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.



nationmultimedia.com A group of Thai supporters arrested in Laos for causing disturbance during Thailand's 6-0 football victory over Vietnam on Friday night were released after spending a night in detention. Twenty-five Thai fans were detained overnight in Laos following a crowd disturbance on terraces at the National Sports Complex stadium in Vientiane.



sunstar.com.ph Thailand placed third in the list of countries with the worst traffic conditions, according to the Traffic Index for 2015 Mid-Year Report of numbeo.com.The Apec member-economies on the list are Thailand in the third spot, the Philippines (fifth), Russia (seventh), Indonesia (11th), Singapore (12th), Malaysia (13th), China (14th), Hong Kong (16th), Japan (18th), Canada (19th), US (24th), Chile (26th), Vietnam (27th), Australia (29th), Mexico (32nd), New Zealand (48th), and South Korea (56th).



thejakartapost.com Encouraged by the positive outcome of the visa-exemption policy granted to 30 countries in June, the government announced a plan to waive visa requirements for 47 more nationalities, including Australia, in October this year.

chinapost.tw CNN Indonesia report also said that three countries that have contributed a great deal to foreign tourist arrivals - namely Australia, India and Taiwan - will be included on the new list.



daijiworld.com A Singaporean has been arrested for allegedly forging Malaysian immigration stamps for clients trying to stay in the country illegally, the media reported. He was earning at least 120,000 Malaysian ringgit (about $27,000) a month with a unique method of forging the stamp on passports and other travel documents for clients coming to seek his service in Johor state.

aap Three Buddhist nuns have died in a pre-dawn fire that razed a temple and several homes in the Malaysian capital, a fire official says. The still-unidentified charred remains were recovered in the bathroom of the temple in Setapak district in Kuala Lumpur, according to fire department assistant director Azizan Ismail.



eurasiareview.com Vietnam's decision to build a deep-water seaport off its southern-most province of Ca Mau may signal the eventual building of Thailand's Kra Canal as a new regional shipping lane.



cnnphilippines.com A hard-hitting columnist was shot dead in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte. The Philippine National Police (PNP) identified the victim as Steve Barreiro, 52 years old, a resident of Laoag City and a columnist of the Ilocos Times (IT). Witnesses said Doctor fled on a blue big bike after the shooting.



wantchinatimes.com Myanmar Airways International and Myanmar National Airlines have gained approval from the government of Myanmar to operate flights to and from Taiwan, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA)



straitstimes.com Four political parties will each hold a rally on Sunday after the police issued permits on Saturday afternoon. The four parties are: Workers' Party, Singapore People's Party, Reform Party and Singapore Democratic Party.

todayonline.com There will be no let-up from the haze ton Sunday, with air quality possibly climbing into the low end of the unhealthy range in the next 24 hours.



khmertimeskh.com Cambodia's Angkor world heritage site received 1.4 million international visitors in the first eight months of 2015, up two percent over the same period of last year, according to the latest report.

cambodiadaily.com The practice of Cambodian women being tricked into forced marriages in China - where tens of millions of men are unable to start families and are willing to pay upward of $10,000 for a foreign bride - is not new. But the route they are now taking is.

cambodiadaily.com More than five months after being appointed as the UN's new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, Rhona Smith will make her first official visit to the country later this month, according to the government's Human Rights Committee.