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More than 100 people were killed and 50 others injured in northwestern Nigeria as they tried to scoop up fuel from an overturned petrol tanker, causing the vehicle to explode in flames, the emergency services said Wednesday. The accident occurred at midnight in Jigawa state's Majiya town after the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle while traveling on a highway, local police spokesperson Lawan Adam said. Ninety-seven people were “burned to ashes” at the scene while eight others died at the hospital, Dr. Haruna Mairiga, head of the Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency, told The Associated Press. Deadly tanker accidents are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where traffic regulations are not strictly enforced in many places and there is a lack of alternatives such as an efficient railway system to transport cargo. It is also common for people to salvage fuel with cups and buckets to take home after such accidents. The practice has become more common amid Nigeria's soaring fuel prices, which have tripled since the start of last year as Nigeria ended costly gas subsidies. The driver involved in the latest accident had traveled about 110 kilometers (68 miles) from the neighboring Kano state, police said. Residents who heard about the accident rushed to the scene and were scooping up fuel, “sparking a massive inferno,” police spokesman Lawan Adam said. Videos that appeared to be from the scene showed a massive fire stretching across the entire area, with what appeared to be bodies littered at the scene. Residents in Majiya town were in mourning on Wednesday morning as locals held a mass burial for the victims. Most of the bodies were unrecognizable, the emergency services said. “If they knew (about the danger), they wouldn’t have gone to fetch (the fuel)," said Mairiga, head of the emergency services. He said emergency services only arrived at the scene several hours after the accident. “But the incident had already happened ... those caught up (in the fire) were burned to ashes,” Mairiga said. In one of the videos, the person who recorded the clip appeared to try to mobilize others to help the victims. “It’s burning the body!” he shouted. “He will die ... when the vehicle explodes there will be a problem.” Resident Sani Umar told the local Channels Television how the fire "spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.” "People were running in all directions, screaming for help," Umar said. “This is a heartbreaking moment for us all,” said state police commissioner Ahmadu Abdullahi.

At least 90 people have died and 50 others have been injured following an explosion triggered by an overturned gasoline tanker in Nigeria, according to police reports. The incident took place in Jigawa state shortly after midnight when the driver lost control of the tanker on a highway near a university. Read: An explosion and fire at a service station in Russia's Chechnya kills 4 As locals rushed to collect fuel from the overturned vehicle, a sudden explosion ignited, resulting in a devastating fire that claimed 94 lives instantly, as stated by police spokesperson Lawan Adam.

Nelly Shukuru felt trapped by her circumstances. The violence that forced her to flee her home, the dire conditions in a displacement camp in eastern Congo, and the pervasive hunger left her feeling hopeless. At 51, she contemplated suicide, believing her suffering was unending. A neighbor intervened just in time, as Shukuru expressed, “In my mind, the suffering was permanent. Those who have died are better off than I am.” Years of conflict in eastern Congo have led to a severe mental health crisis, with aid organizations reporting a significant rise in people seeking help as fighting intensifies. The number of individuals receiving psychosocial support around Goma surged over 200% from January to June compared to the previous year, jumping from 6,600 to over 20,000, according to Action Against Hunger. Reports of suicidal thoughts also spiked, increasing from about five per month at the beginning of the year to over 120. The ongoing conflict involves more than 100 armed groups competing for control in the mineral-rich region, particularly near the Rwandan border. The resurgence of the M23 rebel group has exacerbated violence, displacing millions and forcing over 600,000 people into camps near Goma. As a result, many individuals are grappling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, insomnia, and substance abuse, according to psychologists. Psychologist Innocent Ntamuheza noted, “All around us there is war, and the number of people facing difficulty is increasing daily.” Yet, mental health support remains scarce, with less than 30% of the $180 million requested for protection services, including mental health, funded this year. The United Nations has labeled Congo one of the world’s most neglected crises. Shukuru’s despair deepened after a violent incident in August involving her intoxicated son. Her family, once