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.



straitstimes.com Rumors that former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has died are untrue, government sources told The Straits Times.

smh.com.au An Australian woman has been arrested in Singapore under ''draconian'' sedition laws, which carry a jail term of up to three years. Ai Takagi, 22, was arrested with a Singaporean-Chinese man. The arrests appear to have stemmed from a letter from a reader published on Singaporean citizen journalism website The Real Singapore detailing alleged police brutality during Thaipusam, a symbolic Hindu festival celebrated by the Tamil community.

cnbc.com Singapore's latest budget includes a $3 billion plan to expand its Changi airport with a fifth terminal before the fourth is even completed, but whether or not the travelers come isn't clear.

ft.com Hong Kong and Singapore have revealed differing plans for how to combat rising prices, ageing populations and slowing global growth, setting Asia's financial centre rivals on divergent economic paths.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/deportation-02252015131725.html



abc.net.au Philippine police have found the remains of a 12-year-old girl at the former home of an Australian man who is already facing charges of rape and cybercrime. The body was discovered in a house once rented by Peter Gerald Scully, 51, in Surigao City in the country's north. Scully's former partner, a Philippine woman, reportedly told authorities he accidentally killed one of his victims in 2013.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-26/girls-body-found-at-home-of-australian-man-in-philippines/6263460



voanews.com The Indonesian government says it plans to stop sending maids and migrant workers overseas by 2017 in an effort to decrease violence and discrimination against them. In announcing the initiative, Labor Minister Hanif Dhakiri said the process of stopping informal migrant workers from going abroad would be handled in stages.

theguardian.com Indonesia's attorney general has announced 10 prisoners will face the firing squad in the next round of executions, but among them could be at least three with cases before the courts - including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - and one prisoner promised a second opinion on his medical condition.



therakyatpost.com At least one British media outlet is confused between Malaysia and Indonesia. The confusion was evident in an article published yesterday by The Independent titled 'Malaysian protesters burn Tony Abbott pictures after he uses tsunami aid to bargain for double execution pardon.' However, the crimes took place in Indonesia.



AP The United Nation's top human right official says Burma/Myanmar is ''headed in the wrong direction'' amid a crackdown on dissidents and minorities. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein cited the jailing of peaceful protesters, journalists and opposition figures, as well as persecution of Burma's Rohingya, a Muslim minority group



9news.com.au A campaign is seeking to bring home the remains of 25 Australian servicemen who never returned from the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia has launched a petition for all to sign to have the remaining soldiers returned to Australia almost 40 years after they died.



rfa.org Cambodia deported four ethnic Montagnards back to Vietnam after authorities arrested them in a raid a day earlier, according to a local government official in Ratanakiri province, where the group had been hiding in the jungle after crossing the border to escape alleged persecution.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/deportation-02252015131725.html