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.



dw.de Thai authorities say the man arrested in connection with last week's deadly bombing at a shrine in Bangkok is not cooperating with investigators. Police believe he is part of a people-smuggling gang. Local reports suggested he could be from Turkey, but the Turkish embassy has denied the claim.



ft.com Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's influential ex-prime minister, has called for a ''people's power'' movement to intensify the efforts of a marathon 34-hour weekend protest to oust his scandal-hit successor. The 90-year old former premier spoke as thousands of demonstrators returned to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to call for the resignation of Najib Razak, who denies allegations of corruption linked to a troubled state investment fund.



theguardian.com Australia's $55m plan to resettle refugees from Nauru to Cambodia appears finished, with just four refugees moved to the south-east Asian country at a cost of more than $13m per refugee.

smh.com.au The first group of an Iranian couple, Iranian man and Rohingya man from Burma (Myanmar) have been living in an Australian-funded luxury villa in a Phnom Penh suburb since they were on June 4 whisked through Phnom Penh airport to one of the world's poorest nations, where about 18 percent of the country's 15 million people survive on less than $1.22 a day.



nst.com.my Singapore regained cricket's Saudara Cup with a five-wicket win over Malaysia in Skudai, Johor, their first win in the series in eight years.



indonesia-investments.com The declining crude palm oil (CPO) price in the world market and the imposition of the USD $50 per ton export levy on CPO by the Indonesian government, effective from 16 July 2015, has severely affected Indonesian oil palm planters with the worst affected being the small holders and plasma farmers as they carry the highest production cost.



Yahoo 7 news Scott Herder has received more than 350 photos from the man he has dubbed ''the monk that lives in my phone'' since he lost his iPod Touch commuting between cities in Laos. The snap happy monk has used the camera on the iPod Touch to take a host of selfies as well as photographs of tourist attractions and friends, which have all been uploaded to Scott's iCloud account.



rappler.com The Philippines is in danger of experiencing water scarcity in 25 years, according to a new study. The study, conducted by think tank World Resources Institute (WRI), predicts the Philippines will be experience a ''high'' degree of water shortage in the year 2040.



AP Chinese border patrol officials seized 620 wild turtles and tortoises - 510 of them considered endangered - that were found alive in a shipment of frozen seafood from Vietnam, state media said. The official Xinhua News Agency said border police detected crawling sounds when they were inspecting the shipment.



latimes.com The State Department's second-ranking diplomat flew to Myanmar in May to urge the country's leaders not to adopt a tough ''population-control'' law apparently aimed at halting growth of persecuted ethnic minorities. President Thein Sein listened politely to Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. And hours after Blinken departed Yangon, he signed the bill into law.



nst.com.my The Immigration Department will extend the closing operation for Sarawak - Brunei border crossings from 10pm to 12am, effective September 1.