Donald Trump’s 75-country US Visa Suspension Challenged

A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights bodies have launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history. 

The lawsuit charges that the policy “constitutes an unlawful nationality-based ban on legal immigration and a new set of discriminatory, unlawful public charge rules that strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law”, according to a case overview by the National Immigration Law Center, which are among the groups supporting the legal challenge. 

The sprawling 106-page complaint further alleges that the administration relies “on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges'”. 

The State Department has described the action, announced in mid-January, as a “pause” on immigrant visa processing on “countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”. 

The department have not revealed the criteria it used to determine which countries were added to the list, which comes amid a wider effort to constrict legal immigration pathways into the US and to deport undocumented citizens from the country. 

According to a January 14 state department cable obtained by the Guardian, the sweeping list cuts across every major region of the world, spanning countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe. 

Amongst the affected countries include Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

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.

China’s 80th Anniversary's V-Day Military Parade

Japan, in spite of its best efforts – refer my post "Unapologetic Japan Wants Countries to Boycott September 03" published August 27 – failed to dissuade countries from skipping China's World War II commemorative events, officially the Conference to Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. 

On Wednesday, leaders of 26 countries as well as other foreign dignitaries joined Chinese President Xi Jinping in what AP calls "a show of solidarity among nations friendly to Beijing". 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who made a rare foreign trip to attend were clearly the VVIPs. The others included Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, and Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu. From Central Asia came Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and not forgeting Mongolia’s President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. From Africa, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso were present as well as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the only leader from the Americas to attend. And from Europe, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan graced the event. 

Also on the guest roster were former Romanian prime ministers Adrian Năstase and Viorica Dăncilă, former New Zealand prime ministers Helen Clark and John Key, as well as Daniel Andrews, the former premier of the Australian state of Victoria. 

Not surprisingly, leaders from the US, Western Europe, Japan (obviously) and India (probably in deference to Japan because in the present global scenario, India's closest strategic partner is said to be Japan; besides, being the largest bilateral donor to India) were absent but not missed. And pro-Western countries like South Korea and Singapore sent lower-level officials. 

Since Wednesday, images of China's V-Day military parade have been trending on the front pages of major global media outlets. According to Global Times, this solemn moment to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, China, being a potent force for peace, sent a clear message to the world: The Chinese people will always remember this great victory, which stands as a monument in the history of the Chinese nation and the cause of world peace. 

In his opening address, Xi said the world was facing “a choice between peace or war” and "dialogue or confrontation", warning that China was a great nation that “is never intimidated by any bullies”. [I read it as a reference to the US and its allies]. And he stressed that the past showed that Chinese people always rallied together “to defy the enemy” when faced with adversity. 💪💪💪

The mammoth military parade – the 70-minute spectacle displayed a huge amount of military hardware. From tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear-capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft, the parade also revealed advances in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) weapons and assets – drew an almost immediate reaction from US president Donald Trump (right). 

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States of America”, he posted on his Truth Social account. 

A very ungracious and rude comment from an uncivil and disrespectful person. That's Trump alright!

Donald Trump’s New Tariffs

We're seeing another TACO moment! 

United States President Donald Trump on Monday extended a pause on his sweeping reciprocal tariffs to August 01, while also sending “tariff letters” to fourteen countries, warning they would be subject to the new tariff rates if they failed to reach a trade deal with the US by the new deadline. 

As he spelt out in the letters, the rates could be modified "upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country". I'm not even sure anymore what he actually means. 

[Note: The term TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out – was coined by Financial Times commentator Robert Armstrong to describe what he says is the president's tiresome pattern of announcing heavy tariffs on countries causing economic shock, panic and stock market hits and then later reversing course with pauses or reductions that create a market rebound]. 

For South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, these tariff rates are identical to what Trump had announced on April 02. Malaysia and Japan saw a 1 percent increase and the other eight countries – Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Serbia and Cambodia – will now encounter lower tariffs than they did on "Liberation Day". 

