By Siyabonga Sishi and Nellie Peyton STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South African rescuers were making final efforts on Thursday to ascertain whether anyone was left in an illegal gold mine deep underground where at least 78 people died during a police siege,

It will be a "mammoth task" to identify the bodies brought up from a disused mineshaft in South Africa this week, a police spokesperson says.

South African authorities have come under intense scrutiny for their response after civic groups said hundreds of miners have been trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine for months.

Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa. Typically, undocumented miners known as zama zamas - from an isiZulu expression for "taking a chance" - move into mines abandoned by commercial miners and seek to extract whatever is left. Some are under the control of violent criminal gangs.

South Africa is making significant progress in its journey to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix by 2026, by inviting potential host venues to showcase their suitabili

The authorities had at one point limited the miners’ access to food, water and other supplies in a blockade that drew criticism from human rights groups.

Carmakers in South Africa are imploring the local unit of ArcelorMittal SA and the country’s trade minister to work together to delay the planned closure of steel mills this month.

The nation's wildlife is under attack by poaching gangs. Luckily there are men and women in South Africa who have the courage to fight back.

Reliance on Russia’s military offerings has become increasingly prevalent in parts of Africa, amid an aggressive push by Moscow to lessen Western influence on the continent.

After an absence of eight years, MG retuned to the South African market late last year. The nameplate, which started life as Morris Garages in the United Kingdom a century ago, has been under Chinese ownership since 2007.

ABUJA, Nigeria -- Nigeria has been admitted as a “partner country” of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, according to Brazil, the group’s chair. BRICS was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, with South Africa added in 2010, as a counterweight to the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.