The G7 countries put new ideas on the table this week to ease an alarming global food crisis, but an agreement to restart grain shipments from Ukraine’s blockaded Black Sea ports remained elusive.
Tackling the hunger crisis is central to the G7’s desire to appear a force for good at a time of food shortages and other global problems, especially as Russia spins the counter-narrative that western sanctions are to blame.
But many of the world’s poorest people and children are still at risk of starvation despite an increase in Ukrainian grain exports, via road, rail or river barges, which only partly makes up for the Black Sea standstill.
And there are facts of geography and history that can hardly change overnight: Ukraine has no other coastline, most of its neighbours are landlocked or hostile and its Soviet railways are incompatible with those to the west.
The G7 leaders promised at their three-day summit to “spare no effort” to solve the crisis and made some new suggestions to ease the problem, but some are unlikely to find consensus or bear immediate fruit.
While negotiations on unblocking the Black Sea continue, “people need this food now and time is running out,” European Council President Charles Michel said, at the G7’s mountain retreat in Germany.
Vaccine drive reloaded
An idea floated by the EU on the second day of talks was to increase fertiliser production in Africa, reducing its reliance on slow imports from Ukraine and Russia.
EU officials compared the project to vaccine production during the coronavirus pandemic, when rich countries accused of hoarding doses sought to foster home-grown manufacturing in Africa.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a guest at the G7 talks, echoed that message by saying Africa should become more self-reliant in fertiliser production.
However, the EU initiative is regarded more as a project for the longer term, to reduce Africa’s vulnerability, than as a solution to the immediate problem in the Black Sea.
“In a few months we could be blackmailed again, so we need to find solutions to increase production globally,” one official said.
Ditch biofuels
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a proposal too on Monday: tell global biofuel producers, who make fuel out of corn, to put those crops aside for the moment and grow more cereals instead.
“If we could temporarily reduce the amount of biofuels going into the petrol pumps, that actually does bring down the price of maize quite significantly,” said Environment Secretary George Eustice, who said British officials had “done the analysis on this”.
They are not the first to raise the idea. Environmentalists have long been doubtful about biofuels, and 40 groups including Oxfam and Greenpeace wrote to EU leaders last month telling them to “choose food over fuel”.
But as Mr Eustice acknowledged, winning over the ethanol-producing Americans is a major obstacle to the British plan, and there was no mention of it in the G7's final communique.
US President Joe Biden has increased the use of biofuels in domestic fuel production in a move to reduce prices, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have called for an expansion of domestic ethanol production.
Stop Russian 'pilfering'
Russia is accused of stealing grain during its four-month offensive in Ukraine and hoarding its own supplies to tighten the squeeze on global markets.
Ukraine on Wednesday published footage of what it implied was a Russian vehicle tearing up farmland before being blown up by a Ukrainian strike.
The G7 leaders said catching Russia red-handed by finding stolen goods on the world market would have the effect of “deterring Russia from continuing its illegal seizures”. Moscow denies the allegations.
Britain is putting £1.5 million ($1.8m) towards a screening process to detect Russian grain theft, hoping to increase Ukrainian revenue as well as food supplies.
Leaders did not say how they plan to trace the origin of stolen grain, but Ukraine has pointed the finger at Russian cargo ships headed to Syria as a likely smuggling route.
Money and aid
The G7’s headline promise in a two-page declaration on food security was $4.5 billion of new funding to ease the effects of hunger and malnutrition.
The $2.8bn American portion of this will mostly go towards “direct humanitarian interventions” with the rest aimed at increasing longer-term food production, a Biden administration official said.
Activists said more was needed. Save the Children’s humanitarian director Gabriella Waaijman said the G7’s decisions were a “small start” but that the summit was a “lost opportunity” for a wider package of support.
European countries also want to speed up the rail route out of Ukraine, which involves changing wagons at the EU border. Brussels has sent customs experts to speed up checks and Britain is offering £10m to repair railways.
Leaders meanwhile promised to minimise knock-on effects of sanctions on food shipments, while insisting it was Russia ultimately to blame for the problem.
Keep pushing on the Black Sea
For all the workarounds being pursued, the real prize would be opening up the Black Sea, especially the port of Odesa, to restart grain shipments towards the Bosporus and the Mediterranean.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres briefed the G7 on Monday on his attempts to broker an agreement but had no clear breakthrough to report to leaders, although they renewed their encouragement for his efforts.
The mood among leaders was “not pessimistic”, was the best that one official close to the summit felt able to say.
Ukraine has called for western navies to protect its ships, but French President Emmanuel Macron said any arrangement had to involve talks with Russia. Turkey is positioning itself as a mediator.
Mr Guterres has refused to disclose details of a potential deal but said he was hoping to bring more Russian products to world markets as well as Ukrainian ones.
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Results
STAGE
1 . Filippo Ganna (Ineos) - 0:13:56
2. Stefan Bissegger (Education-Nippo) - 0:00:14
3. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:21
4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:24
5. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) - 0:00:30
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 4:00:05
2. Joao Almeida (QuickStep) - 0:00:05
3. Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep) - 0:00:18
4. Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) - 0:00:33
5. Adam Yates (Ineos) - 0:00:39
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Indika
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 640hp
Torque: 760nm
On sale: 2026
Price: Not announced yet
HAJJAN
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The Matrix Resurrections
Director: Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Price, base: Dh1.2 million
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.3L / 100km (estimate)
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
