South Africa's rand weakened on Thursday as the dollar recovered some ground after recent losses, a day after South Africa's national budget was tabled before lawmakers and met with resistance. At 1504 GMT,

South Africa has entered unchartered waters following deep divisions in the coalition government over the national budget that has finally been tabled after a month-long delay. This is the view of analysts after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's budget drew a backlash from various quarters,

North Korea condemned an ongoing U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise Wednesday, saying another incident like Seoul's recent accidental bombing of its own village near the DMZ could lead to "a new armed conflict.

North Korea denounced joint military drills between the US and South Korea saying the South Korean Air Force’s recent bombing mistake shows the risk of the region unintentionally getting dragged into a new armed conflict.