The COP29 Summit in Baku has approved the key rules that would govern trade in carbon credits. A UN-backed global carbon market is likely to begin next year or so. Despite the BASIC grouping’s demand that discussions on ‘climate change-related, trade-restrictive unilateral measures’ like Europe's CBAM should be included in the main agenda, it was decided that CBAM would be discussed informally.

India recently imposed an anti-dumping duty (ADD) of up to $557 per tonne on epichlorohydrin imports from China, South Korea and Thailand for five years, the department of revenue said in a notification. The chemical is primarily used in the adhesive industry. The duty was imposed as the chemical was exported to India from these countries at prices below normal.

ICE cotton futures saw a slight rebound after recent lows, capped by a stronger dollar. Traders have shifted focus to the March 2025 contract, with trading volume remaining high. Crude oil's recovery offset earlier price declines, easing polyester costs. Other agricultural commodities showed mixed trends. Traders await the USDA export sales report, with attention on Chinese demand.

The US headline business activity net balance fell to 30 per cent in October from 41 per cent in June and was the lowest for two years, an S&P Global survey found. Despite this, firms were still more optimistic than the global average net balance of 24 per cent. Inflation expectations were a bit above the global average. At 37 per cent, the manufacturing net balance was the highest for a year.

India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation rate rose to 2.36 per cent in October 2024, up from 1.84 per cent in September, largely driven by increased prices in food items, manufacturing, machinery, and motor vehicles. The WPI index rose to 156.1, with manufacturing products increasing to 142.5. Primary articles saw a 2.35 per cent rise, while fuel and power decreased by 0.27 per cent.

The informal textile waste management system in Bangladesh needs to be formalised to align with the EU sustainability regulations and averting political-economic tension and labour unrest, experts have said. A government official called for technology transfer, financing and a national strategy for textile circularity. The next five years would be crucial, the EU Delegation to Bangladesh said.

Heimtextil 2025 expands its Carpets & Rugs segment with new halls and over 300 exhibitors, featuring a Belgian Textiles area by Fedustria. Highlights include a Carpet Lounge by Cover Magazine, expert talks on trends, AI in design, and sustainability, plus guided tours. The event, showcasing global innovations and partnerships, runs from 14-17 January, 2025, in Frankfurt.

TESTEX has launched the TESTEX MICROPLASTIC label, setting a new standard for reducing textile microplastic emissions. Using advanced LDIR technology, the label certifies textiles tested for particle emissions per ISO standards. As a member of The Microfibre Consortium, TESTEX collaborates on reducing fibre fragmentation, sharing data to support sustainability goals by 2030.

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025, set for October in Singapore, has nearly sold out its 60,000 sqm exhibition space with strong interest from 731 global tech providers. The event, supported by CEMATEX and CTMA, will showcase innovations tailored for Asia’s growing textile hubs. Key sectors include finishing, spinning, and knitting, highlighting sustainable tech and automation trends.

October US container imports were 2,494,635 TEUs, marking the fourth month in a row of volumes exceeding 2.4 million TEUs, a threshold that has historically strained US maritime logistics, the November Global Shipping Report by Descartes Systems Group noted. For the first ten months of 2024, volumes grew by 13.1 per cent YoY. At seven of the top 10 US ports, transit time delays rose in October.

China’s latest fiscal announcements seem aimed at addressing medium-term structural impediments to economic growth from strained local government finances, but are unlikely to immediately boost or offset deflationary risk, Fitch Ratings said. It expects a budget deficit of 7.1 per cent of GDP this year. It believes fiscal stimulus will remain incremental and responsive to downside risks.

Suominen Corporation has reported Q3 2024 net sales of €111.6 million (~$120.53 million), up from €106.4 million YoY. The company suffered a net loss of €3.2 million (~$3.4 million) due to operational challenges. YTD sales reached €343.8 million (~$370.9 million), and the company expects a full-year EBITDA increase. Sustainability efforts earned Suominen a Gold Medal from EcoVadis.

Global cotton markets saw slight declines and stabilisation in recent weeks, with NY/ICE December futures trading between 67–75 cents/lb since June, now at 71 cents/lb. The global A Index dipped from 85 to 83 cents, while China's index dropped from 101 to 97 cents due to a weaker yuan. Indian and Pakistani spot prices also declined, but both rupees remained stable against the dollar.

The 2024 Laureus Sport for Good Index honours brands advancing the 17 SDGs through sport, highlighting impactful initiatives that address key social and ecological issues. Head of Partnerships Astin Ewington emphasises the Index’s role in showcasing sport's power to drive positive change, inspiring more brands to use sport as a platform for meaningful, sustainable impact.

Burberry has introduced its first virtual scarf try-on experience in its ‘Wrapped in Burberry’ holiday campaign. Partnering with AR provider WANNA, the immersive experience lets customers view iconic Burberry scarves in real-time, with over 50 styles and two classic options. Available online and in select stores, customers can share images and directly access product pages for purchases.

Valmet has expanded its IQ Quality Control System by launching four new measurements for raw material components, colour, and ash content. These innovations help optimise resource usage, reduce carbon footprints, and improve product quality. The new measurements include IQ Transmission Spectrum, IQ Reflection Spectrum, IQ Color, and IQ Total X-ray.

