Latest Johannesburg News

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus walks at a train station in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

The Latest: New Zealand visitors must show negative test

Jan. 11, 2021 11:57 PM EST

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand will soon require that travelers from most countries show negative coronavirus tests before they leave for New Zealand. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand is in a fortunate position to have stamped out community spread of the virus, but takes...

A patient wearing an oxygen mask is treated in a makeshift emergency unit at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, which is battling an ever-increasing number of Covid-19 patients. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa struggles with post-holiday spike in COVID-19

Jan. 11, 2021 2:43 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa is struggling to cope with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has already overwhelmed many hospitals, as people returning from widespread holiday travel have spread the country's more infectious coronavirus variant. Of particular concern is Gauteng province, the country's most...

In this photo supplied by the South African Police Services (SAPS), gold bars weighing 73.5 kilograms (162 pounds) are photographed at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Police are investigating a possible international gold smuggling syndicate after three suspects were arrested with the gold bars in their carry-on luggage. (South African Police Services via AP)

3 nabbed at Johannesburg airport with gold in carry-on bags

Jan. 5, 2021 12:10 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police are investigating a possible international gold smuggling syndicate after three suspects were arrested at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg with gold bars weighing 73.5 kilograms (162 pounds) in their carry-on luggage. The gold bullion, worth an...

A wine store in Cape Town, South Africa, displays a closed sign at it's entrance Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the wearing of masks compulsory and has reimposed a ban on the sales of alcohol and ordered the closure of all bars and beaches as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

South Africa testing whether vaccines work against variant

Jan. 4, 2021 8:53 AM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for COVID-19 will be effective against the country's variant virus. The genomic studies come as Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, and other experts in the U.K. have said they worry that vaccines may not...

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2018, file photo, newlyweds Alison and Kenny Finchum, lower left, of Tulsa, Okla., kiss just after midnight during a New Year's party at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas. Plans for a 14,000-person New Year's Eve street party at canopied casino-mall in Las Vegas are facing pushback from state and local officials, who worry Nevada hospitals may not be able to withstand a potential

The Latest: Tens of thousands on Vegas strip despite warning

Dec. 31, 2020 10:38 PM EST

LAS VEGAS — Tens of thousands of people were walking on the casino-lined Las Vegas Strip on New Year’s Eve by early evening despite a plea from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak that people reconsider their plans to go out and celebrate. While shopping, gambling, drinking yard-long frozen cocktails and...

Frontline workers attend a candlelight ceremony on New Year's Eve on the famed Nelson Mandela Bridge in downtown Johannesburg Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. Many South Africans will swap firecrackers for candles to mark New Year's Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call to light a candle to honor those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic and the health workers who are on the frontline of battling the disease. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

South Africans swap firecrackers for candles amid pandemic

Dec. 31, 2020 5:02 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Many South Africans swapped firecrackers for candles to mark New Year’s Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew. Instead of ushering in 2021 at packed events with dance music and fireworks, many South Africans responded to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call to...

FILE — In this Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020 file photo people wear face masks to protect against COVID-19 before boarding a minibus taxi in Johannesburg. In a television address to the nation Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would revert to level 3 of a strict lockdown in a bid to control a surge in the virus and it would be compulsory to wear face masks in public. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell/File)

As South Africa's virus spikes, president bans liquor sales

Dec. 28, 2020 2:47 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant. Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all beaches and...

Passengers wait to board their Air France flight to Paris at Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport Monday Dec. 21 2020. More and more countries around the world are restricting travel from Britain and elsewhere, including South Africa, amid concerns about new strains of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

AP PHOTOS: Flying from Johannesburg to Paris, two hotspots

Dec. 23, 2020 3:56 AM EST

PARIS (AP) — The security officer pointing the thermometer barely glanced, but wished the traveler a “Happy Holiday.” The luggage wrappers day-dreamed of better times, and the list of departing flights didn’t even fill one video screen. This is Christmas travel 2020, a pale shadow of...

Muslim girls walk through a street after prayers in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

AP PHOTOS: Africa weathers COVID-19 storm in 2020

Dec. 17, 2020 5:33 AM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — It was just a question of time until Africa would fall prey to the COVID-19 pandemic. Already seasoned by years of conflicts and diseases, the continent was relatively well-prepared to weather the coronavirus storm. Resilience, cooperation and innovation helped Africans survive and...

South African National Defense Forces patrol a men's hostel in the densely populated Alexandra township east of Johannesburg, Saturday, March 28, 2020, enforcing a strict lockdown in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus. Responding quickly with one of the world’s harshest lockdowns, South Africa slowed the initial spread of the coronavirus and the country passed its first peak with far less deaths than experts had predicted. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A pandemic atlas: South Africa acts quickly, dodges disaster

Dec. 16, 2020 4:05 AM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At a popular cafe in Johannesburg's Soweto area, owner Benedict Somi Vilakazi liked to tell foreign visitors how nearby Vilakazi Street was named after his grandfather, who defied racial discrimination to become one of South Africa's first Black university lecturers. But Vilakazi is no...

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