At the beginning of 1997, Malaysia appeared to be one of the world’s great success stories. Economic growth had topped 9 percent in eight of the previous nine years (and was 8.9 percent in the other one). Foreign investment had been pouring in. The world’s tallest building had just topped off in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and a spectacular new ...

Enron Corp. is long gone, but the scandal it left behind in India has beguiled the country’s lenders for almost two decades. However, if the bankers who financed the US energy company’s unviable power plant in Maharashtra state aren’t ruing that 2,000-megawatt debacle any more, it’s only because they’re now staring at a mess 20 times bigger. India’s total electricity-generation ...

The fortunes of iPhone suppliers are looking strong. First-quarter earnings at Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. show that Apple Inc.’s chief product assembler pumped $2 billion more into its supply chain than a year earlier. Weak iPhone sales can’t be blamed for Hon Hai’s net income slipping 15 percent and missing estimates, because they weren’t weak. Revenue at the Taiwanese ...