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.



washingtonpost.com Health officials in the Philippines reported that the country's second case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome was diagnosed in a 36-year-old foreign man who had flown in from Dubai.



nytimes.com A teenage blogger who was convicted of two charges after criticizing Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore, was released after a court sentenced him to four weeks' detention, which he had already served. Amos Yee, 16, brought international attention to Singapore's tight restrictions on speech after he posted an eight-minute video celebrating Mr. Lee's death in March.

asiaone.com Singapore and Myanmar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in banking supervision and capacity building. They also exchanged views on developing an inter-bank funding market.



nytimes.com Many Rohingya ended up trading one nightmare for another. Some were confined for weeks to fetid, cramped holds reeking of vomit and excrement. Some were detained in prisonlike way stations in southern Thailand, subject to beatings and torture as the smugglers extorted payments from their families. Hundreds died during the journey each year, from starvation, dehydration and, at times, brutality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-refugee-crisis-malaysia.html



Kalandan Press Heavy monsoon rains in the Teknaf region of Bangladesh have caused widespread destruction and misery for thousands of Rohingyas in Leda and Kutupalong makeshift camps who are also facing food shortages, according to Salim, a Leda Camp refugee leader. The Leda makeshift camp has 13,000 refugees and about 50,000 refugees live in Kutupalong makeshift camp.



ft.com Malaysia's currency hit a 16-year low as a crisis over alleged misappropriation of vast sums from a state development fund weighed ever harder on the country's standing. The ringgit fell to levels last seen in the aftermath of the 1990s southeast Asian financial crisis, as markets turned sour the day after Najib Razak, the premier, insisted: ''I am not a thief''.



thanhniennews.com What tourists do not realise is that the impoverished Southeast Asian country is in the grip of a boom in orphanages, many of them unlicensed, with no safety checks, few real orphans, and subject to growing concern about neglect and abuse. Orphanages are expanding because Cambodia lacks a social welfare network to support poor families.



nytimes.com The American and Vietnamese war veterans, former enemies, sat together at wooden picnic tables eating hamburgers and chili while Creedence Clearwater Revival played in the background. ''I've learned how to forgive from the Vietnamese,'' Mr Palazzo said. ''I've learned from them to keep looking forward.''



bloomberg.com Philip Morris International Inc. is working with banks including Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on the sale of about $1.5 billion of stock in an Indonesian cigarette maker, people with knowledge of the matter said.



rfa.org Authorities in Laos have detained a woman who posted information on social media about a controversial land concession granted by the local government in Luang Prabang province to Chinese investors, prompting a storm of criticism over the agreement from the country's netizens. Chanthaphone, a provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department staffer, was detained June 25 for posting a ''confidential document'' on her Facebook account about the deal to develop the area around the Khouangxi waterfalls, a popular tourist attraction, a local source said.