A fire at a retirement home in South Africa has left 18 people dead, emergency officials say. Several more were injured in the blaze, which broke out at around 2100 (1900 GMT) on Sunday, 50km (30 miles) south-east of Johannesburg.

Balloons released by schoolchildren sparked a major security alert in South Korea, reports say, amid heightened tensions with North Korea. A resident of Ansan, near Seoul, reported seeing 40-50 objects resembling parachutes falling on a mountainside.

The first World Cup in Africa has its first African winner. Ghana stunned Serbia when Asamoah Gyan scored on an 84th-minute penalty kick Sunday for a 1-0 victory in Group D. The win set off celebrations not only on the Loftus Versfeld pitch, but...

South Africa’s place as the sole economic giant in Africa is set to decline in coming decades as its growth is outstripped by countries to the north that have emerged as some of the fastest growing in the world. As part of a package of Reuters...

Thousands of South African transport workers joined a national strike on Wednesday, paralysing rail and port operations in Africa’s biggest economy. The strike at state logistics group Transnet was the latest in a series of public protests in the...

A gay singer in China has been arrested for murder after he allegedly killed six men in elaborate, sado-masochistic sex games that involved hanging his victims, a state-linked newspaper reported. Zhou Youping, a singer in bars in the central province...

The expected arrival of 350,000 football fans in South Africa for the World Cup in June has provoked fears of increased levels of human trafficking. A new study suggests that one major obstacle to preventing this is the lack of accurate information...

South Africa expects the United States to abstain from voting on its disputed application to the World Bank for a loan to fund a power project, on which a decision is likely in early April, a minister said on Friday. The United States and Britain have...

A fire has swept through an orphanage in South Africa killing 15 people including 12 children, officials say. Nine people were injured in the fire at the Hope in Christ Home orphanage in Newcastle in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, police said.

South Africa’s main opposition party has accused the country’s president of contradicting the government’s message on HIV/Aids prevention. The Democratic Alliance issued a statement after claims that Jacob Zuma had fathered a child...