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.



AP Southeast Asian lawmakers are urging their leaders to discuss the Rohingya Muslim crisis at their summit in Malaysia this weekend, saying it has led to the highest outflow of asylum seekers by sea in the region since the Vietnam War.

theday.com The Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a grouping of regional lawmakers, said in a statement that the 10-member Asean must abandon its policy of not interfering in each other's affairs, which has been used as a justification to avoid holding a discussion on the Rohingya issue.



rfa.org Civil society organisations in Laos are under pressure to omit key concerns from a list of regional human rights issues to be raised on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Malaysia this week and ''fear for their safety'' if they attempt to do so, a CSO official said.



cpj.org Seven of the 10 most censored countries - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Iran, China, and Myanmar - are also among the top 10 worst jailers of journalists worldwide, according to CPJ's annual prison census.

afp Many US soldiers who fought in Vietnam will remember Hanoi Hannah, the silky-voiced communist radio correspondent who urged young American GIs to stop fighting and go home. She is the most famous of dozens of Vietnamese journalists drafted by the communists to help the war effort.



afp France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius summoned the Indonesian ambassador to discuss the case of a Frenchman facing the death penalty for drug offences, a government spokesman told AFP. The summons came a day after Serge Atlaoui, 51, had an appeal rejected by Indonesia's Supreme Court, taking him closer to execution by firing squad for his role in a clandestine ecstasy lab near Jakarta.

AP Indonesian police are investigating the death of a local official in the Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs to see if it is linked to a slavery probe in the remote, eastern island village of Benjina, a government official said.



bangkokpost.com Cambodia is considering increasing entrance fees to the historic Angkor temple complex as it believes they are too low compared to famous tourist attractions in other countries. Currently, foreign visitors pay US$20 (640 baht) for a one-day entrance pass to the complex, $40 for three days and $60 for a week-long pass.

voanews.com The Australian immigration minister made a blunt videotaped pitch to asylum seekers detained on the Pacific island of Nauru to accept a resettlement offer while stressing they should forget about ever moving to Australia. Cambodia has agreed to take more than 1000 refugees in exchange for what is described as a $30 million aid package from Australia.



channelnewsasia.com Malaysia has ordered an investigation into a protest by Muslim demonstrators who forced a small church in the capital to take down its cross, the latest sign of growing religious tension in the multiracial Southeast Asian nation.



asiaone.com A Malaysian man is to be sentenced on April 28 after the defendant pleaded guilty to seven counts of smuggling women and children into Brunei. The 55-year-old defendant is facing up to seven years in jail and $1 million (S$1million) in fines for each of the seven offences of human smuggling.



afp Pacmania is sweeping the Southeast Asian nation of 100 million people ahead of the May 2 Las Vegas bout by Manny Pacquiao against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather to decide who is the best boxer of their generation.



channelnewsasia.com Honorary Consuls-General (HCGs) from around the world gathered in Singapore for their seventh meeting since the position was created more than four decades ago.