Perak MB voted out of office, and other news you may have missed

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

1. Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu has been voted out of office after losing a vote of confidence, becoming the fourth chief executive in the country to meet this outcome. While promising a peaceful transition of power, he said he misses Pakatan Harapan. 

Azumu, who is from Bersatu, headed a Harapan-led Perak government after the 2018 general election but switch allies after the Sheraton Move in February and headed a Perikatan Nasional state government instead.

2. Perak Umno leader Nazri Abdul Aziz said the final straw that turned the party against Faizal occurred two months ago, but Faizal said he did not anticipate his ouster.

3. Faizal has spoken of reconciliation after an audience with Perak ruler Sultan Nazrin Shah, but the situation remains fluid with multiple outcomes still on the cards.

4. Jaya Grocer has shut its non-halal section of its newly opened Puncak Alam outlet following protests by the local assemblyperson Mohd Shaid Rosli.

5. Twenty-three opposition and independent parliamentarians have signed a joint witness statement asserting that deputy plantation industries and commodities minister Willie Mongin had flashed his middle finger twice in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.

6. Police sources told Malaysiakini that more that 40 migrant workers have killed themselves since the movement control order was implemented.

7. Former deputy minister of women, family, and community development Hannah Yeoh countered Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said’s assertions, saying that children cannot be a threat to national security and government policy discriminates against children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers.

8. A ventilator at Hospital Queen Elizabeth II in Kota Kinabalu has caught fire while hooked up to a patient. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the incident involved a new machine produced this year and investigations are underway.

9. The Malaysian government has expressed disappointment after Fitch Ratings downgraded Malaysia’s sovereign rating from A- to BBB+. It will make borrowing more expensive for the government as this will lead to higher interest rates.

10. US President-elect Joe Biden, and former US presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama pledged to take Covid-19 vaccines publicly to demonstrate its safety.