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

1. Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has defended her statements published in The Straits Times of Singapore, saying that it is nothing new in her describing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as “former dictator” and she is justified in commenting on the pace of reforms.

2. There was ‘lively debate’ in Parliament when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng questioned his predecessor Najib Abdul Razak’s decision to sell a building in Hong Kong. Najib did not answer and instead tried to raise the issue on the Penang Undersea Tunnel project.

3. Amid speculation that Malaysia is shopping for new jets for its air force, Mahathir confirmed that Malaysia is keen, but is not yet ready to make the purchase.

4. PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has reaffirmed that he and his family are backing Mahathir as prime minister, saying that his daughter Nurul Izzah’s interview with The Straits Times does not cast aspersions on Mahathir’s leadership.

5. India and Pakistan are blaming each other for forcing a flight carrying Mahathir to Pakistan last week to divert to a longer flight path.

6. The government has launched a child sex offenders registry that will allow parents to conduct background checks on caretakers and enable employers to screen potential job candidates.

7. Kuala Lumpur Hospital forensic specialist Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi testified that an injury on the late firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim could not have been caused by the back of a parang, and he had received harsh insults online after a woman claiming to be a nurse disputed his earlier testimony.

8. Several lawyers are questioning the government for allowing the controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik to remain in the country amid fresh allegations of misappropriation against him.

9. Ammonia pollution has caused the temporary closure of a water treatment plant at Sungai Benut, near Kluang, cutting the water supply to about 75,000 consumers in the surrounding areas.

10. A Malaysian ear specialist has offered to help restore hearing to a deaf-and-mute Lombok boy who has been hailed as a hero for rescuing a group of Malaysian tourists after an earthquake struck the place