Global Developments and Analysis: Weekly Monitor, 05 October - 11 October 2020

Economic

Dawn breaks on a new age of economic thinking

The deepest economic crises are also crucibles for new economic thinking. The Depression led to Keynesian macroeconomics. The second world war cemented support for the welfare state and the mixed economy. The inflationary 1970s and the oil shocks propelled free-market ideas to power. We should expect the coronavirus pandemic, which amounts to the greatest peacetime economic disruption in living memory, also to lead to big shifts in the consensus on what is good economic policy. To see the direction of change, look to that guardian of economic orthodoxy, the IMF. There is a common theme in its current analyses. They refute what used to be commonplace: that government intervention in the economy, albeit for good causes, must come at a cost in lost efficiency and growth. That does not mean the state needs to be bigger. But it does mean that the public and private sectors have less opposed interests than was assumed for decades in economic policymaking. Click here to read... [2]

Pandemic Hastens Shift to Asset-Light Economy

Value is increasingly derived from digital platforms, software and other intangible investments rather than physical assets and traditional relationships. That trend long evident in the growth of big-tech platforms such as Google and Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., has intensified this year as the pandemic shifts interactions from in-person to virtual. Technology has been facilitating the creation of new business models for decades, Jason Thomas, chief economist at private-equity manager Carlyle Group, writes in a new report, citing taxi companies that don’t own taxis or employ drivers, hospitality companies that own no hotels, and media companies that reach their audience through the internet rather than broadcast licenses, theatres and cable. “The emergence and growth of ‘virtual’ businesses provided conspicuous evidence that, in the digital age, value accrues to ideas, R&D, brands, content, data and human capital—i.e. intangible assets—rather than industrial machinery, factories or other physical assets,” he writes. Click here to read... [3]

The Great Wall (Street) of China

Like JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley in March took majority control of its securities joint venture, increasing its stake from 49 to 51 per cent, with a plan to push for 100 per cent ownership. Last month, Citigroup secured regulatory authorisation to become the first US custody bank in China, allowing it to hold securities on behalf of fund managers in China. That followed the August news that Black Rock had secured the go-ahead to run its own wholly owned mutual fund business in the country and that Vanguard would set up a new regional headquarters in Shanghai. Chinese policymakers are concerned that lending by domestic banks and non-banks is the dominant source of corporate finance. At the same time, there is scope to do more with the mounting savings of middle-class Chinese: there is a gap in the country’s personal finance market between the two traditional extremes of under-the-bed cash-hoarding and wild speculation on single stocks. A more developed insurance and pensions market is another key policy goal. Most of all perhaps, China believes that having friends on Wall St will be a soft-power relaxant of geopolitical tensions. Some see a correlation with the political crackdown on Hong Kong with foreign firms being used as a lever to advance Shanghai’s relative riseClick here to read... [4]

Trump administration announces major H-1B work visa rule changes

The U.S. government has announced several major changes to the H-1B work visa program used primarily by high-skilled immigrants from India and China, including raising the minimum salary requirement and narrowing the definition of "specialty occupations" eligible for the program. The length of visas for certain contract workers will also be shortened from three years to one, among other changes. The rule change, introduced by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labour on Oct 06, is to ensure that hiring H-1B workers does not "worsen the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.”The department estimates that as many as one-third of all H-1B petitions would likely be rejected under the new rule, Ken Cuccinelli, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a news conference. Click here to read... [5]

OECD drafts principles for $100bn global corporate tax revolution

The world’s rich nations have drafted a set of technical principles which would revolutionise the corporate taxation of multinational companies and could raise $100bn in extra tax revenues around the world.The blueprints of the new system are ready to be implemented if political agreement can be reached next year, the OECD said on Oct 12. The Paris-based organisation has sought consensus between more than 135 nations on the reforms, which it said would enable tax authorities to collect up to 4 per cent more corporate tax. The question of whether an international political deal on the tax changes can be struck will be one of the first big tests for the next US president after the election in November; America is the main reason why political progress on a deal has stalled. Click here to read... [6]

