BRICS News

North Korea has in recent months increased the frequency of ballistic missile testing, all believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads [Xinhua]
A senior member of Russia’s State Duma has accused the US of seeking a shift in the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.
Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky, the head of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said that the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD is a cause of concern and could pose a security threat so close to Russia’s borders.

Research and development in China, India, Brazil and South Africa has made BRICS on the cutting edge of providing cheap medicines and saving lives, but pitting these countries at odds with the EU and US over patents [Xinhua]
BRICS member countries are likely to turn to the World Trade Organization in what is shaping up to be a dispute with the EU and US over pharmaceutical patents.

South Korean opposition protesters hold placards during a rally against the deployment of the advanced US missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula, called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD [Xinhua]
Despite repeated Chinese and Russian protests that such advanced weaponry would trigger an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region, the US began to deploy its anti-missile systems in South Korea.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, is a response to Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile tests, South Korea and the US – and now Japan – say.

Sukhoi-24 fighters, such as the one above, have flown hundreds of sorties over Syria and destroyed a number of Islamist rebel bunkers, often in cooperation with NATO member Turkey’s air force, the Russian military said [Xinhua]
Russia has responded to media speculation that the probes into contact between affiliates of US President Donald Trump and Russian officials may force the White House to scale back on military cooperation with Moscow.

China is one of the biggest importers of South African maize [Xinhua]
The 79 per cent increase in the 2017 maize harvest compared with 2016 will boost South Africa’s economic growth by one percentage point, John Purchase, the chief executive officer of the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) told The BRICS Post.

The fifth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the national advisory body, opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2016 [Xinhua]
Over 2,000 lawmakers, legislators and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) gathered at the fifth session of the 12th National Committee in Beijing Friday for a 10-day meeting to discuss political, economic and social issues concerning the country’s social and economic development.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in an archive photo [PPIO]
Russia’s Kremlin website on Thursday published a message of congratulations from President Vladimir Putin to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on the occasion of his 86th birthday.

Chinese companies such as China Southern Power Grid Corp, one of China’s two power grid operators, are leading BRICS investment in power generation in Sub-Saharan Africa [Xinhua]
The audience at the fourth Independent Power Producers (IPP) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Conference at the annual Africa Energy Indaba conference in Johannesburg heard this week that the BRICS countries were important in Africa’s power supply equation.

China has warned the US not to exacerbate tensions on the Korean Peninsula by deploying advanced anti-missile batteries in South Korea [Image: Archives]China has invited North Korean officials to Beijing to discuss bilateral ties and the current crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The invitation comes a day after China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi met with US President Donald Trump and National Security Advisor HR McMaster at the White House.

Nearly 50,000 elephants are killed for their ivory tusks every year, wildlife agencies say [Xinhua]
Years of increasingly rigid policies curbing the ivory trade have started to pay off, China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Sunday.
“The amount of smuggled ivory tracked down in China fell 80 percent in 2016,” the SFA said.
The decline comes as a culmination of several crackdowns on the illegal trade including a pledge by Chinese authorities to terminate the commercial processing and sale of ivory by the end of this year.