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.



theguardian.com Indonesia could release a ''human tsunami'' of 10,000 asylum seekers on Australia if Canberra continues to agitate for clemency for the death row pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, an Indonesian minister has warned.



washingtonpost.com A days-long standoff between security forces and students protesting a new education law in Burma dissolved into bloody chaos about 90 miles from the country's commercial capital of Rangoon, with police beating protesters with lathe sticks and herding them into military vehicles. More than 100 people were arrested, including journalists, and more than two dozen were injured, according to state-run media.

reuters Myanmar is sliding towards conflict as the government backtracks on pledges to protect human rights and ''fear, distrust and hostility'' spread, a UN investigator has said in a report. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, saw ''no improvement'' for displaced Rohingya Muslims since her previous visit last July to investigate allegations of mistreatment of them by the Buddhist majority in Rakhine state.



dpa An elephant used to transport tourists in the Central Highlands of Vietnam has died of overwork, local media reported. The 40-year-old male Asian elephant collapsed in Dak Lak province while carrying tourists on sightseeing trips, newspaper Viet Nam News said.



nytimes.com The Philippine military is fighting Islamic militants on two fronts in the country's south, with recent battles having left dozens dead and driven more than 82,000 people from their homes, according to government officials and international organisations. An aid worker said a ''growing humanitarian crisis'' was underway in camps for people who had fled the violence.



globaltimes.cn Singapore's overall population growth rate hit a decade low of 1.3 percent year on year in 2014, said Grace Fu, minister in the Prime Minister's Office. This is far below the average annual population growth rate of 3.5 percent from 2005 to 2010.



nytimes.com When the earliest hints emerged a year ago that Malaysia Airlines might have lost contact with one of its planes, editors in New York called me in Hong Kong. I immediately called the best-connected executive I knew in Asian aviation and told him about it, and his immediate response was that pilot suicide had to be strongly considered.



theborneopost.com His Majesty the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izaddien Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, the Sultan and the Yang Di Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam consented to present Letters of Credence to Brunei Darussalam's newly-appointed Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and receive Letters of Credence from the newly-appointed Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Brunei Darussalam.



kyodo The head of the Asian Development Bank said that Cambodia now ranks among the world's fastest-growing economies but still faces challenges.

towlerroad.com Thailand is fantastic, and they say Vietnam is everything, too, but I'm telling you straight up: Cambodia has everything an LGBT traveler would love. In fact, I'm counting the days until I can go back. My boyfriend and I spent five days in Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh this January, though the country deserves a lot more time.

thediplomat.com Vietnam and Cambodia have vowed to boost defense cooperation between their two nations following high-level talks, Vietnamese media outlets reported earlier this week.



thediplomat.com Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Laotian counterpart Thongsing Thammavong elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership following talks at Abe's official residence in Tokyo.