EU targets Big Tech with ‘hit list’ facing tougher rules

EU regulators are drawing up a “hit list” of up to 20 large internet companies, likely to include Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and Apple that will be subject to new and far more stringent rules aimed at curbing their market power. Under the plans, large platforms that find themselves on the list will have to comply with tougher regulation than smaller competitors, according to people familiar with the discussions, including new rules that will force them to share data with rivals and an obligation to be more transparent on how they gather information. The move to gain new powers is part of a growing effort in Brussels to force big technology companies to change their business practices without a full investigation or any finding that they have broken existing laws. It follows complaints that the current regulatory regime has resulted in weak and belated action, which has done little to foster competition. Click here to read... [7]

US lawmakers detail Big Tech market abuses and press for reform

A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four big technology companies found they used "killer acquisitions" to smite rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into "oppressive" contracts in the name of profit. The antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee recommended that Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc , Amazon.com and Facebook -- with a combined market value of over $5 trillion -- should not both control and compete in related businesses. The panel's report broadly recommended structural separations but stopped short of saying a specific company should be broken up. The scathing 449-page report - the result of the first such congressional review of the tech industry - suggested expansive changes to antitrust law and described dozens of instances where the companies misused their power. Click here to read... [8]

Looks like China has its own '+1' strategy and Southeast Asia is it

Recent trends point to China adopting its own “+1” strategy. Southeast Asia appears to be at the heart of that approach, particularly for China tech behemoths.Chinese business ventures are not new to the region as large tech giants such as Huawei and Alibaba, have a considerable presence in the region’s markets directly or through affiliates. Just in the first seven months of last year alone, as the trade war with China gained speed, Chinese companies invested approximately US$1.78 billion (S$2.44 billion) into tech start-ups in the region, including Malaysia’s Easy Parcel, Singapore’s live streaming company Bigo and Indonesia’s Tokopedia by Chinese companies. According to fintech firm Refinitiv, this was eight times higher than the same period in 2018. Overall, Chinese investment in the region has almost tripled in value from US$3.5 billion in 2010 US$10.2 billion in 2018, data provided by ASEAN stats shows. Recently, Chinese tech companies such as Bytedance, Alibaba and Tencent have been investing in business initiatives in Singapore. Click here to read... [9]

Hong Kong bankers losing their jobs to mainland Chinese rivals

Hong Kong's home-grown investment bankers are rapidly losing their status as the city's go-to deal makers, supplanted by mainland Chinese rivals who now hold a majority of senior jobs in Asia's biggest financial hub. While the shift has long seemed inevitable given the expanding pool of mainland talent and dominant role of Chinese issuers in Hong Kong, the recent pace of change has jolted even some industry veterans. They say it'spartly explained by a reluctance among Chinese securities firms to hire and promote Hongkongers after anti-government protests rocked the former British colony in 2019. Locals' share of investment banking jobs in the city has slumped to about 30 per cent from 40 per cent two years ago, with 60 per cent of roles now filled by mainlanders and 10 per cent by overseas nationals, according to Robert Walters, a recruiting company. The trend has been similar in the industry's upper echelons, where mainlanders account for more than half of senior roles, estimates from executive search firm Wellesley show. Click here to read... [10]

Top EU court rules member states can’t have unfettered access to phone & internet users’ data in blow to Big Brother tactics

Governments cannot have unrestricted access to phone and internet users' data, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has determined, placing limitations on EU states’ ability to legally carry out bulk data collection. The panel of 15 judges ruled that the indiscriminate and mass collection of telephone, internet and web communications traffic is not compatible with European law. The ECJ said governments could resort to such practices only if they face a “serious threat to national security.” However, even in the extreme circumstances in which bulk data collection is deemed warranted, such surveillance programs should be limited to a period that is “strictly necessary,” the court explained. The decision follows a two-day hearing on the legality of the UK’s bulk data collection program, after it was challenged by watchdog group Privacy International. The court also weighed up the merits of surveillance programs in France and Belgium. Click here to read... [11]

Biggest North Pole mission returns from 'dying Arctic'

