- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
UN in 'complex' talks with Russia to unblock Ukraine ports
The UN said Friday it is leading intense negotiations with Russia to unblock Ukrainian ports and release tens of millions of tonnes of grain to avert a global food crisis.
One hundred days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UN crisis coordinator for the war-torn country, Amin Awad, stressed the high stakes of the "very, very complex" talks to try and end the impasse.
Ships loaded with grain remain blocked in Ukraine, which before February was considered a global breadbasket as a leading exporter of corn, wheat and sunflower seeds, feeding 400 million people around the world last year.
The talks are being led by UN aid chief Martin Griffith and Rebeca Gynspan, who heads the UN trade and development agency, Awad said via video link to reporters in Geneva.
The UN has warned that especially African countries, which imported more than half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an "unprecedented" crisis caused by the conflict.
Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab springs and the 2008 food riots.
Putin has said that Moscow is ready to look for ways to ship grain stuck in Ukrainian ports but has demanded the West lift sanctions.
But Awad highlighted that pressure is also being put on Russia from some of its allies feeling the pinch.
"There is a lot of shuttling between Moscow and other countries that have concerns," he said.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met the head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, at his Black Sea residence in Sochi.
At the opening of those talks, Sall told Putin to "become aware" that African countries "are victims" in the Ukraine conflict.
- 'Silver bullet' -
Awad highlighted that Russia "has alliances in the South", stressing that some of the impacted countries could help sway the situation.
"I am optimistic that something could give in, something could be made," he said, voicing hope that we could "see a breakthrough".
But, he stressed, the negotiations are "very complex" and "happening on many tracks."
The UN's World Food Programme said unblocking the ports would have a huge impact.
"The Black Sea ports are as it were the silver bullet when it comes to avoiding global famines, global hunger," WFP's emergency coordinator in Ukraine Matthew Hollingworth told reporters.
He said while efforts are underway to reopen the ports, the UN and others are also looking at other options for getting the desperately-needed grain out of Ukraine, including by truck, train or through ports in neighbouring countries.
Such options would however mean "dribbling out 1-1.5 million tonnes," he said, highlighting that while that may sound like a lot, "it is nothing when this country was pushing five million tonnes out a month prior to this war."
Awad agreed, pointing to a range of challenges with moving grain by truck or rail.
"It does have to be really be a maritime movement to support 50 to 60 million tonnes of food out," he said.
R.J.Fidalgo--PC