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.



bbc.com Several High Street and high-end fashion brands have been implicated in a report on labor abuses in Cambodia. Human Rights Watch says it has uncovered alleged abuses at Cambodian garment factories that supply Marks & Spencer, Gap, H&M, Adidas and Armani. The pressure group found evidence of discrimination and anti-union practices, it says.



mirror.co.uk Singapore Airlines have launched a flash spring sale with flights to Australia, including Melbourne and Perth from 353 pounds return. Travellers can save up to 400 pounds on selected trips to Australia from London Heathrow and Manchester airport when they book before March 17 and travel before May 31, 2015.



wsj.com Malaysia's transport minister vowed to take stern action against an air-traffic control supervisor if it is confirmed that he was asleep on the job when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared a year ago.



reuters Indonesia signaled that it was not likely to execute foreigners on death row for at least the next 16 days after the attorney general's office said that a group of 10 convicts would be executed together.



AP The US has urged Vietnam to stop letting Russia refuel military planes at Cam Ranh Bay, a key Vietnamese base since the war, because of concerns it could raise tensions in the Asia-Pacific, the State Department said.



aljazeera.com Male travellers from Asia, Australia, the US, Europe and the Middle East constitute the bulk of the arrivals at Clark Airport, a former US military airbase. From there, many flock to the bars and clubs of Fields Avenue - and to the impoverished young women who work there. It is a trade that thrives in the Philippines, where there are an estimated half-a-million sex workers, almost a fifth of whom are minors. According to a former US ambassador to the Philippines, 40 percent of all visitors to the Philippines are sex tourists.



asiacorrespondent.com The Burmese police violent attacks on student protesters, monks, journalists and bystanders in Letpandan has been met with condemnation from around the world. Students had been marching from Mandalay to Rangoon protesting the government's new education bill when the police stopped them just over a week ago at Letpadan, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) from Rangoon.

channelnewsasia.com Malaysia's government said Burma's Thein Sein and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would discuss the state of bilateral relations as well as issues of regional concern during a two-day visit by the Burmese leader.



asiaone.com The Minister of Home Affairs turned down a proposal for the government to amend Brunei's National Citizenship Act of 1961. Australia, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore, which were British granted every resident citizenship on independence. This was not the case for Hong Kong and Brunei as the two were British Protectorates. A suggestion to grant citizenship to residents born in the country aged over 60 was rejected.



coinupdate.com The Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic have announced a new commemorative coin which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Laotian government of the day and Japan.