These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.
DBS urged not to fund Vietnam coal plant
A future coal-fired power station in central Vietnam may soon be funded by Singapore's DBS Bank, according to environmental groups familiar with the matter.
This is despite DBS announcing in April that it will stop financing new coal-fired power plants after honouring existing commitments. - The Straits Times
Paedophile Richard Huckle stabbed to death in UK prison
One of Britain's worst paedophile jailed for sexually abusing Malaysian children, Richard Huckle has been found stabbed to death with a makeshift knife in a British prison and had died on Sunday.
It was reported that Huckle had posed as a freelance photographer, English teacher and Western philanthropist over the past decade to gain access mostly to impoverished communities in Kuala Lumpur.
He was arrested in London in 2014 after an Australian detective unit discovered his activities in an encrypted room on the "dark web", where members exchanged child sex abuse images and tips.
At his trial in 2016, AFP said Huckle admitted a total of 71 offences against children he had groomed while posing as a volunteer in Malaysia between 2006 and 2014. - New Straits Times
Economy first, foremost
Despite his impressive achievement in reducing the huge infrastructure deficit over the past five years by building many roads, airports, ports and power stations and his all-out drive to improve the investment climate and improve the ease of doing business, economic issues will continue to be the most pressing challenges for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during his second (and last) five-year term starting Sunday.
In fact, the economic problems he will face will be even more challenging, given the global economic slowdown, the United States-China trade war that could escalate into currency wars, Brexit, Japan-Korea trade tensions and the ongoing turmoil in Hong Kong.
Therefore, the market’s and general public’s attention will focus on the economic team in the new Cabinet that Jokowi will set up next week. - The Jakarta Post
Floods hit Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khiri Khan
Hours of rainfall caused floods at the centres of Chiang Mai and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces as an incoming high pressure system sparked volatile weather patterns on Monday.
In the northern province of Chiang Mai, flooding covered a wide area of the provincial centre in Muang district. Flood-prone roads were impassable to small vehicles, including a Chiang Mai Superhighway underpass where numerous small vehicles broke down.
The Northern Meteorological Centre in Chiang Mai said weather fluctuations would continue on Monday and Tuesday because of a high pressure system that was arriving in the upper part of the country.
There would be thunderstorms and temperatures would drop by 2-3 degrees Celsius, he said. - Bangkok Post
Three construction workers killed after elevator mishap in Cambodia
The bodies of three construction workers were pulled out from the rubble of an elevator shaft in Phnom Penh yesterday after the workers plummeted 16-storeys on Saturday.
Phan Kong, a construction worker at the site, yesterday said all three men were his colleagues at the 21-storey apartment building being constructed in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune.
Mr Kong said that on Sunday night, construction workers opened the door to an elevator shaft due to a bad smell and discovered a leg buried beneath rubble. The discovery prompted the workers to call the district and commune police. - Khmer Times
Myanmar’s draft oil and gas bill jeopardises next bidding round
Uncertainty and confusion over Myanmar’s proposed oil and gas law risk alienating existing investors and could undermine the next crucial bidding round, according to companies and experts in the sector.
Time is running out for the Ministry of Electricity and Energy to launch the round by the end of the year, having initially planned to start the process in the first half of 2019.
The government published the revised text of the draft oil and gas law for public consultation in August with the aim of reforming the legal framework and replacing the 1957 petroleum resources act.
But the association representing oil and gas investors has highlighted its objections to parliament in a letter, of which The Myanmar Times has seen extracts. - The Myanmar Times