KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will leave it to enforcement authorities to decide on Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali’s quarantine breach.
2. Parallel’s have been drawn between Khairuddin’s breach and those of other ministers abroad who have been forced to resign, but in the latter case, the resignations only came when prompted by the head of government.
3. Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz claimed that 101 projects worth a total of RM6.61 billion had been approved through direct negotiations under the former Pakatan Harapan administration, which was allowed under certain conditions.
4. A study jointly commissioned by two United Nations agencies found that the urban poor living in Peoples Housing Project schemes had increased consumption of eggs and rice during the movement control order period, which indicates poor nutrition made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
5. The latest release of the Auditor-General’s Report has again found a litany of problems, including the overpayment of GST refunds and failure to collect alcohol import duties, failure to impose penalties for late deliveries, and accepting counterfeit products when ordering genuine ones.
6. The audit report also found two ministries have taken up to ten years to report missing funds and assets.
7. The Pahang government said its legalisation scheme for durian plantations in Raub was done fairly, despite claims that the government had encouraged “illegal” farmers and then short-changed them.
8. A man has been released early from quarantine to see his critically ill wife. The Health Ministry had contacted him within three hours after he made a public appeal for help.
9. Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has confirmed that he will be setting up a youth-based party and won’t be joining former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang.
10. Caretaker Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal said Wisma Putra should give the Philippine ambassador in Kuala Lumpur a stern warning after a standing committee at the country’s House of Representatives proposed printing a map on its passports that would include Sabah.
