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.



abc.net.au A disabled ex-soldier who fought for Australia in the Vietnam War has spent the past four months in an immigration detention centre awaiting deportation. Michael McFadden, 69, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol dependency, and brain damage, is an Irish citizen whose permanent residency in Australia was automatically revoked because of a recent prison term.

hrw.org Vietnam's human rights record remains dire. Its one-party communist state suppresses virtually all forms of political dissent, using a broad array of repressive measures. Freedom of expression, association and assembly are tightly restricted.



reuters Indonesian President Joko Widodo put two experienced technocrats into economic management posts in a cabinet reshuffle designed to reassure investors worried about a policy drift that has allowed growth to slip to a six-year low.

AP Indonesia's top development official said the government is studying proposals from China and Japan for construction of a high-speed rail line and expects to announce the outcome later this month.



bloomberg Singapore stocks tumbled, with the benchmark Straits Times Index posting its biggest decline in almost four years amid concerns China's currency devaluation will hurt bank earnings and slow economic growth.



AP A Malaysian opposition party filed a civil lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak for alleged election offences involving $700 million in his bank accounts. The anti-graft agency recently announced the money, most of which was received ahead of the March 2013 general elections, came from donations and not from state investment fund 1MDB.

asiaone.com Security at the information networks of 10 vital public-sector agencies is being tightened after hacktivist group Anonymous Malaysia threatened to launch an "all-out Internet war" against the government. The group said the day-long cyber attack would begin on August 29, to coincide with the Bersih 4.0 demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur over alleged corruption.



Indo-Asian news Service Myanmar President U Thein Sein and Vice President U Nyan Tun will not run in the general election scheduled for November 8, a top official of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (UDSP) said.

reuters Myanmar's health minister scrapped plans to fill more of the 300 vacancies at his ministry with military personnel, after thousands of people joined a rare online protest against eight initial appointments. The Black Ribbon Movement, launched this week by medical workers and doctors following the appointments, called on the government to end the ''militarisation'' of the ministry.



alternativesjournal.ca India and Southeast Asia have far more dangerous roads than North America or Europe, according to the report. And Thailand tops the list of unsafe roads in all the countries we have travelled through.



cambodiadaily.com A majority of members of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, which represents the country's more than 500 exporting garment factories, have voted against any raise to their workers' minimum wage next year.



abs-cbnnews.com The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is hopeful that an international tribunal will rule in favor of the Philippines in its maritime dispute with China on the West Philippine Sea.



rfa.org Authorities in Laos have released a young woman who had been detained for more than two months after a photo she took was posted on Facebook, allegedly showing police officers extorting money from her brother during a stop for a traffic violation, according to a source that is close to her family.