farmers and active in their community, fled their home in Sake after it was bombed. Now, they struggle to survive in the camp, where the aid received is insufficient. Some camps are alarmingly close to the front lines, and Shukuru's camp was hit by shells in May, resulting in numerous casualties. Armed individuals sometimes mingle with the camp residents, heightening fear and insecurity. During an August visit, armed men were seen, and it remains unclear whether they are military personnel or militia members. Read: Boat capsizes in eastern Congo lake, killing at least 50 people, witnesses say The government’s efforts to combat the M23 involve supporting various militia groups, raising concerns about human rights abuses. Reports of sexual violence are rampant; one survivor described being assaulted while foraging for food. Those affected often seek help from organizations like Doctors Without Borders, yet the trauma persists, impacting their ability to sleep and live peacefully. Mental health support is critical, and community leaders are being trained to identify individuals in need. Despite stigma around mental health, those who seek treatment have found coping strategies helpful. Josephine Mulonda, 52, shared how a technique called the “butterfly hug” has helped her manage anxiety stemming from her husband’s murder. For children affected by conflict, organizations like War Child use creative methods such as movement and song to help them express their feelings. However, many of these children carry deep scars from their experiences, with some contemplating suicide as an escape from their suffering. Read more: Congo's humanitarian crisis helped mpox spiral again into a global health emergency One 14-year-old girl, separated from her family during an attack, fears for her safety while searching for firewood. The psychological support she receives offers temporary relief, but she remains uncertain about her mother’s fate, highlighting the profound impact of this ongoing crisis.

Mozambique is voting for a new president on Wednesday in an election that is expected to extend the ruling party's 49 years in power since the southern African nation gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Daniel Chapo, 47, is the candidate for the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, or Frelimo, seeking to succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served a maximum two terms. Analysts say the strongest challenge to Chapo and Frelimo's dominance will likely come from 50-year-old independent Venancio Mondlane, a newcomer to national politics. People also will vote for the makeup of Parliament and for provincial governors in a country of some 33 million people that went through a bloody, 15-year civil war that ended in 1992, and more recently has been shaken by an ongoing violent jihadist insurgency in the north. Ending that insurgency and bringing stability to Cabo Delgado province — where 1.3 million fled their homes and more than half remain displaced — is a pledge by both leading candidates, while poverty, youth unemployment and government corruption are top issues for voters. "I am still selling biscuits at a vegetable market here in Maputo to take care of my two children," 35-year-old Felicidade Simao said at a polling station. “My husband is unemployed and we are struggling. I want the best for my children and the winner of this election must make the dream of a better life in the future.” Vote-counting is due to start right after polls close in the one-day election. Preliminary results from some areas are expected from Thursday, and the full results must be delivered to the Constitutional Council within 15 days of polls closing to be validated and formally declared. Around 17 million people are registered to vote. The credibility of the election will be under scrutiny, with the leftist Frelimo party accused of ballot-stuffing and falsifying results in previous votes, including last year's local elections. Frelimo has consistently denied the accusations of election tampering. Teams of regional and international election observers are in Mozambique, including from the European Union. Frelimo effectively established a one-party state following independence and fought a civil war against the Mozambique National Resistance, or Renamo, for a decade and a half. The country, where Portuguese remains the official language, held its first elections in 1994, two years after a peace agreement. Renamo is also contesting this election, with party leader Ossufo Momade, a military commander in the civil war, its candidate for president. The peace between Frelimo and Renamo has been fragile, with an outbreak of more fighting in 2013. Momade and outgoing leader Nyusi signed another peace deal in 2019. But tensions remain, especially between the two political parties that were once at war with each other. There are four candidates for president: Chapo, Mondlane, Momade and Lutero Simango of the Mozambique Democratic Movement, who is viewed as an outsider. “I thank the entire Mozambican