Chinese legerdemain

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — As Italy's economy was heading off a cliff, police couldn't help but notice that the country's Chinese communities were booming. Luxury cars rolled past Chinese betting parlors and garment factories. Chinese immigrants were buying up Italian coffee bars and real estate. Their prosperity, however, was not reflected in local tax records.

"What do they do with the money?" said Pietro Suchan, then deputy public prosecutor in Florence. "Do they eat it?"

The U.S., among others, is for sale and the Chinese appear to be buying.

And what's not for sale might be more easily stolen:

U.S. officials said hackers in Chinalaunched a massive cyberattack on the federal agency responsible for collecting background information on, and issuing security clearances for millions of government employees.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said Thursday as many as 4 million current and former federal employees may have been affected. It said that number could go higher as the investigation continues.