DR CONGO: The first batch of mpox vaccine arrived in Congo’s capital today, the country’s authorities said, three weeks after the World Health Organisation declared mpox outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency.

The 100,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, have been donated by the European Union through HERA, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies. 

KOREAN PENINSULA: North Korea is flying more rubbish-carrying balloons toward South Korea, officials said today, in the latest confrontation between the rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected balloons launched from North Korea on Thursday morning following launches the previous evening. It said the North again floated balloons on Thursday evening.

FRANCE: A woman who was allegedly drugged by her now ex-husband so that she could be raped while unconscious by other men testified today that her world collapsed when police uncovered the years of alleged abuse.

Gisele Pelicot detailed to the court in the southern French city of Avignon the horror of discovering that her former spouse systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men — storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.

“It’s unbearable,” she testified. “I have so much to say that I don’t always know where to start.”

BANGLADESH: Thousands of students and others rallied today in Bangladesh’s capital to mark one month since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power in an uprising initially led by students over a quota system for government jobs.

Ms Hasina fled to India on August 5 after weeks of violence left more than 600 people dead.