DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Thai FM to visit Cambodia on Sept. 14” plus 9 more

BANGKOK, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thai Foreign Minister said on Friday he would visit Cambodia on September 14, Mass Communication of Thailand (MCOT) reported on Friday.

Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Towichakchaikul said his visit to Cambodia is part of his introductory trip among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The minister will also seek the opportunity to help secure the release of two activists, Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, now being detained in a Cambodian jail for illegal entry and spying charges.

Veera and Ratree were among seven Thais arrested for illegal entry on December 29 by the Cambodian authorities in Banteay Meanchey province contiguous to Thailand's Sa Kaeo province while inspecting the disputed border area.

The five others were freed after pleading guilty to trespassing and received nine-month suspended jail terms on Jan. 21 and returned to Thailand on Jan. 22.

The foreign minister said he planned to visit the other nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in alphabetical order, beginning with Brunei.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung on Thursday said he plans to visit Cambodia as well. However, he emphasised that his trip would come after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra' s visit to Cambodia which is not yet scheduled.

Since the new Pheu Thai government took office, ties between Thailand and Cambodia seem to dramatically improve. A few high ranking Thai officials have expressed their interest to visit Cambodia.

TOKYO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan's incoming Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda named his Cabinet Friday, with which he hopes to bring forward a challenging post-quake recovery.

Ex-DPJ Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi was named as new finance minister and ex-DPJ policy chief Koichiro Gemba was named as new foreign minister, announced Osamu Fujimura, the new chief Cabinet secretary who serves as the top government spokesman.

Goshi Hosono was named as environment minister and he will continue to be in charge of handling the ongoing nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture.

Michihiko Kano, who was one of Noda's four rivals in the DPJ's presidential election Monday, retained his Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister post, as one of Noda's move to ensure party unity.

Former Diet affairs chief Yoshio Hachiro was named as trade minister, and Yasuo Ichikawa, chief of the upper house policy board, took the post of defense minister. Renho returned to the post of state minister in charge of administrative reform.

Motohisa Furukawa, former deputy chief Cabinet secretary, assumed the post of national strategy minister and would also serve as state minister for economic and fiscal policy.

Former education minister Tatsuo Kawabata became internal affairs and communications minister, while Hideo Hiraoka, state secretary for internal affairs and communications, became justice minister.

The Cabinet will be formally inaugurated with an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in the afternoon.

BEIJING, Sep. 1 (Xinhuanet) --Apple's public relations department said Tuesday that the company has no comment. The first report was released on Jan 20, but the company remained silent about the issue.

The iPhone4 touch screen manufacturer, Suzhou United Win (China) Technology Ltd, used N-hexane instead of alcohol for screen cleaning, and poisoned some workers in 2010.

One of Apple's major manufacturers, Meico Electronics (Wuhan) Co Ltd, was ordered by the Environment Protection Bureau of Wuhan city, Hubei province to stop its practice of discharging waste matter into lakes in 2009, nbd.com.cn reported earlier.

Apple to discuss suppliers' alleged pollution with NGO

The technology giant Apple Inc proposed on Wednesday to hold a conference call with various environmental protection organizations to discuss their recent findings about its suppliers, which are accused of emitting large amounts of pollution and threatening the public's health.

"We would be interested in hearing more specifics on what you have discovered about these suppliers," Apple's supplier responsibility department said in an e-mail.

The e-mail was sent to the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing-based non-government organization (NGO), which is one of five organizations that carried out a 7-month investigation into pollution that has been released by Apple suppliers on the mainland.

The inspectors looked at 22 plants that are believed to be suppliers of the company. A report compiled from that work blames the suppliers for releasing large amounts of pollution in China.

"For example, the Meiko Electronics (Guangzhou Nansha) Co Ltd has been penalized for more than 10 environmental violations in recent months," according to the report.

"The company refuses to make the identities of suppliers public and to fulfill its responsibility to disclose information about the environmental effects of the suppliers' actions," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Without public supervision, suppliers are more likely to believe they can get away with releasing large amounts of hazardous waste, he said.

Apple said on Wednesday that it is committed to "maintaining the highest standards for social responsibility throughout its supply chain".

"We require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made," said Huang Yuna, who is in the company's public relations department.

Environmental organizations have detected heavy metals, including copper and nickel, in water coming from a Meiko Electronics (Wuhan) Co Ltd plant, an Apple supplier in Hubei province. What's more, sediment samples taken from near the supplier's plant contain from 56 to 193 times the amount of copper found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where much sewage is eventually discharged, the report said.

"We drink polluted water, and the next generation will possibly drink poisoned water," Wan Zhengyou, a Wuhan fisherman told the environmentalists.

Tongxin, a village in Jiangsu province, is near the Kaedar Electronics (Kunshan) Co Ltd, another Apple supplier. When representatives of Green Stone, an environmental organization, visited in April, villagers there complained about breathing foul-smelling air.

"Only about 50 people live in the village, and nine of them have had cancer," said Li Chunhua, a Green Stone campaigner who conducted an inspection at the Kaedar plant.

