In its Global Hepatitis Report 2026, the United Nations health agency said hepatitis B and C, which account for 95% of hepatitis-related deaths worldwide, caused 1.34 million deaths in 2024, while more than 1.8 million new infections were recorded during the year.

WHO estimated that 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C infections in 2024, despite the availability of vaccines and highly effective treatments.“Progress is too slow and uneven,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.“Many people remain undiagnosed and untreated due to stigma, weak health systems and inequitable access to care.

While we have the tools to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat, urgent scale-up of prevention, diagnosis and treatment is needed,” he said.Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by infectious viruses and other agents, often leading to severe complications including liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer.

Of the five main viral strains, hepatitis B and C are the deadliest and remain among the world’s leading infectious disease killers.The WHO said fewer than 5% of the 240 million people living with chronic hepatitis B in 2024 were receiving treatment. For hepatitis C, only 20% of infected people have been treated since 2015.

In Africa, which carries the heaviest burden of hepatitis B infections, only 17% of newborns received the recommended birth-dose vaccine in 2024, raising concerns about continued mother-to-child transmission.

Six countries China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam are among the top 10 globally for deaths linked to hepatitis B and C, the report said.“Every missed diagnosis and untreated infection due to chronic viral hepatitis represents a preventable death,” said Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO department overseeing hepatitis programs.

The agency said proven medical tools are already available. The hepatitis B vaccine protects more than 95% of recipients from both acute and chronic infection, while long-term antiviral treatment can help prevent severe liver disease in chronic cases.

For hepatitis C, short-course curative therapies lasting eight to 12 weeks can cure more than 95% of infections, WHO said.The agency pointed to United Kingdom, Egypt, Georgia and Rwanda as examples of countries demonstrating that hepatitis can be eliminated as a public health problem through sustained policy action and financing.

“Eliminating hepatitis is not a pipedream: it’s possible with sustained political commitment, backed by reliable domestic financing,” Tedros said.Since 2015, annual new hepatitis B infections have fallen by 32%, while hepatitis C-related deaths have declined by 12%, according to WHO data.

South Africa is advancing a transition away from its coal-dependent economy through a policy framework that seeks to align climate goals with social equity, according to discussions featured in a United Nations-backed podcast examining human rights-based economic models.

The initiative, highlighted in an episode of the “Economies That Work for All” series produced by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN System Staff College, outlines how Africa’s most industrialized economy is attempting to balance decarbonization with the protection of vulnerable communities.

Dorah Modise, Executive Director of South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission, said the transition to a low-carbon economy is not solely an environmental objective but a broader socio-economic challenge. The country remains one of the most unequal in the world, with coal-dependent regions particularly exposed to potential job losses and economic disruption as energy systems shift.

Modise emphasized that the transition must proceed but warned that its design will determine whether it mitigates or deepens existing inequalities. Communities reliant on coal production face heightened risks, particularly in a context where millions of South Africans continue to experience energy poverty and where financing constraints slow the pace of reform.

The government’s approach is guided by the Just Transition Framework developed by the Presidential Climate Commission, which seeks to integrate economic restructuring with social protection. The framework promotes the gradual decentralization of the energy system, expansion of renewable energy capacity, and the development of new employment pathways in emerging green industries.

Efforts are also underway to prepare workers for shifts in the labor market through retraining and skills development initiatives. Authorities are expanding social protection measures to cushion the impact of industrial restructuring, while also seeking to ensure that the benefits of the energy transition are more evenly distributed.

A key component of the strategy involves the management of natural resources critical to the global energy transition. South Africa holds reserves of minerals required for renewable technologies, and policymakers are attempting to position the country as a supplier while adhering to environmental and labor standards.

“As we explore and extract … we need to protect workers and communities, and we need to avoid impacting the environment,” Modise said, underscoring the importance of responsible mining practices within the broader transition strategy.

The framework is rooted in South Africa’s constitutional provisions, which recognize sustainable development as a fundamental right. This legal foundation shapes the government’s emphasis on integrating human rights considerations into economic planning and environmental policy.Implementation of the transition strategy involves coordination across multiple stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector actors, civil society organizations, and international donors.

This multi-stakeholder approach is intended to address competing interests and manage trade-offs inherent in large-scale economic transformation.The policy framework also incorporates metrics that extend beyond traditional energy indicators. Progress is being assessed not only in terms of renewable energy capacity but also through social outcomes such as reductions in inequality, increased employment opportunities for young people, and greater participation of women in decision-making processes.

