Shifting battlelines ahead of GE15 and other news you may have missed

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

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1. Umno sees no hurry in pressuring PAS to take sides in its split with Bersatu, while its advisor Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said even a pact with Pakatan Harapan in the 15th general election may be possible. However, Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the party should focus on working with people on the ground instead of wasting time on political polemics.

2. PKR insiders say the party may field its Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar to challenge the defected former vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin in Ampang, but no decision is reached yet.

3. When Covid-19 cases began appearing in Malaysia, healthcare workers at the country’s main Covid-19 hospital faced fear and depression as they steeled themselves against what was a poorly understood disease.

4. Facing 47 criminal charges, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi struck back against the ‘court cluster’ label used by opponents in his party by coming up with labels of his own.

5. The High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that the 1986 ban on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims is invalid, though the 2015 Federal Court decision against the Roman Catholic Church on the use of the word still stands.

6. The Perak DAP election this Sunday will see a rematch between incumbent leader Nga Kor Ming's team and a group led by DAP vice-chairperson M Kulasegaran.

7. Tamrin Abdul Ghafar, son of the late deputy prime minister Abdul Ghafar Baba, faces up to a year in prison over a blog post criticising Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

8. Activists held a candlelight vigil in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to protest against the military coup in the country, but police quickly dispersed the group.

9. Jaya Rani’s five school-going children have been sharing their mother’s smartphone to attend online classes since March last year, as it is the only electronic device in the family.

10. Pakatan Harapan has appointed Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik to chair its Covid-19 Education Committee, indicating a possible alignment. Meanwhile, another committee led by Maszlee is urging the government to resume the free breakfast programme for all school children.