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.



bangkokpost.com Thailand is hoping to resurrect a rail link with Cambodia and Vietnam to improve transport in the Mekong sub-region, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.



bbc.com Malaysia says it will block websites spreading information about a major anti-government protest this weekend. Protest organisers are calling for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down over allegations of corruption.

economist.com The protests are being organised by Bersih (meaning ''clean'' in Malay), a loose union of non-government groups calling for electoral reform. In 2012 police dispersed thousands of Bersih protesters with tear gas and water cannons and arrested about 500.



channelnewsasia.com ''We are the biggest investor in Iskandar Malaysia and so any trouble there is serious issue for us,'' says Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.



abc.net.au An Australian man has died in Indonesia, with local media and police reporting that his death occurred while he was surfing in the Mentawi Islands. The Jakarta Post newspaper is reporting 54-year-old surfer Ronald Stephen Schneider was killed after being slammed into rocks off the southern shore of Sipora Island.



rfa.org A Vietnamese-run night club featuring scantily-clothed pole dancers in the historic Viengxay caves in northeastern Laos has closed down a few days after its opening after it received a barrage of criticism on social media, a provincial official said.



phnomphenpost.com Cambodia is seeking support from Belarus to become a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), an economic block of countries that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.



reuters The Philippines has sought help from the US to monitor ''real-time'' developments in the South China Sea, providing surveillance and reconnaissance, a military spokesman said, amid China's rapid expansion in the area.



techinasia.com It's a good time to be a startup founder in Vietnam. At least one venture capital firm, 500 Startups, is extremely bullish on the country. It currently backs four Vietnamese tech companies but said it would add another 20 into its portfolio within the next 12 months.



bjp-online.com French photographer Clarisse d'Arcimoles photographed the people of Burma - ''a visual time capsule of the country'' - as it opens up to the wider world for the first time.