FYI, during the 90-day pause, the US only managed to broker two "deals" (if you can call them deals!) with the United Kingdom and Vietnam. 

The first deal was secured on May 08, between the US and the UK, setting a 10 percent tariff on UK exports to the US. The deal states that the first 100,000 vehicles imported into the US from the UK each year will face a 10 percent tariff, down from the 27.5 percent imposed earlier. Additional vehicles imported each year will face a 25 percent tariff. 

On July 02, Trump announced that he had secured a deal with Vietnam, which now faces a minimum 20 percent tariff in exchange for opening its market up to the US. Transshipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40 percent levy, while US products will not face any tariff in Vietnam. Specific details for this deal are unclear. On April 02, Trump had announced a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam. 

Meanwhile, US stocks, based on the three major indices, fell on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.94 percent; S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 leading US companies, fell by 0.79 percent; and the Nasdaq Composite saw a 0.92 percent drop.

May 09 is Russia’s Victory Day

Foreign leaders from 27 countries graced Russia’s Victory Day parade on Friday. 

[Two Heads of State, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith did not turn up – the former pulled out at the last minute and the latter due to illness]. 

As well as military contingents from 13 countries – Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam – joined in to march alongside Russian forces on the day of the parade. 

The May 09 event commemorates 80 years since the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in the Second World War (referred to by the Russians as the Great Patriotic War). 

[Notes: The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the Great Patriotic War (40% of all human losses in World War II), with civilian deaths accounting for the larger part of these losses. According to data of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders, the German troops destroyed fully or partially over 1,700 cities and towns, more than 70,000 villages and settlements in the USSR. 

And Western revisionists are deliberately downplaying the USSR's vital contribution to World War II. Partly because of the Cold War rivalry but more due to a Western bias to focus on the Western front and American and British victories]. 

The twenty-seven leaders who came: 

In case you're wondering, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are "separatist" regions of Georgia in the Caucasus. Most countries recognise them as part of Georgia, while Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria regard them as independent.

Thailand Offers New Hope for Tigers

Today is International Tiger Day and there’s good news for the big cats in Thailand. 

 

The tiger population in the country’s Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) – an 18,000-square-kilometer (6,950-square-mile) area of forest encompassing 11 national parks and six wildlife sanctuaries – is estimated to have more than tripled between 2007 and 2023, from 41 to 143. 

 

The remarkable comeback was observed in a new collaborative study "Rigorous assessment of a unique tiger recovery in Southeast Asia based on photographic capture-recapture modeling of population dynamics" led by Thailand’s Department of National Parks and the Wildlife Conservation Society, newly published online in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Conservation, Volume 53, September 2024, e03016.

 

It’s not just tigers bouncing back: a companion study, published alongside the tiger assessment, found that populations of threatened ungulate species – hoofed mammals like deer and wild cattle, that are the main prey for the tigers – have doubled in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, one of three protected areas, along with Thung Yai East and Thung Yai West, in the forest complex. 

 

This increase reflects “more effective management” of the forest and is the result of more than a decade of conservation interventions, says Pornkamol Jornburom (right), director of WCS Thailand and one of the wildlife biologists working on the new study. 

 

“This forest complex is the home of many endangered species”, she adds. She hopes WEFCOM can be “a role model for conservation and recovery of the wildlife population”. 

 

WEFCOM represents the biggest forest area in Thailand, and the largest forest track in mainland Southeast Asia, according to WCS and is a hugely important habitat, not just for tigers, but endangered animals including Asian elephants, hornbills, and banteng. 

 

The complex has a huge diversity of species too: 150 mammals, 490 birds and 90 reptiles. 

 

It’s also a relatively uncommon landscape in the region. Most tiger conservation focuses on protecting small, isolated areas, but WEFCOM connects multiple national parks and protected areas through forest corridors across a wide expanse – vital for tigers, which require up to 300 square kilometers (115 square miles) of habitat to roam. 

