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.

A CLOUDLESS night has given Thailand and other parts of the region a clear view of the lunar eclipse, in which the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon.



AP A cinema chain in the Cambodian capital has apologised for what it called a ''Fast and Furious Competition,'' which was criticised for encouraging participants to drive fast and post online photos of their speedometers.



bbc.com Philippines officials have ordered the evacuation of more than 20,000 people from coastal areas threatened by a typhoon. Typhoon Maysak is weakening but is still expected to bring winds of up to 160km an hour, and waves of up to two metres.



dpa Vietnam's growing thirst for beer is causing increasing health problems, from traffic accidents to various forms of cancer, local media reported. With draft beer often cheaper than bottled water, Vietnam's per capita beer and wine consumption has almost doubled over the last decade, a health expert said at a conference to confront alcohol-related problems.

techcrunch.com It's no surprise that Vietnam is being talked about as an alternative, amid rising costs and attrition rates in popular offshoring destinations like China and India. The General Statistics Office of Vietnam reports growth of almost 6 percent in GDP during 2014.



townhall.com Singapore has done something even more remarkable than its economic accomplishments. It has built an alternative to the European style welfare state. Think of all the reasons why people turn to government in other developed countries: retirement income, housing, education, medical care etc. In Singapore people are required to save to take care of these needs themselves.



aljazeera.com More than 300 fishermen who were rescued by the Indonesian government from forced labor and slavery in the remote island of Benjina have arrived safely in the port of the neighboring Tual island.

AP The findings documented by Indonesian officials and the AP came in stark contrast to what a Thai delegation reported from a visit to Benjina earlier this week when they searched for trafficked Thai nationals. They denied mistreatment on the boats and said the crews were all Thai, even though the AP found many migrant workers from other countries were issued fake documents with Thai names and addresses.



AP A helicopter crashed outside Kuala Lumpur, killing all six people on board, including a Malaysian lawmaker who was a former ambassador to the United States, officials said.

channelnewsasia.com Malaysia is expected to start charging a Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) of RM20 (S$7.45) from Aug 1, for all foreign vehicles entering the country from Singapore.



strategypage.com For the time being there are still plenty of greedy and corrupt generals (and their non-military allies) getting in the way of prosperity and efficient government.



washingtonpost.com China is building ''a Great Wall of Sand'' through an unparalleled program of land reclamation in the South China Sea, raising concerns about the possibility of military confrontation in the disputed waters, according to the commander of the US Pacific Fleet. Its claims overlap with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.