Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will "soon" visit Russia to discuss the lapsed Black Sea grain deal with President Vladimir Putin, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling party said on Monday.
Mr Erdogan will visit the Russian city of Sochi for talks about the looming global "food crisis" soon, said Omer Celik, the Justice and Development Party spokesman.
Bloomberg earlier quoted two unidentified Turkish officials as saying the meeting could take place on Friday, September 8.
Turkey has played a key role in mediating between Moscow and Kyiv since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Although Turkey is a member of the Nato alliance, which opposes Russia's invasion and whose members have provided arms and support to Ukraine, Mr Erdogan has used his country's good relations with both sides to take the role as mediator.
Ankara helped to negotiate the only major agreement signed since the outbreak of the war – the UN-backed deal to ship grain from Ukrainian ports across the Black Sea to avert a global food shortage.
Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grain, and the deal initially helped to bring down global food prices, providing relief in African countries.
But Moscow withdrew from the agreement last month, citing the UN's non-compliance with provisions aimed at easing Russia's exports of agricultural products and fertiliser.
Ukraine's ports have since come under attack, with Russia warning it considers any ships in the Black Sea as potential military targets.
Kyiv has also attacked Russian targets around the Black Sea.
Mr Erdogan is expected to try to revive the grain deal in the talks next week.
Last week, he sent Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Kyiv to secure Ukrainian support for renewed talks.
Mr Fidan tried to persuade Ukraine to abandon a US-backed plan to set up a new route for exporting grain that does not involve Russia, AFP reported.
"We know alternative routes are being sought [for grain shipments], but we see no alternative to the original initiative because they carry risks," AFP quoted him as saying in Kyiv.
Mr Fidan is expected to visit Moscow this week but a date has not been confirmed.
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
Seven tips from Emirates NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