population for this opportunity we have today,” favorite Chapo said as he voted in the southern city of Inhambane. “We equally salute everyone for this orderly and peaceful environment seen since the beginning of the electoral campaign.” The independent Mondlane, who broke away from Renamo, has focused his campaign on young Mozambicans frustrated with poverty and unemployment. The country boasts a long coastline of picturesque beaches on the Indian Ocean, but that vulnerable area has been battered by cyclones in recent years. A drought this year in the southern African region has left more than a million Mozambicans impacted by hunger. Meanwhile, it emerged in 2016 that government officials and others had embezzled more than $2 billion in foreign loans that were kept secret, sending the economy into a crisis from which it is still recovering. “All Mozambicans have high hopes from the new president,” said 69-year-old Baptista Antonio, who was one of the first to vote at an elementary school in the capital and port city of Maputo. "I was born during the colonial era and saw many transformations of the country from wars to development and all I can say is it’s a work in progress. There are many challenges ahead.” Mondlane was aligned with a coalition of opposition parties, but they were barred from contesting the election, which raised accusations against Frelimo of attempting to control the election. He is now supported by a new party called Podemos, which means “we can” in Portuguese. A former banker, Mondlane drew large crowds to some of his boisterous pre-election rallies, and his emergence is a new challenge to Frelimo, which has traditionally won national elections comfortably ahead of Renamo. Most analysts expect Frelimo to remain in power. It was declared the winner with more than 70% of the vote in national elections five years ago. The Pangea risk company, which provides security and investment advice on developing countries, said Chapo's election has been "carefully stage managed" by Frelimo. Chapo worked as a radio announcer and television presenter before becoming a law professor. He was the governor of southern Inhambane province — Mozambique's flagship tourism region — but was a surprise winner of an internal party vote in May to become Frelimo's presidential candidate. Chapo would be Mozambique's first leader born after independence if he wins.

Tunisia’s incumbent president said he would wait for official results before declaring victory while acknowledging exit polls showing him winning by a landslide in an election Sunday marred by earlier arrests of his opponents. President Kais Saied's supporters jubilantly honked and celebrated after voting ended and public television broadcast images of the president pledging to pursue traitors and those acting against Tunisia, much like he has throughout his tenure. “We’re going to cleanse the country of all the corrupt and schemers," Saied said at his campaign headquarters. Tunisia's public television broadcast exit polls from Sigma Conseil, an independent firm that has historically published figures not far off official tallies, showing Saied winning more than 89% of the vote over imprisoned businessman Ayachi Zammel and Zouhair Maghzaoui, a leftist who supported Saied before choosing to run against him. In the North African country known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring, much of the opposition chose to boycott the election. They called it a sham with Saied's leading critics imprisoned alongside journalists, lawyers, activists and leading civil society figures. They emphasized the low turnout in Sunday's election. Official results are expected on Monday. At the time polling stations closed, only 2.7 million voters, 27.7% of the electorate, had cast ballots — far fewer than the 49% who participated in the first round of the last presidential race in 2019. Supporters of the president — who rode anti-establishment backlash to win a first term five years ago — said his second win would send a clear message to the political class that preceded his ascendance. “We're tired of the governance we had before. We want a leader who wants to work for Tunisia. This country was on the road to ruin,” said Layla Baccouchi, a Saied supporter. The election was Tunisia's third since the nation became known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled dictators throughout the region. Weeks after a fruit vendor set himself ablaze to protest police humiliation and corruption, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and fled the country. In the years that followed, Tunisia enshrined a new democratic constitution, created a Truth and Dignity Commission to bring justice to citizens tortured under the former regime and saw its leading civil society groups win the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering political compromise. But its new leaders were unable to buoy its struggling economy and quickly became unpopular amid constant political infighting and episodes of violence. Observers judged the