JAKARTA - SOUTHEAST Asian foreign ministers met on Monday to implement a charter setting up a bloc of half a billion people, but hopes of building a European Union-style community may be blown off course by the global economic crisis.

Often dismissed as a talking shop, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) signed the charter in November 2007 with the aim of creating an economically, socially and politically integrated bloc by 2015.

BANGKOK - THAI opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected on Monday as the nation's third prime minister in four months, triggering protests from supporters of the old government who tried to block parliament.

British-born Democrat Party leader Abhisit will head up a weak coalition government after winning a parliamentary vote, nearly two weeks after a court dissolved the ruling party linked to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

DESPITE some of the strictest drug laws in the world, newly-released figures suggest a growing number of heroin smugglers could be using Singapore as a transit point.

In the first nine months of this year, 46kg of heroin has been seized, nearly three times the total for the whole of last year. The haul has led crime experts to suspect that trafficking has increased. Seizures from previous years indicate that this year's cache is likely far too much to be consumed locally.

BEIJING - WORLD BANK President Robert Zoellick said on Monday China's efforts to deal with slowing growth, falling exports and growing unemployment would help economies across the globe weather the financial crisis.

'The best way China can help support the world economy at this time is through the efforts China is making to strengthen its own economy,' Mr Zoellick told journalists after a day of meetings with top economic planners.