and Malaysia.