country's first two post-Arab Spring elections as free and fair. However the lead-up to this year's race saw the arrests of several declared challengers and the ongoing incarceration of his most prominent right-wing and Islamist critics. Dozens of candidates had expressed interest in challenging the president and 17 submitted preliminary paperwork to run in Sunday’s race. However, members of the election commission, all of whom are appointed by the president, approved only the three. Zammel was subsequently charged with violating election laws and sentenced to years behind bars. The president's detractors have routinely staged protests since July 2021, when he used emergency powers to suspend parliament and later rewrote the constitution giving himself more power. Since then, dozens of his opponents have been imprisoned on charges including inciting disorder, undermining state security and violating a controversial anti-fake news law that critics say is used to stifle dissent. Among the changes enshrined in Saied's constitution, which voters approved via referendum the following year, was allowing the president to appoint all members of Tunisia's election authority, ISIE. It has faced scrutiny this year for ignoring court rulings ordering it put candidates it rejected back on the ballot and denying election monitors permission to observe the polls. Such conditions led many to boycott the race, including Siwar Gmati, a 27-year-old who works for I Watch, one of the non-governmental organizations whose application to monitor the polls was rejected. “We, as young people, are more attached to what the revolution brought to us,” Gmati said at a Friday protest. “We were raised after the revolution to speak our minds.” Apart from Friday's protest and Sunday's celebration in downtown Tunis, there were few signs that an election was even underway throughout campaign season. The mood was a pronounced departure from the country's past two presidential elections, which were Tunisia's first contested races in decades. Critics have called years of crackdown on Saied's opponents democratic backsliding and a reversal the progress made after the Arab Spring. Additionally, the country’s economy continues to face major challenges. Unemployment has steadily increased to one of the region’s highest at 16%, the government owes billions to international lenders and an increasing number of Tunisians attempted to migrate to Europe without authorization each year from 2019 to 2023.

A boat carrying scores of passengers capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, witnesses told The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were on board or how many perished but witnesses said they saw rescue services recover at least 50 bodies from the water. They said 10 people survived and were taken to the local hospital. The boat, overloaded with passengers, sank while trying to dock just meters (yards) away from the port of Kituku, the witnesses said. It was the latest deadly boat accident in the central African country, where overcrowding is often to blame, including one this summer when an overloaded boat sank near the capital and 80 passengers lost their lives.

The hand-carved domes and brick-laid arches had almost all been put back together when an earthquake shook Morocco so violently that they caved in on themselves and crashed to the earth. After nearly 900 years, the Great Mosque of Tinmel lay in pieces — its minaret toppled, its prayer hall full of rubble, its outer walls knocked over. But even in ruins, it remained holy ground for the residents of Tinmel. Villagers carried the sheet-laden bodies of the 15 community members killed in the quake down the hillside and placed them in front of the decimated mosque. Among the mourners was Mohamed Hartatouch, who helped carry the remains of his son Abdelkrim. A 33-year-old substitute teacher, he died under bricks and collapsed walls while the village waited a day and a half for rescue crews to arrive. “It looked like a storm. I wasn’t able to feel anything,” the grieving father said, remembering the day after the quake. One year later, the rubble near Hartatouch’s half-standing home has been swept aside and Tinmel residents are eager to rebuild their homes and the mosque. They say the sacred site is a point of pride and source of income in a region where infrastructure and jobs were lacking long before the earthquake hit. “It’s our past,” Redwan Aitsalah, a 32-year-old construction worker, said the week before the earthquake’s anniversary as he reconstructed his home overlooking the mosque. The September 2023 quake left a path of destruction that will take Morocco years to recover from. It killed nearly 3,000 people, knocked down almost 60,000 homes and leveled at least 585 schools. The damage will cost about $12.3 billion to rebuild, according to government estimates. Stretches of road were left unnavigable, including Tizi N’Test, the steep mountain pass that weaves from Marrakech to Tinmel and some of the hardest-hit villages near the earthquake’s