It will be more greenery for Lalbagh Botanical Gardens as the horticulture department has embarked upon a special tree exchange programme, to add to the parks existing diversity on the lines of animal exchange plans undertaken by zoos of the country. Though the City's lung space is shrinking, the silver lining is that under this programme, the park will get over 3,000 trees from every nook and corner of the world. "We already have about 7,500 trees of 1,854 species. Now another 850 species will arrive,' Dr M Jagadish, Deputy Director, Lalbagh Botanical Gardens told Deccan Herald.

Malaysia will spend $1.3bn to achieve food security and turn the Borneo state of Sarawak into a "rice bowl' for the nation, in response to surging agricultural prices and fears of shortages. The plan to stockpile food and increase domestic production of rice, fruits and vegetables would bring Malaysia closer to self-sufficiency, Abdullah Badawi, prime minister, said at the weekend.

Malaysia announced a $1.3 billion-plan on Saturday to boost food security by building stockpiles, raising rice output and reining in inflation. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government would ensure the country was self-sufficient in rice, a staple food for its 27 million people. A third of Malaysia's rice needs of over two million tonnes a year is now met by imports. Across the globe foods from bread to milk have become more expensive and in some countries helped fuel inflation and shortages.

Malaysia has dropped a controversial plan to capture and export monkeys from urban areas after it found that a majority of them were infected with deadly diseases and are unfit for export. The

Fed up with what they see as biased and distorted reporting, a group of Malaysians has launched a campaign urging the public to boycott newspapers ahead of a general elections slated for March 2008.

Chicago wheat prices rose by the most in more than five years, breaching $12 a bushel for the first time as investors poured money into agricultural commodities on signs that global crop production isn't keeping pace with demand. Global wheat stockpiles will probably fall to a 30-year low this year, while corn inventories are headed for the lowest since 1984, the US department of agriculture said on February 8. Almost $1.5 billion flowed into farm commodities in the week to February 19, investment bank UBS AG said in an e-mailed report on Monday. Wheat, soybeans, corn and palm oil are among commodities that touched records this month, stoking prices of bread, pasta and noodles worldwide. The gains have driven up costs for food Companies from Kellogg Co to Nissin Food Products Co and complicated efforts to curb prices in China, India and Malaysia. "Speculators keep jumping into the market as supplies are very tight globally, especially spring wheat,' Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst with Tokyo-based commodity broker Okachi & Co. Dry conditions in some wheat-producing areas in northern China and also lent support, he said. Wheat for May delivery rose by the daily limit of 90 cents, or 8%, to $12.145 a bushel in after-hours trading on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest one-day percentage gain since October 2002. Record prices, led by scarce high-protein varieties, have not deterred buyers. Export sales from the US, the world's largest shipper of the grain, are up 56% since June 1 compared with the same period a year earlier. Global wheat stockpiles may fall to 109.7 million metric tonne by May 31, while corn inventories may decline to 101.9 million tonne as of October 1, the US government estimated on February 8. US inventories of wheat will drop to 7.4 million tonne, the lowest for the end of the marketing year since 1948, according to the USDA. Hard-red spring varieties, traded in Minneapolis, are in short supply as dry weather curbed output last year in the US and Canada. On the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, wheat for May delivery advanced $1.35, or 7.9%, to $18.4325 a bushel. The March contract, which has no limit because it is the closest to delivery, rose as high as $24.26 a bushel, after Monday becoming the first US wheat contract to top $20 a bushel. On the Kansas City Board of Trade, hard-red winter wheat for May delivery also rose as much as the 90-cent limit, or 7.7%, to $12.65 a bushel. Q4 earnings at Kellogg Co, fell 3.3% as price increases failed to keep pace with the higher expense of making Eggos, Frosted Mini-Wheat cereal and cookies.

SEZs the world over have proved to be a boon, notes a KPMG India study: SEZs - a window of business opportunities

Malaysia will tighten its environmental rules for coastal development projects, after a study showed a significant drop in bird numbers in the country following reclamation. Reclamation of wetlands

Malaysia has lifted a ban on the export of long-tailed macaques in a bid to thin its monkey population, which has become a menace in its cities. "The cabinet has decided to lift the ban which