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Malaysia is set to host the Global Muslim Conference On Unity And Economy (GMC 2013), a gathering of global experts, investors, bankers, educationalists, scientists and others, to boost Islamic economy. Organised by The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM), the two-day event will be held in Kuala Lumpur, beginning March 4. DPMM President Datuk Syed Ali Alattas said GMC 2013 would be a platform to discuss related issues on Muslim economy and exposing business opportunity that are available for business matching. "We hope this conference will help to increase Malaysia's trade to other Muslim countries," he told reporters after launch the GMC 2013 here Thursday. According to Syed Ali, 20 per cent of Malaysia's total trade currently is to Muslim countries all over the world, excluding Asean. He also noted that the reconstruction activities in Egypt, Yemen and Iraq would be the strongest sectors to benefit from the event. Themed "Empowering Muslim Eco

U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 2.0 percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2012, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. The decrease reflects increases of 0.1 percent in output and 2.2 percent in hours worked, during the October-December period last year. Unit labor costs, the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity, rose 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Productivity measures the amount of output per hour of work. Increasing productivity can slow job creation because it means companies can get more out of their current staff without hiring more workers.

A man was arrested Thursday for keeping a cache of ammunition for high powered firearms in his home in Esperanza town, police said. Joint forces of the Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato police office raided the house of Oscar Rico in Barangay Malipayon, Poblacion, Sultan Kudarat at 5 a.m. Friday. The raiding team was armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Vizpocious Ramos Jr, acting judge of 3rd Municipal Circuit Trial Court that covers the towns of Bagumbayan, Esperanza and Sen. Ninoy Aquino, all in Sultan Kudarat. Police recovered nine ammunition for cal. 50 machine gun, 2 bullets for Carbine rifle, three empty shells of cal. 50 machinegun, ammunition for M-79 grenade launchyer and a magazine for Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). The raiding team also seized a sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" from Rico's house. Asked by raiding team why he was keeping ammunition, Rico refused to issue statements. Police would not say whether Rico was a

A senior official at Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Thursday that the country's West Sumatra province is now hosting an international conference and exercises for huge tsunami in the future. The two-day international event, officially called Concept development Conference (CDC) and Initial Planning Conference (IPC) for International Table top Exercise (TTX) was officially opened in West Sumatra province's capital of Padang by BNPB Chairman Syamsu Maarif, BNPB Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said here on Thursday. Delegations attending the event came from Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, India, the Philippines, China, Australia and the United States and experts from UN and some other agencies. West Sumatra province has been identified as an area highly prone from earthquake and tsunami with experts have identified the hidden energy of 8.9 magnitude that could erupt in an earthquake anytime and possibly leads to tsunami in Mentawai is

The Syrian army foiled the attempt of armed rebels to wage a wide-scale offensive on the capital Damascus, the pro-government al-Watan daily said Thursday. As the information has been flowing to the Syrian security forces about the rebels' attempt to attack Damascus, the Syrian troops carried out a pre-emptive operation on Tuesday evening, destroying many rebels' hideouts and killing many of them, the paper said, adding that the operation has pushed the rebels in the eastern suburbs of Jobar and Zamalka to unleash attacks against army checkpoints in those areas on Wednesday in a bid to reach the Abbasyen Square in the capital "to which they couldn't even get close."

More than 60 percent of northeast China's Liaodong Bay has become covered in floating ice following a cold snap, the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center said Thursday. The center issued a yellow alert for the sea ice, stating that the ice's outer edge now measures 77 nautical miles in length, an expansion of 20 nautical miles from the previous day. The ice has blanketed more than 19,000 square km of sea area, or more than 64 percent of the bay's total area, the center said. The ice may expand further in the next three days, with its outer edge reaching 85 nautical miles in length, the center said, adding that the thickest section is likely to reach 40 cm. The center warned that the expanding floating ice might interfere with marine traffic and the production of oil and gas.

Eastern and Central Visayas and Mindanao will continue to experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers or thunderstorms due to the tail-end of a cold front, the state weather bureau said Wednesday. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the northeast monsoon continues to affect Luzon as Cagayan Valley and the provinces of Aurora and Quezon will have cloudy skies with occasional light rains while Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be partly cloudy with isolated brief light rains. PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the east to northeast with slight to moderate seas. PAGASA also said strong to gale-force winds associated with the northeast monsoon may affect the seaboards of Northern Luzon and the eastern seaboard of Central and Southern Luzon.