South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Africa is ready to host the much-anticipated 15th BRICS summit, said Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor on Monday.

"President Ramaphosa has confirmed South Africa's readiness to host the 15th BRICS summit in person, in Sandton, Johannesburg. The president has therefore invited 67 leaders from Africa and the Global South to attend the BRICS-Africa outreach and BRICS Plus dialogues," Pandor said while briefing the media about the country's preparations for the summit, which will be held on Aug. 22-24.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Two people were fatally shot on a fifth day of violent protests in the South African city of Cape Town on Monday sparked by a dispute last week between minibus taxi drivers and authorities.

A person was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting near the Cape Town International Airport after a group of protesters pelted a car with stones and the driver responded by firing shots at them, police said. The shooting happened while minubus taxis blockaded a road near the airport, police said.

HERMANUS, SOUTH AFRICA, July 24. /TASS/: Russia has proposed creating a dedicated specialized module for the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) to allow BRICS countries to conduct scientific research, Yury Borisov, CEO of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, said on Monday.

21 July 2023; MEMO: The BRICS summit called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Wafa news agency reported.

21 July 2023; MEMO: Some 22 countries have "formally" asked to join the BRICS group, while an equal number has informally expressed interest in joining the bloc, South Africa announced yesterday.

BRICS, a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is due to hold a summit from 22-24 August in South Africa and has previously hinted that it was open to expansion.

PRETORIA, July 22 (NNN-TASS) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate online in all BRICS leaders’ sessions at the group’s upcoming summit in Johannesburg on August 22-24, Anil Suklal, Ambassador-at-Large for Asia and BRICS at the South African Foreign Ministry and South Africa’s BRICS Sherpa, said.

“He [Russian President Vladimir Putin] will attend the summit virtually.

 He will be involved in all of the sessions with the leaders, [as well as] in the traditional summit of BRICS leaders on the 23th [of August].

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS economic summit in Johannesburg next month, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement Wednesday.

The decision means South Africa will not face the dilemma of whether it should carry out an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the Russian leader.

SANDTON (South Africa), July 16 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin will attend the BRICS summit in person, despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.

Following the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Putin, there have been suggestions that the event could happen virtually.

But, according to Kyiv Post, Ramaphosa assured at a meeting of the BRICS Business Council in Sandton on Thursday that the summit will be held live, rather than online.

JOHANNESBURG, July 10 (Reuters) - Residents of South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg were stunned by the first snowfall in over a decade on Monday, with some children seeing snow for the first time.

While parts of South Africa regularly receive snowfall over the southern hemisphere winter months around June to August, Johannesburg last saw snow in August 2012.

After getting her picture taken on Nelson Mandela Square in the financial district, Jennifer Banda told Reuters that she was pregnant the last time it snowed.

PRETORIA, July 6 (NNN-SANEWS) — International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Alvin Botes is leading South Africa’s delegation to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau (CoB) in Baku, Azerbaijan.  

“The meeting reviews the movement’s principled positions on global issues pertaining to development, human rights, peace and security, and the promotion and preservation of multilateralism, in line with the Charter of the United Nations and the Bandung Founding Principles of the NAM.”