Today Around Southeast Asia
PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a column, Asean Today, that will cease when Phuketwan closes on December 31.
Myanmar
nationmultimedia.com The Thai Embassy in Myanmar has warned Thai nationals to take extra care while travelling in that country after some 30 people protested outside the mission following a court decision to give death sentences to two Myanmar migrants in the Koh Tao double-murder case of two Britons.The embassy said Myanmar's social-media users planned another protest outside the Thai Embassy today.
Philippines
abc.net.au At least seven Christian farmers have been killed as Muslim guerrillas launched a series of attacks in the troubled southern Philippines, the military says. The fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) seized the seven then killed them in a series of raids on the island of Mindanao where Christian-Muslim conflicts have seethed for decades.
Indonesia
smh.com.au Indonesian police have seized a suicide bomb and a model of an Indonesian government building that terrorists were allegedly planning to target as the number of suspected terrorists arrested in the lead up to Christmas jumped to 11.
Singapore
mmtimes.com After facing abuse and battery at the hands of their employer, Myanmar domestic workers in Singapore are confronted with a difficult choice: stay and press charges, in often lengthy investigations that rehash their pain, or return home and relinquish any opportunity for recompense.
Thailand
bangkokpost.com Docked for most of its 20 years with the Royal Thai Navy, the aircraft carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet is getting a facelift as part a total military upgrade.
Vietnam
asianage.com Vietnam's military is steeling itself for conflict with China as it accelerates a decade-long modernisation drive, Hanoi's biggest arms build-up since the height of the Vietnam War. The ruling Communist Party's goal is to deter its giant northern neighbor as tensions rise over the disputed South China Sea, and if that fails, to be able to defend itself on allfronts, senior officers and people close to them told Reuters.
Malaysia
smh.com.au Australian actress Eliza Szonert who snatched her son in Malaysia has been released from the local jail where she had been locked up for refusing to reveal the boy's whereabouts. She issued an appeal to Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop to intervene to fast track the issuing of special travel documents for her son who has been unable to leave the country because his father is refusing to release his passport.
news.com.au The Australian Government has placed a date on when the underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is expected to end. The search for the aircraft will finish in June 2016, according to a statement by the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre.
Cambodia
cambodia.com More than 400 right-hand-drive cargo truck owners - who are requesting they be allowed to keep the illegal vehicles unmodified after paying import and road taxes - blocked busy Phnom Penh roads in protest on Wednesday morning. Drivers parked and deserted the trucks in the middle of busy sections of National Roads 1, 2 and 3 during rush hour, until City Hall agreed to host negotiations between tax officials and the vehicles' owners, said Pur Senchey district governor Hem Darith.
Brunei
zeenews.india.com Christmas is here, but there are countries where celebrations have been banned: Brunei, Somalia, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
Laos
bernama Laos was once known as ''Lane Xang'' in the Laotian language that means ''The Land of Million Elephants''. However, these days any traveler to this Buddhist land in Indochina will be asking where have all the elephants gone?