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.



harrowgateadvertiser.co.uk A 33-year-old sentenced to 10 years in jail over a multi-million pound drugs empire is the first ever British citizen to be extradited from the Philippines. John Halliday has been convicted along with 14 other defendants.

philstar.com French President Francois Hollande said he hopes the Philippines, where he is visiting, will become among the top destinations of French tourists as the two counties expand bilateral ties in the next years.



news.com.au Eight Panser tanks are on standby in Denpasar to remove Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from Kerobokan Prison and deliver them to the airport for transfer to the prison island of Nusakambangan. The pair are among a group of foreigners due to be executed.

independent.ie Irish tourist Lisa Orsi collapsed after visiting a volcano with friends in Indonesia late last week and doctors have informed her parents there is no hope of her making a recovery. The medical team told her family she suffered ''extreme altitude sickness''. Further tests to detect brain activity were not positive and arrangements were made to transfer her to hospital in Singapore, where Lisa's wish to donate her organs was expected to be fulfilled.

ft.com General Motors is to stop making vehicles in Indonesia - widely predicted to be one of Southeast Asia's fastest growing car markets - after struggling to compete with rival Japanese carmakers.



asiaone.com Vietnam has become the biggest exporter to the United States in the Southeast Asian region with a record trade surplus of almost US$25 billion in 2014, surpassing even Malaysia and Thailand. Export of garment and textile was the main contributor.



forbes.com Oil burnished many a Malaysian fortune a year ago. This time it scorched them. As global oil prices plummeted from a peak of $115 a barrel to below $50 a barrel, the wealth of the country's oil and gas tycoons fell by hundreds of millions of dollars.



foreignpolicy.com The Burmese government continues to push ahead with its controversial nationality verification process, which will require Rohingya Muslims to label themselves as ''Bengali'' in order to obtain citizenship. The few Rohingya who have accepted this designation have seen no significant changes to their standard of living, remaining confined to peripheral slums or displacement camps with limited access to education and healthcare.

bbc.com The UN's human rights chief has warned that Burma's treatment of minorities and suppression of free speech is setting back its political reforms. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said Myanmar (also known as Burma) was continuing to jail critics and quash peaceful protest despite promising to stop.



channelnews.assia.com The Traffic Police will begin installing 20 digital speed enforcement cameras across 11 locations islandwide from March 1. The police said the 20 new cameras will be operational round the clock.



cambodiadaily.com Television's longest running reality show, 'Survivor,' which premiered its 30th season last night in the US, will shoot its next two seasons in Cambodia, according to officials, who said production was already underway on the tropical island resort of Koh Rong.



ttrweekly.com Real estate developers will invest an estimated USD3 billion in the Nongpaen Lao-Asean Tourism Complex Project in Vientiane, according to the lead partner, Lao Asia Trading International Company (LATIC) Sole Ltd.