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.



reuters Ousted Myanmar ruling party chief Shwe Mann is mounting a comeback ahead of a historic election next month, setting the stage for a likely presidential bid that will add to the unpredictability of the country's transition to democracy.



channelnewsasia Businesses and innovators from Singapore and Thailand can utilise Singapore???s new search and examination services to file for patent protection under the Patent Cooperation Treaty between 148 countries. This comes after the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Department of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Commerce, Thailand.



nytimes.com Thanks to heavy rainfall, Indonesia may have turned the corner in battling mass forest fires that have blanketed much of Southeast Asia in toxic haze, but more rain will be needed in the coming days to get the blazes under control, a senior government minister said.



outbreaknewstoday.com From 1 January to 3 October 2015, there were 108,263 suspected cases of dengue, including 317 deaths, reported in the Philippines. This is 31.9 percent higher compared with the same reporting period in 2014.



rfa.org Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen called for authorities to apprehend those responsible for an attack in the capital Phnom Penh which left two lawmakers beaten and bloodied earlier this week during an anti-opposition protest that turned violent.



channelnewsasia.com The Malaysian government has defended its track record after an international rights group accused it of resorting to criminal laws to silence free speech. The rights group's report said Malaysia has cultivated a culture of fear.



theguardian.com China is not afraid of fighting a war against the United States in the South China Sea, a state-run newspaper with links to the Communist party has claimed.



abc.net.au Between 1964 and 1973, more than 580,000 US bombing missions made the once-tranquil country the most heavily-bombed nation, per capita, in history. The rate of bombing was the equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. And the dormant devices are still claiming 50 lives a year.