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

Perkasa intervenes in Zakir Naik case

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed Malay rights group Perkasa to intervene in a lawsuit by a group of activists against the government on the status of preacher Zakir Naik in Malaysia. Zakir, an Indian citizen, has been granted permanent residency and is an honorary member of Perkasa.

Perkasa also sent a counter-letter to the United Nations to vouch for Zakir, who is wanted by Indian authorities over money laundering charges, and rebutted claims made by Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia in its earlier letter to the UN.

PAS-PKR fate in the balance

The PAS syura council will decide on whether to cut ties with PKR within the next two weeks, after the party's highest decision-making body, the muktamar, unanimously agreed to sever relations with its partner in the Selangor government.

Meanwhile, analysts believe PAS' overconfidence in its ability to capture five states without co-operating with other opposition parties may lead to PAS losing seats in GE14.

'M'sia lost up to US$44.3b in illicit outflows in 2014'

An estimated six to 10 percent of Malaysia's total trade in 2014 comprised illicit financial outflows, according to the 2005-2014 report of the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) on illicit financial flows to and from developing countries.

This translates to between US$26.6 billion and US$44.3 billion, based on the country's total trade of US$443.2 billion in 2014.

However, the International Monetary Fund said the Malaysian economy has performed well over the past few years and remained resilient despite the challenging global economic environment.

Other Kinibites

Questions abound over top scorer Teh Xin Yi’s failure to win one of the 200 Public Services Department scholarships on offer for engineering undergraduate study in Germany, France, South Korea or Japan, despite scoring 11A+ in SPM 2016.

Wanita MIC demanded the organisers of the National Scholastic Chess Championship 2017 to reveal the dress code, which was allegedly breached when a 12-year-old chess player wore a knee-length dress, and to apologise over the matter.

Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia reportedly said he wants to return to active politics and contest in the next general election, after nine years as speaker of the Lower House.

Police confirmed a drone attack in Syria on Malaysian Islamic State fighter Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, but could not confirm his death.

Looking ahead

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli will hold a press conference on the money trail of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will visit the site of 1MDB project Bandar Malaysia.