Lawyers called on Apple to fully accept its social responsibilities, even though it does not necessarily have to pay compensation for any misdeeds committed by its suppliers.

"A well-known international brand should have done more than what people had expected," said Yi Shenghua, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm. "It is certainly supposed to do better than others."

The environmental organizations said they hope buyers of electronic devices make "green" choices that help Apple establish a supply chain that does not harm the environment.

"We believe Apple customers cannot accept the fact that these faddish gadgets are made at the cost of poisoning the environment, harming communities, and sacrificing employees' rights," Ma said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) shakes hands with his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III during a welcome ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2011. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday agreed to strengthen economic and trade cooperation while minimizing the impact of disputes in the South China Sea.

PUTTING SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES ASIDE

Before the disputes are resolved, the countries concerned may put aside the disputes and actively explore forms of common development in the relevant sea areas, Hu told Aquino during their one-hour talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China's stance and proposition on the South China Sea issue has been consistent and explicit, Hu said after a red-carpet welcoming ceremony for Aquino, who is on his first state visit to China since taking office in June 2010.

"The South China Sea disputes should be resolved peacefully through consultation and negotiation between the two countries concerned," said Hu.

China is ready to work with the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the Philippines, to actively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and jointly develop the waters into "a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation," Hu said.

In the declaration, inked by China and ASEAN members in 2002, all concerned parties pledged to maintain self-restraint and not conduct activities that might complicate or escalate disputes over the region.

In July of this year, China and the ASEAN adopted an agreement that established guidelines for implementing the declaration, marking an important step toward a peaceful solution to the disputes.

Aquino, in his turn, reiterated that the Philippines works on maintaining peace and stability in the region and implementing the declaration.

The South China Sea issue does not constitute all Philippines-China relations, Aquino said, adding that the issue should not affect the development of bilateral ties and friendly cooperation in various fields.

"There is a strong political willingness from both sides to minimize the impact of the disputes on overall relations, which is good news for the two states," said Qu Xing, president of the China Institute for International Studies.

PARIS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- An international conference on the situation in Libya will be held Thursday in Paris, while the whereabouts of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi remain unknown.

The "Friends of Libya" conference will be co-hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Leaders of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) will also attend.

Senior officials from over 60 countries will discuss political and economic support to Libya after Gaddafi's ouster.

During the conference, the end of the conflict in Libya will reportedly be announced. "An announcement of the end of the war in Libya on Sept. 1 will be a good step to confirm Poland's will to help," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will participate in the meeting.

Although the whereabouts of Gaddafi remain unknown, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Wednesday that the embattled Libyan leader has not escaped from Libya and is most probably hiding in the desert.

In a radio interview with Italian state television, Frattini ruled out that Gaddafi had escaped across the border into Algeria together with his family, as reported by several networks, stressing however that his end was drawing near.

"Let's not waste time conjuring fantastic theories of where Gaddafi might be now. We must never forget that Libya is a vast country, a desert country, and I believe he is seeking refuge somewhere in the internal areas," he said.

Frattini also said that an eventual escape from Libya across its borders would not have gone unnoticed, as Gaddafi would have been immediately tracked down by NATO radars and controllers, who were constantly keeping an eye on all suspect movements and people.

The Italian foreign minister said Gaddafi's fate was tied to the fall of his native city Sirte into the hands of the rebels, which he said was "just a matter of days" and would inevitably pave the way towards the end of the conflict in Libya.

"In these recent days NATO has prolonged its military mission to Libya up to September, and it will achieve its ultimate goal when Libya will be totally freed from all regime forces. This is why Sirte stands as the last stronghold of Gaddafi's crumbling reign, and its end will symbolize the end of Gaddafi," he said.

Meanwhile, the Algerian French-language newspaper El Watan said Wednesday in its online edition that Gaddafi was staying in a town on the Libyan-Algerian border, waiting for permission to enter Algeria.

Gaddafi was in Ghadames, an oasis town in west Libya, accompanied by the rest of his family, the newspaper said, quoting sources from the Algerian president's office.

Gaddafi had tried to negotiate with the Algerian authorities on his entry into Algeria, the report said, adding that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika refused to answer Gaddafi's phone calls.

However, this information cannot be confirmed.

As the conflict in Libya escalated, the rebels urged Gaddafi's loyalists to surrender and hand over Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. Meanwhile, the United Nations said it has prepared blueprints for post-conflict Libya.

According to reports, Gaddafi's wife Safiya, his daughter Aisha, and sons Hannibal and Mohammed, accompanied by their children, entered Algeria Monday morning through the Algerian-Libyan border, but the whereabouts of the embattled leader remain unknown.

Libyan rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shammam told reporters in Tripoli Tuesday the rebels have already demanded Gaddafi's family members be extradited to face Libyan courts.

Algeria's Foreign Ministry said the United Nations and Libya's NTC had been informed, adding that Algeria allowed the Gaddafis to stay in the country on humanitarian grounds only, Algeria's state-owned radio reported Tuesday.