epicenter. Workers are now sifting through the rubble searching for the mosque's puzzle pieces. They are stacking useable bricks and sorting the fragments of remaining decorative elements arch by arch and dome by dome, preparing to rebuild the mosque using as much of the remains as possible. Though incomparable to the human loss and suffering, the restoration effort is among Morocco’s priorities as it attempts to rebuild. The country’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Ministry of Culture have recruited Moroccan architects, archaeologists and engineers to oversee the project. To assist, the Italian government has sent Moroccan-born architect Aldo Giorgio Pezzi, who had also consulted on Casablanca’s Hassan II Mosque, one of Africa's largest. “We will rebuild it based on the evidence and remains that we have so it returns to how it was,” Morocco’s Minister of Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq told The Associated Press. The Great Mosque was a marvel of North African architecture with lobed arches, hand-carved moldings and the adobe-style bricks made of rammed earth used to construct most the area’s structures. It was undergoing an 18-month-long restoration project when the quake struck, causing its ornate domes and pillars to cave in. Its clay-colored remnants lay in pieces beneath scaffolding erected by restoration workers from villages throughout the region, five of whom also died. “The mosque withstood centuries. It’s the will of God,” Nadia El Bourakkadi, the site’s conservationist, told local media. The temblor leveled it months before repairs and renovations were to be completed. Like in many of the area’s villages, residents of Tinmel today live in plastic tents brought in as temporary shelter post-earthquake. Some are there because it feels safer than their half-ruined homes, others because they have nowhere else to go. Officials have issued more than 55,000 reconstruction permits for villagers to build new homes, including for most of the homes in Tinmel. The government has distributed financial aid in phases. Most households with destroyed homes have received an initial $2,000 installment of rebuilding aid, but not more. Many have complained that isn’t enough to underwrite the initial costs of rebuilding. Less than 1,000 have completed rebuilding, according to the government’s own figures. Despite the extent of their personal losses, Moroccans are also mourning the loss of revered cultural heritage. Centuries-old mosques, shrines, fortresses and lodges are scattered throughout the mountains. Unlike Tinmel, many have long been neglected as Morocco focuses its development efforts elsewhere. The country sees Tinmel as the cradle of one of its most storied civilizations. The mosque served as a source of inspiration for widely visited sacred sites in Marrakech and Seville. Pilgrims once trekked through the High Atlas to pay their respects and visit. Yet centuries ago it fell into disrepair as political power shifted to Morocco’s larger cities and coastline. “It was abandoned by the state, but materials were never taken from it,” said Mouhcine El Idrissi, an archaeologist working with Morocco’s Ministry of Culture. “People here have long respected it as a witness to their glorious and spiritual past.” Some of the historic sites of the High Atlas have long been a lure to tourists. But the earthquake shone a spotlight on the vast disparities plaguing the primarily agricultural region. Long marginalized, poverty and illiteracy rates are higher than the nationwide average, according to census data and an October 2023 government report on the five earthquake-hit provinces. “The mountainous areas most affected were those already suffering from geographical isolation,” Civil Coalition for the Mountain, a group of Moroccan NGOs, said in a statement on the earthquake’s anniversary. “The tragedy revealed structural differences, and a situation caused by development policies that have always kept the mountains outside the scope of their objectives.” “There’s a Morocco that exists in Rabat and Marrakech, but we’re talking about another Morocco that’s in the mountains,” added Najia Ait Mohannad, the group’s regional coordinator. “Right now, the most urgent need is rebuilding houses.” The government has promised “a well-thought-out, integrated and ambitious program" for the reconstruction and general upgrading of the affected regions, both in terms of infrastructure reinforcement and improving public services. It has also pledged to rebuild “in harmony with the region’s heritage and respecting its unique architectural features” and “to respect the dignity and customs” of the population. For the village’s residents, the landmark could stand as a symbol of reinvestment in one of Morocco’s poorest regions, as well as a tribute to a glorious past. For now, it stands in disrepair, its enchanting ruins upheld by wooden scaffolding, while down the hill, villagers hang laundry and grow vegetables amid the remnants of their former homes and the plastic tents where they now live.

