Johannesburg - South Africa on Friday welcomed the nomination by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of South African judge Navanethem Pillay for the position of UN high commissioner for human rights.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said South Africa congratulated Pillay on being nominated to replace outgoing high commissioner, Canada's Louise Arbour, whose term ended at the end of June.
While Pillay has yet to be discussed by the UN General Assembly at a session on Monday, her accession to the top rights post is seen as a formality following extensive discussions at the UN level.
The role of the high commissioner is to defend human rights worldwide.
Paris - The first-ever summit meeting between the European Union and South Africa opened Friday in the southern French city of Bordeaux.
South African President Thabo Mbeki will meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his role as acting EU president, as well as the EU's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana.
South Africa is the only African state to date to have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with the EU. Friday's summit is the first since the establishment of the Partnership, in May 2007.
The discussions at the summit will focus on South Africa's role in mediating African crisis situations, such as Zimbabwe and Burundi.
Johannesburg - An Austrian company is supplying Zimbabwe's central bank with materials used in the design and printing of the country's virtually worthless money, a South African newspaper reported Thursday.
Despite pressure on European companies to halt dealing with the government of controversial President Robert Mugabe, Vienna-based Jura JSP is supplying the Reserve Bank with licenses and software used in printing banknotes, The Star newspaper reported.
Company officials confirmed Jura's dealings with the Reserve Bank to The Star and said they would consider revising the relationship if required to do so by the European Union.
Johannesburg - Talks between Zimbabwe's political parties on the formation of a powersharing government were due to get underway Tuesday in South Africa, a day after President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai inked an agreement to negotiate.
South African diplomatic sources confirmed to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the talks would begin Tuesday, but refused to divulge the venue or give other details.
On Monday, Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction, signed a memorandum of understanding setting out the agenda and the ground rules for the two weeks of talks on the formation of an "inclusive" government.
Johannesburg - South Africans showered praise and affection on the country's favourite son Friday as former president Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday amid appeals for a renewed commitm
