Briefly

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

President calls for dialogue with DPRK

Talks with Pyongyang should not be for political show but contribute to establishing peace, the Republic of Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday, speaking at a wide-ranging press conference to mark his first 100 days in office. Yoon repeated his willingness to provide phased economic aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea if it ended nuclear weapons development and began denuclearization, noting that he had called for a dialogue with Pyongyang since his campaign. In another development, the DPRK fired two cruise missiles toward the western waters earlier on Wednesday.

SRI LANKA

Government to end state of emergency

Sri Lanka will not extend a state of emergency imposed to control anti-government protests as the situation in the impoverished nation has "stabilized", the president's office said on Tuesday. President Ranil Wickremesinghe invoked the tough laws four days after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned on July 14 after months of protests. The emergency imposed by Wickremesinghe is due to lapse on Thursday and he has the power to renew it every month thereafter. The emergency regulations allow troops and police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

UNITED STATES

Monkeypox found to spread to pet dogs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning people in the United States who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus. The topic gained attention after a report from France, published last week in the medical journal Lancet, about an Italian greyhound that caught the virus. Monkeypox infections have been detected in rodents and other wild animals, which can spread the virus to humans. But the authors called it the first report of monkeypox infection in a domesticated animal.

UNITED NATIONS

Malaria vaccine contract to benefit children

British pharmaceutical company GSK has been awarded a contract to produce the world's first malaria vaccine so that millions more children will be protected against the killer disease, the United Nations Children's Fund announced on Tuesday. The landmark award, valued at up to $170 million, will lead to the availability of 18 million doses of the RTS, S vaccine over the next three years, potentially saving thousands of young lives annually. In 2020, nearly half a million children died from malaria in Africa alone.

Agencies - Xinhua