KINI ROUNDUP | Here are the key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.
Sabah Umno hit by an exodus
More than a dozen Sabah Umno MPs and state assemblypersons, including former allies of ex-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak - Salleh Said Keruak and Pandikar Amin Mulia - quit the party and pledged full support for the government of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Former Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein denied being involved in the defections of Sabah party leaders, as claimed by certain quarters.
Umno supreme council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the lack of direction in Umno, after the party's defeat in the May 9 general election, is among the causes for the exodus.
Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Sabah Umno liaison committee, replacing Hajiji Mohd Noor who exited the party with more than a dozen others.
Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said Ronald Kiandee's position as chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would be reviewed, following the his exit from Umno, as according to the convention, the position must be held by an opposition parliamentarian.
Najib, Arul Kanda charged
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy were charged in separate courtrooms in the Kuala Lumpur court complex, in relation to the alleged tampering of the 1MDB audit report.
The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court rejected a request by Najib to pay, in instalments, the bail sum of RM500,000 that he was ordered to put up.
Najib's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked if the prosecution was making a U-turn by amending the charge against Najib from tampering with the 1MDB audit report, to merely asking for certain things to be amended while the report was still in the drafting stage.
According to Google's Year in Search 2018 report, Najib topped the most searched name on Google Malaysia this year. Also on the list was his wife Rosmah Mansor.
Meanwhile, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who was a minister under Najib's administration, was charged again at a Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, this time for accepting RM2 million from a businessperson.
Other Kinibites
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said it is unfair to blame him for allegedly causing a split among Muslims, through his "Amanat Hadi" sermon delivered 37 years ago.
Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar said the status of Pulau Kukup as a national park would be preserved despite it being declared as sultanate land.
MIC president S Vigneswaran said the party will not appeal against the Election Court's ruling to vacate the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat, thus paving the way for a fresh election.
Damansara MP Tony Pua was defeated in the Selangor DAP polls because he lost touch with the grassroots, party veteran Lim Kit Siang said.
Corporations have been reaping millions of ringgit by operating plantations and farms illegally for decades on land belonging to the Perak state government and its government-linked companies (GLC), Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu claimed.
Looking ahead
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will launch a book on Tian Chua.
There will be a case management on superyacht Equanimity.