Rwanda has started a vaccination campaign against mpox with 1,000 doses of the vaccine it obtained from Nigeria under an agreement between the two countries, the African health agency said Thursday. The vaccinations started Tuesday targeting seven districts with “high risk populations” who neighbor Congo, Dr. Nicaise Ndembi from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. Nigeria donated the 1,000 doses to Rwanda from an allotment of 10,000 it had received from the United States. Congo has been at t he epicenter of an outbreak on the African continent, where 2,912 new mpox cases and 14 new deaths have been recorded in the last one week, bringing the total number of cases to 6,105 with 738 deaths since the beginning of the year. “This outbreak must be stopped very quickly,” Africa CDC director-general Dr. Jean Kaseya said Thursday. Rwanda and other countries are now requesting more doses than they originally indicated that they needed, Kaseya said. African experts have estimated the continent might need about 10 million vaccines to stop the ongoing outbreaks. The Japanese government has signed an agreement with the government in Congo to provide 3 million doses of the mpox vaccine. The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday urged more countries to contribute to the response. “International collaboration and support are needed to stop the spread of the virus,” he wrote on X social media platform. Congo is expected to start its vaccination campaign in the first week of October. Some 165,000 doses have so far been delivered to Congo, with hundreds of thousands more pledged by European countries. “We also need this vaccine to start to be manufactured in Africa, and we are working strongly and closely with our manufacturers and also our partners to have these vaccines manufactured from one of the African countries,” Kaseya said. WHO said Friday it had granted its first authorization for use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa. The approval of the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like vaccines alliance Gavi and UNICEF can buy it. But supplies are limited because there’s only a single manufacturer.

Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter's grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral. In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child she lost and worried about the rest of her family. "When she was born, it was as if God had answered our prayers — we wanted a girl," Wisoba said of little Maombi Katengey. "But our biggest joy was transformed into devastation." Her daughter is one of more than 6,000 people officials suspect have contracted the disease in South Kivu province, the epicenter of the world's latest mpox outbreak, in what the World Health Organization has labeled a global health emergency. A new strain of the virus is spreading, largely through skin-to-skin contact, including but not limited to sex. A lack of funds, vaccines and information is making it difficult to stem the spread, according to alarmed disease experts. Mpox — which causes mostly mild symptoms like fever and body aches, but can trigger serious cases with prominent blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals — had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa, until a 2022 outbreak reached more than 70 countries. Globally, gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases in that outbreak. But officials note mpox has long disproportionately affected children in Africa, and they say cases are now rising sharply among kids, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, with many types of close contact responsible for the spread. Health officials have zeroed in on Kamituga, a remote yet bustling gold mining town of some 300,000 people that attracts miners, sex workers and traders who are constantly on the move. Cases from other parts of eastern Congo can be traced back here, officials say, with the first originating in the nightclub scene. Since this outbreak began, one year ago, nearly 1,000 people in Kamituga have been infected. Eight have died, half of them children. Challenges on the ground Last month, the World Health Organization said mpox outbreaks might be stopped in the next six months, with governments' leadership and cooperation. But in Kamituga, people say they face a starkly different reality. There's a daily average of five new cases at the general hospital, which is regularly near capacity. Overall in South Kivu, weekly new suspected cases have skyrocketed from about 12 in January to 600 in August, according to province health officials. Even that's likely an underestimate, they say, because of a lack of access to rural areas, the inability of many residents to seek care, and Kamituga's transient nature. Locals say they simply don't have enough information about mpox. Before her daughter got sick, Wisoba said, she was infected herself but didn't know it. Painful lesions emerged around her genitals, making walking difficult. She thought she had a common sexually transmitted infection and sought medicine at a pharmacy. Days later, she went to the hospital with her newborn and was diagnosed with mpox. She recovered, but her daughter developed lesions on her foot. Nearly a week