Web Industries will showcase its nonwoven materials solutions for medical, personal care, and home care markets at Hygienix 2024, held November 18-21 in Nashville. The company will highlight its slitting, spooling, printing, and modular converting capabilities, offering precision converting for flexible packaging, films, and medical-grade materials.

Wacoal Holdings has reported revenue of ¥90,167 million (~$586.1 million) in H1 2024, down by 5.2 per cent YoY. Gross profit fell 4.9 per cent to ¥51,056 million (~$331.86 million). Domestic revenue dipped 4.8 per cent to ¥45,006 million, while overseas revenue declined 1.4 per cent to ¥34,549 million. The company’s business profit was ¥2,304 million, down 39.6 per cent YoY in its overseas segment.

Gokaldas Exports has reported an 85 per cent YoY revenue increase in Q2 FY25, with total income reaching ₹941.8 crore (~$111.6 million) and PAT at ₹28.2 crore, a 19 per cent rise. EBITDA grew 48 per cent to ₹82.4 crore (~$9.77 million), though margins declined by 222 bps to 8.7 per cent. H1 FY25 revenue surged 82 per cent to ₹1,881.5 crore (~$223.0 million), with PAT slightly down by 2 per cent YoY.

Epic Group has restructured its leadership team, appointing Sunil Daryanani and Dinesh Virwani as executive vice chairmen, and Suraj Kalra as CEO to drive its strategic objectives. Led by founder Ranjan Mahtani, the committee also includes leaders in finance, HR, procurement, and digitalisation, aiming to strengthen Epic’s global presence, improve operations, and enhance stakeholder value.

H&M is partnering with Glenn Martens for an Autumn 2025 collection. Known for merging streetwear and couture, Martens joins a line of iconic designers H&M has collaborated with since 2004, when it launched its first designer collection with Karl Lagerfeld. This initiative has made top-tier fashion accessible, reflecting each designer’s unique vision and values across two decades of partnerships.

Parallels RAS Now extends the integration and delivery of applications from Azure Virtual Desktop to application delivery on Windows 365 Cloud PCs

KM experts joined KMWorld's latest webinar, Enabling Knowledge-Based AI, to examine key components and best practices for adopting AI-enabled approaches that evolve, extend, and power knowledge systems.

Look at your organization and consider the unstructured text or audio data you gather and the possible revelations it may hold. That data reflects the voices of those you serve and holds the potential to help you deliver better experiences, improve quality of care and enrich human engagement. There are powerful stories to be told from your unstructured text data. And the best way for you to find them is with natural language processing.

I'm entranced by old technologies being rediscovered, repurposed, and reinvented. Just think, the term artificial intelligence (AI) entered the language in 1956 and you can trace natural language processing (NLP) back to Alan Turing's work starting in 1950. Text analytics has its antecedents in data mining. Data mining itself has a long history, all the way back to Thomas Bayes, who died in 1761, and his eponymous theorem that still informs algorithms regarding inference, probability, and predictions.

Text analytics and natural language processing are not new concepts. Most knowledge management professionals have been grappling with these technologies for years. From the KM perspective, these technologies share the same fundamental purpose: They help get the right information to employees at the right time.

Cognitive/AI technologies for customer engagement are white hot. No wonder professionals, who had removed AI from their resumes, are scrambling to add it back in!

I am a firm believer in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. If you've not read this book, it is worth the time. I mention this because my focus at BA Insight is around Covey's second habit, which is, "Begin with the end in mind." Seems simple, right? Well it is, but it's also quite rare. When approaching any enterprise search project, at any phase, I always try to come back to this idea. What is success? When are we done? What does finished look like? These are all different ways of saying, "Make sure you have goals!"

While interactive voice response systems (IVRs) have been invaluable in reducing contact center costs, we need to be honest: not many are delivering experiences that meet consumer expectations. It's no surprise given the rise of digital channels.

Enterprise search projects start with intentions to provide ?Google for our organization' but too often fail to deliver on that promise. In our experience, these projects fail due to a lack of sustained effort and governance. The commercialization of next-generation search technologies allows you to fulfill this promise if you take a systematic approach to implementation.

Unstructured data, which comprises almost 80% of any enterprise's data, holds untapped value when it comes to addressing challenges and embracing opportunities.

AI-Powered Search Engines?referred to as "Insight Engines" by Gartner and "Cognitive Search" by Forrester?can deliver significant value to organizations these days, provided certain risks are avoided.

For decades, organizations have tried to unlock the collective knowledge contained within their people and systems. And the challenge is getting harder, since every year, massive amounts of additional information are created for people to share. We've reached a point at which individuals are unable consume, understand, or even find half the information that is available to them.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one?if not the?key technology of our decade. Technological advances in this field are not only fundamentally changing our economies, industries and markets, but are also exerting enormous influence on traditional business practices, many of which will disappear, while others will be transformed or completely reinvented.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the imagination of a wide variety of businesses. I have this image of CEOs in boardrooms around the globe declaring, "We must have AI! Our competitors use AI! We can't be left behind!" There might be some table-pounding associated with this scenario. There will certainly be corporate minions scurrying around to fulfill the AI dreams of their CEO.

The consumer has spoken. Forrester Research asked 5,000 of them, "What created the biggest pain when you contacted a business for customer service?" They answered lack and consistency of agent knowledge, followed by the difficulty of finding relevant answers on company websites. So, what is driving this dissatisfaction?