Ukraine-Bound Grain Ship’s Engine Fails in Bosphorus, 2nd Incident This Week

The Panama-flagged cargo ship Lady Zehma anchors in the Marmara Sea in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (AP)
The Panama-flagged cargo ship Lady Zehma anchors in the Marmara Sea in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (AP)
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Ukraine-Bound Grain Ship’s Engine Fails in Bosphorus, 2nd Incident This Week

The Panama-flagged cargo ship Lady Zehma anchors in the Marmara Sea in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (AP)
The Panama-flagged cargo ship Lady Zehma anchors in the Marmara Sea in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (AP)

A cargo ship bound for Ukraine to pick up grains under a UN-brokered deal had a brief engine failure as it was transiting Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait overnight, a shipping company said on Saturday, marking a second incident this week.

The Briza's engine failed around 2330 GMT on Friday and it anchored near Istanbul's Kandilli region, Tribeca Shipping said. The ship lifted anchor at 0120 GMT on Saturday and was to proceed to an anchorage area in the southern Bosphorus by tug boats, it said.

Traffic in the Bosphorus was halted and southbound traffic was to continue at 0530 GMT, Tribeca added. Refinitiv Eikon data showed the Briza was anchored to the south of the Bosphorus at 0628 GMT.

Lady Zehma, a cargo ship carrying more than 3,000 tons of corn from Ukraine, was towed to anchorage in Istanbul after briefly running aground due to a rudder failure on Thursday night.

Such incidents are rare on the picturesque Bosphorus, which divides Türkiye’s largest city and connects the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea and beyond to the Mediterranean.

The Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) - which oversees the agreement and includes United Nations, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials - said on Friday the Briza was inspected and cleared to sail to Ukraine along with seven other ships.

As of Friday, some 1.77 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs had been exported from Ukraine under the deal, while 160 inbound and outbound voyages had been enabled, the JCC said.

Ukraine's grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24 and blockaded its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.

Three ports were unblocked under the deal signed on July 22 by Moscow and Kyiv, and brokered by the UN and Ankara.



Iran Pardons Journalists Who Reported Woman's Death that Triggered Unrest

Iranian people hold pictures of Mahsa Amini with their hands painted in red during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 11 October 2022. (EPA)
Iranian people hold pictures of Mahsa Amini with their hands painted in red during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 11 October 2022. (EPA)
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Iran Pardons Journalists Who Reported Woman's Death that Triggered Unrest

Iranian people hold pictures of Mahsa Amini with their hands painted in red during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 11 October 2022. (EPA)
Iranian people hold pictures of Mahsa Amini with their hands painted in red during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 11 October 2022. (EPA)

Iran's top judicial authority has pardoned two journalists who uncovered the death of a young woman in police custody that triggered nationwide protests in 2022, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan said on Tuesday.

Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi had been sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively by an Iranian Revolutionary Court in October 2023 for their coverage of the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman in custody of the morality police for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code.

"Following the approval by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of a list of pardons that was prepared by the judiciary's head, these individuals were pardoned," Mizan said, adding that the pardons were applied on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Reuters reported.

Last year, both journalists were temporarily released after 17 months in prison, and later acquitted of the charge of "collaboration with the US" in an appeal court.

Other charges such as "colluding against national security" and "propaganda against the regime" remained, but have now been cleared by the pardon and the journalists' judicial case is now closed.

Protests that followed Amini's death led to the worst unrest in Iran since the revolution. The authorities have blamed the United States for fomenting the demonstrations, which Washington denies.