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.



npr.org Officials in South Korea say they've had no new cases of MERS for 16 days, but also reported the 25th death from the deadly disease. Thailand, which discovered the first case of the deadly disease earlier this week, says 175 people were exposed to its single case, with no new infections reported so far.



AP Cambodian police say they have made one of their biggest drug seizures in years, netting 55 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin. Two Chinese men and a Cambodian woman were arrested at four locations this past week in the capital Phnom Penh, police said at a news conference.



channelnewsasia.com Vietnam's marine police said they were questioning eight foreigners suspected of being the escaped pirates who commandeered a Malaysian-flagged tanker in the South China Sea for a week. The unarmed men docked on Tho Chu island, off southwest Vietnam, on a lifeboat after ''saying they encountered an accident at sea.''



bernama Malaysia will request for the extradition of the seven suspected hijackers of MT Orkim Harmony for prosecution in the country, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. He said the request for the extradition of the suspects would be submitted to Vietnam and Indonesia, the latest by this Tuesday.



rappler.com The Philippines' dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) has pulled down the Southeast Asian country's ranking in the latest Global Peace Index. The Philippines has dropped to 141 this year from 134 in 2014. For the low ranking, the Global Peace Index cited not only the South China Sea dispute but also internal conflicts in the Philippines.



eater.com With the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in full swing, personal driver app Uber is testing a food delivery service in the Indonesian city of Jakarta. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has launched a temporary service, UberBuka (Buka meaning ''break fast''), in partnership with 11 restaurants that brings dinner to fasting Muslims at the touch of a button.



washingtonpost.com Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has used a keynote address during an international conference at the United Nations University in Tokyo to announce emergency aid measures for Rohingya Muslim minority migrants from Myanmar. Mr Kishida told the conference on Saturday that Japan would assist Rohingya migrants by providing $4.5 million in emergency grants via international organisations.



straitstimes.com A group of angry investors from China showed up at a flat in Sengkang afternoon to demand their money back from a Singaporean employee of the company that allegedly caused thousands of investors to get their fingers burnt. He purportedly worked for API Premiere Swiss Trust AG - a finance firm that has reportedly cost almost 30,000 investors from China US$1.2 billion of their savings.