DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “S Korea, Mekong countries to hold talks on economic cooperation” plus 9 more

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 130 garment workers were admitted to hospitals on Monday afternoon after they fainted due to the inhalation of insecticide smell, a trade union chief and police confirmed Tuesday.

Chuon Mon Thol, President of Cambodia's Confederation of Trade Unions, said the incident occurred at Anful Garments Factory in Kampong Speu province's Samrong Tong district, some 50 kilometers, western Phnom Penh.

"The accident happened due to the carelessness of the factory' s management," he said. "They sprayed pesticides in the factory just a few hours before the workers entered the factory hall to work, so the smell caused them to fall ill," he said. "They had fatigue, dizziness and vomit."

He said that the factory has about 2,000 workers. However, only 130 workers were fainted and hospitalized according to the payment bills for the medical cost by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.

Keo Pisei, the provincial police chief, confirmed Tuesday that the mass fainting was caused by the smell of pesticide and said the victims are stable and some has left hospitals so far.

Mass fainting has subsequently occurred in some of garment factories due to poor health, bad working environment and exposure to dangerous chemical substance.

Garment industry represented more than 90 percent of Cambodia' s total exports. The sector has 291 garment factories employing about 324,800 workers, according to the reports of the Ministry of Commerce.

JAKARTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) keeps persuading countries to give their commitment on non-nuclear weapon for a better world, an official said here on Tuesday.

Jose Tavarez, director of Regional Dialog Partner at the Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry, told reporters that however, the bloc could not force the countries for the purpose.   "ASEAN member states have ratified nuclear non-proliferation treaty since 1995. We are attached to the commitment. Now, we are persuading nuclear countries to give commitment and to be part of non-nuclear proliferation treaty like we are in the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (ASEANWFZ)," said Tavarez.   He added that commitment within ASEAN is still intact.   "No country within ASEAN is developing nuclear weapon. If some of them want to develop nuclear for peace, it's their right and they deserve help as it is difficult to do that, in terms of technology and material," said Tavarez.

BANGKOK, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Don Meaung Airport is being threatened by ongoing flood in Bangkok's northern Don Meuang district as floodwater seeped into its VIP passenger building Tuesday morning.

The airport has been made a makeshift flood relief operations center since early October and the building was also used for today's cabinet meeting.

The water was from nearby highway and roads where flood levels rise above one meter high. More than 50 percent of Don Meaung district have been already covered by floods from northern runoff and overflows from a nearby canal.

In a related development, Nok Air, a budget airline, announced that their services at the airport will be halted from 12.00 a.m. onward and all flights scheduled to arrive at the airport afterward will be diverted to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Samutprakarn province.

The decision came after parts of airport's runways began to be inundated and more water expected to arrive. The airline will suspend its services at Don Meaung Airport until November 1, an executive's statement said.

Don Mueang Airport general manager on Monday confirmed that the airport will keep running normally despite it was under flood threat as the road in front of the airport was inundated. However, with the expectation of about 4,000 million cubic meters of floodwater from upper north reaching Bangkok Wednesday, the government's further effort to protect the capital city will be more difficult.

JAKARTA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian armed force has increased alertness in Papua and pursued the perpetrators of shooting and strikes that killed the local police chief more than ten civilians recently, minister said here on Tuesday.

Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Djoko Suyanto said that scores of people had been arrested and some of whom were being interrogated for investigation.   "There is no a raise of security status, but the alertness (in Papua)," said Suyanto at the State Palace.

A local police chief was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Monday in Puncak Jaya of Papua and four employees of PT Freeport Indonesia have been shot by the gunmen while scores others got wounded after hit by bullets within weeks ago in Timika of Papua, local police and the firm official have said.

"The fact that they (the perpetrators) dared to engage on a stealing (of weapons) and shooting of a local police. This mean that in every parts of Papua must be raised their alertness," said Suyanto.

Seven other dead bodies had been found in Jayapura of Papua following the violence between the member of the third Papua Congress for independence and armed forces last week, most of them were killed by stabbings, but, it was not known yet who were the perpetrators, Ridha Saleh member of the Human Rights Commission has said.

Nevertheless, the minister said that there had been a plan to send more troops to Papua.

Papua in eastern parts of Indonesia has been long homed by the low-level armed separatist Free Papua Movement, which has often targeted civilians, Indonesian armed forces and mining firm of PT Freeport Indonesia, killing tens of people and wounding dozen others.

