DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia marks World Blood Donor Day” plus 4 more

PHNOM PENH, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Thursday observed the World Blood Donor Day, urging for more blood donations, while a latest report shows that 4 out of 1,000 people donate their blood.

The celebration under the theme "every blood donor is hero" was presided over by Cambodian Minister of Health Mam Bunheng and attended by some 500 health officials, foreign embassy officials to Cambodia, non-governmental organization representatives, and students.

Speaking at the event, Mam Bunheng said that the theme was to express profound thanks to blood donors and to encourage more people to donate their blood for life saving.

"Blood transfusion will not harm your health; instead, your blood will save lives of the patients," he told the gathering.

Hok Kim Cheng, director of National Blood Transfusion Center, said that last year, the center has received voluntary donations of 46,690 units of blood, up 14 percent from 40,245 units in a year earlier.

"We observe that more Cambodian have voluntarily donated their blood last year--4 out of 1,000 people donated their blood in 2011, up from 3 out of 1,000 people in 2010," he said.

All blood had been tested for four types of diseases: HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and malaria, he said, adding that blood contains one of these diseases will be destroyed.

KATHMANDU, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists is organizing a nationwide environmental and sustainable development film festival next week, the organizers said Thursday.

Documentary films from Nepal, India, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and the Philippines focusing on environment, sustainable development and education will be screened during the festival to be started on June 18.

"There are many issues which have not caught the eye of the mainstream media. At this point, we need to raise awareness among the masses on environmental and developmental issues," said Rajesh Ghimire, general secretary of the forum.

The organizers said that festival would be organized every year from now on and their goal was to take the festival to other parts of South Asia in future.

YANGON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will extend issuing temporary passports to registered migrant workers in Thailand by the end of this year, according to a local media Thursday.

Myanmar has so far issued such provisional passports to about 700,000 out of 2 million Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand since 2009 and the remaining 500,000 are undocumented, said the 7- Day News.

The issuance of more passports will enable Myanmar migrant workers to work and travel legally in Thailand, it said.

As migrant workers holding temporary passports can get a daily minimum wage of 300 bahts (9.5 U.S.dollars), negotiation is still underway to raise the minimum basic pay of Myanmar immigrants from the present 250 bahts to 300 bahts.

According to official statistics, the number of Myanmar workers, legally employed to work in 15 foreign countries, reached 330,311 as of 2010 since 1990 and such overseas workers had fetched for the country over 17 million U.S dollars.

Myanmar citizens seeking overseas jobs are mostly destined to such countries as Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Libya, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Switzerland, Brunei Darussalam, United Arab Emirates, America, France, Germany, Qatar and Kuwait.

As part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, Myanmar 's Ministry of Labor has sought overseas job opportunities for Myanmar workers since 1990.

JAKARTA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian senior Navy officer said on Wednesday that delegations from 14 countries are taking part in the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) currently-held here, which focuses on environment-related issues, local media reported.

"The delegations were joining a meeting of the Environmental Working Group," deputy naval chief of staff Vice Admiral Marsetio said on the sidelines of the symposium opening session here.

The 14 participating countries include Indonesia, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States.

The symposium focuses on environment-related issues, following up on the outcome of the previous symposium held in Tahiti in 2011, Marsetio said.

He added environmental issues were important because they had " implications for the existence of life on earth."

"The environment-related issues include global warming and marine pollution. Therefore, a number of delegations will plant trees near Ecopark at the Jaya Ancol Dream Land in Jakarta. We want all countries in the Pacific region to care about the environment," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

Established in 1987, WPNS is a cooperation forum of the navies of Western Pacific countries. It aims to discuss maritime affairs in the region and the possibility of cooperation among WPNS members.

The forum has 24 members, with 20 member states and four observers. The 20 WPNS member states are Indonesia, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, Tonga, France, Canada, and Chile, while the four observer countries are India, Bangladesh, Peru, and Mexico.

WPNS is also a consultative forum for the navies of the Western Pacific countries to discuss issues related to maritime security.

The group is also expected to make the Pacific Ocean free from terrorism, smuggling, and piracy and to enhance cooperation among member states in natural disaster mitigation missions.