China's CIPS Threatens USD

The Cross-Border Interbank Payments System (CIPS) has expanded across a hundred and eighty five countries, allowing international payments in Chinese yuan without using the US Dollar, according to data from the New Development Bank (NDB). 

CIPS was launched by China and managed by its central bank as “a real alternative for global trade settlements”. At the Shanghai Oil and Gas Exchange, liquefied natural gas contracts are now priced for and paid in yuan. Same thing with soybeans from the Shenzhen Qianhai Joint Trading Center. 

China has reportedly signed 40 settlement agreements with other countries, with total settlements through CIPS hitting 52 trillion yuan earlier this year, equal to 58% of China’s total cross-border transactions, a figure that tops the Dollar in some measures. And trade between China and Russia has been settled in local currencies for three straight years, covering 95% of their total trade volume. 

Still, not every country has joined the yuan system. Europe, North America, and Australia have kept their distance, while developing economies in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are using CIPS more frequently, especially for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loan repayments. 

And BRICS nations are already developing their own proposed payment system, referred to as BRICS Pay – a prototype was demonstrated in Moscow in October 2024 but the operational target date is supposedly set to around 2030 – which would also facilitate local currency transactions and reduce dependence on the existing global financial system. 

Methinks, it's just a matter of time before we see the end of Dollar dominance. And it's about time too.

In the meantime, the NDB are diversifying their financing. Since 2015, the NDB have issued loans in yuan and rand. They now plan to roll out rupee-denominated bonds by 2026, targeting between $300 million and $500 million in three- to five-year tranches. This fits the bloc’s larger plan to reduce dependence on the Dollar and rely on member-state currencies instead.

The above graphic shows the countries with the most forest loss since 2015, based on data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Since 2015, the world has lost an average of 10.9 million hectares (ha) of forest each year. 

Deforestation has been most severe in South America and Africa, largely driven by agricultural production. In Brazil, for example, cattle ranching and pasture expansion have played a major role in clearcutting across the Amazon. 

While deforestation rates have slowed, the scale of loss is more than the next nine countries combined. More promisingly, however, Brazil’s president Lula da Silva plans to bring deforestation to zero by 2030. The country is home to 486 million ha of forest, the second-highest in the world.

Vietnam Joins BRICS As 10th Partner Country

Vietnam has joined BRICS as their tenth partner country, marking a significant step in the bloc’s expansion, Brazil’s foreign ministry announced on Saturday. 

“With a population of almost 100 million and a dynamic economy deeply integrated into global value chains, Vietnam stands out as a relevant actor in Asia”, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. 

The economic collective’s other nine partner countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. Hanoi’s inclusion as a partner country grants it access to key economic initiatives without formal voting rights.

BRICS just got bigger!

Yesterday, I attended the Kajang Toastmasters Club meeting at Prima Saujana, Kajang in Selangor. It was very unusually well-attended; and therefore, the meeting unsurprisingly became a lot livelier. 

And we sold eight books, 4 TDIYS and 4 TPOYS.

Official BRICS Partner Status for Malaysia

Malaysia has been recognized as one of thirteen nations officially added to BRICS as a partner country, a bloc that collectively accounts for one-fifth of global trade.

 

According to an update from @BRICSInfo on X on October 24, the bloc officially added 13 new nations to the alliance as partner countries, though not yet as full members. Apart from Malaysia, the other twelve nations were Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. 

 

Venezuela and Pakistan were supposed to be in but Brazil and India respectively vetoed their applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Germany, Liverpool beat RB Leipzig 1-0 to continue their perfect start in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. The only goal of the competition was scored in the twenty-seventh minute by Darwin Nunez, who poked Mohamed Salah’s header into the net.

 

Overall, Liverpool were good value for their win, having the majority of chances both in total and in quality.  

 

Also on the same day, a terrific defensive display in Italy ensured Celtic earn a valuable point in their encounter against Atalanta. Even as the Serie A side dominated possession and attacking statistics, the Scottish champions stood firm and held them to a goalless draw.

Bolivia Severs Ties with Israel; Colombia, Chile and Jordan Recall Envoys

Bolivia “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip”, Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said on Tuesday, as quoted by the Associated Press.

 

And Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada (right) accused Israel of “committing crimes against humanity” in Gaza, calling on the Israeli government to “cease attacks in the Gaza Strip that have already resulted in thousands of civilian casualties and the forced displacement of Palestinians”.

 

Bolivia previously cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009, also in protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Relations were only restored in 2020. 

 

In the meantime, Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors for consultations condemning the deaths of civilians in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire.

 

Yesterday, Al Jazeera reported Jordan announcing it is “immediately” recalling its ambassador to Israel and accusing the latter of creating an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”. The country's foreign ministry said their envoy would only return if Israel ceased its war on the besieged territory. They also told Israel to recall its ambassador to the kingdom amid the crisis.

