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.



freemalaysiatoday.com Aviation experts poring over available satellite data believe the latest evidence ''strongly suggests'' that missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 was deliberately directed by someone in the cockpit towards Antarctica. The flight virtually disappeared into thin air with 239 people on board.

nymag.com What made MH370 challenging to cover was, first, that the event was unprecedented and technically complex and, second, that the officials were remarkably untrustworthy.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/jeff-wise-mh370-theory.html

dpa The family of jailed Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has sought a royal pardon for him, a spokesman for his party said. A royal pardon is the only recourse for Anwar to regain his freedom after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for sodomy and five-year sentence.



supplymanagement.com Businesses with supply chains and operations in Burma, Bangladesh and Cambodia are benefiting from the world's lowest labor costs, according to a new global ranking. Risk analytics company Verisk Maplecroft's Labor Costs Index measures a combination of wages, employment regulations, social security contributions and labor productivity to enable companies to identify and compare the cost competitiveness of workforces in 172 countries.



straitstimes.com Genting Singapore's ebitda plunged 24 percent from a year ago to $190.2 million for the fourth quarter, while revenues slipped 8 percent to $637.9 million, due to its underperforming premium player business.



channelnewsasia.com Philippines President Benigno Aquino is facing increasing pressure for his resignation after a controversial operation in southern Maguindanao killed 44 elite force members. A presidential spokesperson has maintained that Mr Aquino will not step down until the end of his term in June 2016.



bbc.com Indonesian President Joko Widodo says foreign nations should not interfere in his country's right to use the death penalty. He is under pressure from the leaders of Australia, Brazil and France, whose citizens are among 11 people facing death for drug trafficking.



tuoitrenews.vn Australia, like Vietnam, has a strong culture of drinking and the young male's ''macho man'' right to speed on a road. However, Australian media, driven by government needs to cut hospital and health costs, not to mention the impact on working families where the young breadwinners die early, have managed to reduce road death rates by using advertising to strike at the heart of the macho culture that accompanies drinking and aggressive road behavior.



AP Construction of a massive dam in southwestern Cambodia will not start until at least 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen said, in an apparent effort to stop heavy opposition to the project which has focused criticism on him. Hun Sen's comments came a day after Spanish activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, who had campaigned against the dam, was deported for overstaying his visa.

bangkokpost.com Thai Immigration officials deported 22 Cambodian migrant workers, telling them they not only had the wrong visas, but the documents had already expired. The ousted migrants blamed Cambodian recruitment firm AP TSE & C Cambodia Co for giving them the wrong paperwork after paying the equivalent of nearly 18,000 baht for jobs in a Thai fruit-canning factory.

sbs.com.au Australia's refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia appears to be a step closer. The International Organisation for Migration says it's been asked to facilitate the transfer of refugees from the Australian detention centre on Nauru, to Cambodia.



nationmultimedia.com Lao authorities have acknowledged Thailand's decision to ban Lao youth below the age of 18 from entering the Kingdom alone. The move is aimed at combating transnational human trafficking.