Kuala Lumpur - Leaders of developing Muslim nations agreed Friday to set up a regional seed bank as part of initiatives aimed at boosting agricultural production and averting a possible food crisis.

The agreement came as agriculture ministers and business officials from the Group of Eight developing Islamic countries, or D8, ended a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Some of the main endeavours under their Kuala Lumpur Initiative were establishing a D8 Umbrella Seed Bank and enhancing joint-venture projects to build more fertilizer plants in member countries.

Kuala Lumpur - Leaders of developing Muslim nations agreed Friday to set up a regional seed bank as part of initiatives aimed at boosting agricultural production and averting a possible food crisis.

The agreement came as agriculture ministers and business officials from the Group of Eight developing Islamic countries, or D8, ended a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Some of the main endeavours under their Kuala Lumpur Initiative were establishing a D8 Umbrella Seed Bank and enhancing joint-venture projects to build more fertilizer plants in member countries.

Kuala Lumpur - A total of 22,887 workers, including more than 6,600 foreigners, have been said off in Malaysia in almost five months due to the global economic crisis, a news report citing government figures said Friday.

The retrenched workers came from a total of 654 employers, mainly from the manufacturing sector, and were laid of in the period from October until February 25, the Labour
Department said.

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 27: The word Allah can be used by the Catholic Herald magazine in Malaysia provided the publication clearly states the word is "For Christians only" in its masthead.

Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said this was stated in the recently gazetted Internal Security Act signed by the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar on February 16.

"The next edition of the Herald will contain the word Allah, and we will print the words "For Christians only" on the masthead so as not to contravene the Act," The Star quoted him, as saying.

It is learnt the Act also forbids the use of the words Kaabah, solat and baitullah.

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 26 : Internet love comes with huge price tag, ask any Malaysian man who seeks his dream lover on the net.

According to a report, women in Malaysia are laying traps for men hunting for love on the Internet.

After tempting them from chat rooms to hotel rooms, the women's boyfriends or husbands will appear and accuse the victims of having affairs with their partners, before extorting money from them.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said that three men asked for his help last year after being cheated in such a way.

Kuala Lumpur  - Leaders from the Group of Eight developing Islamic countries, or D8, on Thursday gathered to discuss solutions to avert a possible shortage of food caused by the current global economic crisis.

Agriculture ministers and business officials kicked off the two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss food cooperation agreements between member countries and tackle potential problems in supply and prices.