 

What about the other Arab countries that have normalised their relations with Tel Aviv?

 

On Wednesday, Scottish Premiership league leaders Celtic came from behind to beat a spirited St Mirren 2-1. 

 

The latter scored on seven minutes but David Turnbull's fine finish from the edge of the box eleven minutes later leveled the score. And then two subs combined to give Celtic the winner. Odin Thiago Holm played a delightful pass into the path of Oh Hyeon-gyu and he finished emphatically to clinch a vital three points with just seven minutes left of the game.

 

Celtic travel to Dingwall on Saturday to meet Ross County.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the same day, Liverpool overcame AFC Bournemouth 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.

 

In the thirty-first minute, Cody Gakpo put the Reds in front when he pounced to poke home from close range after Harvey Elliott's volley was parried into his path. But the Cherries leveled in the 64th minute. 

 

Then, substitute Darwin Nunez scored a stunner when he cut in from the left and picked his spot perfectly for the 70th-minute finish, curling the ball with plenty of pace into the top right corner.

 

Liverpool will take on Premier League rivals West Ham, who beat Arsenal 3-1 in the fourth round, in the quarter-finals at Anfield.

Colombia Gets Chance to Start Anew

Sixty-two-year-old Gustavo Petro (left), who once spent time in jail for his political beliefs and who promised profound social and economic change, has won Colombia’s presidency, beating the populist business tycoon Rodolfo Hernandez. 

He is the first ever leftist president of the deeply unequal country that has been ruled since independence by conservative elites and plagued for decades by political violence. He began his political career in the ranks of a Colombian guerrilla army, has survived assassination attempts and served as senator and mayor of Bogotá. When he appears before throngs of supporters in squares across the country, he does so flanked by bodyguards with bulletproof shields. 

And on Sunday, he won 50.5 percent of the vote to Hernandez’s 47.3 percent, with a margin of more than 700,000 votes. The two had been technically tied in polling ahead of the vote. 

Petro’s running mate Francia Márquez (right), a single mother, former housekeeper and activist, will be the country’s first Afro-Colombian female vice president. 

Certainly, Colombians are hoping their country can now start anew! 

But I am not so sure. And that's because it has been claimed that Petro is really a faux leftie who embraces woke ideology. Moreover, his veep is a former USAID worker, meaning, she's CIA-linked. 

In fact, Jackson Hinkle ("The Dive") had tweeted that when Venezuela's Maduro, Bolivia's Morales and Nicaragua's Ortega were elected/re-elected President, the New York Times claimed the elections were fraudulent and the results were illegitimate. When Petro and Chile's Boric were elected President, the NYT celebrated their victories as "leftist success stories". 

Time will tell whether Petro is a genuine reformer or a charlatan. Despite my misgivings, I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll turn out to be the former. 

For Colombians' sake, I pray their hopes won't be misplaced!

Red Howler Monkey Goes Metal

Do you know that howler monkeys produce among the loudest, deepest sounds of any land animal? 

They are aptly named for their cacophonous cries. When a number of howlers let loose their lungs in concert, often at dawn or dusk, the din can be heard up to three miles away. 

Male monkeys have large throats and specialized, shell-like vocal chambers that help to turn up the volume on their distinctive call. The noise sends a clear message to other monkeys: This territory is already occupied by a troop. 

I have also read that males use their roars to attract the ladies for mating and intimidate other males. 

The red howler species is the most common. Check out this video of a red howler monkey (Scientific name: Alouatta seniculus) from the La Senda Verde Animal Refuge located in Puente Yolosa in La Paz, Bolivia:

 

Given his excellent vocal stamina, there is no doubt, the howler monkey can make a good rock star!

Guitarist André Antunes took the liberty to add a very appropriate heavy metal soundtrack to the powerful roar of an earnest red howler monkey. According to Antunes and others, this primate has some serious vocals:

 

Wowee!

When Halal Beef is Not Halal

On Monday, New Straits Times exposed the shenanigans of senior staff from no fewer than four government agencies which are believed to be working hand-in-glove with a cartel specializing in bringing non-certified meat into Malaysia and passing it off as halal-certified products. 

They are high-ranking officers entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that halal standards are upheld – but instead they received payoffs, and in some cases even women for sex, as bribes in order to turn a blind eye to the cartel's operations and ensure that the its activities go undetected. This has been going on for more than 40 years. 

It is believed the syndicate imports meat from non-halal-certified slaughterhouses in a number of countries, such as Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and Spain. 

In another report by the same Malaysian newspaper the following day, it is claimed that the frozen meat imported by the cartel from these countries is not limited to beef, but also includes horse meat and kangaroo meat. I’m surprised no mention was made of pork. 

And it is also alleged that the beef is from animals of poor quality or even diseased – and so it fetches lower prices and which allows the racketeers to haul in even bigger profits. These items would, upon arrival in Malaysia, be mixed with beef in warehouses nationwide run by the syndicate before being sold to unknowing suppliers. 

