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Juba Confirms Consent to Some Points in Governance File

Juba Confirms Consent to Some Points in Governance File
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Juba Confirms Consent to Some Points in Governance File

Juba Confirms Consent to Some Points in Governance File

Vice President of South Sudan Dr. James Wani Igga said his government had agreed on some points in the peace talks, adding that it has been working to resolve the outstanding issues.

Igga stressed that the government is exerting more efforts to narrow the gaps with the opposition groups at the peace talks in Khartoum.

“We are continuously trying to narrow the gaps and we are doing so, even in the last proposal from Khartoum about the outstanding issues,” said Dr. Igga.

Speaking during the commemoration of Egypt National Day in Juba, the vice president said the government is doing its best to bring lasting peace to South Sudan.

“As for peace, we are doing our level best and so far so good. There are many areas on which we have agreed with the armed groups, armed oppositions, and we disagreed in other areas.”

Meanwhile, Sudanese mediation team announced that an agreement has been reached on outstanding issues of governance and the signing ceremony will take place today (Thursday).

Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kareemullah Khader said in a statement, read by Asharq Al-Awsat, that the mediation team submitted last Monday a draft agreement and asked the parties to clarify their position accordingly.

The mediation said they didn’t receive any rejection from the parties to the process when the proposal was read in a meeting held at the premises of the talks on Tuesday.

But it pointed out that they received some improvement notes.

The appropriate notes will be included in the agreed text, and the agreement will be initiated today.

Khader, however, said that the formal signing ceremony will take place on Thursday, July 26, under the auspices of guarantor of the Convention President Omar al-Bashir, heads of states of Intergovernmental Authority on Development state (IGAD) and representatives of a number of interested countries and organizations.

“Signing the agreement will lead to solving all outstanding issues in the conflict in southern Sudan, which was referred by IGAD emergency summit to the mediation summit on June 21,” Khader explained.

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World

South Korea Says Russian Military Planes Entered Its Air Defense Zone

Seoul's defense ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defense identification zone over the East Sea. (Republic of Korea Air Force)
Seoul's defense ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defense identification zone over the East Sea. (Republic of Korea Air Force)
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South Korea Says Russian Military Planes Entered Its Air Defense Zone

Seoul's defense ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defense identification zone over the East Sea. (Republic of Korea Air Force)
Seoul's defense ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defense identification zone over the East Sea. (Republic of Korea Air Force)

South Korea said on Wednesday it had scrambled fighter jets in response to Russian military aircraft entering its air defense zone, the second such incursion in weeks.

The relationship between the countries has worsened since South Korea joined Western sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and since Moscow built stronger ties with North Korea.

Seoul's defense ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defense identification zone over the East Sea, also called the Sea of Japan.

"South Korea's military detected the Russian aircraft before they entered the zone and deployed Air Force fighter jets to prepare for any contingency," it said, without giving details.

The Russian aircraft did not violate South Korean airspace, it said.

An air defense identification zone is not sovereign airspace but a buffer area where countries require foreign aircraft to identify themselves for security purposes.

Military aircraft are generally expected to notify the relevant country before entering its zone, although there is no legal obligation to do so.

In late June, more than 10 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered South Korea's air defense zone.

Beijing's defense ministry said at the time that Chinese and Russian forces had conducted a "strategic air patrol" over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.

Russia's defense ministry said the patrol was part of normal military cooperation plans and "not directed against third countries".

But South Korea still lodged protests with Beijing and Moscow and demanded measures to prevent a recurrence.

World

At Least 15 Infants Killed in Islamabad Hospital Fire

Police officers move past an ambulance outside an intensive care unit after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, August 26, 2026. (Reuters)
Police officers move past an ambulance outside an intensive care unit after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, August 26, 2026. (Reuters)
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At Least 15 Infants Killed in Islamabad Hospital Fire

Police officers move past an ambulance outside an intensive care unit after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, August 26, 2026. (Reuters)
Police officers move past an ambulance outside an intensive care unit after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, August 26, 2026. (Reuters)

At least 15 infants were killed when a fire broke out at a state-run hospital in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, triggered by a fault in air conditioning systems, local broadcaster Geo TV reported on Wednesday.

The blaze started around 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), ‌on the ‌third floor of the hospital's ‌mother ⁠and child health ward, ⁠the broadcaster said.

The incident is among the deadliest hospital fires in recent years in the country, where government healthcare is subsidized but facilities are under-resourced and overburdened while watchdogs ⁠have frequently criticized state-run facilities ‌as mismanaged.

There were ‌16 newborns in the ward when the ‌fire broke out, one of whom ‌was rescued, Geo reported.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to conduct an immediate investigation, his office said.

"Those responsible should ‌be identified, and the strictest action should be taken," Sharif's ⁠office ⁠said in a statement.

The ward was cordoned off and ambulances were seen outside the hospital building, according to a Reuters witness.

PIMS, centrally located in Islamabad where former Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefly treated last week, is one of the main public hospitals of the city.

World

Six Chinese Nationals Among Seven Killed in Russian Gas Plant Fire

Trucks race on the frozen Amur River during the Russia-China winter sports festival ZimFestAmur, with the Chinese city of Heihe seen in the background, in the far eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, in Amur region, Russia, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Trucks race on the frozen Amur River during the Russia-China winter sports festival ZimFestAmur, with the Chinese city of Heihe seen in the background, in the far eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, in Amur region, Russia, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Six Chinese Nationals Among Seven Killed in Russian Gas Plant Fire

Trucks race on the frozen Amur River during the Russia-China winter sports festival ZimFestAmur, with the Chinese city of Heihe seen in the background, in the far eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, in Amur region, Russia, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Trucks race on the frozen Amur River during the Russia-China winter sports festival ZimFestAmur, with the Chinese city of Heihe seen in the background, in the far eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, in Amur region, Russia, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Six Chinese nationals were killed and nine more are missing after a fire broke out at a gas chemical complex in Russia's far eastern Amur ‌region, the ‌plant said on Wednesday.

A total of ‌seven ⁠people died and ⁠152 people were treated for injures, including 36 who were rushed to hospitals, the plant said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.

The fire, which broke out on Tuesday, was extinguished, it added.

An ⁠emergency services plane had arrived to ‌transport the injured ‌to other hospitals in Russia.

The complex, which bills ‌itself as one of the world's largest ‌polyethylene and polypropylene producers, is a joint project of Russian company Sibur and Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec. It has yet to ‌begin operations and was preparing for production start.

Russia frequently relies on ⁠foreign ⁠labor, including workers from China, for the construction of large industrial and infrastructure projects.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it was investigating the incident as a potential breach of industrial safety regulations and was working to establish the cause of the fire.

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex is expected to produce 2.3 million metric tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of polypropylene per year.