Workers bussed out of EMCO zone and other news you may have missed

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

1. Police are tracking more than 400 residents who have been bussed out of the Medan 88 enhanced movement control order area, just before the order came into effect yesterday. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said they may have been mostly undocumented migrants.

2. Noor Hisham said the need for an enhanced MCO in Negeri Sembilan has yet to arise despite the high number of Covid-19 cases there, as the clusters have already been identified and contained.

3. Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing continued to receive brickbats for his remarks on Noor Hisham, while the Dewan Rakyat’s Hansard revealed that he had gone beyond questioning the director-general’s handling of the Covid-19 situation.

4. The University of Malaya Association of New Youth has apologised and retracted its article regarding the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s role in national affairs, while its former president Wong Yan Ke will face charges today for filming a police raid.

5. Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik said he will decide his stance on the Budget 2021 proposal based on the government’s education policy, while Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad is reserving judgment on the matter. BN has maintained its support for the budget.

6. Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has questioned the Health Ministry’s priorities, contrasting the LightUpBlue@Putrajaya event with Sabah frontliners who resorted to using their personal vehicles as ambulances.

7. Employment data reveals that job creation has picked up again in the third quarter of the year, after a drop in the previous quarter, but the overall number of positions is still 181,400 fewer than the same period last year, particularly for skilled and semi-skilled positions.

8. The Public Accounts Committee was told that former transport minister Liow Tiong Lai was unaware that fellow party member Wee Jeck Seng owned a 25 percent stake in a firm that won a lucrative contract from his ministry in 2015.

9. The Human Rights Commission has urged the government to consider releasing those remanded for petty and non-violent crimes and drug addiction in order to reduce the risk of further Covid-19 outbreaks in overcrowded prisons.

10. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Mohd Harun said childcare centres may operate under the conditional movement control order after obtaining permission from the respective state social welfare departments.