KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. The Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah has spread to all other states and territories in Malaysia and is now growing faster in Selangor than Sabah itself. Two new deaths have been recorded.
2. University Teknologi Petronas has told all students outside the campus to stay put after a Covid-19 case was reported at the varsity. PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil and his staff are the latest to go into quarantine after close contact with a Covid-19 patient.
3. Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Bung Moktar Radin has openly apologised for dashing Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s hopes of seeing an Umno chief minister in the state.
4. Financial analyst Fitch Solutions predicted that politics in Malaysia will blunt economic growth in the country for the next decade. The economy has already shrunk by 8.3 percent during the first half of this year.
5. US authorities are blocking palm oil imports from FGV Holdings over allegations of using forced labour in its production process.
6. An oil palm estate that has resorted to dangling wireless modems on flagpoles to get an internet connection will soon get a first-of-its-kind telecommunications tower that provides service from four telecommunications providers.
7. The Selangor government’s plan to degazette the Kuala Langat (North) Forest Reserve was strongly criticised by the Orang Asli community, environmental NGOs, federal agencies and even a private firm at a townhall session.
8. The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has returned investigations papers and instructed the police to take "several more actions" in relation to its investigation of Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali for allegedly breaching his Covid-19 quarantine order.
9. Critics warned that the government could contribute to the growth of the education gap between the rich and poor after it proposed the creation of “elite” kindergartens for children whose parents have a “higher financial capacity”.
10. Studies compiled by Khazanah Research Institute showed that Malaysia has fared poorly when it comes to making publicly-owned data accessible to the public.