Modise described the ultimate measure of success as a narrowing of disparities between different socio-economic groups. This reflects a broader shift in policy thinking that links climate action with inclusive development objectives.South Africa’s transition efforts take place within a wider global debate on how to reconcile decarbonization with economic justice, particularly in developing economies where structural inequalities and fiscal constraints complicate policy implementation.

The country’s approach is being closely observed as a potential model for integrating human rights considerations into climate policy.The podcast series situates South Africa’s experience within the broader concept of a “human rights economy,” which seeks to align economic systems with social and environmental priorities.

The framework is linked to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which emphasizes inclusive growth and equitable resource distribution.As countries accelerate efforts to meet climate targets, the South African case highlights the challenges of ensuring that transitions away from fossil fuels do not disproportionately affect already marginalized populations.

The emphasis on participatory governance and rights-based policy design reflects an attempt to address these concerns while maintaining momentum toward decarbonization.

Lai will attend celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Mswati III’s accession to the throne and his 58th birthday, according to spokesperson Karen Kuo. The visit will be Lai’s first overseas trip since November 2024.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory and opposes maintaining formal diplomatic ties with, now has official relations with only 12 countries, most of them smaller nations in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, including Belize and Tuvalu.

The visit to Eswatini, a landlocked country largely surrounded by South Africa, avoids the need for transit through the United States, a route often required for Taiwan’s diplomatic visits to Latin America and one that typically draws strong protest from Beijing.

Lai last traveled abroad in November 2024, when he visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, transiting through Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam.Taiwan has maintained close ties with Eswatini, providing development assistance and humanitarian support.

In 2021, Taipei sent antiviral medication to aid King Mswati III’s recovery from COVID-19.The previous visit by a Taiwanese president to Eswatini took place in 2023, when former leader Tsai Ing-wen traveled to the kingdom.

“It’s so important for the international community to not only step up to protect access to education for girls but also ensure that it is quality education, it is not indoctrination,” Malala said.

Johannesburg (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday likened restrictions the Taliban has placed on women in Afghanistan to the treatment of Black people under apartheid in a lecture in South Africa organised by Nelson Mandela’s foundation.

Yousafzai survived being shot in the head when she was 15 in her native Pakistan by a gunman after campaigning against the Pakistani Taliban’s moves to deny girls education.

Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, Yousafzai, now 26, has become a global symbol of the resilience of women in the face of repression.

“If you are a girl in Afghanistan, the Taliban has decided your future for you. You cannot attend a secondary school or university. You cannot find an open library where you can read. You see your mothers and your older sisters confined and constrained,” Yousafzai said during the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.

Yousafzai said the Taliban’s actions should be considered “gender apartheid” and that it had “in effect … made girlhood illegal”.

She said international actors should not normalise relations with the Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.

A Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Yousafzai’s remarks.

Since returning to power, the Taliban has also stopped most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred women from parks and curtailed travel for women in the absence of a male guardian.

The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan custom and that officials are working on plans to open girls’ high schools, but after over 18 months they have not provided a timeframe.

In an interview after her lecture, Yousafzai said she was concerned the Taliban would take away sciences and critical thinking even from boys.

“It’s so important for the international community to not only step up to protect access to education for girls but also ensure that it is quality education, it is not indoctrination,” she said.

Referring to the war in Gaza, she said she wanted to see an immediate ceasefire and for children to be able return to school and their normal lives.

She added: “We look at wars, … especially the bombardment that has happened in Gaza, … that has just taken that normal life away from children.”

The war’s prominence in speeches at the Dubai event served to highlight international divisions over the bloodshed and presented a distraction for a summit where nations are trying to find consensus on the shared threat posed by climate change.

“While discussing the climate crisis, we cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Palestinian territories right beside us,” Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan told leaders during his formal speech to the COP28 conference.

“The current situation in Gaza constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity; those responsible must be held accountable under international law,” he said.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa echoed the sentiment.

“South Africa is appalled by the cruel tragedy that is under way in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now,” he said in his address.

Jordan’s King Abdullah said it was difficult to focus on global warming while the fighting was going on.

“This year’s conference of the parties must recognise even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us,” he said.