Researchers on the world's biggest mission to the North Pole returned to Germany on Oct 12, bringing home devastating proof of a dying Arctic Ocean and warnings of ice-free summers in just decades. The German Alfred Wegener Institute's Polar stern ship returned to the port of Bremerhaven after 389 days spent drifting through the Arctic trapped in ice, allowing scientists to gather vital information on the effects of global warming in the region. Ahead of their return, mission leader Markus Rex told AFP that the team of several hundred scientists from 20 countries have seen for themselves the dramatic effects of global warming on ice in the region considered "the epicentre of climate change. The €140 million (US$165 million) expedition is also bringing back 150TB of data and more than 1,000 ice samples. The team measured more than 100 parameters almost continuously throughout the year and are hoping the information will provide a "breakthrough in understanding the Arctic and climate system", he said.Click here to read... [12]

US, China threats loom darkly over HSBC

HSBC, Europe’s largest bank with massive exposure to China, is caught in the crossfire of the Sino-US trade, tech and now a budding finance war that threatens to torpedo its signature and most profitable businesses based in Hong Kong. On one side, the US has taken aim at HSBC’s Hong Kong operations for verbally supporting Beijing’s imposition of a new national security law the Donald Trump administration says has significantly undermined the financial hub’s autonomy, rights and democracy. On the other, China is threatening to block the bank’s access to the mainland economy – a crucial current and future growth market – for its cooperation with US investigations into Chinese tech giant Huawei’s reputed violation of sanctions on Iran. HSBC is a lender to the Chinese firm. That uncomfortable middle is raising questions about the bank’s future viability in Hong Kong and as a global gateway to the mainland Chinese economy, with some analysts even speculating it could eventually be driven from the city from which it derives its name. Click here to read... [13]

Why Africa needs a new financial system

Debt relief will always fizzle out unless there are also long-term reforms — in governance, the fight against corruption, transparency and the general political framework. However, the causes of debt are older than people think and go back further than independence from the colonial powers, says Toby Green, lecturer in African history at King's College, London. "For five centuries, Africa's relationship with capital has put it in a very disadvantageous position when it comes to its relationship with credit," Green told DW, adding that unlike in Western countries, credit to Africa has always been externally provided."Ghana, which is one of the wealthier countries in West Africa, spends five times as much on debt repayments than on its health care system," Green said. "If Ghana were able to source its credit from within a pan-African banking institution, the terms at which it did make those payments might very materially affect the way it was able to balance those obligations with social obligations within Ghana." Click here to read... [14]

Libya’s oil industry lifts force majeure on its biggest oilfield

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has announced it is ending force majeure on the Sharara oilfield, the nation’s largest deposit, marking another milestone for the recovery of the country’s oil production.In a statement released on Oct 11, the NOC said it has instructed the operator of the south-western field, Acacus, to start production arrangements, taking into consideration public safety and process safety standards. The corporation which operates Libya’s energy sector said that the move follows an agreement with the Petroleum Facilities Guard. According to the NOC, the group pledged to ensure that there would be no “security breaches.” The NOC previously ended force majeure on the deposit in early June, but it was closed again shortly thereafter. The war-torn country sits on the biggest oil reserves in Africa and can pump out around 1.2 billion barrels a day. While ramping up oil exports will ease the strain on the Libyan economy, with lost nearly $10 billion in revenue due the energy infrastructure blockade, the extra supply may become another problem for the global oil market.Oil prices tumbled this year as demand fell due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Click here to read... [15]

WFP chief: Nobel Prize message to world not to forget Sahel

The head of the World Food Program said winning the Nobel Peace Prize while he was visiting the impoverished and war-weakened Sahel was a message to the world that it should not forget the region. WFP Executive Director David Beasley spoke to reporters during a brief stop in Burkina Faso on Oct 09, shortly after the agency won the Peace Prize for fighting hunger at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has driven millions more people to the brink of starvation. "The fact that I was in the Sahel when we received the announcement is really a message from above that, hey world with all the things going on around the world today please don't forget about the people in the Sahel!" said Beasley, who was in neighbouring Niger when he heard the news. "Please don't forget about the people that are struggling and dying from starvation." Click here to read... [16]

