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.



amnesty.org Indonesia must immediately halt plans to put to death six people - one Indonesian and five foreign nationals - by firing squad this week, Amnesty International said after the Attorney General's office confirmed the executions would be carried out on Sunday.

news.com.au Authorities were prioritising the execution of drug cases, for which there would be no clemency or compromise, and that the next tranch of executions after this weekend would also be drug traffickers. Those set to die with one Indonesian are from Brazil, Nigeria, Malawi, Vietnam and the Netherlands.

smh.com.au A Brazilian drug felon has been told he will be executed this week in a move that will strike fear into the hearts of the Bali Nine members on death row. Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, who will be the first foreigner to be executed in Indonesia this year, was transferred to an isolation cell at Besi prison on Wednesday night.

bbc.com Indonesia's parliament has sparked anger by approving a national police chief who was named as a suspect in a corruption case earlier this week. Budi Gunawan was accused of taking bribes after it emerged he had assets worth almost $2 million despite having a monthly salary of $1400.

news.com.au The six alleged killers of Australian man Robert Ellis in Bali will all face the death penalty.The suspects, including his well-dressed Indonesian bride Noor, were brought to the prosecutors office in Denpasar to have their case handed over from police and readied for court.



nytimes.com A New York Times video follows the path of father of six Mohd Lotfi Ariffin, as documented on Facebook, from his village in northern Malaysia, where he was a schoolteacher, to Syria, where he sought martyrdom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/world/asia/video-feature-malaysian-muslims-travel-to-syria-to-fight-assad.html?_r=0

bbc.com A video of a Korean pop band embracing teenage girls in Malaysia has attracted heavy criticism and triggered a debate over the behavior of young Muslim women. Several girls, giggling and sometimes hesitant, can be seen acting out scenes from Korean dramas with different members of the band, all of which end in friendly hugs.

afp Nine Myanmar nationals have been charged with murder in Malaysia over the gruesome killings of six of their countrymen that are suspected to be revenge attacks related to ethnic strife back home, a media report said. Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia have not yet stated clearly whether the killers were Myanmar Muslims exacting vengeance on Buddhists, as is widely believed.

channelnewsasia.com Eight people were killed and 22 injured after a bus veered off a highway near the town of Tapah, Perak. Local police said all the passengers on board were Malaysian.



bloomberg Pope Francis arrived in the Philippines to rally millions of faithful in Asia's most Catholic country and offer comfort to victims of the biggest typhoon in recorded history.

AP Some members of a youth dance group were left crying after performing to welcome the pope. Eight-year-old Gwen Bernardino said she was so disappointed that they could not see Francis, because they were behind taller dancers when he passed by.



telegraph.co.uk A professional beggar in London's Mayfair has been using a credit card reader to accept payments from wealthy tourists: ''On New Year's Eve, he made loads outside the Dorchester (hotel) where the Sultan of Brunei was having a party and people were throwing 50 and 20 pound notes at him.''



bangkokpost.com Police and Ministry of Social Development and Human Security officials have rescued 72 Laoation girls forced into prostitution in the central province of Supanburi. The Anti-Human-Trafficking Division raided four separate karaoke lounges in Songpeenong district to rescue the young Lao girls, aged between 13 and 20.



dvb.no The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a forum of 34 countries which aims to address globalisation issues, released a new report on Burma, part of the group's ongoing Multi-dimensional Review of Myanmar [Burma] project. Of the latest economic investigation, it says that ''overall, the report finds that the need for reform is immense.''



bloomberg Singapore's annual home sales dropped to the lowest in six years in 2014 as government property measures and lending curbs stemmed purchases. Sales last year dropped by half to 7557 units from 2013, the lowest number since the 2008 financial crisis, according to data released today by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.



tuoitrenews.vn Visiting Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on that they talked about ways to strengthen their countries' bilateral relationship, particularly in terms of national defense, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

straitstimes.com Buffalo Tours, a destination management company headquartered in Vietnam, opened its Singapore office. Buffalo Tours Singapore will design tour packages with a focus on authentic experiences in Singapore and sell them to overseas tour operators, who may not be familiar with the culture there, said Ms Caroline Tan, its Singapore and Malaysia regional general manager.



eastasiaforum.org Cambodia had a year of political reform in 2014, and observers are sceptical about how much change it will bring. But it might be premature to dismiss Prime Minister Hun Sen???s reform efforts as cosmetic.