More help wanted for frontline workers and 9 news from yesterday

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

1. Medical staff at the frontlines of the Covid-19 outbreak said not all of them are entitled to the special allowance announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

2. Groups representing medical professionals urged the government to create more permanent positions in the future to provide contract staff with a career path, while the Health Ministry recruits private practitioners to fill a gap in human resources.

3. In the latest instalment of Malaysianskini, Rita Santaran tells her story and her fight for better working conditions for hospital cleaners.

4. Senator Liew Chin Tong urged the government to consider emulating Australia in compelling Google and Facebook to pay media outlets for news content.

5. The Social Welfare Department has agreed to distribute food parcels according to a list provided by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai and to meet with Batu MP P Prabakaran over complaints that residents in Taman Sri Murni have been cut off from food for days.

6. Residents at Taman Sri Murni Phase 2 living under an enhanced movement control order said they lacked food and information, and could not leave their apartments even to throw rubbish. Kuala Lumpur Mayor Nor Hisham Dahlan has promised that help is coming.

7. Newly re-appointed Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar said his focus would be to strengthen Muafakan Nasional and ensure Umno would recapture Selangor.

8. DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang wants Parliament to be declared an essential service and convene a virtual session for 10 days. MPs will be seated at least a metre apart when the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes on May 18.

9. De facto Religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said Muslims are obligated to observe Hari Raya Aidilfitri, but should practice social distancing and put off festivities in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

10. Despite a drop in pollution while the world is under lockdown due the Covid-19 pandemic, experts warned this would not help solve climate change nor the haze problem in Southeast Asia.