Quartz

Former World Bank leaders were implicated in fudging China’s global ranking. An outside review found the bank’s ex-CEO (and current IMF chief) Kristalina Georgieva and ex-president Jim Yong Kim played a role in artificially boosting Beijing in the 2018 Doing Business report, which the bank will no longer produce.

Italy says all workers must use its Covid-19 health pass… Starting Oct. 15, failing to do so could result in fines or job suspension. Meanwhile, 3,000 unvaccinated French health workers were suspended without pay.

…while China says it hit a major Covid-19 vaccine milestone. One billion people—72% of the population—have been fully vaccinated, according to health officials.

The EU allocated €30 billion ($35 million) for its new health crisis agency. The bloc formed the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority to better prepare for the next emergency.

China applied to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s successor. The regional trade agreement was initially conceived as a way to counter Beijing’s influence in the region, but the US withdrew in 2017.

KPMG settled a 1MDB lawsuit. The audit firm will pay Malaysia $80 million, far less than the $5.6 billion the government had initially sought for KPMG’s alleged negligence during the fund’s corruption scandal.

It’s been a trying year for Chinese tech giant Alibaba, which holds its annual general meeting on Friday.

Shares have fallen nearly 50% since October, when its ecommerce operations were soaring. But since then, Chinese tech firms have fallen under regulatory scrutiny, and as one of the nation’s most prominent companies, the hammer has come down hard on Alibaba. In November, regulators suspended the IPO of Ant Group, Alibaba’s fintech subsidiary, and in April, Alibaba itself was fined 18 billion yuan ($2.8 billion). The once ubiquitous Jack Ma, Alibaba’s billionaire founder, disappeared for months, and has kept a low profile since.

After decades of unprecedented ergonomic growth, China is in the midst of an extraordinary reshuffling of its national priorities. Excessive wealth is now under attack, and industries from education to video games to casinos are feeling the heat. All of which could make the meeting a tense affair.

Steel prices have 📈
Though iron ore costs are 📉.
What’s China up to?

The futures price for one ton of hot-rolled coil steel is roughly $1,923, up from $615 last September. Meanwhile, the price of iron ore—the most important ingredient of the steel business—has sunk more than 40% since the middle of July.

A number of factors account for the high prices of steel futures, but China, which manufactures 57% of the world’s steel, also plans to shrink its output this year, and that is simultaneously acting on the markets for both steel and iron ore. Read more.

As of today, there are fewer than 100 days between now and Christmas. Hanukkah is nearly a full month sooner, on Nov. 28. If you shop for end-of-year holidays, you may remember the cluster of delays that was Holiday Season 2020. We may be closer to the end of the pandemic this year, but brands are already warning consumers about snarled supply chains. Here’s how it all got so complicated:

🦠 March 2020: Covid put the brakes on production, but demand roared back more quickly than manufacturers could keep up with.

🚢 March 2021: The Ever Given overstayed its welcome in the Suez Canal.

😷 June 2021: An outbreak shuttered the fourth-largest shipping port in the world.

🚚 2021 thus far: Not enough people want to drive trucks.

📚Present day: The domino effect has made a whole lot of items hard to come by—and a lot of those items are frequently purchased for holiday presents.

On July 16, food delivery company Zomato went public on India’s two major stock exchanges. By pretty much any metric, it went spectacularly well. ​

The good news comes with a caveat. Until now, Zomato’s been able to operate in several countries, execute a handful of acquisitions, and experiment with new parts of its business away from the limelight. But it continues to operate at a loss, and its co-founder quit just two months after the IPO. As a public company, it’s bound to come under increased scrutiny.

Zomato’s IPO could open new doors for startups in India, and Ananya Bhattacharya tells you everything you need to know in this week’s issue of The Company.

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😎 The SpaceX Inspiration4 mission is cool as hell… but it’s not particularly inspiring.

🤳 The Met’s new fashion exhibit shows just how much Instagram is ruling the industry. The biggest influencer is the platform itself.

💪 Abortion rights are a workplace issue. And business leaders can help move the needle.

✈️ International flight attendants are suing United for discrimination. American colleagues got a better deal during the pandemic, they state.

🏢 France overcame NIMBYism to create affordable housing. The secret? Clear direction from the very top.

🚔 Porn lays bare the fact that financial firms are the creator economy’s new gatekeepers. We interviewed porn actress, model, and columnist Stoya on the perils of her profession.

A Vincent van Gogh drawing was hiding in a private collection. “Study for Worn Out” is on display for the first time at the artist’s eponymous museum in Amsterdam.

A 37-year-old Japanese high school science project turned up in Hawaii… Students in Choshi had thrown glass bottles into the sea in 1984 to study ocean currents.

…and a 2006 fossil discovery by New Zealand campers turned out to be a new giant penguin species. Kairuku waewaeroa stood 1.4 meters (4’7 ft) tall.

Big Tobacco’s next bet is Big Asthma. Marlboro-maker Philip Morris has secured a majority stake in inhaler maker Vectura.

Martian bases could be made from bricks of human blood, sweat, tears, and urine. Well, it’s one idea.

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