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.

nationmultimedia.com Laos will assume the chairmanship of Asean in 2016 and in that capacity will host all Asean and East Asian Summits that year along with other high level meetings, which will bring hundreds of international delegations to Laos. Malaysia is Asean Chair in 2015, taking the baton from Myanmar. Laos, the United States and Brunei will provide English language training to Lao officials to help them prepare for the country's chairmanship.



straitstimes.com Three more weekly flights operated by Indonesia AirAsia to Singapore have been cancelled amid an official probe by the Indonesian authorities into the airline's flying permits.

channelnewsasia.com Taiwan's EVA Air announced it would be making its Hello Kitty-themed flights to Singapore a permanent fixture starting June, following the ''overwhelming success'' of such flights in December last year.



dailymail.co.uk Passenger planes could be forced to report their position every 15 minutes under new rules being proposed following the Malaysia Airlines tragedy. The United Nations aviation agency has put forward the plan as part of a global tracking initiative to help avoid a plane disappearance similar to Flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 last year.

themalaysianinsider.com Malaysia's image as a modern developing Muslim country has taken a further beating in the eyes of the Western world, this time in an American news report on rising Islamic fundamentalism amid a slew of fatwas.



time.com Indonesian news portal Detik reported that bargain tickets offered by low-cost carriers - some of which go for as little as $4 - were to be banned. ''This is so that the airline has enough financial room to raise the safety standard,'' said Transport Ministry official Hadi M. Djuraid.

news.com.au One of two young Australians on death row in Indonesia has lost his final bid for Presidential clemency and is now tipped to face the firing squad. Myuran Sukumaran's clemency plea has been rejected, in a decision bound to send shock waves through Bali's Kerobokan jail.



huffingtonpost.com Today, Nicholas Kristof and other leading journalists bring us news of another frightening instance of ethnic cleansing - this time of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar. Reacting against the supposed fear of Muslim fundamentalism and population rates in Myanmar, the Rohingya have been rounded up and put in primitive camps without access to any medical treatment and insufficient food. They are often tortured. Women are dying in childbirth.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-atamian/one-hundred-years-of-soli_b_6419864.html




huffingtonpost.com Vietnam should be on the top of everyone's travel list. It's that simple. With its dramatic landscapes, fascinating history, epic food and pulsating energy, Vietnam will electrify all of your senses and seize you from all angles. Vietnam is at once crazy and serene, thrilling and relaxing.



theguardian.com When Pope Francis visits the Philippines next week, traffic enforcers won't let the capital's streets get gridlocked if they have to answer the call of nature. About 2000 traffic enforcers who will be on duty during the January 15-19 papal visit will be required to wear adult diapers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman, Francis Tolentino, said.



AirAsia has denied the rumors that it has cancelled flight service to Brunei, saying its flights are still operating as scheduled, a media report said. As recovery efforts continue following the crash of AirAsia QZ8501, rumours of the suspension of AirAsia services to Brunei are rife in the social media, making people curious about the authenticity of such a news, Xinhua reported citing news website BruDirect.com.