Archive

RESEARCH led by the Egmont Group has uncovered computer and other digital device keywords that can warn law enforcement and financial institutions that transactions might be associated with online child sex abuse.

Participating 19 FIU members of the group and Interpol have shared keywords flagging that individuals maybe paying for child sex images, recorded videos or even live streaming of abuse.…

From sustainability to flammability, anti-viral protection to anti-corrosion, the potential applications of nanocoatings in the aerospace industry are “nearly endless,” say researchers who have noticed a sharp uptick in their use. This is particularly in relation to space missions and technologies.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is mandating new labelling laws for bespoke paints sold in the European Union (EU), “formulated in limited amounts on a tailor-made basis for an individual consumer or professional user at the point of sale by tinting or colour mixing.”…

LATIN America has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic – with Chile, Peru, Brazil and Colombia in the top-20 of countries regarding cases per million people – and its paint and coatings market and industry has faced a similarly rough ride.…

International efforts are stepping up to scope and map what it will take to wean chemical manufacturing off its high dependence on oil and gas feedstock for chemicals that are then used to make plastics, fertilisers and other important products.

Options include using building-block raw materials from biomass instead of fossil-fuel feedstock; boosting the yield of chemicals for a given quantity of feedstock; and, applying advanced recovery and recycling technologies in circular economy approaches.…

A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel will assess whether import restrictions created by the European Union (EU) to reduce the use of carbon-intensive biofuels comply with global trading rules.

The Indonesian government is challenging portions of the EU’s renewable energy directive (RED) linked to EU guidance limiting the indirect land use change (ILUC) of biofuel feedstock cultivation.…

The Internet has hardly developed a reputation for honesty, but blockchain technologies where different computers log transactions in separate units, connected to a web of entries (blocks), are tough to falsify.

Of course, blockchain’s most high-profile use has been to underpin the reliability of cryptocurrencies, but the principle of this unchangeable and autonomous web of ledgers has so many potential uses – the tobacco sector has been exploring them.…

Switzerland may be a small country of 8.5 million people, with an area of 41,285 km², 60% of which is mountainous, but its paint and varnish industry is substantial and growing, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, it helps that Switzerland is rich.…

Cigarette sales could be boosted by the growing challenges faced by vaping products, according to senior figures from the industry speaking to TJI. Certainly, the days when vaping products received a relatively clear pass in marketing restrictions are over in some jurisdictions.…

Malawi is set to reopen its universities and colleges on September 7, with a phased re-launch, the country’s new education minister Agnes Nyalonje has announced in the capital Lilongwe, ending a six-month lockdown forced by Covid-19. The first students to be readmitted physically to Malawi’s higher education facilities will be students who are approaching final examinations, with other students being readmitted from September 28, although the exact timetable will need to be approved case-by-case by the education ministry.…