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.



news.com.au It is an island paradise frequented by Aussie tourists every year. It boasts stunning beaches and a bustling cosmopolitan city the envy of its Asian neighbors. But this home away from home on our doorstep - less than 4000km away - is fast becoming a ''human rights black hole''.

crikey.com.au More than 150 activists, opposition politicians and lawyers have been arrested this year alone either under the Sedition or the Peaceful Assembly Act, which imposes strict regulations on public protesting.



gmanetwork.com Newly published satellite images show that China is quickly reclaiming land around a submerged reef within an area the Philippines regards as its exclusive economic zone, with several dredgers in operation and seawalls built.

abc.net.au About 250 Australians with child sex convictions travelled to the Philippines last year, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has revealed. Filipino police are currently pursuing a case against Australian man Peter Gerard Scully for what they allege are some of the worst child sex offences in the nation's history.

AP Eight Philippines troops died and 25 were injured after a battle with at least 250 Abu Sayyaf militants in the country's restive south, Philippines officials said. The engagement, backed by attack helicopters and artillery fire, appeared to leave at least six militants dead.



reuters Work on Mischief Reef is China's most recent reclamation. ''We are building shelters, aids for navigation, search and rescue as well as marine meteorological forecasting services, fishery services and other administrative services'' for China and neighboring countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing.



kyodo news Nearly 12,500 people have signed an online petition calling on the Singapore government to rename Changi airport after Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew who died last month, the organiser of the petition said this week.

bworldonline.com Singapore is trying to use judicial means to compel dozens of Chinese gamblers to pay up. Last year its two casinos filed 49 lawsuits against individuals in Singapore's High Court for gaming-related debts, up from just two a year earlier. The resorts brought 12 more cases in the first quarter of 2015.



AP The number of enslaved fisherman found on a remote Indonesian island has now reached nearly 550, after a fact-finding team returned for a single day to make sure no one had been left behind in a dramatic rescue nearly a week ago.



afp Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to rule out a boycott of looming elections as she cast doubt over the likelihood of key changes to a charter that bans her from running for president.



time.com Forty years after the end of the war, Vietnam makes peace with the US - and warily watches China.



bangkokpost.com Authorities in Vientiane are clamping down on Lao New Year revellers, shutting down entertainment venues at 11pm and forbidding water play on the banks of the Mekong River. Also explicitly prohibited were: drunk driving, fireworks, throwing ice at moving vehicles, splashing colored or dirty water on others, and ''wandering around in skimpy clothes'' at temples or in crowded areas.



blouinnews.com Cambodia's National Assembly unanimously passed a draft anti-tobacco law. It is intended to curb the current $100 million tobacco industry in Cambodia, a country in which 11,000 people die each year from smoking-related causes.