Budget passes second reading and other news you may have missed

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

1. The 2021 Budget proposal has passed its policy-stage debates by a voice vote with some last-minute changes, despite an attempt by some MPs to have each vote formally tallied and recorded.

2. After failing to initiate bloc voting on the budget proposal, Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamented that a ‘corrupt government is now backed by a remorseless opposition’. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, vowed to fight certain portions of the budget proposal as each item comes up for committee-stage debates.

3. Enforcement raids against a certain glove manufacturer’s hostels in Ipoh have revealed overcrowded and unsanitary conditions that are in violation of the Workers' Minimum Standard of Housing and Amenities Act 1990, while the Malaysian Employers Federation appealed for more time to comply with the law.

4. Muafakat Nasional partners Umno and PAS have agreed to contest in the next general election using their respective party logos, while also formally registering the pact to avoid clashing against one another.

5. The Perikatan Nasional-led government in Johor will triple the allocation for opposition assemblypersons to RM150,000 next year, while the opposition leader will get an administrative assistant.

6. The latest draft amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 – colloquially known as the ‘Hudud bill’ - will be presented for state-level discussions by early next year before it is tabled in Parliament.

7. Selangor exco member Hee Loy Sian said prompt action by the authorities on Wednesday prevented chemical waste pollution from, yet again, disrupting the state’s water supply.

8. The prisoner who murdered the convicted British paedophile Richard Huckle - who had sexually abused up to 200 infants and children in Malaysia - has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

9. Judges hearing the case against four defendants in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine rejected a defence request for more time to investigate alternative explanations for the crash.

10. The global tally of confirmed Covid-19 cases has reached 60 million, while autopsies hinted that the disease could damage male fertility. Malaysia, meanwhile, recorded 931 new cases and 2,555 recoveries that relieve some strain on hospitals.