(Bloomberg) -- So, the markets finally got the two things they were hoping for — a sign that US inflation is peaking and an real indication that China’s Covid Zero is easing. Global stocks and commodities popped to celebrate and the dollar finally had a bad week.  Though not as bad as Sam Bankman-Fried.

China’s sweeping changes to its Covid policy, including a reduction in quarantines for those exposed to the virus, stoked rallies in risk assets globally even as new cases of the virus rose to the highest in a year in Beijing. But it's unclear whether this is a first big step toward dismantling the crippling strategy and living with Covid like the rest of the world, or just an attempt to make rules more sustainable long term. The uncertainty has done nothing to quell the wild swings in China’s markets as nervous traders and speculators, afraid of missing out on a rally, pile into shares with a frenzy on each glimmer at the end of the tunnel.

At the same time, the sudden evaporation of Bankman-Fried’s $16 billion fortune along with his crypto exchange FTX.com is likely to continue sending aftershocks through the cryptosphere, another market not for the faint-hearted. His digital-asset empire filed for bankruptcy, capping the downfall of one of crypto’s wealthiest and most influential moguls, and both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are looking into the matter. Here’s what happened to investors who tried to get their money back.

The rollercoaster ride is enough to make you hide in a box. Which, in Japan, you can do. After Tokyo pulled down its weird and iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower earlier this year, a fan of the building managed to save a handful of the tiny dwellings and is busy restoring them. Find out how you can get one. 

Recycling is also the theme of one of our Big Takes this week, which looks at what really happens to your used plastic bottle once you drop it into the recycling bin. This investigation in Thailand uncovers the toxic truth about the global garbage trade and why, despite a tide of protests from residents in the poor nations that are being swamped with trash, the flood of First World waste is hard to stop.

Other arrivals from the developed world causing tensions this week include planeloads of government delegations and heads of state as Southeast Asia begins its two weeks in the global political spotlight with a clutch of conferences, summits and regional tours. As APEC wraps up in Bangkok, the light shines on Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum in Singapore before turning its full glare on Bali for the G-20, where US President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to hold their first face-to-face summit. That’s good news for the Island of the Gods, one of the world’s most famous tourism destinations, which is finally coming back to life.

China-US tensions are not the only hegemonic struggle in the region, though, which explains why Asia’s richest man ended up on a remote shoreline in Sri Lanka. Read about what he’s doing there.

Others are also enjoying the chance to travel now that tourism destinations are open again, though not all of them are telling their bosses. Enjoy a relaxing weekend and read about the stealth workers, employees who are lying to their employers about where they are, so they can travel the world while pretending to work from home.

 

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