China's economy — the world's 2nd-largest — is on the brink of disaster.

President Xi Jinping must strike a balance between eliminating China's crushing debt and maintaining consumer confidence.

If he fails, the rest of the world better watch out.

businessinsider.com/china-economy-… Since this spring, Beijing has:

🚫 canceled initial public offerings
💻 fined tech companies billions for antitrust violations
📚 forcibly shut down China's entire for-profit education industry

businessinsider.com/china-economy-…

.@netflix show #squidgame is a dystopian nightmare.

But some South Korean millennials see the drama series as a grim reflection of their own experiences.

Insider spoke to young people in debt in Seoul to see the reality of life in the capital. 👇

insider.com/south-koreas-m… Sarah Son, a lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Sheffield, told Insider that the debt crisis and squalor seen in South Korean cultural exports like "Squid Game" paints only part of the picture.

insider.com/south-koreas-m…

In July, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta became the Southeast Asian epicenter of the pandemic.

These are the three key issues that could make Indonesia vulnerable if there's another wave. 👇

insider.com/indonesia-pand… Hendro Utomo, 53, would listen as the loudspeakers from the local mosque announced who had died the day before.

"Five, eight dead every day, just in my neighborhood," he said.

insider.com/indonesia-pand…

The typical Chinese millennial makes $22,000 a year but has no student debt, grew up in an economic boom, and has learned how to outhustle everyone else.

Meet some of them here. 👇

insider.com/meet-the-typic… While millennials in the US are known for enduring financial crises, those in China grew up during a period of economic reform.

China's millennials — those born between 1981 and 1996 — started working while the country's GDP per capita soared. 💸

insider.com/meet-the-typic…

A battle is unfolding over the world's smelliest fruit.

Insider spoke to farmers in Malaysia who say their entire livelihood is being wiped out at the worst possible time.

insider.com/malaysia-farme… In Southeast Asia, the durian is the undisputed king of fruit.

The smell, though, is divisive.

insider.com/malaysia-farme…

Using a special sustainable toilet in South Korea can get you books, fruit, and even freshly brewed coffee. 🚽

Here’s how.

insider.com/south-korean-u… Professors at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology have designed a toilet that converts methane from one's faeces into an energy source. 💩

insider.com/south-korean-u…

Xiapu County in China's Fujian province is almost a little too picture-perfect, with photos of the county’s scenic spots abound on Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter.

The catch? Most of them are manufactured. insider.com/fake-rural-chi… Xiapu is still a largely agrarian town, but much of its picturesque landscape — and the people within it — is created by teams of photo crews masquerading as fake farmers and fishermen. insider.com/fake-rural-chi…

🏡While the US faces a shortage of homes, Japan is experiencing a different issue: There's a glut of unoccupied homes throughout the country's rural areas.

insider.com/japan-ghost-to… These abandoned houses have created "ghost villages" in Japan's rural prefectures where homes can neither be filled nor knocked down.

In some areas, nearly one out of every five homes is empty.

insider.com/japan-ghost-to…

No, this isn’t a cartoon or a futuristic movie: It’s a six-floor mansion made of bamboo in the jungle in Bali, Indonesia. Here’s how it was designed. insider.com/bamboo-mansion… As a child, Elora Hardy drew fairy-tale castles in her coloring book.

Now, at the age of 41, she is making them for real. She grew up Ubud, Bali, where babbling rivers, jungle ravines, and artisan-filled villages surrounded her home. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…

Young people – what goal are you currently striving to achieve? insider.com/disenchanted-c… The movement of the moment in China is "lying flat," which advocates for lying down instead of working hard.

Here’s more on why Chinese youth appear to be rejecting a life and work culture of constant competition. 👇insider.com/disenchanted-c…

The Tokyo Games are only ten weeks away, but much of Japan remains under a state of emergency to combat a rise in COVID-19 cases and a slow vaccine rollout.

Citizens are calling for the Games to be canceled, with some protesting in Tokyo’s streets.⬇️ insider.com/japanese-call-… Support from the Japanese people for the Games is waning, as some 370,000 people and counting have signed a Change.org petition asking their government to cancel the Games. insider.com/petition-to-ca…

Japan appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" this month to tackle the country's rising suicide rates. Here’s a thread 👇
insider.com/japan-minister… During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years, particularly among women.
insider.com/japan-more-sui…

Singapore's @ChangiAirport was ranked the world's best airport for the eighth year in a row in 2020.

In the pandemic, it has tried to reinvent itself as a domestic tourist destination. See the photos from a recent visit showing it to be mostly empty insider.com/singapore-jewe… As the world started to lock down in 2020, Singapore, like many other countries, closed its borders to tourists.

And in April and May, during its COVID-19 "circuit-breaker" lockdown, Changi Airport operated at 0.5% of its usual traffic. insider.com/singapore-jewe…