When a dedicated YouTube channel for Ukrainian refugees in the UK was launched recently, there was only really one option for a name: Sunflower TV.
Ukraine’s sunflowers are a part of the nation’s identity. The oil that comes from the massive harvest each year – the biggest of its kind on the planet – is now foundational to a global food crisis. Rapidly spiralling shortages and price hikes in grains and oils are reverberating in every corner of the planet.
The Ukraine war maybe a conflict of Europe but as one senior Gulf official told me last week, its consequences are too important to be left to local initiatives.
A UN-led effort to free up the blockages in Ukraine’s grain exports is at the apex of overlapping initiatives. The idea is that ships could again start to carry cargo loads across the Black Sea from the Ukrainian ports.
To do that, a maritime de-mining strategy must be launched, concentrated particularly on the channels through Ukraine's hinterland that lead to the port of Odesa, one of the most important outlets for world food markets. Officials in Ukraine claim there is some progress in moving the stockpile of 22 million tonnes, derived from previous harvests, from the country’s silos.
The CSIS report warns that food was a weapon of this war from the outset
A number of alternative routes are being explored but these solutions so far create one simple dilemma: each is a more expensive undertaking than the Black Sea route. Another big question surrounds not just the past harvests held in abeyance before the war began four months ago. How much has the fighting impacted the Ukraine crops for 2022? Farmers even in the peaceful areas of the country cannot be immune.
In addition to this, the Washington think tank CSIS has released an extensive report showing that military operations are actively damaging the land. The collective of satellite images and analysis shows that farms in some of the most productive areas of the country have seen whole tracts destroyed by troop manoeuvres. Scorched earth tactics have been suspected.
Ukraine’s economy has been devastated. Oil supplies have been diverted. Fertiliser is way more expensive. Banks have run short of resources for working capital funding and loans to improve productivity. And confidence that conditions will be the same in five months after sowing when harvests come around has been lacking.
The satellite firm Maxar Technologies suggested last week that Ukraine’s overall crop could be reduced by 50 per cent in 2022 as a result of the disruption it has tracked. That is not so different from the figure provided by Ukraine’s agriculture ministry, which said there would a 40 per cent drop in production.
Some of the worst damage to the country’s expected yields was inflicted at the outset of the war when northern swathes of the country were invaded.
The Ukrainian military managed to repulse the Russian advance and the artillery has stopped firing in that area. It was too late for the farmers to regroup for this year and planting season was lost. The CSIS report warns that food was a weapon of this war from the outset.
That observation underlines the importance of the world speaking urgently with one voice about the conflict. It is not cost-free for any country. Both the rich Europeans and developing countries are suffering badly.
Energy prices are soaring, putting the political systems of too many countries through unforeseen crises and disintegration. The cost of living and, especially, eating is becoming unimaginably tough.
A week of diplomacy saw European leaders travel to Kyiv to provide overt support for the country at its toughest hour of need. Behind the scenes there was also frank discussions about the cost that they are bearing as the economies come under unheralded pressure.
It is not easy to weigh the various risks that face Ukraine’s allies and neighbours with the threat of annihilation that has been dumped on the country.
The case of the food crisis is a crisis for the UN-led international order. It has provided a crux point for the principle of universality. The World Trade Organisation held a series of meetings in which countries agreed not to restrict food exports.
What happens around Ukraine will be a key test of that small chink of progress, but any deal in Geneva will not be what makes a difference to grain shortage. If the war is prolonged, comparison will be made with the efforts to assert the principle of freedom of navigation in Asia and the Middle East.
There is a particular established set of treaties governing the Black Sea, but there is no reason why the current alliances could put this freedom of navigation rule to the test. As with much else in the war, the barriers to escalation are just broken. Weapons shipments have hogged the headlines. Sanctions are unprecedented. Political rhetoric is unhedged.
When it comes to food, talks need to turn into negotiations very quickly – or the scramble for supplies will supersede the war. As winter stores fail to fill up, the precious crops of both Ukraine and Russia are the telling prize of the conflict.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GROUPS AND FIXTURES
Group A
UAE, Italy, Japan, Spain
Group B
Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Russia
Tuesday
4.15pm: Italy v Japan
5.30pm: Spain v UAE
6.45pm: Egypt v Russia
8pm: Iran v Mexico
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 424hp
Torque: 580 Nm
Price: From Dh399,000
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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