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.



straitstimes.com An Irish woman who worked in Singapore as a physiotherapist has been declared brain dead after she collapsed during a trekking holiday to Indonesia. The family of 22-year-old Lisa Orsi said that her organs will be donated in accordance with her wishes.



dailymail.co.uk An Australian businessman, who was charged with horrific child abuse in the Philippines, reportedly fled a string of fraud and sold his young bride as a prostitute. Peter Gerard Scully slipped out of Melbourne and fled to Manila in 2011 after he allegedly scammed more than $2.68 million from 20 investors in an investment scheme, The Age reports.

reuters Global hotel brands are helping Manila add a record number of rooms this year, lured by the growth prospects of its emerging gaming scene. That will boost the underperforming Philippine tourism sector, although other infrastructure is needed before it can really take off.



time.com Christoph Mueller assumed his position as CEO of Malaysia Airlines last Sunday, one week before the anniversary of the MH370 disappearance and one day before the airline's owners - state-owned investment fund Khazanah Nasional - announced a plan to axe 6000 of its 20,000 employees. The 52-year-old's new job is one that few people in the industry would relish.

dpa Malaysia's exports contracted by 0.6 percent on an annual basis in January due to a decline in demand for petroleum and palm-oil based products, the government said.



AP The UN human rights office has called on Indonesia to refrain from executing convicted drug smugglers, saying that the death penalty won't stop narcotics trafficking. Ten smugglers from Australia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Brazil, France, Ghana and Indonesia are scheduled to be executed soon.



reuters Coca-Cola and David Puttnam, the producer of the 1984 film 'The Killing Fields,' have been recruited by the government to help shift the world's image of Cambodia away from land mines and corruption and toward one of a booming economy and easy business, Cambodia Daily reported, citing the Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol.

xinhua Cambodian police shut down the Our Home orphanage and school in Phnom Penh two days after child sex abuse allegations led to the arrest of its director, local media reported. Cambodian national Hang Vibol was arrested following a month-long investigation into complaints of child sex abuse.



VNA Vietnam will work closely with and support Laos to successfully execute its role as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2016, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith at a working session in Hanoi.



asiancorrespondent.com The outbreak of demonstrations in Yangon both raises the potential for wider mobilisation and increases the international visibility of the protest movement, thereby throwing into sharper contrast the legitimacy of their demands for a greater slice of the state budget for education (currently 5.92 percent) and reduced government control over the sector, versus the government's resistance to implementing these.



reuters Vietnam's Communist Party chief will visit the US this year, Washington's ambassador said, in a landmark trip underlining a rapid strengthening of ties between former foes still at odds over human rights.