South African authorities say they are planning for multiple protests by local and international activists around this weekend's Group of 20 world leaders summit in Johannesburg.

Researchers in South Africa have launched clinical trials for the first vaccine developed entirely in the country.

South Africa this week celebrates 30 years of freedom after a historic 1994 election that saw the end of white minority rule and racial segregation.

A World Boxing Council championship belt belonging to former South African President Nelson Mandela has been stolen from a museum in Soweto.

South African police are patrolling the streets of Johannesburg’s Soweto township, following a spate of bar shootings that have rocked the nation.

South Africa is reeling in shock from a spate of weekend bar shootings in which armed men burst into three taverns and opened fire indiscriminately, killing 21 people in total.

South Africa police say a shooting at a tavern in Johannesburg’s Soweto township has killed 15 people and left others in critical condition.

Health experts in South Africa say the country is experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases driven by two omicron sub-variants.

Health experts say South Africa is seeing a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases driven by yet another version of the coronavirus.

With declining cases of COVID-19, South Africa has ended its national state of disaster, the legal framework used for two years to impose restrictions to combat the pandemic.

South Africa has accelerated its vaccination campaign with pop-up sites in shopping centers and at transportation hubs a week after the discovery of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

South African doctors say the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases attributed to the new omicron variant is resulting in mostly mild symptoms.

South Africa's leader has gone to Johannesburg’s Soweto township to view badly damaged shopping centers where people were trampled to death in rioting sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.

South Africa’s police say 72 people have been killed and 1,234 have been arrested in unrest set off by the imprisonment last week of former President Jacob Zuma.

South Africa's high rate of unemployment has cast a pall over Youth Day, the holiday honoring the 45th anniversary of the Soweto student protests which played a key role in ending apartheid, the previous regime of racist, minority rule.

The variant now dominant in South Africa is more contagious, experts say, and it recently drove a devastating resurgence of cases. Experts say the vaccine — the only one authorized for general use in South Africa — may still prevent severe disease. Ad“It was the right decision to move to a vaccine that’s been shown in South Africa to protect against the new variant that is circulating here,” said Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute. But Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization's chief scientist, said people shouldn’t conclude from South Africa’s decision that the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t work. ___Associated Press journalists Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg; Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa; Danica Kirka in London; and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

Volunteers wait to be checked at a vaccine trial facility set at Soweto's Chris Sani Baragwanath Hospital outside Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday Nov. 30, 2020. Over 2000 South African volunteers are on AstraZeneca's experimental coronavirus vaccine trial. The U.N. chief reiterated his call for vaccines to be treated as “a global public good,” available to everyone, everywhere on the planet, especially in Africa. In the United States, the Pfizer vaccine could get a green light for emergency use in the coming days and the Moderna vaccine in the coming weeks. “There are several vaccines in the pipeline for COVAX, and it is perfectly possible to deliver if the financing is guaranteed.”

Volunteer Thabisle Khlatshwayo, who received her first shot for a COVID-19 vaccine trial, receives her second shot at a vaccine trial facility set at Soweto's Chris Sani Baragwanath Hospital outside Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday Nov. 30, 2020. Over 2000 South African volunteers are on AstraZeneca's experimental coronavirus vaccine trial. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)NAIROBI – Africa’s top public health official says 60% of the continent’s population needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two to three years. Nkengasong isn’t sure whether vaccines will be available in Africa before the second quarter of next year. Nkengasong says the 60% vaccination target is needed to achieve herd immunity in Africa’s 54 countries.

Africa has surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases as the continent's top public health official warns that we are inevitably edging toward a second wave of infections. But the price of any COVID-19 vaccine is another factor in their fair distribution, he said. Several African countries have confirmed virus cases in the six figures. “Absolutely no doubt you’ll see COVID spread into more rural areas” of Kenya and other countries, Nkengasong said, as more people move around. The African continent has conducted 20 million coronavirus tests since the pandemic began, but shortages mean the true number of infections is unknown.

On Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, AstraZeneca Inc. announced that the Food and Drug Administration is letting it resume testing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the U.S. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool via AP)Two drugmakers announced Friday the resumption of U.S. testing of their COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Testing of AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate had been halted since early September, while Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine study was paused at the beginning of last week. Testing of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, has already resumed in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and Japan. AstraZeneca testing had also been paused earlier in the summer. Johnson & Johnson said it’s preparing to resume recruitment soon for its U.S. vaccine study.

FILE - In this Monday, June 29, 2020, file photo, men in face masks walk past a hair product billboard on the street in Soweto, South Africa. The coronavirus pandemic has fractured global relationships as governments act in the interest of their citizens first, but John Nkengasong, Africa's top public health official, has helped to steer the continent's 54 countries into an alliance praised as responding better than some richer nations. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters protest outside a Clicks store in Soweto, Johannesburg, Monday, Sept. 7 2020 calling for the closure of the stores around the country. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)JOHANNESBURG Protests over an advertisement viewed as racially offensive forced the closure Monday of at least 60 outlets of a chain of drugstores. Leaders of the leftist opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters led the protests against the nationwide retailer Clicks, in which some of its supporters vandalized some stores. One shows a Black womans natural hair and one of a white womans hair. The Black womans hair is described in the ad as dry, damaged hair, while the white womans hair is described as fine, flat hair.It sparked outrage on social media, with people accusing the retailer of racism and insensitivity toward Black peoples identity.

Africas first participation in a COVID-19 vaccine trial has begun as volunteers received injections developed at the University of Oxford in Britain. The large-scale trial is being conducted in South Africa, Britain and Brazil. The large-scale trial is being conducted in South Africa, Britain and Brazil. South Africa has nearly one-third of Africa's confirmed cases with more than 106,000, including more than 2,100 deaths. Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa all have highly developed clinical trial capabilities, said Salim Abdool Karim, chair of South Africa's ministerial advisory committee for COVID-19.