KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. The latest instalment of the auditor-general’s report once again lists a litany of problems in government programmes, including glitches in the immigration system, dissatisfaction among buyers of the civil servant housing scheme and that slopes along federal roads haven’t been inspected in seven years.
2. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad floated the idea that he and his supporters would contest under a new party if there is a snap election.
3. Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun ordered Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim to apologise to Batu Kawan MP Kasthuriraani Patto, after initially declining to make a ruling on Azeez’s allegedly offensive “dark” remark.
4. Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin claimed that no one had stood up for her when Mahathir shot down her push for local government elections, prompting DAP deputy secretary-general Teresa Kok to say DAP will back such a move.
5. The PKR defectors led by Gombak MP Azmin Ali are not likely to form a new political party due to a lack of time to prepare for the 15th general election.
6. Warisan president Shafie Apdal explained the reasons he backed Mahathir, instead of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, to be the next prime minister and also said that it was Amanah that proposed him as a candidate for the prime minister’s post.
7. A witness told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur that former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi once expressed willingness to advance US$2.058 million from "a foundation's funds" to help his daughter to do business.
8. Damansara MP Tony Pua urged the government to seize and auction the RM2.96 billion superyacht Topaz – the seventh-largest yacht in the world – over its alleged 1MDB link.
9. The Health Ministry said it highly encourages the wearing of face masks to prevent Covid-19 transmission, but has no plan to resort to punitive measures to compel people to do so.
10. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has named two local companies that will bottle and finish Covid-19 vaccines once it is available to be purchased in bulk, and unveiled a roadmap towards local vaccine development.
