Search Results for: South Africa

Transparency International (TI) has warned that “conflict creates opportunities for corruption and subverts governments’ efforts to stop it” when unveiling its 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on January 31, scoring 180 countries worldwide on perceived levels of public sector corruption from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) with the average 43.…

Caribbean island states are looking to harness their natural advantage in bounteous sunlight to expand solar power, boosting their energy independence, while reducing the cost of energy as gas and oil prices rise. Even in oil and gas-rich Trinidad & Tobago, consumers have been feeling the energy pinch, facing increases in their electricity bills in 2023.…

Researchers at the University of Sherbrooke, in Québec, supported by CMC Microsystems, are helping build sensors to detect ‘dark matter’ – the unknown substance that scientists think makes up about 27% of the universe. That, combined with the equally undetectable dark energy (68% of the universe says physics research centre CERN), can be inferred by its gravitational pull on stars and planets.…

Brazil’s economy has been either contracting or sluggish for the last decade, but the country’s strong dairy sector hopes this year could be different. With a new President in charge of the most populous South American nation since January 1, business leaders say exports could revive the industry, even if the local market continues to be in poor shape.…

The agreement of the first two International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards may help new tech-based data networks unlock capital and investment flows to smaller businesses and especially in emerging markets, a symposium in Montréal, Canada, has been told.

A panel of development experts speaking at the event on Friday (Feb 17) noted how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning-based data platforms can mesh with digitised smaller businesses, helping entice investors seeking sustainable opportunities.…

China’s Zhongguancun Inspection, Testing and Certification Industry Technology Alliance has released a standard to promote Chinese conformity with European Union’s (EU) REACH chemical control regulation in the automotive industry. The standard proposes REACH-compliant restrictions on REACH-regulated automotive chemicals, including paints and coatings.…

As regulators in jurisdictions worldwide prepare to pass laws making sustainability reporting mandatory for listed companies, the auto sector will need to reassess detailed environmental and social standards already developed by standard setting bodies.

That is the case for the US-owned and based auto sector, especially foreign companies making autos in the US and American companies with plants overseas.…

US and Ireland-based autonomous vehicle (AV) technology supplier Aptiv is one of many AV initiatives using the Asian city state of Singapore as a testbed for such vehicles, related sensors and relevant electronic components. The country’s proactivity on AVs has led to four generations of autonomous vehicles being approved for eventual use by Singapore transport authorities, which include models from Audi and BMW.…

A desire to contribute to nation-building and improve standards of universities within Somalia is luring Somali intellectuals to return home to work in academia.

Professor Abdullahi Barise, the founding president of the City University of Mogadishu, said his institutions and others were welcoming this increasing number of foreign-educated Somalia lecturers and professors.…

Brazil’s biofuel industry is putting pressure on the country’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to make significant reversals to the laissez-faire policies implemented by his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro to boost the domestic market in 2023. The sector is concerned about a sluggish economy, which the OECD says will grow just 1.2% in 2023 (inflation stands at 5.77% – January figures).…