☕️ ASEAN Summit: Who's coming, what's happening

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections is resistant to antibiotic treatments. Such resistance has increased in about 40% of the samples monitored, based on data from over 100 countries between 2016 to 2023. This means that the bacteria are becoming resistant to our medications faster than the advances of modern medicine, leading to the organisation calling for antibiotics to be used more responsibly. The resistance of bacteria towards antibiotics is responsible for over 1 mil deaths per year.

A new study has calculated that there will be 57 additional “superhot” days per year by 2100, nearly two months of dangerously high temperatures. These superhot days are defined as being warmer than 90% of comparable days between 1991 and 2020, with the temperature increase due to climate change. The number assumes that current commitment to curb emissions, such as the Paris Climate Agreement, are kept to. The math, done by the World Weather Attribution and US-based Climate Control, also showed that the number of additional superhot days would reach 114 per year without the Paris Climate Agreement. Experts still warned that, while the number of superhot days is lower, it can still mean disaster in the future, especially since thousands already lose their lives every year due to heatwaves.

The Church now stands at about 1.4 bil members, though this institution has since been shaken by scandals across the world involving abuse and cover-up. Recently, the Vatican’s child protection commission accused senior Catholic leaders of being too slow to help victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The commission faulted them for not providing information to victims about how the reports of abuse were being handled or whether negligent bishops had been sanctioned. The commission also reported that its own requests for information about safeguarding protocols had not always been answered.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Les Assemblées à Kuala Lumpur

The gathering: Malaysia is set to become the diplomatic capital of the world, at least for a couple of days, as KL will host the largest gathering of regional and world leaders at the 47th ASEAN Summit and related summits, scheduled from October 26 to October 28. More than 30 heads of state and government will converge at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, including ASEAN leaders and key dialogue partners such as the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The attendees: Despite US President Donald Trump attending the summit (arriving on Sunday), key leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping will be skipping the flagship regional event. Myanmar’s acting President, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, will not be attending the summit, as the bloc has barred its military leaders from key meetings since 2022. This action was taken in response to the military junta’s failure to implement an agreed five-point peace plan.

The agenda: Apart from the declaration on Timor Leste’s membership to ASEAN, several key documents, such as the Thailand-Cambodia peace pact dubbed the Kuala Lumpur Accord, will be signed during the summit. The Kuala Lumpur Accord is one of the initiatives this year by PM Anwar Ibrahim as the ASEAN chair to push the ‘ASEAN Centrality’ agenda, where member states must put the region’s interests first above all else, even as they are allowed to engage with the world’s superpowers.

The deals: World leaders will also utilise the Asean Summit as a platform to negotiate trade deals with the US, on the sidelines of the summit. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has already sent a calendar invite to Donald Trump for a meeting. At the moment, there is bad blood between Lula and Trump over the trial and conviction of Trump’s ally, the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. As a result, Trump has instituted a 50% tariff on many Brazilian products and imposed sanctions on several top officials, including a top Supreme Court judge for initiating a ‘witch hunt’ on Bolsonaro. Not only other world leaders, but even PM Anwar is slated to sign a new trade deal with Trump during the summit.

Business

THMY Holdings is being crowned as the best ACE Market IPO in two years
THMY Holdings Bhd’s share price nearly tripled on its first day of trading, marking the best debut on the ACE Market in two years. With an IPO price of 31 sen a share, the stock opened at 80 sen per share and closed at the day’s peak of 91 sen, giving the company a healthy market capitalisation of RM808.1 mil. THMY Holdings’ IPO success is not surprising, as it operates in the E&E industry, providing testing systems for electronic circuit boards. Just a day before the listing, Kenanga Investment Bank said THMY was one of Malaysia’s cheapest artificial intelligence (AI) hardware plays and the stock would be worth almost double its IPO price.

Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore holding hands to build wind farms
Deputy PM Fadillah Yusof announced that the 2,000-megawatt offshore wind energy project linking Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore is expected to complete its first phase by 2034. The power generated from the wind farm in Vietnam will be exported to Malaysia and Singapore, where Negaraku will get 700 MW, while the remaining 1,300 MW will be exported to Singapore.

Malaysia may be one of the development sites for sustainable aviation fuel
After Cathay Group and Airbus signed a RM296 mil deal to invest in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Cathay’s general manager of sustainability, Grace Cheung, revealed that Malaysia is touted as one of the countries identified as potential locations to house the SAF project. Despite the higher cost of SAF compared to conventional fuel, SAF is being used as one of the levers for airline companies to achieve their decarbonisation goals. Asia will be the main playground for SAF development, as about 40% of the world’s feedstock resources are located in the region.
Learn: What is SAF?

Shorts

1. Caning is making a comeback in schools

   PM Anwar Ibrahim told Parliament that he is mulling over the possibility of reintroducing caning in schools, but with strict guidelines and controls in place to prevent any form of abuse. However, PM Anwar stated that this is his personal and not Putrajaya’s, but the Education Ministry (MoE) will conduct a comprehensive study on this matter. PM Anwar said that children’s mischief is normal, but when it crosses the line, there must be consequences.

2. Till loan default do us apart

   According to a study conducted by Future Studies Berhad, it was revealed that a staggering 45.8% of the respondents took up loans to finance the cost of weddings, which ranged between RM20,001 and RM40,000. Out of the ones that took up loans, 58.8% of them chose the personal loan route, while others resorted to credit cards and the good ‘ol ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme. And as expected, not all are capable of committing to the subsequent financial commitment, as 27.3% defaulted on their monthly payments. This study supports the recent statement by the Chief Syariah Judge of Selangor, Mohammad Adib Husain, who said that 10,815 divorce cases are a result of financial and communication problems.

3. Nature is not to be blamed for the sinkhole

   Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced that the failure of a sewer pipe structure, corroded by chemical reactions and affected by soil instability, has been identified as the main cause of the sinkhole incident at Jalan Masjid India in August last year. Dr Zaliha concurred that the sinkhole lies on the Kenny Hills Formation, but the presence of limestone was only being detected at a depth of 60 - 70 meters from the surface, thus not to be blamed for the sinkhole that swallowed an Indian tourist.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

No oil from Russia, world says

US sanctions Russian oil heavyweights
Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, were slapped with sanctions by US President Donald Trump in a sharp policy shift on the Russia-Ukraine war that led to global oil prices rising 5%. This follows the recent cancellation of a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Trump felt would not achieve the outcome he wanted. Russia has called the sanctions unproductive and said its conditions for ending the war remain unchanged. Russia’s terms are basically what every other country sees as surrender. Still, while Russia may feel the impact, it might not be as painful as intended, as Moscow’s main revenue comes from taxing output, not exports. This means that sanctions will only hurt if Russia is forced to cut production.

India, China to comply
Industry sources revealed that India is ready to sharply cut imports of Russian oil to adhere to the new US sanctions, a move that is likely to improve its own position towards securing a trade deal with the US. India faces 50% tariffs, with half of that due to its Russian oil purchases. Notably, India is currently the biggest buyer of discounted seaborne Russian crude since Russia invaded Ukraine, with 1.7 mil barrels of crude oil imported per day in the first nine months of 2025 alone.

Trade sources also revealed that Chinese state oil majors have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian oil following the sanctions. With China being the other major buyer of Russian oil, Moscow’s oil revenues will likely slip, with global crude prices hiked up as the two large importers look for alternative supplies.

EU agrees in principle to finance Ukraine for two years
The news on Russian oil comes as the EU agreed in principle to finance Ukraine for the next two years, despite a Belgian threat to block the EU’s plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv. The threat is due to Belgium being the one holding the assets that would be used in the scheme, and the country has laid out demands to guarantee it would not have to face all the risks. Belgium called for the costs of any legal action to be shared, for financial contributions if the money ever had to be paid back, and for frozen Russian assets in other countries to be brought into the scheme as well. Still, Ukraine seems to really need those funds, with a senior official in President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy’s administration saying Ukraine needed the funds and the autonomy to spend them by the end of the year.

