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.



bangkokpost.com The Na Thawi Provincial Court on Sunday approved arrest warrants for four more suspects - three army officers and a navy commander - in connection with Rohingya migrant trafficking. The navy officer is named as Cmdr Kampanart Sungthongjeen of Navy Region 3.



smh.com.au The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into money-laundering allegations related to a sovereign fund overseen by Malaysia's Prime Minister, Najib Razak. The Wall Street Journal reports the investigation is the latest in a series of international probes into 1Malaysia Development Berhad that is more than $US11 billion in debt.



theguardian.com Sebastian Vettel wins in Singapore for the fourth time to help secure Ferrari's first double-podium of the season. It wasn't the most exciting race at the front, with Vettel leading from start to finish, but he showed expert professionalism with dealing with the safety cars as the field bunched. It is so hot, so humid out there, and to maintain that level of concentration makes him a deserving winner.



jakartaglobe.com The Indonesian government plans to sue the Saudi Binladin Group over the collapse of one of the contractor's cranes at Mecca's Grand Mosque earlier this month that killed 107 people, including 11 Indonesians.



khmertimes.com Cambodia attracted investment projects with a total capital of $3.3 billion in the first 6 months of this year, according to the figures of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.



afp Myanmar plans to make left-hand drive cars compulsory, state media reported Sunday, causing concern in a country where the vast majority of vehicles remain right-hand drive despite cars driving on the right. The law is an attempt to correct one of the more unusual legacies of decades of junta rule. More than four decades ago Myanmar's paranoid and notoriously superstitious dictator Ne Win ordered all citizens to drive on the right.



reuters Vietnam has released high-profile blogger Ta Phong Tan, who has traveled to the United States, the American embassy said, but a human right group said the move extended a ''cynical'' practice by Hanoi to send its critics into exile.



nytimes.com With China forcefully pressing its claim to a vast expanse of sea west of here, the Philippines is now debating whether to welcome the US Navy back to the deepwater docks, airstrips and craggy shores of Subic Bay, which served as a haven for bruised battleships and weary soldiers during the Vietnam War.