A group of demonstrators at the conference, some wearing shirts that spelled “ceasefire”, chanted “Free Palestine”. Elsewhere on the summit grounds, a display of shoes was meant to represent the thousands killed in Gaza.

An Israeli official told Reuters the military was abiding by international law and was intent on destroying the militant group Hamas.

Protests, while a common feature of climate conferences, are a rarity in the autocratic United Arab Emirates, the COP28’s host nation. A COP28 spokesperson said “the UAE protects the right to protests in line with relevant international agreements.”

“Today was pretty awful,” Mohammed Ursof, a Palestinian student from Gaza based in Qatar and attending the summit, said of the resumption in fighting. The “international youth delegate” said he would try to raise awareness at the COP28 conference of the Palestinian cause.

Bilaterals

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he met officials from Arab states and discussed the future of the Gaza Strip on the sidelines of the COP28. A senior State Department official said Blinken met foreign ministers from Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, alongside representatives of the Palestinian Authority.

The office of the British prime minister said Rishi Sunak and Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, both at the Dubai conference, discussed their deep regret over the collapse of the temporary pause in fighting.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog was also at COP28, where a day earlier he met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The UAE is one of few Arab states with official ties with Israel

But Herzog, who stood in the traditional “family photo” with other world leaders, did not give his scheduled address on Friday.

Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General Oded Joseph told Reuters that Israel remained intent on freeing those held hostage by Hamas and destroying the militant group.

Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed over 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials. It was launched in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, and led to 240 hostages being taken into Gaza.

The assault sparked outrage in the Arab world, though most Western leaders have supported what they say is Israel’s right to defend itself. Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza on Friday.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid called for an end to the war.

Iran’s delegation left the summit in protest at Israel’s presence, Iranian media reported, while Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro linked environmental issues with the war.

“If Palestine could be free today then tomorrow humanity will escape alive out of the throes of the climate crisis,” he said.

“The demarche will be asked for hopefully by today. Not sure when he will come in,” Zane Dangor, the director-general of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told Reuters in a text message.

Dangor gave no further details of the demarche, a protest issued through diplomatic channels, and did not specify the reason for the reprimand.

South Africa criticised the ambassador this week over public comments he made, but did not specify what he had said.

South Africa has also recalled its diplomats from Israel to assess its relationship with the country as civilian casualties rise in Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The ambassador of Israel has been making a number of comments … without having had any discussion with senior members of the government of South Africa,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Monday.

“I don’t know if it’s because (this is) an African country and they disrespect us, but it’s something that we should not tolerate.”

Israel’s embassy in South Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South Africa has long been an advocate for peace in the Middle East and has rallied behind Palestinians, likening their plight to South Africa’s before the end of apartheid in 1994. Israel has rejected criticism that it has established a system of apartheid.

Leaders of the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited the two as well as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Egypt into the club at a summit this week in Johannesburg.

The move is aimed at increasing the BRICS’ clout as a champion of “Global South” nations, many of which feel unfairly treated by international institutions dominated by the United States and other wealthy nations.

The additions are a mixed bunch: Saudi Arabia and the UAE are wealthy oil producers, inflation-wracked Argentina is desperate for foreign investment, Iran is isolated by Western sanctions, Ethiopia is recovering from a civil war and Egypt’s economy is in crisis.

Some investors and economic analysts are sceptical that expansion will lead to increased foreign direct investment (FDI) within the bloc.

“Egypt has already been expecting a lot of FDI from Saudi… and the Gulf money is not coming – and it is not because they are not in the BRICS organisation, it is because the proposition is not attractive,” said Viktor Szabo, a portfolio manager at abrdn in London.

Still, BRICS leaders and other investors touted the increased economic heft from the expansion. The new members would grow the bloc’s share of global GDP to 29% from 26% and trade in goods to 21% from 18%, Li Kexin, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official, told a press briefing on Thursday.

“I don’t know if I would say it’s a game changer, but in terms of opening up consumer markets there is scale there,” said Ola El-Shawarby, deputy portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Equity Strategy at Van Eck in New York.

Increasing trade links between existing and prospective members of the bloc have garnered attention.

“The growing trade interconnectedness seems to be providing some fundamental ground for political announcements,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING.

