Then they’d say it was the UK Navy who did it.

Putin on the ritz like a proper dick, for sure.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to end hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a confrontation that has dragged on for "decades" and which, he says, everyone agrees must end.

The Russian president held a two-hour meeting on Monday with the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinian, in which he conveyed this need, to which the Armenian leader stressed the importance of the withdrawal of Azeri troops from the area of tensions.

Pashinian acknowledged to Putin that this would be an important step for Yerevan and that he expects Moscow to have a clear position on the matter. He also assured that Armenia is in a position to restore dialogue with Azerbaijan at any time, according to the Russian TASS news agency.

After the face-to-face meeting between Putin and Pashinian, the Russian leader is now preparing to do the same with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Later, the three leaders will hold a three-way meeting in which the main topic of discussion will be how to defuse tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I know they have the political will for this and we support it in every possible way. We should work with them now and then in a trilateral format to find key points that will allow us to move forward," President Putin said.

The governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in mid-September to a ceasefire after the latest clashes on the border, which resulted in more than 200 soldiers killed between the two sides.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had a confrontation in 2020 to take control of Nagorno Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the region of Azerbaijan integrated into the Soviet Union.

Hostilities between the two nations lasted six weeks and left thousands dead. They finally ceased when the two countries reached a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement allowing Russian peacekeepers to settle in Nagorno-Karabakh for a period of five years.”

“Cargo ships carrying 354,500 tonnes of grain, the most shipped in one day since Ukrainian exports resumed, set sail on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of wheat expected to be delivered to Africa and the Middle East are at risk after Russia's withdrawal from the Ukraine grain export deal.

Turkey says it is determined that Ukraine continues its food exports despite Russia announcing its withdrawal from a UN-brokered grain deal, a move that has heightened concerns for nations desperate for food assistance.

Russia pulled out of the deal on Saturday after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its naval fleet in annexed Crimea. Despite Moscow’s decision, cargo ships set sail carrying 354,500 tonnes of grain, the most dispatched in one day since the programme began in August.

Turkey, which helped broker the agreement, remained committed to the deal.

“Even if Russia behaves hesitantly because it didn’t receive the same benefits, we will continue decisively our efforts to serve humanity,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Amir Abdullah, the UN official coordinating the programme, said: “Civilian cargo ships can never be a military target or held hostage. The food must flow.”

‘Risky’ exports

Russia warned on Monday that it would be dangerous for Ukraine to continue its exports.

“In conditions where Russia is talking about the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of shipping in these areas, such a deal is hardly feasible, and it takes on a different character – much more risky, dangerous and unguaranteed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the attack on the Crimean base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet but says Russia’s navy is a legitimate military target.

Moscow has said the blasts were caused by a wave of sea and air drones.

In July, Russia and Ukraine signed the grain deal, which allowed the resumption of grain exports halted because of the war.

So far, more than nine million tonnes of Ukrainian grain has been exported, and the deal was set to be renewed on November 19.

Food price spike

Ukraine and Russia are both among the world’s largest exporters of food.

After Russia announced it was withdrawing from the deal, Chicago wheat futures jumped 6 percent and corn rose more than 2 percent, raising concerns over global supplies.

“This is an inflationary move, supporting prices of wheat and corn,” one Singapore-based trader said. “Prices have risen, but further gains will depend on how the situation unfolds.”

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of wheat expected to be delivered to Africa and the Middle East are at risk after Russia’s withdrawal from the deal. Ukrainian corn exports to Europe are also expected to be hit.”

“The Norwegian government has raised the alert level of the Armed Forces to reinforce surveillance and prevention tasks in infrastructures and facilities considered key, as the Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, considers that the war in Ukraine makes it necessary to be "more vigilant".

The Prime Minister has clarified that there are no indications that Russia wants to involve Norway in the conflict in any way, but he sees the need to take extreme precautions and protect, for example, the energy supply networks to other parts of Europe, reports the NRK channel.

Norway has become the main European supplier of natural gas following the measures taken in recent months on Russia. The continental gas network was already subject to serious sabotage in September by a series of explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Norwegian security forces have in recent hours arrested several Russian citizens for flying drones and, with the new plan, the Armed Forces are expected to put aside part of their maneuvers and training to concentrate on other activities theoretically more indispensable in the short term, such as maritime surveillance.

"The growing tension makes us more exposed to threats," acknowledged the Prime Minister, who defended the need for "all NATO countries" to be "more vigilant".”

“NEW DELHI (AP) — India will contribute half a million dollars to the United Nations’ efforts to counter global terrorism as new and emerging technologies used by terror groups pose fresh threats to governments around the world, the foreign minister said on Saturday.

The money will go toward the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism and will further strengthen the organization’s fight against terrorism, S Jaishankar said as he addressed a special meeting of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee in New Delhi.

This is the first time such a conference, focused on challenging threats posed by terror groups in the face of new technologies, is being held outside of the UN’s headquarters in New York.

Jaishankar said new technologies, like encrypted messaging services and blockchain, are increasingly being misused by terror groups and malicious actors, sparking an urgent need for the international community to adopt measures to combat the threats.

“Internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorist and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalization and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilizing societies,” he said in his keynote address.

Jaishankar also highlighted the growing threat from the use of unmanned aerial systems such as drones by terror groups and criminal organizations, calling them a challenge for security agencies worldwide.

“In Africa, drones have been used by the terrorist groups to monitor movements of security forces and even of UN peacekeepers, making them vulnerable to terrorist attacks,” he added.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reiterated the dangers of unmanned aerial platforms, saying that such systems were being used by to inflict terror, death and destruction.

“Drones are being used currently to target critical national infrastructure and civilian targets in Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “This is why we have sanctioned three Iranian military commanders and one Iranian company involved in the supply of drones.”

The special conference kicked off on Friday in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, which witnessed a massive terror attack in 2008 that left 140 Indian nationals and 26 citizens of 23 other countries dead by terrorists who had entered India from Pakistan.

Jaishankar on Friday said India regretted the UN Security Council’s inability to act in some cases when it came to proscribing terrorists because of political considerations, undermining its collective credibility and interests. He did not name China but referred to its decision to block UN sanctions against leaders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group designated as a terrorist organization by the UN.

India and the United States sought the sanctions earlier this year. China put the proposed listing of the two terrorists for sanctions on hold on technical grounds saying it needed more time to study their cases.”

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“Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Grant McCool and Stephen Coates and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.”