Reduced tolls on Plus highways from Feb 1, and 9 news from yesterday

KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

1. Toll charges for highways under Plus Malaysia Bhd would be reduced by 18 percent from Feb 1 onwards and would not be raised until 2058, though its concession period would be extended by 20 years. Mahathir said this is the best course of action after evaluating all proposals.

2. Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah defended the state government’s decision to buy Mercedes-Benz cars as official cars, saying that it did not abuse federal funding, and asked critics if they were supposed to use Perodua Viva instead.

3. In his capacity as the newly-minted acting education minister, Mahathir said he would change the black shoe policy for school children.

4. On the last day of the Kimanis by-election campaign period, BN turned to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to help rally support, but Warisan’s Shafie Apdal remained confident that his party would take the seat from Umno.

5. PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will file a civil suit against former party research assistant Muhammad Yusoff Rawther next week for defamation, while Yusoff, who alleged that Anwar had sexually assaulted him, said he is also considering suing the politician.

6. The Finance Ministry has disbursed RM121 million to Islamic religious schools and Chinese schools over a span of three days.

7. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng again reassured that data collected under the e-Tunai Rakyat scheme would not be abused.

8. The recent sacking of seven PKR Youth executive council members was not done according to due process, according to PKR Youth deputy chief Muhammad Hilman Idham.

9. In her latest instalment of Chinese New Year videos, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok takes aim at myths surrounding palm oil.

10. With Chinese New Year just around the corner, how much do you really know about the festival? In collaboration with Mr Mouse, Malaysiakini has designed a fun quiz for you to find out.