later, Maombi died at the same hospital that treated her mother. Wisoba said she didn't know about mpox until she got it. She wants the government to invest more in teaching people protective measures. Local officials can't reach areas more than a few miles outside Kamituga to track suspected cases or inform residents. They broadcast radio messages but say that doesn't reach far enough. Kasindi Mwenyelwata goes door to door describing how to detect mpox — looking for fevers, aches or lesions. But the 42-year-old community leader said a lack of money means he doesn't have the right materials, such as posters showing images of patients, which he finds more powerful than words. ALIMA, one of the few aid groups working on mpox in Kamituga, lacks funds to set up programs or clinics that would reach some 150,000 people, with its budget set to run out at year's end, according to program coordinator Dr. Dally Muamba. If support keeps waning and mpox spreads, he said, "there will be an impact on the economy, people will stop coming to the area as the epidemic takes its toll. ... And as the disease grows, will resources follow?" The vaccine vacuum Health experts agree: What's needed most are vaccines — even if they go only to adults, under emergency approval in Congo. None has arrived in Kamituga, though it's a priority city in South Kivu, officials said. It's unclear when or how they will. The main road into town is unpaved — barely passable by car during the ongoing rainy season. Once they make it here, it's unclear whether supply will meet demand for those who are at greatest risk and first in line: health staff, sex workers, miners and motorcycle taxi drivers. Congo's government has budgeted more than $190 million for its initial mpox response, which includes the purchase of 3 million vaccine doses, according to a draft national mpox plan, widely circulating among health experts and aid groups this month and seen by The Associated Press. But so far, just 250,000 doses have arrived in Congo and the government's given only $10 million, according to the finance ministry. Most people with mild cases recover in less than two weeks. But lesions can get infected, and children or immunocompromised people are more prone to severe cases. Doctors can ensure lesions are clean and give pain medication or antibiotics for secondary infections such as sepsis. But those who recover can get the virus again. A new variant, a lack of understanding Experts say a lack of resources and knowledge about the new strain makes it difficult to advise people on protecting themselves. An internal report circulated among aid groups and agencies and seen by AP labeled confidence in the available information about mpox in eastern Congo and neighboring countries low. While the variant is known to be more easily transmissible through sex, it's unclear how long the virus remains in the system. Doctors tell recovered patients to abstain from sex for three months, but acknowledge the number's largely arbitrary. "Studies haven't clarified if you're still contagious or not ... if you can or can't have sex with your wife," said Dr. Steven Bilembo, of Kamituga's general hospital. Doctors say they're seeing cases they simply don't understand, such as pregnant women losing babies. Of 32 pregnant women infected since January, nearly half lost the baby through miscarriage or stillbirth, hospital statistics show. Alice Neema was among them. From the hospital's isolation ward, she told AP she'd noticed lesions around her genitals and a fever — but didn't have enough money to travel the 30 miles (50 kilometers) on motorbike for help in time. She miscarried after her diagnosis. As information trickles in, locals say fear spreads alongside the new strain. Diego Nyago said he'd brought his 2-year-old son, Emile, to the hospital for circumcision when he developed a fever and lepasions. It was mpox — and today, Nyago is grateful he was already at the hospital. "I didn't believe that children could catch this disease," he said as doctors gently poured water over the boy to bring his temperature down. "Some children die quickly, because their families aren't informed. "Those who die are the ones who stay at home."  

Two passenger trains collided in Egypt’s Nile Delta on Saturday, killing at least three people, two of them children, authorities said. The crash happened in the city of Zagazig, the capital of Sharqiya province, the country's railway authority said in a statement. Egypt's Health Ministry said the collision injured at least 40 others. Train derailments and crashes are common in Egypt, where an aging railway system has also been plagued by mismanagement. In recent years, the government announced initiatives to improve its railways. In 2018, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said some 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $8.13 billion, would be needed to properly overhaul the North African country’s neglected rail network. Video from the site of the crash showed a train car crumpled by the impact, surrounded by crowds. Men tried to lift the injured through the windows of a passenger car. Last month, a train crashed into a truck crossing the train tracks in the Mediterranean province of Alexandria, killing two people.