The newspaper highlighted that only countries that have been certified by the Malaysian authorities for the import of halal meat are Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, with imports handled by JAKIM (Malaysia Islamic Development Department) and Veterinary Services Department. 

The Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department, Customs Department and port police, meanwhile, are in charge of managing the supplies once they enter Malaysian ports. 

So now we know the government agencies which uphold fraud and promote the taking of kickbacks! Forty years. That’s a long time and it must have taken a lot of people and a lot of bribes, to stay under the radar! 

And for so long, Malaysian Muslims have been unwittingly consuming non-halal meat! 

What is really troubling is that it demonstrates just how endemic corruption is in Malaysia. It is therefore, interesting that one Malay Mail columnist wrote that “the notion of dirty money is alien to Malaysia – “Dirty” money can instead be explained away as "rezeki" (providence). 

Corruption is truly well-entrenched in the country! Sad but that's a fact!

A Violent World

Today’s world is not only sick – it’s also violent! 

According to the World Health Organization, each year, over 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence. Violence is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15–44 years worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males and 7% of deaths among females. 

For every person who dies as a result of violence, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. Moreover, violence places a massive burden on national economies, costing countries billions of dollars each year in health care, law enforcement and lost productivity. 

Just look at this month – only seven days but already, there's been plenty of bloodshed. 

Last Sunday, armed men in western Ethiopia rounded up and executed dozens of men, women and children in a schoolyard, in a “brutal” attack officials blamed on an armed group that is active in the Oromia region. It is believed at least 54 members of the Amhara ethnic group – Ethiopia’s second-largest – were murdered. 

On Monday, gunmen stormed Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan and killed at least 22 and wounded just as many. All three attackers were killed in a six-hour gun battle with government forces.

 

On the same day too, four people were killed and 23 others wounded in a gun attack in the Austrian capital, Vienna. The perpetrator, who was armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a machete, was shot dead by police. 

The dismembered bodies of at least five adults and 15 boys were discovered on Monday in Muidumbe district in insurgency-hit northeastern Mozambique. The victims were participating in a male initiation ceremony when they were set upon by suspected militants. 

And on Thursday, Bolivia’s president-elect Luis Arce survived a dynamite attack in La Paz city. Happily, there were no injuries. 

The above are just those which made the big headlines in November todate.

It's time to recognize that violence is not an intractable social problem or an inevitable part of the human condition.

37 Million Cases

Covid-19 marches on. Relentlessly. Tirelessly.

It has reached the 37 million mark. 

The number of countries that have collected 100,000 or more cases have gone up to 43 so far. And these countries account for 92.6% of the global total. 

Even Malaysia is not spared from a disquieting escalation – our caseload and deaths have risen steadily too:

Still, we should be thankful that in the last 3 days, the numbers for Selangor-Kuala Lumpur overall are not too unsettling although Sabah remains a weighty problem:

Latin America Hits 7 Million Cases

Latin America finds itself mired in a desperate situation insofar as Covid-19 is concerned. 

The virulent pathogen is stalking and hurting many countries – and yesterday, it breached the 7-million mark. Its caseload and fatality numbers represent 28.5% and 32.2% of the world total respectively. 

You may be interested to know that among the 12 worst-hit countries in Latin America, they combine to account for 98% and 99% of the region’s total confirmed cases and deaths. And 8 of those countries are among thirty nations from around the world yielding 100,000 cases or more. 

In Malaysia, the residents of Slim, a small, rural, Malay-majority constituency in Perak ensured that BN (actually UMNO) retained 13,060 votes to win the by-election today. It's a 10,945-vote majority.

Mahathir Mohamad’s party, Pejuang which made their debut lost, having secured only 2,115 votes.

Latin America Tops 5 Million Cases

Latin America broke through five million confirmed cases of Covid-19, a Reuters tally showed, underscoring the region's position as the area of the world hardest hit by the pandemic. After all, five of the countries are in the world's Top 12!

It is also noteworthy to mention that the 12 worst-affected Latin American countries account for 98% of the continent's total. 

Elsewhere, India climbed to 1.7 million cases on Saturday, and within a day, added another 100,000 to reach more than 1.8 million.

 

The US tallied 4.8 million cases on Sunday. The Philippines too made further inroads with 100,000 cases on the same day and Iraq accumulated 130,000 yesterday.

 

In fact, the Americas account for 54% of the world total.

 

Today, I received an email which confirms that my scream has just been blasted from speakers placed in Djúpivogur, East Iceland. That's super cool!

[If you don't know what I'm talking about, kindly refer to my blog post “S-C-R-E-A-M” published July 27, 2020. I watched a recording of it at https://lookslikeyouneediceland.com/?share=71f9270d-339e-466a-82de-d66975e5d398].

 

But in my particular case, my scream was heard when it went all the way to Iceland!