Good morning. Hope you had a good long weekend.
Here's what you need to know today.
Key Highlights
Covid-19 resurgence
What's this 'new Malaysia agreement'
Baling EIA twist
Yeo's Harapan tea
Covid-19 resurgence
The daily number of new Covid-19 cases has been trending upwards since last week, sparking fears that there might be a resurgence of the virus.
According to the Health Ministry's CovidNow portal, the number of cases in the past 7 days is higher than the week before.
A resurgence could have a major impact.
About 7 million people have not had their first booster shot according to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Meanwhile, only 6.06 percent of those eligible - including the elderly - have taken their fourth dose of the vaccine.
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What's this 'new Malaysia agreement'
East Malaysian politicians have been up at arms over a proposal for a "new Malaysia agreement".
The proposal was mooted on July 2 by Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, as a means of actualising rights for Sabah and Sarawak.
He said this is because the context of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 may not be in line with current realities, and that the country is "a lot different now".
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Baling EIA twist
The durian farm project at Gunung Inas in Baling, Kedah, is under great scrutiny after villages downhill were hit by a devastating flood last week.
The Environment Department revealed that there's not supposed to be a durian farm up the mountain at all.
Instead, the project approved in 2013 was for a rubber tree plantation.
The DOE has known the wrong trees were planted since last year.
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Yeo's Harapan tea
DAP's Yeo Bee Yin is releasing a book covering her 22-month stint as energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister.
The book, titled ‘Unfinished Business’, gives a behind-the-scenes look at Lynas, lobbying efforts by businesses and also the Sheraton Move.
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What are people saying?
 | By Ranjit Singh Malhi |
 | By Fa Abdul |
 | By Mariam Mokhtar |
What else is going on?
Malaysia's new envoys will get their appointment letters later this afternoon. However, Tajuddin Abdul Rahman is not among them.
There are conflicting claims on whether he has been dropped, or that his appointment as ambassador to Indonesia has just been delayed.A video of a woman's questionable open mic performance at a comedy club last month finally got attention - from the authorities.
Both the woman and her boyfriend have been arrested for allegedly insulting Islam.
DBKL also temporarily shut down the club - Crackhouse Comedy - over the woman's act and was met by protests from professional comedians.Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan was asked to apologise for likening BN's bagage over the 1MDB scandal to a kavadi borne by Hindus during Thaipusam.
Muhyiddin Yassin insists Bersatu has a DPM deal with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
However, it appears that besides the two, the only other people who know about it are Umno's Annuar Musa and PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan.Daim Zainuddin predicts that his long-time friend Dr Mahathir Mohamad's party, Pejuang, will likely be wiped out in GE15.
Cooking oil in polybags subsidised by the government is easy to find after all. It's just across the border in Golok where it has been smuggled.
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