Strategic

Quad ministers agree to meet once a year

Foreign ministers from the Quad nations -- the US, Japan, India and Australia -- gathered on Oct 06 for their first in-person talks in over a year and agreed to hold regular meetings.The four countries' top diplomats, who last met in September 2019 in New York, will seek to meet once a year. The Tokyo talks came during a shortened visit to Asia by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who told Nikkei he wants to formalize and potentially broaden the quadrilateral security dialogue. "As partners in this Quad, it is more critical now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the CCP's exploitation, corruption and coercion," Pompeo said in remarks before the meeting, accusing China's Communist Party of a cover-up that worsened the coronavirus pandemic. Click here to read... [17]

Iran is building a massive energy network to boost its geopolitical influence

Tehran’s plan to connect Iraq, Jordan, and several GCC states including Saudi Arabia to its grid could be a powerful move to expand its influence in the entire region. It is no coincidence that just over a month after Israel and the United Arab Emirates declared that they would normalise relations and Israel and Bahrain did the same, Iraq has announced that it has signed a contract with Jordan to connect the electric power grids of the two countries. By extension, this will provide a direct link between Jordan and Iraq’s key regional sponsor, Iran, which recently signed a two-year deal with Iraq to supply it with electricity, the longest such deal signed between the two countries. The last piece of this game-changing regional networking operation is that just before the announcement of the Iraq-Jordan network deal, Jordan also announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia to lay out the framework of joint cooperation to connect the electric power grids of these two countries. Click here to read... [18]

Trump hits all of Iran's financial sector with sanctions

The Trump administration has blacklisted virtually all of Iran's financial sector, dealing another blow to an economy that is already reeling under U.S. sanctions. The move will deepen tensions with European nations and others over Iran. Oct 08's move hits 18 Iranian banks that had thus far escaped the bulk of re-imposed U.S. sanctions and, more importantly, subjects foreign, non-Iranian financial institutions to penalties for doing business with them. Thus, it effectively cuts them off from the international financial system. The action targets 16 Iranian banks for their role in the country's financial sector, one bank for being owned or controlled by another sanctioned Iranian bank and one military-affiliated bank, US Treasury said in a statement. Some of them had been covered by previous designations but Oct 08's move places them all under the same authority covering Iran's entire financial sector. Click here to read... [19]

EU deals blow to Turkey’s membership bid, saying talks ‘effectively at standstill’

The EU’s executive has said that Turkey’s inability to maintain democracy and safeguard human rights remain barriers to its membership of the 27-member bloc. Ankara criticized the report as ‘far from constructive. On Oct 06, the European Commission released its annual report on the country, and in a summary warned that “accession negotiations have effectively come to a standstill. The scathing 115-page “Turkey 2020 Report” was published on Oct 06 amid Ankara’s tense standoff with Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean. “Turkey has continued to move further away from the European Union with serious backsliding in the areas of democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and the independence of the judiciary,” a summary statement of the report read. The publication outlined serious criticisms of NATO ally Turkey, which began EU membership negotiations in 2005. Click here to read... [20]

Turkey begins to rival China in military drones

Since the end of September, Turkish and Azerbaijani media are abuzz with videos showing armed drones attacking Armenian forces located inside the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave belonging to Azerbaijan but governed by breakaway ethnic Armenians. Turkey had previously relied on Israeli drones in its fight against the separatist Kurdish armed group. But from the mid-2010s, it began producing its own after the U.S. rejected to sell armed drones to Turkey. The new drones were field-tested in the fight against Kurdish militants in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, as well as in Eastern Mediterranean-related reconnaissance missions. Turkey's drones begin to be recognized after its armed forces started sharing videos of its drone attacks. Footage of Baykar's TB-2 drones destroying several Russian-made Pantsir missile defense systems in Syria and Libya this year increased their global visibility. Britain's Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace said in July at an online conference that Turkish drones in Syria and Libya are "game-changing."Click here to read... [21]

Pyongyang shows off BRAND NEW intercontinental ballistic missile during military parade, according to experts

