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.



channelnewsasia.com Malaysia has arrested four Malaysians and one Indonesian for suspected terrorist activities, with just days to go before the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur. The suspects, aged between 22 and 40, are said to have links with the Islamic State militant group, and another regional terror network known as Iman Mah-di.

theguardian.com Members of the Australian metalcore band I Killed the Prom Queen were in a Malaysian immigration lock-up after being detained for performing at the weekend without a permit, an official said. The immigration department director-general Mustafa Ibrahim said he hoped to quickly deport the five-member group, which was in the country as part of a south-east Asian tour.



AP An Indonesian court opened the trials of five Thais and an Indonesian charged with human trafficking connected with slavery in the seafood industry. The suspects were arrested in the remote island village of Benjina in May after the slavery was revealed by The Associated Press in a report two months earlier.



bbc.com Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has delayed his return home from abroad as police prepare to arrest him. Mr Rainsy is accused of defamation in a case that dates back seven years. He was stripped of parliamentary immunity from prosecution earlier on Monday.



afp Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi returned to parliament along with dozens of rivals beaten in her pro-democracy party's landslide election victory as the legislature begins overseeing the country's delicate transition.



nytimes.com The Philippine government is conducting ''clearing operations'' to round up and detain hundreds of homeless people, including children, so that they will not be visible during this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, Human Rights Watch said.



wsj.com Security issues at Apec will likely overshadow talks typically focused on enhancing trade and investment, said Ernie Bower, Southeast Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ''Even more so because many of the Apec countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have real and immediate concerns about citizens who have left to fight in Syria and Iraq and will be returning.''



kyodod news Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and his Japanese counterpart agreed to cooperate with the international community to combat terrorism in the wake of deadly attacks in Paris, as well as a bombing in Bangkok in August.



bbc.com Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has delayed his return home from abroad as police prepare to arrest him. Mr Rainsy is accused of defamation in a case that dates back seven years. He was stripped of parliamentary immunity from prosecution earlier on Monday.



chann elnewsasia.com The Philippines and Vietnam will sign a strategic partnership on Tuesday, a Filipino official said, cementing an alliance forged in the face of twin territorial rows with China.



thediplomat.com China aims to complete the long-awaited construction of a multibillion-dollar, high-speed rail project from southwestern China to Laos by 2020 as part of Beijing's efforts to link itself to Southeast Asian markets, official sources confirmed.



AP Apple will open its first retail store in Singapore, which will also be Southeast Asia's first to be powered solely by solar energy, officials said.