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Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

In this picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on June 25, 2025, excavator is used to clear the rubble outside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (AFP)
In this picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on June 25, 2025, excavator is used to clear the rubble outside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (AFP)
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Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

In this picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on June 25, 2025, excavator is used to clear the rubble outside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (AFP)
In this picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on June 25, 2025, excavator is used to clear the rubble outside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (AFP)

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US has not given up its maximum pressure on Iran - including restrictions on sales of Iranian oil - but signaled a potential easing in enforcement to help the country rebuild.

"They're going to need money to put that country back into shape. We want to see that happen," Trump said at a news conference at the NATO Summit when asked if he was easing oil sanctions on Iran.

Trump said a day earlier that China can continue to purchase Iranian oil after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, but the White House later clarified that his comments did not indicate a relaxation of US sanctions.

Trump imposed waves of Iran-related sanctions on several of China's independent "teapot" refineries and port terminal operators for purchases of Iranian oil.

Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, told CNBC that Trump's comment on China's ability to buy Iranian oil "was a signal to the Chinese that we want to work with you, that we're not interested in hurting your economy."

China is the top buyer of Iranian crude and has long opposed Trump's sanctions on the oil.

"We're interested in working together with you in unison, and hopefully that becomes a signal to the Iranians," Witkoff said.

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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

Pakistan Hospital Fire Kills 14 Infants

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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Pakistan Hospital Fire Kills 14 Infants

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)

A fire erupted in a hospital's maternity ward in Islamabad on Wednesday, killing 14 infants, Pakistani authorities said, with the prime minister calling for an investigation. 

The fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the Islamabad district office said in a statement. 

The statement gave a death toll of 14, who according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were all infants. 

Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed "deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of 14 infants" in separate statements. 

"Such a situation involving children is irreparable," the prime minister said. 

"The circumstances that led to the incident should be thoroughly reviewed, those responsible should be identified, and the strictest possible action should be taken." 

Authorities have not identified the cause of the fire. 

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, said the emergency call was made just before 7:00 am (0200 GMT), with rescue and police teams reaching the scene "immediately" and bringing the fire under control. 

Outside the hospital, an AFP reporter saw a woman in tears and a man clear glass from two broken windows, as security guards stood at the entrance to the leading medical facility. 

Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement. 

In January, more than 65 people were killed in a shopping center fire in the port city of Karachi. 

At least 11 people were killed in another shopping mall fire in Karachi in 2023. 

In 2021, at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in the same city. 

In 2012, at least 250 laborers died at a garment factory in Baldia Town, in western Karachi, when a fire engulfed the facility. The building had no fire escape. 

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.