The North Korean military has showcased a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile during Oct 10’s military parade, one which experts say is larger than any previously demonstrated weapon of its type. Four ICBMs of the new variety were carried by 11-axle erector-launcher vehicles, and they may be the new weapon system whose existence was hinted at by the North Korean government in December last year. The projectiles appeared to be a larger version of the Hwasong-15, the ICBM which had its first test in November 2017. That test sparked security fears, as experts suggested its indicated range placed continental US within striking capability. No additional details about the new missile’s capabilities were immediately offered by Pyongyang. Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, who delivered a speech during the event, didn’t mention the US at all. He did, however, pledge to further build up the country’s deterrence capabilities. Click here to read... [22]

Sri Lanka turns to China rather than IMF to avoid default

Sri Lanka's ultranationalist government looks set to receive a financial lifeline from China rather than an International Monetary Fund bailout to avoid defaulting on foreign debts, affirming the Asian giant as lender of the last resort to the strategically located South Asian island nation. Sri Lanka's preference for China is tied to the country's complex history with the multilateral lender in Washington D.C. Colombo has needed IMF bailouts 16 times over the past 55 years. That places it second only to Pakistan, which has gone to the IMF 20 times -- making it the most IMF-dependent of the world's debt-strapped nations. Only nine of the 16 IMF programs in Sri Lanka were completed. Sri Lanka last went to the IMF in 2016 during the right-of-center coalition government that preceded the incumbent Rajapaksa government. It sought a $1.5 billion extended fund facility, which came to an abrupt end with the new administration produced by elections in November. Click here to read... [23]

US rush to Bangladesh revs up economic race with China

The U.S. has ratcheted up economic diplomacy with Bangladesh, holding its first high-level dialogue virtually and signing an open sky agreement in Dhaka as part of Washington's blueprint to challenge China's presence in the region. Regardless of the ongoing presidential campaign, the U.S. is rushing to counter China's growing clout in South Asia, with its Indo-Pacific strategy seen as a key pillar of foreign policy, no matter who is in the White House. The dialogue was held virtually on Sept. 30, in which Keith Krach, U.S. undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, agreed to ask American companies to invest in Bangladesh's energy, IT, pharmaceutical and agriculture sectors. The virtual dialogue coincided with the inking of an air service agreement in Dhaka on the same day, which paves the way for direct flights between Bangladesh and the U.S. under Washington's Open Skies policy that came into force on Oct 07. Click here to read... [24]

Japan Inc. caught in dilemma in US decoupling campaign

The Japanese business community is split over the question of economic security. While Yoshiyuki Kasai, honorary chairman of Central Japan Railway, who is close to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has a stern view on China, the Keidanren's Nakanishi said, "I differ in opinion from Mr. Kasai because I believe Japan and China, separated by only a narrow strip of water, should get along. So, how will the Japanese government and private sector will react to the U.S.-China decoupling? Many business leaders say the current situation has prompted them to recall a scandal more than 30 years ago, involving Toshiba Machine's violation of rules set by the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM). During the Cold War, 17 countries, led by the U.S., Britain and France and including Japan, set up the committee to control the export of strategic materials and technology to the communist world.COCOM even checked whether commercial products had dual uses and could be used for military purposes, and adopted a "commercial list" to restrict technology transfers to the communist bloc. Click here to read... [25]

US and Japan to start contentious talks over host-nation support

Japan and the U.S. are set to begin a twice-a-decade negotiation over host-nation support -- Tokyo's share of the cost of hosting American troops -- amid unprecedented pressure from the Trump administration for allies to pay more. Senior foreign and defence ministry officials from the two countries are slated to meet by videoconference as early as this week. Up for discussion is the burden sharing for the five-year period beginning in fiscal 2021, with the aim being to reach a new deal by year-end. Under the current cost-sharing agreement, which lasts until March 2021, Japan is paying a total of 946.5 billion yen ($8.98 billion), averaging out to about $1.8 billion a year. But U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring American allies to contribute more financially.Click here to read... [26]

Azerbaijan, Armenia report shelling of cities despite truce

Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of attacking large cities overnight in violation of the cease-fire deal brokered by Russia that seeks to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Azerbaijani authorities said on Oct 11 that nine civilians have been killed and over 30 wounded after Armenian forces fired missiles overnight on Ganja, Azerbaijan's second-largest city, and hit a residential building. According to Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's office, the city of Mingachevir also came under missile attacks early on Oct 11. Nagorno-Karabakh's military officials on Oct 11 denied attacking Ganja and said the territory's army is observing the cease-fire. They added that Azerbaijani forces shelled Stepanakert, the region's capital, and other towns during the night in violation of the truce. Click here to read... [27]

