KINI ROUNDUP | Here are the key headlines from yesterday you may have missed in brief.

Dr M blames late Agong for 1988 judicial crisis

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad denied he was responsible for the 1988 judicial crisis, which saw the Lord President Salleh Abbas sacked for alleged misconduct, and said it was actually based on a complaint from the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar Ismail.

However, the Harapan chairperson added, the then attorney-general, Abu Talib Othman, stated his name to the tribunal, instead of the Agong's.

Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was caught between supporting coalition chairperson Mahathir, or heeding the demands of her husband Anwar Ibrahim's oldest supporters Otai Reformasi, who are questioning Mahathir's human rights record.

The same opposing positions were played out at a forum in Kuala Lumpur, where anti-BN groups were strongly divided on whether Mahathir was a force of "change" or "destruction".

PSM's Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj said the opposition's decision to join hands with Mahathir was born out of its failure to court rural Malays, forcing them to rely on Mahathir's popularity among the demographic.

Locals now exempted from tourism tax

In a third revision of the tourism tax, Tourism and Culture Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz announced that Malaysians will be exempted from the tax while foreigners will be charged RM10 per room per day, regardless of the hotel's rating.

The tax will be implemented by the Customs Department on Aug 1.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the multiple revisions on the tourism tax shows how BN rushes into policies without consultation.

Other Kinibites

RON 95 and RON 97 prices went up by six sen per litre to cost RM2.03 per litre and RM2.28 per litre respectively, while diesel price up three sen to RM1.99 per litre.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli was seeking donations to pay for damages and costs totalling RM300,000 related to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) defamation suit after he was threatened with a bankruptcy proceeding.

A mother and son had been spending nights at a McDonald's branch in Petaling Jaya for a year after failing to pay their room rent, after the woman lost her job.

Although PAS aspires to be the kingmaker in the next general election, a panel of political analysts at a forum said the party would only be able to spoil votes for Harapan.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was advised by his doctors to rest for two months after undergoing surgery at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur to replace a leaking heart valve.

A man was arrested for allegedly making online threats to kill and rape lawyer Siti Kassim.

Looking ahead

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur will decide on Parti Pribumi Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir's application to cite PM Najib Abdul Razak for contempt.

Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia will hold a press conference after opposition MPs decried a cover-up after 30 parliamentary questions on 1MDB were rejected by the House.