The Indonesian government has allocated more funds for Papua in order to be able to decrease development gap with other areas in the country.

The separatist movement has regularly conducted movement every year, including raising their controversial flag, low level diplomacy at the international fora and launching the strikes.

OTTAWA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday he expects the global economy to continue to grow slowly.

Harper made the remark in an interview with Postmedia News, the largest commercial news organization in Canada, ahead of the G20 summit, which will be held on Nov. 3-4 in Cannes, France.

The prime minister said he remains "relatively optimistic" about the future. Also, he said he did not think there will be a second global recession.

Harper said he hopes the Cannes summit can achieve clear and concrete deficit and debt reduction plans, reform the international monetary system to boost economic growth, strengthen financial regulation and make a commitment to resist trade protectionist measures.

"The financial sector can't just write its own rules. The crash of 2008 made very clear that there must be credible regulatory systems on the financial sector or it can lead us in a position where we don't want to be," he said.

On the domestic economy, Harper said that Canada's growth outperforms that of other major developed countries.

He said his government's policies -- targeted spending and a plan to eliminate the deficit in three years -- are appropriate for the current economic climate.

However, he said that if Canada experiences "markedly different" economic circumstances, the government would make "appropriate" changes to its policies.

The upcoming G20 Summit is held against the backdrop of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, which is shattering market confidence in a world of fragile recovery.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese nurse was sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia on Tuesday for drug trafficking,

36-year-old Mariko Takechi  the first Japanese national to be convicted of drug trafficking charge and first sentenced to death, was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on October 31, 2009 for carrying 3.5 kilograms of Methamphetamines from Dubai.

The high court judge in delivering the verdict rejected Takeuchi's testimony that the luggage in which the drugs were found wasn't hers and that she had delivered the luggage from Dubai as a favour for an Iranian acquaintance she met there.

Prosecutor said Takeuchi could have noted "how heavy the bag was although she could not see the drugs from the outside," considering the drugs weighed more than three kilograms.

"Takeuchi said she took the bag from a friend but she didn't name him, so according to the judge, her story was suspicious and that was one of the grounds for her to impose the sentence," Takeuchi's lawyer Mohamad Rafik Rahem said.

"We have actually tried our best as we created a lot of loopholes to the prosecution's case, unfortunately the judge didn' t want to buy it," he added.

Mohamad Rafik said the defense has applied for the execution to be suspended so the lawyers could appeal the verdict in the next two weeks.

WELLINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully left Tuesday to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia, and preparatory meetings aimed at reforming the international organization.

McCully is to attend the foreign ministers meetings and represent Prime Minister John Key at the leaders meetings.

"It will be an important meeting for the Commonwealth as it debates what reforms are needed to be more effective," said McCully in a statement.

"The Commonwealth can also make a useful contribution to the Pacific. Since New Zealand is currently the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, I will brief Commonwealth leaders on the outcome of our recent successful meeting in Auckland," he said.

He would hold meetings with Caribbean and African Commonwealth members, as well as with the European Union.

He would also meet with Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman to sign a Joint Commitment for Development to set out the priority areas for New Zealand's aid and development effort in Vanuatu.

British Prime Minister David Cameron British Prime Minister has cancelled a visit to New Zealand ahead of the CHOGM to attend a European Council meeting on Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the growing European debt crisis in the Eurozone.

The visit would have been on Wednesday and Thursday and would have included talks with Key and a visit to Christchurch, where at least 181 people died in earthquake in February.

At this year's biennial CHOGM, which convenes from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30, leaders from the Commonwealth's 54 member nations will discuss issues around the theme "Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience."

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The provincial government of north China's Hebei Province will invest about 15.5 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) during the country's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) to protect the Bohai Sea's marine environment, the provincial oceanic bureau said on Tuesday.

The funds will be used to set up 61 projects that will aim to control pollution, protect the marine ecological environment and improve the capability of marine conservation.

Domestic sewage, industrial effluent and agricultural pollution around the 52 rivers flowing into the Bohai Sea in Hebei are threatening the marine environment.

A marine environment supervision and control system is to be established on the completion of the 61 projects.

MUMBAI, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Indian central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday announced interest rate hike by 25 basis points to tame persistent inflation.

Indian repo rate, at which banks borrow money from RBI, and reverse repo rate at which banks park money at RBI will be increased to 8.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, following the 13th hike of interest rates since March 2010.