China’s corporate debt: According to the IMF, China now accounts for US$18.4 trillion of the world’s US$25.4 trillion total of emerging market non-financial corporate debt. However, writes Steve Wang, the answer to easing this hypertension debt load could be as simple as letting market forces evaluate risk and reward and then allocating capital accordingly, meaning the usefulness of every single yuan loaned by China’s banks is properly evaluated.
Jihad in Myanmar: With leadership in Saudi Arabia and ties to Bangladeshi extremist groups, Rohingya’s militants are threatening to bring the global jihad to Myanmar, reports Anthony Davis. Since Rohingya militant attacks on Myanmar border police last October and the retaliatory security force crackdown, an uneasy lull has descended, but analysts and diplomats in Yangon are predicting renewed violence in the months ahead.
China hacks too: With the hacking spotlight turned on Russia, the fact remains that China has also engaged in cyberattacks on the US government, and these incursions have been successful to date. Peter J. Brown explains how there are noticeable differences in how Russian and Chinese hackers operate and examines the scale, scope and success of their operations.
Facebook to Syria: An attack on a nightclub outside Kuala Lumpur, the first by ISIS in Malaysia, was directed by a local man rising up the jihadi ranks in Syria. Sami Moubayed has the story of 26-year-old Malaysian, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, who has promised to recruit hundreds more Malaysian jihadis, something that could spell serious problems for a country where 61% of the population, or about 19.5 million people, are Sunni.