Health news today brought a mix of hard-won progress and fresh peril. In eastern DR Congo, the WHO reported five recoveries from a rare Ebola strain around Bunia and opened a new treatment center, a hopeful milestone as officials still battle rapid spread and community resistance. In Laos, that same tension between rescue and risk is playing out underground, where teams searching for two people still missing after cave flooding face more heavy rain, rising water and equipment problems after five others were pulled out alive. There was tragedy in Australia, where a house fire in Werribee left one person dead and another seriously injured, with police investigating the cause. And in cancer research, trial results for a new pill for advanced pancreatic cancer offered rare encouragement, with reports saying it nearly doubled survival while causing fewer side effects than standard chemotherapy.