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.



afp About 500 Buddhist hardliners backed by monks launched new anti-Rohingya demonstrations in Burma's (Myanmar's) troubled Rakhine state to protest against help being offered to desperate migrants found adrift on boats in the Bay of Bengal.

independent.co.uk Burma's worst nightmare came a step closer to reality when a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban's most hardline faction called on the oppressed Rohingya to ''take up the sword and kill in the path of God''. It is obvious nonsense, and it is equally obvious that it is politically inspired.

Full Report http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmas-great-terror-moves-a-step-closer-as-taliban-urges-rohingya-to-take-up-the-sword-10319254.html



asia.rbth.com group of Russians patiently queue up at the gastronom (food shop in Russian) to buy borsch, vinegret, mashed potatoes and a variety of main courses on offer. Welcome to Vung Tau's Russian village: a medium-sized gated community that is home to employees of Vietsovpetro, a Russian-Vietnamese oil and gas explorer.



independent.co.uk The British woman who was arrested after stripping on a sacred Malaysian mountain has apologised for causing offence. Eleanor Hawkins read a statement outside her family home in Draycott, Derbyshire, after arriving back in the UK.

nst.com.my Bangladesh is trying to repatriate its 764 illegal immigrants held at the Belantik detention centre in Kedah as soon as possible, says High Commissioner to Malaysia, Md Shahidul Islam.

thestar.com.my Malaysia are poised to breach the 60-gold mark at the Singapore SEA Games with two days of competition remaining. It was raining gold for Malaysia on a wet Sunday in Singapore as the Malaysian contingent went through their best-ever single day performance.



freemalaysiatoday.com Police are looking for a Brunei woman, suspected of being infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), who escaped from Miri hospital on Friday.



aap Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has urged Indonesia to enforce sovereignty over its own borders amid claims Australian officials paid people smugglers to turn back an asylum seeker boat.

smh.com.au Australia's Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has written to the Auditor General asking him to investigate claims that taxpayer money has been used by the Abbott government to fund criminal activities, by paying people smugglers to return asylum seekers to Indonesia.



globaltimes.cn The airing of a documentary aimed squarely at South China Sea disputes is a means to incite anti-Chinese sentiment in the country, a misstep which reflects Manila's complete misjudgment over the surrounding political and security situations, experts warned.



xinhua Cambodia has hit back at Brad Adams, Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, for his critical comments toward recently-deceased ruling party chief and Senate president Chea Sim, saying Adams' remarks ''distort fact and imply personal anger.''



vietnamnews.vn Viet Nam is hoping that tourists from Singapore will come and visit the famous Son Doong Cave. Tourism officials from Viet Nam are in Singapore to spread the word about what a lovely place Viet Nam is to visit.



bangkokpost.com Former Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (Unclos) is the best way to address sea disputes and find long term solutions. But the claimants need to relax their conditions to find solutions, he said.



mainichi.jp Negotiators from 16 Asia-Pacific countries meeting in Koyoto ended their eighth round of talks to promote a deal that would free up their trade, falling short of setting any ambitious goal of eliminating tariffs.