 

The DNP began working with WCS to “build and strengthen site-based protection”, says Jornburom. Patrol teams began using GPS to precisely identify locations, and a standardized reporting form to collect data has helped to identify patrol routes, distribution of wildlife, and sites of illegal activity. 

 

In 2007, conservationists installed camera traps which built up a data set that researchers could use for their population assessment in the current study across the three main protected areas.

 

Individual tigers can be identified by their unique stripes, similar to a human fingerprint. 

 

Jornburom says the 250% increase in tigers, as well as the twofold increase in banteng (Scientific name: Bos javanicus) and sambar deer (Scientific name: Rusa unicolor) is proof that the increased patrols are working. 

 

“When we conserve tigers, it actually leads to conserving many other species: not only the prey, but also the habitat”, she says. 

 

While Thailand’s success story offers hope, the outlook across the region is not so optimistic. Once widespread across Southeast Asia, tigers became extinct in Singapore, Java and Bali in the 20th century, and in recent years have also disappeared from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the wild. This has left small, isolated tiger populations in Myanmar, Indonesian Sumatra, and peninsular Malaysia – the latter of which is worrying conservationists after a recent spate of tiger deaths. 

 

Tigers are a “conservation-dependent species” that require constant interventions to protect them from the threat of hunting and poaching, says Stuart Chapman, leader of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. 

 

In Southeast Asia, their numbers are so low that they’ve reached a “tipping point” where accidents, disease or conflict can cause populations to go extinct, he adds. “Every tiger counts, particularly when populations get to such low levels that recovery then depends on no additional threats coming in that can potentially wipe them out”. 

 

Chapman, who was not part of the study, says that the research from WEFCOM is a “historic” moment for the species, and shows that “with good habitat management and healthy prey populations, results are possible”. 

 

According to the DNP’s most recent survey, there are an estimated 179 to 223 adult tigers in the wild in Thailand, up from 148 to 189 tigers in 2022. 

 

WEFCOM currently boasts most of the country’s tiger population, and has the potential to support up to 2,000 tigers, according to WCS. However, this depends on factors like effective protection, prey availability, and community engagement, says Jornburom, adding: “We also need more technology to help and support the (rangers) on the ground”. 

 

She is optimistic that with more patrols and funding, the population in WEFCOM can continue to grow – and hopes that other national parks will adopt the model to save their tiger populations too. 

 

“I think it’s a very inspiring model of intervention for other landscapes and protected areas – not only in Thailand, but also our neighboring countries”. 

 

Given that Malaysia's tiger population is dire, it's time we learn from the Thais.

Southeast Asia's Brutal Heatwave

Presently as the brutal heatwave grips Southeast Asia, it is not surprising to find Malaysia searing, scorching and sweltering. 

 

In an Instagram post by @seasia.stats, Kuala Lumpur has come in seventh place as the capital city with the hottest temperature at 34°C.

 

The steaming list features all the capital cities in the Southeast Asian region recording the highest temperatures according to the findings from weather forecast website AccuWeather’s update from last Monday (May 06). 

 

Meanwhile, Yangon, Myanmar takes the first spot with a blistering 39°C, Bangkok, Thailand in second place at 38°C and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam in third place at 36°C.

 

The other capital cities include Manila, Philippines in fourth place (36°C), Phnom Penh, Cambodia in fifth place (36°C), Vientiane, Laos in sixth place (36°C), Singapore in eighth place (33°C), Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam in ninth place (33°C), Jakarta, Indonesia (33°C) in tenth place and Dili, Timor-Leste (31°C) in last place. 

 

“It is estimated that the temperature will continue to rise to 45.9°C, and the very hot conditions are expected to persist”, the post said.

 

Malaysia's S Sivasangari made short work of American Caroline Fouts to reach the third round of the World Squash Championships in Cairo, Egypt yesterday. She needed just 24 minutes to win 11-6, 11-7, 11-6. 