ING calculates that since 2015, the share of core BRICS in the new candidates’ imports increased from 23% to 30%, replacing the euro area, the United States, and other developed economies.Reuters Graphics

Other analysts and investors say Iran, which is under Western sanctions, as well as the bloc’s heavyweight member China – which has long-pushed for enlargement – are among the main beneficiaries of expansion.

“China and Brazil, India will benefit in terms of easy access to oil, and Argentina and notably Iran will benefit in terms of access to markets and FDI,” said Jakob Ekholdt Christensen, senior emerging markets fixed income strategist at BankInvest in Copenhagen.

“At most, the enlargement is a benefit for the new entrants that are hungry for capital,” said Hasnain Malik, a Dubai-based managing director at Tellimer, an emerging markets research firm.

“But this assumes they would not have seen capital inflow anyway from the richer BRICS countries and that any capital provided via a BRICS institution does not jeopardise that from other multi and bilateral sources.”

A BRICS loan to Argentina could conflict with the bailouts it has received from the International Monetary Fund, which has deeper pockets, said abrdn’s Szabo.

Increasing use of national currencies to reduce U.S. dollar dependence was another goal BRICS leaders discussed at the summit in Johannesburg. They said this could help lessen their economies’ vulnerability to a strong dollar and foreign exchange fluctuations.

And with oil producer heavyweights among the newcomers, investors said this would feed speculation that Saudi Arabia might increasingly switch to non-dollar-denominated currencies for oil trade.

“The short-term consequences could be seen in oil,” said Kaan Nazli, a portfolio manager at asset manager Neuberger Berman in London.

“If oil gets priced in a currency other than the dollar for example, or at least partly… that’s a big change.”

Modi and Xi agreed “to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said.

Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have been sour for more than three years after soldiers from both sides clashed in the Himalayan frontier in June 2020, resulting in 24 deaths.

While the situation on the nearly 3,000-km (1,860-mile)frontier has been calm since, the face-off continues in a few pockets.

On the sidelines of the BRICS summit Modi highlighted to Xi “India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC”, Kwatra said.

Modi also “underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship,” the foreign secretary said.

This is the first time that Modi has brought up the issue directly with Xi, repeating India’s stand that has been shared with China through other ministers multiple times.

The two leaders interacted on the sidelines of the Group of 20 nations summit in Indonesia last year, but only exchanged courtesies and discussed the need to stabilise ties, the Indian government said recently.

Discussions have taken place at several levels to find solutions to border issues, but a resolution remains elusive.

Xi told Modi that improving China-India relations served the interests of the two countries and was conducive to peace, stability, and development, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency, which said the meeting was at Modi’s request.

“The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region,” Xi said.

Just before the two leaders travelled to Johannesburg, military commanders held talks for five days along the Himalayan frontier in an attempt to find a breakthrough. While the two sides said the talks had been positive, there was no word on any pullback of troops on the ground.

China’s foreign and defence ministers visited India earlier this year for G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue events and met their Indian counterparts.

Heightened global tensions provoked by the Ukraine war and a growing rivalry between China and the United States have added urgency to a drive to strengthen the bloc, which has at times suffered from internal divisions and a lack of coherent vision.

“An expanded BRICS will represent a diverse group of nations with different political systems that share a common desire to have a more balanced global order,” South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said in an address ahead of the meetings.

Boosting the use of member states’ local currencies is also on the agenda. South African summit organisers, however, say there will be no discussions of a BRICS currency, an idea floated by Brazil earlier this year as an alternative to dollar-dependence.

Ramaphosa will host Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Aug. 22 to 24.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not travel to South Africa and instead join virtually.

Expansion has long been a goal of bloc heavyweight China, which hopes that broader membership will lend clout to a grouping already home to some 40% of the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP.

The leaders will hold a mini-retreat and dinner on Tuesday evening where they are likely to discuss a framework and criteria for admitting new countries.

But expansion has become a point of contention.

Russia is keen to bring in new members to counter its diplomatic isolation over its invasion of Ukraine. South Africa has also voiced support.

India, which is wary of Chinese dominance and has warned against rushing expansion, has “positive intent and an open mind”, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday. Brazil, meanwhile, is concerned that growing BRICS will dilute its influence.

While a potential BRICS enlargement remains up in the air, the bloc’s pledge to become a champion of the developing “Global South” and offer an alternative to a world order dominated by wealthy Western nations is already finding resonance.

Over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials. Of them, nearly two dozen have formally asked to be admitted.