The Southern Africa Food Lab has brought businesses, farmers, government and community groups together since 2010 to help address the problems of hunger and malnutrition. When these diverse groups first came together, everyone agreed that the region’s food system was in trouble. The disagreement came next. For some, the priority was resilience: keeping supply chains…
Shein and Temu shift to local fulfilment as SA’s tighter customs regime reduces the appeal of direct imports. (Image created via Gemini) South Africa’s crackdown on low-value imports has significantly slowed the growth of cross-border e-commerce, forcing international platforms such as Shein and Temu to shift their focus from tax arbitrage, towards local fulfilment and…
The global shipping industry is facing a “genuinely unprecedented” convergence of maritime crises, with vessels and seafarers increasingly used as “leverage” in conflicts that have nothing to do with them. Four regions – the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the waters off Somalia, and the Black Sea – are now simultaneously active theatres of…
Oil prices rose past $100 a barrel on Wednesday after an overnight escalation in the conflict between the US and Iran. In back and forth attacks, the US hit five Iranian tankers in reprisal strikes after Tehran targeted one of its warships. Brent crude – which is the global benchmark for prices – has not…
Conflicts in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Black Sea are disrupting the movement of food, fuel and fertilizer, with devastating consequences across the world. The flow of food, fuel, fertilizer and food between countries is essential to global food security, from farmers growing their crops to trucks being able to deliver…
Mark Zuckerberg Meta has begun rolling out a long-touted AI assistant that can autonomously send e-mails, sell a car and book travel on a person’s behalf, despite internal concerns that the technology mismanages its access to sensitive personal data. The company’s Muse agent, known internally as Hatch, is the centrepiece of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan…
Kenya Launches Crackdown on Foreign Informal Traders Kenyan officials have started to crack down on foreign nationals running small businesses in the informal economy. This comes after President William Ruto backed measures reserving activities such as hawking and petty retail primarily for Kenyan citizens. Ruto said that foreign investors should focus on bringing capital,…
15m ago Iran-backed Houthi group reports over 30 strikes across Yemen Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis reported more than 30 Saudi strikes on several regions on Wednesday, a day after the rebels launched major attacks on their neighbor, injuring dozens of people. There has been no official comment from Saudi Arabia about the Houthi report. Saudi…
The publication, which reviewed evidence on tobacco use and fertility, also linked smoking among men to reproductive dysfunction, including poor sperm quality, erectile dysfunction and ejaculation problems A new knowledge summary by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that women who currently smoke tobacco have a 40 per cent higher risk of infertility than…
HyperLight Corporation (“HyperLight”), a leader in thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonics, today announced that VentureTech Alliance (“VTA”) has joined its Series C financing round. VTA is a venture investment firm focused on the semiconductor industry, with a portfolio built across the semiconductor technology stack — including circuit design, foundry-adjacent process technology, EDA, advanced packaging, and…
