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.



AP A large fire engulfed a popular nightclub in Phnom Penh, killing at least five women who were trapped in one of the rooms, an official said Tuesday. Two men were critically injured. The fire apparently started in the sound mixing room about two hours before the Key Club nightclub was to open at 10pm.



bangkokpost.com The Erawan shrine bombing in Bangkok cost 64.30 billion baht in lost tourism revenue from 1.33 million visitors and the industry should recover in the fourth quarter of 2015, the Tourism and Sports Ministry told a Cabinet meeting.



reuters The World Cup qualifier between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia at Shah Alam stadium in Selangor was abandoned just before full-time because of crowd trouble. The visiting Saudi Arabia team were leading 2-1 in the Group A Asian qualifier when play was stopped in the 87th minute after fans launched flares and fireworks on to the pitch, local media reported.

channelnewsasia.com Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and seven others have been charged with illegal assembly stemming from their alleged participation in a #KitaLawan rally in March.



afp An Australian woman of Vietnamese origin has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to smuggle heroin in her underwear, state media says. The woman, 38, was caught with 376 grams of the drug at Ho Chi Minh city's Tan Son Nhat airport in December last year.



ft.com Indonesia is close to rejoining Opec despite a continuing decline in crude output in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

channelnewsasia.com ''This always happens during the hot and dry season. We would like to apologise to the governments of Singapore and Malaysia,'' says Mr Hamdhani Mukhdar Said of the haze over the region on the sidelines of an Asean meeting in Kuala Lumpur.



bbc.com Campaigning has begun in Myanmar, two months ahead of its first openly-contested general election in 25 years. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is expected to win the most seats, while losses are predicted for the ruling military-backed party.



dw.com Singaporeans will head to the polls on September 11 amid growing discontent over immigration and the cost of living in the city-state. But will these also be the issues deciding Friday's election?



philstar.com President Benigno S. Aquino III said that the Philippines is ready to help refugees from conflict-stricken Syria. In a media forum aired on state-run People's Television, Aquino noted that the Philippines helped other asylum-seekers in the past.



catholicculture.org Two Christian men who were visiting a Christian family in a Laotian village were arrested on charges of spreading the Christian faith, according a Laotian religious-freedom advocacy organisation. The example of one of the detained men, Bountheung Phetsomphone, led 300 people in a nearby village to become Christian in 2012, according to the report.