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.



theguardian.com Thousands of Malaysians took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur calling for the resignation of the prime minister, Najib Razak, who is battling the fallout from a financial scandal.

theaustralian.com.au The capital's historic heart was jammed by huge crowds, most of them in the banned yellow T-shirts of Malaysia's reform movement, amid a carnival atmosphere of political speeches, musical performances, deafening vuvuzelas and selfie-taking.

themalaysianinsider.com Protests continue on Sunday. Yesterday, some 200,000 people were estimated at the rally's peak about 4pm, according to the organiser, electoral reform group Bersih 2.0, although police put the number at 29,000.



bernama Singapore police have warned people not to organise or participate in any illegal assembly in the republic in support of the Bersih 4 rally in Malaysia.



straitstimes.com Back on September 1, 1965: Indonesia staged its first air attack on Malaysia during the Confrontation or Konfrontasi, when it sent two bombers to a remote highland settlement in Pa' Umor, Sarawak, with machine guns blazing.



TNN Chinese legislature has reclassified sex with minor girls including child prostitutes as rape. The move comes after decades of child abuse and abusers getting away with lighter sentences. Many businessmen and officials are also known to travel to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar looking for underage prostitutes.



cambodiadaily.com Almost three months after four refugees arrived in Cambodia from Nauru as part of a controversial resettlement deal with Australia, the Interior Ministry said on Friday that it had no plans to receive more refugees being held in the South Pacific island nation. Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the four refugees who arrived on June 4 were ''enjoying their life'' in Cambodia, but that he did not expect more to follow their lead.

newsweek.com Despite recent economic growth, 26 percent of the adult population is illiterate and nearly 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The ongoing political tensions in the country combined with the significant unemployment triggered by the 2008 financial crisis led to hundreds of thousands of people desperately looking for work.



gulf-times.com The Philippine embassy in Doha recently launched 'Kulinarya Qatar' to promote Filipino cuisine in the country as a way of enticing more tourists to visit the Philippines.



aap Two Australians imprisoned in Vietnam are to be released under a broad amnesty marking the country's 70th anniversary independence day celebrations. The unidentified Australians are among 34 foreigners to be released under the amnesty that includes inmates from China, Malaysia and Laos.



huffingtonpost.co.uk Of all the human rights concerns in Burma, the appalling treatment of the Rohingya community remains the most worrying. I was struck by how little things had changed since my previous visit in 2012, not least in the camps for the internally displaced. Indeed, I saw and heard first-hand that for many housed in these 'temporary''camps for the last three years, living conditions have appreciably worsened.



ibtimes.com Michael Jackson would have turned 57 this Saturday. Jackson preformed before an estimated audience of 60,000 in Brunei on July 16, 1996.