A special court here has ordered Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negri Sembilan Tuanku Ja’afar Tuanku Abdul Rahman to pay nearly US$1mil (RM3.5mil) to Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd to honour his commitment in a letter of credit over a business deal. This is a landmark verdict that ended a centuries-old tradition shielding the country’s royal sultans [...]

A beached whale has died in eastern Malaysia after swallowing a plastic bag, a rope and a bottle cap, a marine researcher said Wednesday. The 10-meter-long (33 feet) Bryde’s whale got stranded at the Kuala Nenasi estuary in eastern Pahang state Monday and died a day later despite villagers’ efforts to safe it, said Mohamad [...]

Sessions court judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah has lifted the media gag on the contents of nine “exhibits” referred to by the defence team in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim‘s Sodomy II hearing. Yesterday, Judge Komathy had allowed the prosecution’s application to issue a gag order to restrain the media from reporting about Abdul Gani Patail’s alleged [...]

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi will not defend the Umno presidency. He told leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties here today that he will quit as party president by March next year. This will pave the way for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is favoured to win the party presidency, to take [...]

The Sessions Court here on Tuesday ruled that it had the discretion to hear submissions on the defence objection questioning the validity of the certificate produced by the prosecution to transfer Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case to the High Court. Judge S.M.Komathy Suppiah rejected the preliminary objection by the prosecution which contended that it [...]