‘No deadlock:’ Afghan officials deny talks impasse on one-month anniversary

Kabul officials on Oct 11 said that negotiations with the Taliban had not reached a stalemate, despite both sides disagreeing on a mechanism for the crucial intra-Afghan talks that end in a month.“One month on since the talks began in Qatar, we have not been able to agree (on the road map for the talks), yes; however the key part is that we still talk formally and informally,” Nader Nadery, a government-appointed negotiator told Arab News from Doha, Qatar on Oct 11.“None of us (the Taliban and government teams) have said that ‘we have stopped meeting and we will not meet,’ that has not happened, and we are working to meet soon,” he said. Click here to read... [28]

Japan to launch 3 electronic warfare units in East China Sea

Japan will establish three electronic defense units on islands facing the East China Sea by March 2022, bolstering the country's ability to monitor and respond to Chinese military activity in the waters. From communications and radar systems to infrared-guided missiles, armed forces rely heavily on electromagnetic waves. Japan's electronic defences are designed to jam those signals by emitting waves of the same frequencies used by their opponents.Japan has one such unit on the northern island of Hokkaido established against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Defense Ministry plans to create seven more, including a roughly 80-member unit in the southern prefecture of Kumamoto to launch by March 2021 and a new unit in Hokkaido. Five will be in southwestern Japan closer to China, of which three will be divided between Okinawa Island and Amami Oshima. Japan is concentrating the new electronic capabilities on its southern islands in part to gather information on Beijing's increasing activities in the East China Sea. Click here to read... [29]

Medical

Beijing joins WHO-backed COVAX program to support initiative against ‘vaccine nationalism’

China has become the 170th country to join the COVAX vaccine facility, which supports equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines to both rich and poor countries. “China just signed an agreement with Gavi, the vaccine alliance, officially joining COVAX,” Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted on Oct 09. She said Beijing will “uphold the concept of a shared community of health for all.” The coronavirus pandemic still poses a threat to people in all countries, the spokesperson noted, adding that “China continues to focus on ensuring that developing countries have equal access to appropriate, safe and effective vaccines.” Beijing decided to join COVAX despite the fact that it’s already “leading the world with several vaccines at advanced stages of R&D and with ample production capacity,” Hua added, and the move shows Beijing accommodates the interests of other countries she explained. China will be procuring vaccines via the global COVAX program for one percent of its population. Click here to read... [30]

Hong Kong scientists say drug used to treat stomach ulcers successful against coronavirus

An affordable anti-microbial drug used to treat stomach ulcers and bacterial infections has shown promise in combatting the coronavirus in animals, scientists in Hong Kong announced on Oct 12. Researchers set out to explore whether metallodrugs - compounds containing metal that are more commonly used against bacteria - might also have anti-viral properties that could fight the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Using Syrian hamsters as tests subjects, they found that one of the drugs, ranitidine bismuth citrate (RBC), was "a potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 agent". "RBC is able to lower the viral load in the lung of the infected hamster by 10-fold," Hong Kong University researcher Runming Wang told reporters on Oct 12 as the team presented their study. Click here to read... [31]

What’s being done about mask and glove pollution?

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a new form of waste that is not easy to handle. Take masks, which are made up of three elements – the “fabric” part, the metal strip for pinching on the nose, and the elastic bands. Here lies the first complication, as the different materials cannot be recycled together. What is more, the protective part is not actually made of fabric, but of a plastic called polypropylene. As for the gloves, at best they are made of natural latex; at worst they are also plastic and give rise to the same problems as masks as they decompose. Environmental groups have been sounding the alarm for several months now. In February Oceans Asia published the first shocking pictures of beaches strewn with pandemic-related debris near Hong Kong. In Europe, teams from Opérationmer propre (Operation Clean Sea), founded by diver Laurent Lombard, were the first to find signs of this pollution on the French Mediterranean coast. The association continues to publicize the growing ecological impact of the coronavirus crisis. Click here to read... [32]