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.



ft.com Vietnam's embrace of global capitalism stretched to the opening of its first McDonald's last year and now the communist country stands on the verge of another symbolic shift: allowing the foreign ownership of property.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/342226fc-d2e1-11e4-b7a8-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WI8CbDfE



reuters A Chinese naval frigate has evacuated 225 foreign citizens from strife-tornYemen, its foreign ministry said, marking the first time that China's military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis. A Singapore family is among those evacuated.

smh.com.au An energy company operating in Australia transferred more than $11 billion to the low-tax jurisdiction of Singapore in a single year, heightening concerns that Australia is being duped by tax-minimising multinationals.



ft.com Next month, the government, partly at the behest of conservative Islamic groups, is expected to introduce a regulation prohibiting the sale of beer at convenience stores and small corner shops, restricting its sale to supermarkets and hypermarkets (as is the case with wine and spirits) and in restaurants and bars at marked-up prices.

reuters Indonesia's political elite have closed ranks to undermine the country's anti-graft commission, which has already been weakened by a bitter dispute over the president's choice for police chief, a senior official of the agency said.



AP A Malaysian cartoonist known for lampooning the ruling coalition was charged with nine counts of sedition over a series of tweets criticising the country's judiciary. The charges against Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known as Zunar, came amid a widening government crackdown on opposition politicians and the media slammed by critics as a move to stifle freedom of expression.

freemalaysiatoday.com A group of Muslim doctors have volunteered to administer the limb amputation of convicted thieves if hudud legislation comes into force in Kelantan.

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cnn.com When Kieu was 12, her mother asked her to take a job. But not just any job. Kieu was first examined by a doctor, who issued her a ''certificate of virginity.'' She was then delivered to a hotel, where a man raped her for two days.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/03/world/cambodia-child-sex-trafficking/



Burma's President Thein Sein has proposed four pieces of legislation that threaten the very fiber of Burma's already halting democratic reform process. If passed, the Protection of Race and Religion bills would violate religious liberty and institute potentially severe population control measures. The US should maintain its opposition to them. Burmese Muslim minority Rohingya face particularly acute persecution.



popsci.com Every bomb that doesn't go off is a future bad day waiting to happen. In Laos, unexploded bombs dropped during the Vietnam War still kill hundreds of people annually. They're also a deadly problem at sea. The Italian Navy recently announced that it has dismantled several underwater mines and lost bombs from World War II - and they did it using robots.



abc.net.au The Philippines has issued warnings of possible landslides and storm surges, with Typhoon Maysak set to strike eastern coastal areas, where many resorts are located, over the Easter weekend.