Search Results for: South Africa

INTRODUCTION

Quantum computers were once the stuff of science fiction, the technology that was always 10 years away from fruition. But now they are real and operating. Google last October announced it had developed a device of 53-qubits (quantum computers’ ability to express a signal), nicknamed Sycamore, which it claimed in a Nature article [1] took 200 seconds to sample one instance of a quantum circuit a million times, which the IT major claimed would take 10,000 years for a state-of-the-art digital supercomputer to achieve.…

Unsettling images of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or pristine tropical beaches desecrated with debris have promoted the trend for plastics-free goods across a wide range of economic sectors, including nonwovens, pressuring industries and policymakers to respond to the problem.…

THE ASIA-Pacific region, even one-party states such as China, have developed legal protections for whistleblowers, although the comprehensive protection more commonly found in Europe is still usually absent.

South Korea is one jurisdiction leading the pack on developing robust whistleblower protections.…

An Egyptian state-owned holding group is to build the world’s largest spinning factory, set to open in 2022, a key part of the country’s drive to modernise its textile and garment industry.

“It will have 182,000 spindles under one roof. Daily capacity will be 30 tonnes of fine yarn from Egyptian cotton, with average thread count 116 and a maximum count of 200,” Dr Ahmed Mostafa, chairman of the Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning, Weaving and Garments, told just-style.…

Two former Iraq managers for Monaco-based energy major Unaoil were convicted July 13 in Southwark Crown Court, London of paying over USD500,000 in bribes to officials at the Iraqi South Oil Company to clinch a USD55 million contract for offshore mooring buoys.…

The Indian  knitwear industry, a sector that exported USD7.5 billion’s worth of apparel in the financial year ending March 2020, according to the country’s directorate general of foreign trade, is undergoing severe stress induced by the Covid-19 related lockdown and resulting collapsing demand.…

THE ASIA nonwovens sector has been reaping the benefits of booming demand for protective medical materials during the Covid-19 crisis. But like the pandemic, this roaring demand will end, and nonwovens producers need to ready to a post-Covid-19 market.

This will mean reining in growth, but as David Price, founding partner of US-based management consultancy specialising in nonwovens Price Hanna Consultants, said, with regional nonwovens sales per person still low in global terms, the “market penetration for disposable and durable nonwovens in southeast Asia and China” is likely to grow regardless.…

Enormous forces act on renewable energy system’s mechanical parts when generating power from wind and water. Between the smooth operation and potential loss of multi-million-dollar investments stand gear lubricants. Lubricants are also needed for the hydraulics that pitch the blades a few degrees every time the wind, or the water current, changes. …

As Syria enters its 10th year of civil conflict, the economy is in tatters, foreign currency is in short supply, and sanctions have not only been renewed, the USA has introduced new secondary sanctions. Illicit crime and sanctions busting abounds.

In May (2020), the USA issued further guidance on Syria, while the European Union (EU) extended its sanctions on Syria for a further year, to 1 June 2021.…

With Nigeria continuing its lockdown closure of education institutions into late June, the country’s private universities are continuing to develop online learning, while many public universities are waiting for their physical facilities to reopen before restarting services. Access to such buildings by essential staff have eased from June 2, with Nigerian government loosening a nationwide curfew from 8pm and 6am, which will now be in force from 10pm to 4am until June 29.…