 

The London Classic winner's real test will begin when she faces the winner of the match between Egypt's world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy and France's Melissa Alves next.

A Bad Report Card for Malaysia

I have always had misgivings about the Malaysian government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic. And I now know I’m not an outlier. 

It would appear many of my fellow citizens do agree with me! 

The 2022 report by the Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute confirmed that Putrajaya’s handling of the Covid crisis was rated negatively by Malaysians. 

In the regional survey they had conducted to produce the said scoop, 51.8 percent of Malaysians had labelled the government’s response as “poor” or “very poor”, compared to 28.3 percent the previous year. 

In comparison, just 10.4 percent of respondents rated the response as “well” and 22.2 percent said it was “adequate”. This was also a decline compared to the result in 2021 when there had been 14.5 percent for “well” and 40.2 percent for “adequate”.

In case, some of us forget, the Malaysian government had declared a state of emergency on January 12 last year to supposedly curb the spread of Covid-19 which lasted until August 01, 2021 – and what have we got to show for it? Nothing!

Except for this bad report card for the country!

KL, Putrajaya and Selangor to Move into NRP's Phase Two

Yesterday, Labuan boasted 100% vaccination against Covid-19 of its adult population. That includes immigrants and refugees too. 

According to the latest numbers from the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), 97.8 percent of the adult population within Klang Valley are fully vaccinated, or 71.6 percent of the entire population. Sure or not? 

As far as the NRP is concerned, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor will move into Phase Two on Friday. Not only that, but they are to combine as one zone, meaning movement between these 3 areas will be allowed. 

Kedah and Johor, meanwhile, will be the only states to remain under Phase One. 

And Labuan to join Langkawi in a tourism bubble that allows in travelers beginning September 16. 

For states under Phase One, flower shops, nurseries, outdoor equipment shops and sales galleries will be allowed to operate from Friday. And for states under Phases Two and Three, barber shops, hairdressers and beauty salon activities will also be allowed to operate fully from Friday. 

In spite of the above, it will do nothing to cheer Malaysians up. 

That’s because cases are still freaking high. And there's more.

Health Director-General Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah (left) shared today that Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care units numbered 904, with 430 of them needing to be intubated. And of the 361 deaths, 102 of them were brought-in-dead! 

Already, Malaysia nearly came in last in Nikkei’s Covid-19 Recovery Index. We ranked at 115 of 121 countries evaluated on their management of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine rollouts, and social mobility. 

The August 31 edition of the ranking by the Japanese business media outfit issued at the end of each month gave Malaysia a score of just 34 out of 90, with a higher score denoting better performance. 

A higher ranking indicates that a country is closer to recovery based on low Covid-19 case numbers, higher coronavirus vaccination rates, and less stringent social distancing measures. 

Southeast Asian neighbors that ranked lower than Malaysia were Thailand (118), Myanmar (119), and the Philippines (120), while Vietnam came in last at the 121st rank. 

In Malaysia’s case, it is not surprising to find ourselves in that predicament because we are depending on vaccination to get us out of this pandemic. Herd immunity won't be achieved because herd immunity is just not possible!

104 Million Cases and the Aerobic Dancer

One hundred and four million people all around the world have been infected with Covid-19 so far. I really hope 2021 won't be a repeat of 2020.  

Fitness instructor Khing Hnin Wai has been filming herself performing aerobics on the same street in Myanmar's capital city for the past 11 months. But none of her videos has gone quite as viral as the one she posted on Monday, in which she inadvertently captured the country's military coup unfolding in the background.

In the video, she can be seen dancing energetically to techno-pop while wearing workout gear and a face mask, seemingly oblivious to the convoy of black vehicles streaming down the road leading to the parliament complex in Naypyidaw – as Myanmar's military seizes control of the government. 