Annexation, Israel?

Israeli parliament gives initial nod to annexation of West Bank
A bill that applies Israeli law to the occupied West Bank has won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament. This marks the first of four votes needed to pass the bill, which is essentially an annexation of the West Bank, land that the Palestinians want for a state. While Israeli PM Netanyahu’s party did not support the legislation, members of his ruling coalition did vote in favour of the bill.
Meaning: What is annexation? 

Trump set to oppose Israel’s “very stupid political stunt”
The annexation bill’s vote coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel, and Vance has called the move a “very stupid political stunt”. He said Trump’s stance of opposing the Israeli annexation of the West Bank has not changed. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded to the comment, stating that Israel had not decided to bring the vote on annexation forward at this stage in order to ensure the success of Trump’s multi-stage Gaza plan, which would have been endangered by the move.

Tech

Nike says shoes to help mobility-impaired in the works
The motorised footwear system, which is still in early stages, is a running shoe that comes with an attachable, battery-charged motor. The shoe, meant to help casual athletes and mobility-impaired people move faster, is a collaboration with bionic footwear brand Dephy called Project Amplify. This is part of Nike CEO Elliott Hill’s bet that product innovation is a way to turn around the stagnating financial performance of a sportswear giant. Other plans include the Mind 001 and Mind 002 shoes, meant to help athletes’ mental focus through stimulating key sensory areas, as well as a sports jersey with cooling tech called the Aero-FIT.

Sterile fly factory Mexico’s bid to soothe cattle tensions
Mexico is racing to start up domestic production of sterile screwworm flies in a bid to soothe cattle trade tensions with the US, which has closed its border to Mexican cattle imports since May. This is due to the screwworm fly outbreak that has moved northward through Central America and deep into Mexico. Screwworm flies are a flesh-eating pest that burrows into the flesh of warm-blooded animals, often killing livestock if left untreated. Releasing sterile flies is a proven method of eradicating the pest, and the facility, which aims to be ready by July 2026, would allow Mexico to double the number of sterile flies it can release into the wild.

Shorts

1. Global children’s charity: Our founder committed sexual abuse
   SOS Children’s Villages is a charity that is active in over 130 countries, and was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in 1949 to help children orphaned in World War Two. However, the charity has also stepped forward with allegations that Gmeiner committed sexual and physical abuse over decades before his death in 1986, supported by evidence in the form of eight internally documented victim-protection cases that show compensation was paid to the victims. The files were found while it was looking into current and historic allegations of abuse, following current allegations of mistreatment in recent years at some of its centres in Austria. Mein Gott, Austria again?

2. Philippine fires: one devastating, the other suspicious

   A major fire in Malabon City, located north of Manila, has destroyed more than 1,500 homes and displaced hundreds of families. The fire burned for over eight hours before it was contained. Meanwhile, a fire that broke out at the Department of Public Works and Highways office in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City, is seen as being suspiciously timed, as the fire broke out while the department was under investigation for corruption in multi-billion-peso flood control projects.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Arts for the weekend

1. China drone shows keep blowing minds. The latest in China’s fireworks capital, Liuyang, saw 15,947 drones take flight and perform in the air, breaking 2 Guinness World Records.

huahua.cn68

2,639 followers

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2. Introducing After Mdnight (indeed, no I), Malaysia’s very own punk band. Not bad. Without context, you will think it’s an American band. Their Spotify here.

aftermdnight_

8,453 followers

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3. Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami collab. See the designs in Murakami’s whimsical, kaleidoscopic concept.

Weekend is here. If you are rushing and growing impatient, rethink. Along the same lines said by Warren Buffett: “No matter how great the talent and efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant”.