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Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili
File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili
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Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili
File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Russia is gradually resuming wheat exports from its Black Sea ports while navigation in the Azov Sea remains restricted, analysts said on Monday.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, calling its actions a "special military operation".

"Exports are ongoing from all the five Black Sea (grain export) terminals," IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note, Reuters reported.

Prices for Russian wheat remain extremely volatile, IKAR said, adding that for wheat with 12.5% protein content from the Black Sea ports they were at $415 per ton free on board (FOB) on March 11.

Sovecon, another consultancy, said that Russia's Black Sea terminals loaded 400,000 tons of wheat last week, and that vessels were going in and out of the ports there.

"Full navigation in the Azov Sea is still closed but some vessels are starting to pass through the Kerch Strait (to the Black Sea)," it added.

In the domestic market, Russian farmers started to refuse previously signed contracts amid strong demand from exporters and domestic buyers, Sovecon said.

Russia's recent decision to suspend grain exports to some ex-Soviet countries is yet to be approved, but, Sovecon said, market participants already report unofficial restrictions for rail supplies of grain from Siberia to Kazakhstan.

Russian wheat exports are down by 45.4% since the start of the 2021/22 marketing season on July 1 because of a smaller crop and an export tax that had been set at $86.3 a ton for March 16-22.

A cold snap is expected in several winter wheat-producing regions in Russia this week but thick snow cover will keep sowings safe, Sovecon said.

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Pope Slams Both Harris and Trump as ‘Against Life’, Urges People to Vote for ‘Lesser Evil’

Pope Francis attends a meeting with participants in a pilgrimage promoted by the Order of Clerics Regular, Theatine, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, September 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Pope Francis attends a meeting with participants in a pilgrimage promoted by the Order of Clerics Regular, Theatine, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, September 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Pope Slams Both Harris and Trump as ‘Against Life’, Urges People to Vote for ‘Lesser Evil’

Pope Francis attends a meeting with participants in a pilgrimage promoted by the Order of Clerics Regular, Theatine, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, September 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Pope Francis attends a meeting with participants in a pilgrimage promoted by the Order of Clerics Regular, Theatine, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, September 14, 2024. (Reuters)

Pope Francis on Friday slammed both US presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming US elections.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ Francis said.

The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting.

Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name.

But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the US election — abortion and migration — that are also of major concern to the Catholic Church.

Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors.

Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a “grave sin.”

He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. “To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but it’s killing,” he said. “We have to see this clearly.”

Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic duty to vote.

“One should vote, and choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I don’t know.

“Everyone in their conscience should think and do it,” he said.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

US President Joe Biden, an observant Catholic, shares Harris’ strong support for abortion rights, a stance that prompted some Catholic bishops and other conservatives to call for him to be denied access to Communion.

After meeting Francis in person at the Vatican in October 2021, Biden came away saying the pope told him he was a “good Catholic” and should continue receiving Communion.

Friday's news conference was not the first time Francis has weighed in on a US election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall at the US-Mexico border. Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants “is not Christian.”

In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the US-Mexico border and “there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there.”

Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.