KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. Amid the impasse among Pakatan Harapan and its allies over who should the next prime minister, Amanah strategic communications director Khalid Samad said Harapan hopes to repeat its 2018 feat and broker peace between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim once again.
2. PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution assured the people that Harapan is still intact, despite differences in opinion on whether the former prime minister Mahathir should take the helm for the third time, or PKR president Anwar should be the next prime minister.
3. Police said they are still investigating a gang rape case alleged to have taken place earlier this month, amid accusations of undue influence and bribery circulating on social media.
4. Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson Abdul Aziz Bari urged the Perak government to explain why it had awarded a solid waste management contract without open tender, but Titi Serong assemblyperson Hasnul Zulkarnain Abd Munaim claimed Aziz was part of a 2019 meeting that approved the award.
5. The government will allow all social events, including wedding ceremonies, to resume from July 1 - subject to safety precautions - after being previously prohibited to curb the spread of Covid-19.
6. Reporters will be allowed to cover the Dewan Rakyat’s July sitting, but will have to take a Covid-19 test beforehand and will be confined to the Parliament’s media room.
7. Assistant registrars of marriage are still waiting for the National Registration Department’s greenlight to register newlywed non-Muslim couples despite Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement, two weeks earlier, that they may do so.
8. The Health Ministry detected only six Covid-19 cases yesterday, but also identified three clusters of infection in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Sarawak. It expects cases to drop to zero in mid-July if people comply with the government’s social distancing guidelines.
9. PAS information chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad expressed optimism that the party’s goal of amending the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 to enable the implementation of hudud law will be passed by Parliament one day.
10. Palm oil plantations are resorting to offering perks, such as bonuses, in a bid to retain their pools of migrant workers, who are seeking to return to their home countries amid a labour shortage exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic in the Malaysian palm oil industry.
