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SHAH ALAM -- The Election Commission (EC) today denied a BN allegation that it had ordered the removal of the party's campaign material in the Sungai Kandis state constituency where a by-election is due on Saturday.   EC deputy chairman Tan Sri Othman Mahmood said the election campaign enforcement team had not removed any campaign material of the party as alleged by the BN candidate, Datuk Lokman Noor Adam.   "In fact, an agent of the (BN) candidate is in the team that was set up by the EC," he said in a statement here.   Lokman had questioned what he alleged was an EC directive to remove the party's campaign posters immediately.   He reportedly alleged that he received the EC directive this morning and that the reason was that the contents of the posters were a cause of 'uneasiness' to some people.   The Sungai Kandis by-election is the first after the 14th general election in May. It is being held following the death from cancer of the assembly...

PUTRAJAYA -- The Safety Investigation Report on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 released today is not the final report, said the head of the Malaysia ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team, Datuk Kok Soo Chon.   Kok said the 449-page Safety Investigation Report was only on the safety investigation and it is separate from search and judicial investigations.   "This is not the final report. It would be too presumptious of us to say that this is a final report since the wreckage has not been found nor victims found, how could we call it a final report.   "The answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found," he told a media briefing on the Safety Investigation Report on MH370 at the Transport Ministry here today.   He added that the report could help prevent air  accidents and incidents in future and that it was not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability.   The Boeing 777-200ER left Kuala Lumpur International A...

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Ampang Magistrate's Court here today revoked the bail orders issued to Sungai Besar UMNO division chief Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos, who is charged  with two offences of trespassing two gambling premises in Taman Kosas here, two years ago.  Magistrates Muhamad Firdaus Sadina Ali and Haslinda A. Raof allowed an application by the prosecution team, comprising deputy public prosecutors Nurhashimah Hashim and Raihanah Abd Razak, to withdraw the bail of RM3,000 each with one surety issued to Jamal.  The petition to withdraw the bail orders were made for fear that Jamal flee again.  Following this, the court revoked the bail orders for both trespassing offences and the case of fleeing (police custody) from the hospital, while the order to deny Jamal bail was retained.  Following the development, Jamal, who was present attired in a suit and songkok with his hands handcuffed behind his back and accompanied by police personnel, will remain i...

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Malay Rulers have assented to the establishment of a high-level panel on the Federal Institutions of Islam aimed at improving these institutions. The Keeper of the Rulers' Seal, Tan Sri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, said in a statement today that the high-level panel would have five members, headed by its chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid and Orang Kaya-Kaya Imam Paduka Tuan (Perak) Datuk Dr Afifi al-Akiti as the deputy chairman.  The other three members are Prof Tan Sri Dr Mohd Kamal Hassan, Datuk Nooh Gadot and Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz.  All five were appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, with the consent of the other Malay Rulers who met at the Pre-Council of the 249th Conference of Rulers on July 10 this year.  Syed Danial said the functions of the panel would be to review the administration of Islamic institutions at the federal level, the basis for setting up these institutions, their jurisdictions, and the ...