Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News from EconoTimes

Become a contributor

Bookmark Econotimes

Thu, Jun 18, 2026 06:26 AM All times are UTC

Follow Series

©Econometrics LLC . All Rights Reserved.

Thokozani Simelane

Professor of Practice, Human Sciences Research Council
Professor of practice, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg and principal investigator, National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, Human Sciences Research Council. Established the science and technology programme from scratch at the Africa Institute of South Africa. Previously worked as departmental manager, environmental systems certification at the South African Bureau of Standards, where he was responsible for ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 90001 system certification. Served as a member of the standing advisory committee on intellectual property rights of South Africa (2002-2017). The committee advises the minister of trade and industry on issues relating to South Africa’s international positions on intellectual property. It also recommends amendments to intellectual property laws and policies of South Africa. For research and publications, have served as a member of the research and publications committee of AISA (2009-2014). Also served as a member of research ethics committee of Human Sciences Research Council (2014-2017). Served as a council member of the South African chapter of System Dynamics Society (2012-2018). Have published in a number of international scientific journals and edited (some co-edited) 19 books (books and monographs). Have so far produced a total of 84 publications.

South Africa’s malnutrition crisis: why a cheaper basket of healthy food is the answer

Mar 02, 2025 16:38 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

The death in early February of a 9-year-old South African boy, Alti Willard, who drank poison while scavenging for food in rubbish bins with his father, is a tragic reflection of the persistent food insecurity crisis in...

Almost 50% of adult South Africans are overweight or obese. Poverty and poor nutrition are largely to blame

Mar 18, 2024 09:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. South Africa has undergone a nutritional transition over the past 30...

Economy

Europe EV Demand Surges as Fuel Prices Rise Amid Iran Conflict

Rising fuel prices linked to the Iran conflict are accelerating demand for both new and used electric vehicles (EVs) across Europe, according to industry data shared with Reuters. While automakers are benefiting from...

German Industry Employment Falls to Lowest Level in a Decade

Germanys industrial sector recorded its lowest employment level in 10 years in 2025, with the number of workers dropping to just 6.6 million, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW). The findings...

Japan Signals Readiness to Intervene as USD/JPY Nears 161 Amid Yen Weakness

Japan has reaffirmed its readiness to act against excessive currency volatility as the Japanese yen continues to weaken against the U.S. dollar. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara stated on Thursday that the government...

Asian Currencies Stabilize as Dollar Holds Near Two-Month High After Fed Hawkish Signal

Asian currencies recovered modestly on Thursday after suffering steep losses in the previous session, while the U.S. dollar remained close to a two-month high following the Federal Reserves latest policy announcement. The...

Asian Stocks Rally as Japan and South Korea Reach Record Highs on US-Iran Peace Deal

Asian stock markets mostly advanced on Thursday, led by strong gains in Japan and South Korea after reports emerged that the United States and Iran had signed a framework agreement aimed at ending their nearly four-month...

Politics

Trump’s Iran Strategy: What Has Been Achieved After Three Months of Conflict?

More than three months after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, President Donald Trumps objectives remain under scrutiny as a preliminary peace agreement moves toward finalization....

Russia and Ukraine Exchange Strikes After Zelenskiy-Trump Talks

Russia and Ukraine exchanged fresh attacks overnight, escalating tensions just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and...

South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung Strengthens Ties With Trump at G7 Summit, Discusses North Korea and Future Golf Meeting

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung emerged from the G7 summit with a symbolic gift from U.S. President Donald Trump and renewed momentum in South Korea-U.S. relations, following extensive discussions on North Korea,...

Trump-Iran Interim Agreement Extends Ceasefire as G7 Leaders Welcome Path to Peace

The United States and Iran have released the text of a newly signed interim agreement aimed at ending months of conflict, with U.S. President Donald Trump warning that military action could resume if Tehran fails to comply...

Trump Questions USMCA Renewal as Trade Talks Continue

U.S. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying the United States could perform better without the North American trade pact, although he remains open...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Google Gemini Co-Lead Noam Shazeer Leaves for OpenAI Amid AI Talent Race

Noam Shazeer, a vice president of engineering at Google and one of the leaders behind the companys Gemini artificial intelligence models, has announced that he is leaving Google to join OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The...

SK Hynix Shares Hit Record High After Shipping Next-Generation HBM4E AI Memory Samples

SK Hynix Inc. saw its shares surge to an all-time high on Thursday after announcing the shipment of samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) product, reinforcing its position as a leading supplier in the rapidly...

Apple Signals Product Price Hikes Amid Rising Memory Chip Costs

Apple may soon increase prices across some of its products as rising memory and storage chip costs continue to pressure the consumer electronics industry. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook...

Chinese Social Media Giant Xiaohongshu Eyes Hong Kong IPO at Over $70 Billion Valuation

Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, internationally known as RedNote, is reportedly preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at more than $70 billion. According to a Wall...

Samsung Gains Interest from BYD, Google, AMD as AI Chip Demand Strains TSMC Capacity

Samsung Electronics is attracting growing attention from major global technology companies as demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing continues to exceed available capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co....