KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. As Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin scrambled to save his Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration from collapsing, Umno basked in its power over the ruling coalition with a senior leader even boasting how they can determine the fate of the government.
2. Among the concessions that Umno is speculated to be seeking in exchange for remaining in the government is more cabinet positions, sparking gleeful imagination of what could be - including Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the deputy prime minister, which was promptly denied by his party division.
3. Umno supreme council leader Tajuddin Abdul Rahman even suggested that it would be "reasonable" for Zahid to find ways to save himself from his ongoing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering charges.
4. The cabinet reshuffle, for now, remains speculation but it has not sat well with Bersatu leaders. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof asked his boss Muhyiddin, who is also the Bersatu president, to stand his ground.
5. The horse-trading between Umno and Bersatu puts PKR president Anwar Ibrahim's ambition to replace Muhyiddin as the prime minister in doubt as he is relying on the support of a substantial number of Umno MPs. Amid the uncertainty, some in PKR Youth are turning to Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) for support.
6. From Putrajaya to Kuching, the political chatter continues to grow with Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg indicating that the state election may be on the horizon, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
7. GPS, the state ruling coalition in Sarawak, may use the pandemic to its advantage by significantly limiting the number of campaigners from Peninsular Malaysia that can enter the state, something that the state opposition is reliant on during an election.
8. However, the aftermath of the Sabah election on Sept 26, which even saw the state's newly-minted chief minister Hajiji Mohd Noor infected with Covid-19 and has only just recovered, will be food for thought for the political leadership in Kuching.
9. In Sabah, the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 are being made to wait for days before they can be admitted to a hospital as bed capacity is overwhelmed. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah gave his assurance that the matter was being addressed.
10. Noor Hisham also warned that Covid-19 cases would continue to grow and called for a tougher conditional movement control order (MCO) to help bring the pandemic under control.
11. This is despite the daily Covid-19 cases already at record-setting levels - with 871 new cases yesterday - a second consecutive day of record-high infections.
