ANKARA (Middle East Eye) – The possibility of the first grain-exporting ship leaving Ukraine’s ports on Monday is high, a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. “If all [details] are completed by tomorrow, it seems like there is a high possibility that the first ship will leave the port tomorrow... We will see ships leaving the ports the next day at the latest,” Ibrahim Kalin said. Speaking in an interview with Turkish broadcaster Kanal 7, Kalin said a joint command centre (JCC) in Istanbul will probably complete the final work on the exporting routes very soon. Russia and Ukraine are major global wheat suppliers, and the Turkish- and UN-brokered agreement they signed in Istanbul last week is intended both to ease the food crisis and reduce global grain prices that have risen since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. The United Nations and Turkey had been working for two months to broker what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a “package” deal to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.

 

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LISBON (Xinhua) – Portugal is experiencing the worst drought as 67.9 percent of its territory was in severe drought, 28.4 percent in extreme drought and the remaining 3.7 percent in moderate drought in June, says the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA). This is the driest year since the beginning of droughts registration in the country, which started in 1931, said the institute. The drought in Portugal began to intensify approximately a year ago, and even in winter, the entire continental territory of the country was in severe drought, according to the IPMA. It also said that five Portuguese districts are under “orange” alert, the second most serious on a scale of three, until Aug. 1, due to the persistence of very high temperature. The National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) issued a warning on Saturday about the danger of fires due to low humidity levels. To guarantee human consumption of water, the Portuguese government adopted measures to monitor and limit water use for energy generation and irrigation. 

 

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COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe has formally invited MPs to join an all-party unity government to revive the bankrupt economy by undertaking painful reforms, his office said Sunday.  Wickremesinghe took office earlier this month after public anger over the island nation’s worst economic crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit. In a meeting Saturday with the influential monks of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Wickremesinghe outlined his plans. “As the president, I wish to start a new journey,” Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling the monks in his first meeting with the powerful Buddhist clergy since taking office. “I would like to get all the parties together and go on that journey as well as to form an all-party government.” He has written to all lawmakers asking them to join a unity government.

 

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Russia’s Rosatom has awarded TSM Enerji the contract to undertake the remaining construction work at the $20 billion nuclear power plant it is building in Akkuyu in southern Turkey, the company says. Akkuyu Nukleer, a Rosatom subsidiary that is building four reactors at the site on the Mediterranean, said it had signed the engineering, procurement and construction contract with TSM after terminating its agreement with Turkish firm IC Ictas. TSM is owned by three Russia-based companies, according to the Turkish trade registry. “All works under current subcontracts will be transferred to TSM ... Similar new contracts will be signed between TSM and subcontractors,” Akkuyu Nukleer said in a statement, without saying why the IC Ictas agreement had been terminated. It said the contract with TSM would ensure work was completed by previously agreed dates and that workers were paid on time.

 

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BEIJING (AP) – Debris from a rocket that boosted part of China’s new space station into orbit fell into the sea in the Philippines on Sunday, the Chinese government announced. Most of the final stage of the Long March-5B rocket burned up after entering the atmosphere at 12:55 a.m., the China Manned Space Agency reported. The agency said earlier the booster would be allowed to fall unguided. The announcement gave no details of whether remaining debris fell on land or sea but said the “landing area” was at 119 degrees east longitude and 9.1 degrees north latitude. That is in waters southeast of the Philippine city of Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. There was no immediate word from Philippine authorities about whether anyone on the ground was affected.

 

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 DAKAR (AFP) –  Senegalese voters head to the polls Sunday for parliamentary elections the opposition hopes will force a coalition with President Macky Sall and curb any ambitions he may hold for a third term. Sixty-year-old Sall, who was elected in 2012 for seven years then re-elected in 2019 for another five, has been accused of wanting to break the two-term limit and run again in 2024. He has remained vague on the subject, but any defeat of his supporters in Sunday’s vote could upset such plans. Polling stations are due to open at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT. The single-round ballot will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament -- currently controlled by the president’s supporters -- for the next five years. Lawmakers are elected according to a system that combines proportional representation with national lists for 53 lawmakers, and majority voting in the country’s departments for 97 others.