Report claims MPs pressured to sign SD, and 9 news from yesterday

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

1. Sarawak Report has claimed that MPs from Umno, PAS, Bersatu, and PKR (who are aligned to PKR deputy president Azmin Ali) are being pressured to sign statutory declarations backing Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister. PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said he is unaware of this, while Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (above) denied it.

2. Malaysia is listed as among countries that had bought “rigged” encryption equipment from the now-defunct company Crypto, which The Washington Post claimed to be owned by US and German intelligence agencies.

3. The National Visual Arts Development Board (NVADB) is to review the National Art Gallery’s move to remove four pieces of artist Ahmad Fuad Osman’s works from a solo exhibition, following intervention by Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik.

4. The cabinet has agreed in principle to grant Lynas a three-year extension to run its rare earth refinery in Gebeng.

5. Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad noted that there is no consensus among experts that Covid-19 could be spread through the air, with most saying that the disease is spread through respiratory droplets.

6. The annual Chingay parade in Johor Bharu would be severely toned down over concerns that a large public event would lead to an uncontrolled spread of Covid-19.

7. The MACC said former Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) chief executive officer CM Vignaesvaran is not yet in the clear, as he still has cases pending against him.

8. Four people have claimed trial to charges of assaulting Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman during an incident in Johor Bahru last month.

9. Many of the victims of a capsized boat near Bangladesh that left 15 people dead were human trafficking victims being smuggled to Malaysia to become brides, according to reports.

10. The driver of a Perodua Myvi has been remanded to facilitate investigations into an incident on the North-South Expressway where a two-year-old boy was flung from the car window onto the highway’s fast lane.