| Hello from Tokyo. This week's Big Story is, to me, a gloomy one. While the whole world pays attention to Ukraine, deadly terrorism continues to be exported from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Nikkei Asia and Adnan Aamir, the author of this week's Big Story, have been reporting on the Jan. 30 suicide blast at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan. But even in an Asian country like Japan, major news outlets appear less than enthusiastic about covering the tragedy. Looking back to Aug. 15, 2021, the day the Taliban entered Kabul, Pakistan's then-President Imran Khan praised the event as the Taliban "breaking the chains of slavery." Yet a year and seven months later, terrorist attacks in Pakistan are at a four-year high. According to the World Bank database, Pakistan had a population of 231 million in 2021, making it the fifth-most populous nation after China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia. It is locked in a territorial dispute with India over Kashmir, and both countries possess nuclear weapons. Any political or social instability in Pakistan therefore poses a potential global risk of considerable size. For these and other reasons, Pakistan merits a close watch, and we will keep reporting on developments there, including the coming general election. In Business Spotlight, Hong Kong correspondent Cissy Zhou writes about popular social media app TikTok. CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce on March 23. This is a developing story, so please stay tuned. One thing I'd like to add is that relations between China's big tech players and Beijing have not been very friendly, contrary to what many in the West may believe. The crackdown on Alibaba founder Jack Ma is a good example. Another service of TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance, Jinri Toutiao, has been banned or blocked many times for distributing content that Beijing deems bad for society. As I see it, such Chinese platforms have the power to change society, for better or for worse, and they pose potential risks for the Communist Party as well. Asia Insight this week looks at Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s plan to establish the country's first sovereign wealth fund, the Maharlika Investment Fund. Asia has its fair share of "good" examples, such as GIC and Temasek of Singapore, and perhaps a bad one -- the graft-laden Malaysian fund 1MDB. As an expert points out in the story, governance will be key to the fund's success -- or failure. Market Spotlight focuses on China's revamped financial regulation, unveiled at this year's National People's Congress. A new agency called the National Financial Regulatory Administration is under direct Communist Party control and represents a strengthening of the party's centralization. Our readers might also enjoy Katsuji Nakazawa's China Up Close feature, "Heavyweight Xi Jinping gives himself a lightweight cabinet," for wrap-up coverage of this year's national congress. I have no doubt that some of our readers plan to watch the latest Oscar-winning films in theaters this weekend. This year's Academy Awards were epoch-making for Asia. We have original stories from Kuala Lumpur and Chennai on best actress winner Michelle Yeoh and best documentary short winner "The Elephant Whisperers." Dance hit "Naatu Naatu" from the Indian blockbuster "RRR" won best original song, and Vietnam-born Ke Huy Quan won the award for best supporting actor. I am extremely happy that the academy chose to recognize the accomplishments of Asian women such as Yeoh, director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga. For those interested in Asian women in the film industry in general and Bollywood in particular, I once again recommend our annual International Women's Day Big Story, published last week. I also recommend Yeoh's 2000 martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." It is simply good entertainment and sure to please. "Crazy Rich Asians," which Yeoh also stars in, is another fun one. | 
