Kuala Lumpur - A total of 30,650 foreign and local workers have been retrenched in Malaysia this year because of the global economic crisis, the official Bernama news agency reported Thursday.

A total of 23,149 workers were laid off under retrenchment schemes between January 1 and Monday while the rest quit, said Maznah Mazlan, deputy minister of human resources.

Maznah said about 2,900 of the local workers have since been re-employed in the private and public sectors.

Kuala Lumpur, Apr. 15 : Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak gave a pleasant surprise to country's Sikh community by participating in the Vasakhi Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Besides visiting the Sahib Tatt Khalsa Diwan Gurdwara for the first time, he also tried his hand at making chapattis, leaving other cooks delighted.

Kuala Lumpur - The Dutch firm, Detroit Electric, is planning to mass-produce the first of 40,000 electric cars in Malaysia next year, the company has announced. "We are planning to build a practical, affordable electric car", says Detroit Electric CEO Albert Lam who has teamed up with the Malaysian manufacturer Proton.

The company plans to produce around 210,000 vehicles by 2012 with 270,000 planned for 2013 for export mainly to the European, Chinese and US markets.

Kuala Lumpur - Three Malaysian police officers have been detained for allegedly attempting to use their authority to enter and rob a house, a news report said Tuesday. Police responding to a call from neighbours late Sunday caught the three suspects in the alleged victims' home, Kuala Lumpur criminal investigations chief Ku Chin Wah said.

The police officers, aged between 28 and 32, are part of a special police unit, Ku was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily.

Alor Gajah (Malaysia), Apr 14 : Malaysian Indian Congress secretary-general Dr S. Subramaniam has said that his party will discuss its grouses over Cabinet post allocations with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak through proper channels.

Although he said that he would not respond to reports of the party intending to withdraw its only minister as a form of protest, Dr Subramaniam added that the party is indeed disappointed with the government on several issues.

Kuala Lumpur, Apr. 13 : Mahatma Gandhi, US President Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden have shared space on a painting by Malaysia's contemporary artist Ahmad Fuad Osman.

The acrylic piece entitled "To Whom It May Concern" features the spectral faces of the stark philosophical opposites, with others such as Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Benito Mussolini, Martin Luther King and Joseph Stalin, surrounded by a crowd who are video recording them.