Annuar holds tell-all press conference and other news you may have missed

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

1. A day after being ousted as BN secretary-general, Annuar Musa accused Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of backing PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and using the party for his own interest, while frustrating attempts to register Muafakat Nasional.

2. The Umno supreme council has decided to bring the matter of the party’s strained relations with Bersatu to a vote on Jan 31 at its general assembly.

3. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has proposed a targeted movement control order as current measures failed to contain the Covid-19 outbreak and healthcare systems are reaching a breaking point.

4. Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said one of the party’s key gripes with Perikatan Nasional (PN) is the ongoing court cases against the party and its leaders, but PKR and Amanah leaders are still open to working with Umno to topple PN.

5. Former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman testified in the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the company was set up to funnel money to Umno-linked companies.

6. The Public Accounts Committee is satisfied with the government’s vaccine procurement plan and will observe non-disclosure agreements imposed by pharmaceutical companies.

7. Following her discharge as a Covid-19 patient, Nur'rul Fatin Najwa Taarin said the stigma she faced was more painful than the disease itself.

8. The Sarawak government plans to publish data on when and where Covid-19 patients in the state have been, in order to urge others at the affected locations to seek testing.

9. Two cabinet members from Umno pleaded against holding a snap election while the Covid-19 pandemic rages on. The cost of running the election alone would double that of pre-pandemic estimates.

10. Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, a key figure in a consortium that won the concession to build the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel and three highways in Penang, has quit his post as CEO of the company.