Still no decision on Harapan Plus PM candidate and 8 news from yesterday

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

1. Pakatan Harapan and its allies have yet to reach a consensus on their pick of the person to be the next prime minister in the event of a successful coup against the Perikatan Nasional government, despite reports on the contrary.

2. Attorney-General Idrus Harun has filed an application in the Federal Court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Malaysiakini and its editor-in-chief Steven Gan over readers’ comments on the judiciary.

3. The Prime Minister’s Office denied a claim in Sarawak Report that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is extremely ill and is unfit to lead the country. However, the whistleblower site questioned the authenticity of the doctors’ letters certifying that Muhyiddin was in good health.

4. The National Security Council released social distancing guidelines for cinemas, live events, and conferences, but the live events sector has been stifled by lack of government funding and policy hurdles long before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

5. Former government chief secretary Ali Hamsa testified that then auditor-general Ambrin Buang was not pressured nor intimidated into altering the National Audit Department's report on 1MDB.

6. Former Felda chairperson Mohd Isa Abdul Samad has been called to enter his defence on nine charges of corruption amounting to more than RM3 million, but he was acquitted of one charge of criminal breach of trust.

7. Former World Health Organisation regional advisor for maternal and reproductive health Dr Narimah Awin has been replaced as chairperson of the National Population and Family Development Board by Umno’s Parit MP Mohd Nizar Zakaria.

8. Ambank Research forecasts that Malaysia’s unemployment rate could hit six percent or more this year, while other experts also predicted a bleak year ahead for workers.

9. A large clinical trial led by the UK has found the low-cost steroid dexamethasone to be effective in reducing the death rate among patients with severe cases of Covid-19.