Among the headlines for Friday, 28th August, Major Mazlina Mazlan, the main prosecution witness to Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi admitted to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today, of negligence in handling Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques when making payments for credit cards belonging to the former deputy prime minister.

 

Also, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to resign due to health reasons, ending his run as the country’s longest serving premier.

 

Listen to the top stories of the day, reporting from Astro AWANI newsroom — all in 3 minutes.

 

We bring you the headlines, weekdays at 5 pm.

 

Stay informed on astroawani.com for these news and more.

This morning it was reported that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was set to announce Perikatan Nasional as an official entity on Merdeka Day. Now we understand that MIC has withdrawn its application to join Perikatan Nasional -- pending a decision from the party’s central working committee. Initially, MIC had agreed to join Perikatan because they were under the impression that Barisan Nasional would also be joining the pact. The questions have been raised as to the future of the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan bring you the most important conversations of the day.

The debate on the new Independent Police Conduct Commission bill, or the IPCC, has been postponed to the next Dewan Rakyat session. The new IPCC bill replaces the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission bill -- that’s the old IPCMC bill that was tabled by the Pakatan Harapan government last year. Despite the debate being postponed, the new IPCC bill has already attracted criticism from various quarters, that claim this new version has been significantly watered-down compared to the previous iteration. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Ding Jo-Ann, Advisor, Centre for Independent Journalism who participated in stakeholder meetings for the IPCMC consultative process.

The Perikatan Nasional government had already said back in March that it had planned to recall the IPCMC Bill, so we knew it’s withdrawal was coming, and its replacement is the IPCC Bill. Bi-partisan consultations did take place during the Pakatan Harapan Administration but did any of the compromises make it into the Bill tabled yesterday. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Maria Chin Abdullah, PKR MP for Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Niaga AWANI membawakan berita perniagaan dan ekonomi dalam dan luar negara serta perbincangan bersama Editor Projek Khas Astro AWANI tentang perkembangan semasa.

AWANI Pagi membawakan kemaskini terkini mengenai berita dalam dan luar negara yang dilaporkan di www.astroawani.com bersama Hakim Rahman dan Geegee Ahmad.

Isu berkaitan 101 projek yang dianugerahkan menerusi rundingan terus semasa pentadbiran Pakatan Harapan (PH) tidak perlu dipolitikkan.

Itu tegas Menteri Kewangan Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

Beliau selaku individu bertanggungjawab terhadap isu perbendaharaan negara hanya menjawab soalan yang dikemukakan di Dewan Rakyat.