Myanmar is now under military rule following Monday's coup, in which the military detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and declared a yearlong state of emergency.

 

BTW, Resty Woro Yuniar, a reporter for the South China Morning Post, wrote on Twitter that the music being played is an Indonesian song called "Ampun Bang Jago", which she said was "used widely on TikTok during Omnibus Law protests last year". Those protests in Indonesia targeted government reforms that critics said would harm workers and the environment.

RCEP Excludes US

China and 14 other countries (ASEAN, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) put their signatures on Sunday to establish the world’s largest free trade bloc, in a deal many in Asia are hoping will help hasten a recovery from the shocks of the coronavirus pandemic. 

It took 8 years, 46 negotiation meetings and 19 ministerial meetings to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. And it will account for 30 percent of the global economy, 30 percent of the global population and reach 2.2 billion consumers. 

It is pertinent to point out that the United States is not part of the arrangement. Surely, this signals that the country is slowly but steadily losing its influence and impact on the world at large. It’s a strange situation because Australia and New Zealand are members of the grouping. The two countries know they’ve no choice but to be in. 

Furthermore, the pact is seen as an extension of China's clout in the region and more importantly, a victory for multilateral cooperation and globalization. 

A WSD 2021 promo video by Julia Taha, a member of the Shah Alam Toastmasters Club. Here, she talks about our upcoming event, World Speech Day 2021. In one clip in 3 languages: Mandarin, Malay and English!

 

I’ve always enjoyed her speeches – they have a certain spontaneity about them that draws you in.

#unexpectedvoices #worldspeechday

35 Million Cases

Covid-19 infections worldwide have upped to thirty-five million as at October 04, 2020, 00:00 GMT. 

The twelve worst-affected countries are contributing 74.2% and 76.2% of cases and deaths respectively. There’s no change in the countries except for the UK replacing Chile in ranking # 12 in Cases.

There has been real alarm over rising Malaysia’s coronavirus numbers – read my post titled "Sabah Returnees Spike Up Covid-19 Cases in Malaysia" yesterday – but methinks the situation is still not that bad. Take a look at how we fare versus the rest of ASEAN:

 

In fact, Myanmar has overtaken us in all 3 categories, i.e. confirmed cases, active cases and fatalities.

Philppines Pins Hope on Russian or Chinese Vaccine

Going by media reports, they seem to suggest that the Philippines is losing the battle against Covid-19. Despite multiple lockdowns. 

It is Southeast Asia’s worst-affected country, having already claimed 2,883 lives and infected more than 178,000 others. 

The situation is so bleak that a Thai newspaper last week sardonically referred to the Philippines as “the land of Covid-19”, prompting a diplomatic protest from Manila.

Infectious diseases specialist Benjamin Co of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital said Manila has been “scrambling” with its pandemic response. 

Now, the country’s president Rodrigo Duterte (right) is pinning his hope on either a Russian or Chinese vaccine. 

If we compare Southeast Asia vis-à-vis the world, the coronavirus situation here is not too bad actually. The 10 countries that make up ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) account for a mere 1.7% of the world total. And for fatalities, it's only 1.2%.

More Than 16.5 Million Cases

Surges of coronavirus infections are seen in a cluster of countries – and the worldwide tally is now more than 16.5 million cases. 

To be exact, 16,635,927 cases (as at today, 00:00 GMT). 

Five countries – three of which are ASEAN countries – deserve special mention this time around. 

On Sunday, Philippines and Singapore surpassed 80,000 and 50,000 cases respectively. 

And today, at 00:00 GMT, South Africa and UK reported 450,000 and 300,000 cases respectively. And Indonesia also registered 100,000 cases.

Oh yes, the US recorded 150,444 deaths!

Yesterday, an invite from Saiful Ikram of LEAP Toastmasters Club saw me at another Zoom meeting. I was tasked to evaluate the club president who spoke on a Public Relations Strategies project.