The BRICS group is growing, adding new members, and so is its influence. Will the alliance of very politically different nations become an anti-Western bloc on the world stage — or can it be a force for good?

After expanding by six members, BRICS countries met to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, with China seeking to use BRICS as a vehicle towards greater political influence around the world.

The leaders of South Africa, Russia, China, Brazil, India in the BRICS bloc called for Israel and Hamas to "exercise maximum restraint," and urged allied countries to prevent the conflict from expanding.

The BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — want to add six new members to their group on January 1, 2024. The West is playing it cool.

During this week's BRICS summit, China is leading calls for expansion of the grouping's membership and influence. However, a major rift remains between Beijing and New Delhi.

Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging economies meet in Johannesburg as divisions between the founding members about the bloc's future appear to emerge. Thirty-eight Senegalese nationals are repatriated after a migrant boat drifts off Cape Verde. And Zimbabwe gears up for presidential elections amid economic hardship.

Some see the 5-member club as a counterweight to traditional Western-led forums and institutions. But what exactly is BRICS and why does it matter?

More than 40 countries have expressed interested in joining the BRICS group of nations, South Africa's top diplomat in charge of relations with the bloc said on Thursday.

Ethiopia recently applied to join BRICS — an economic group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The body is seen as an alternative to the Bretton Woods institutions and the West's dominance in geopolitics. But can a country like Ethiopia, whose economy is ranked 59th in the world, sit as an equal partner with a country like China, whose economy is ranked second globally?

Russia and China have raised the possibility of BRICS accepting new members. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's attendance at an August summit remains unclear.