Countries
Joe Biden hosted ASEAN leaders in Washington last week for a special summit to commemorate 45 years of US-ASEAN ties. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in August 1967 and consisting of 10 nations, is an important political and economic union in the region as it covers a population of 660 million with a […]
... written on May 18 2022Crude oil hit more than US$130 a barrel after Russia launched its so-called special military operation in Ukraine. But crude oil was not the only commodity which skyrockets after the invasion. Sunflower oil, the world’s third most traded vegetable oil after palm and soybean oil, also hit the roof. Worse, Ukraine and Russia accounts for […]
... written on May 14 2022As expected, Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) has finally raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points today (May 11). With the increase, the first since the rate reached a record low of 1.75% in July 2020, the effective OPR (overnight policy rate) is now 2.00%. However, at the same time, the […]
... written on May 11 2022Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking during a news conference on May 4 to raise interest rate by 50 basis points, has signalled that the Fed could continue to approve increases of half a percentage point. Investors, however, spooked by earlier speculations that the rate could be up to 75 basis points, did not pay […]
... written on May 10 2022Mahathir Mohamad can’t retire peacefully and chances are the 96-year-old man will leave the world a very frustrated man, despite having been blessed with a very long life. It’s already bad that his son, Mukhriz Mahathir, may not become a prime minister. It becomes worse when more and more crooks linked to 1MDB scandal that […]
... written on May 08 2022China has a huge problem – US$3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserve – the world’s largest reserves. In comparison, Japan, the country with the second largest foreign reserves, has only US$1.4 trillion (as of Feb 2022). China’s foreign assets included more than US$1 trillion in U.S. bonds and huge amounts of real estate, especially hotels and […]
... written on May 06 2022Less than a month after a U.S. jury convicted former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng of corruption charges related to his role in helping plunder billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB development fund, a French judge has charged the defence group Thales with complicity in bribery over a 2002 sale of submarines to Malaysia. What […]
... written on May 04 2022Scott Morrison has again attacked China on Saturday (April 30), accusing the Chinese government of interfering in foreign politics. Like the sore loser Hillary Clinton, who had accused Russia of interfering with the 2016 U.S. election, resulting in the stunning victory of Donald Trump, the Morrison administration too is accusing Beijing of trying to influence […]
... written on May 02 2022Vladimir Putin has finally made good on his threat to punish “unfriendly countries” that stubbornly and defiantly refused to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. The first casualties – Poland and Bulgaria – saw their gas supplies cut on Wednesday (April 27), coincides with a sharp rise in tensions between Western powers and Russia as the war in Ukraine enters its […]
... written on Apr 27 2022When Muhyiddin Yassin betrayed the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan and took over as Malaysia’s first backdoor prime minister on Mar 1, 2020, the local currency – Ringgit – plunged from 4.17 to 4.44 within days. It was as bad as during Najib Razak government, during which Ringgit hit a low of 4.50 as the country […]
... written on Apr 26 2022
