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Türkiye’s Erdogan Says to Discuss Grain Deal with UN’s Guterres this Month 

Farmers bring in the harvest with their combine harvester on a wheat field in the southern Russian Krasnodar region on July 19, 2011. (AFP)
Farmers bring in the harvest with their combine harvester on a wheat field in the southern Russian Krasnodar region on July 19, 2011. (AFP)
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Türkiye’s Erdogan Says to Discuss Grain Deal with UN’s Guterres this Month 

Farmers bring in the harvest with their combine harvester on a wheat field in the southern Russian Krasnodar region on July 19, 2011. (AFP)
Farmers bring in the harvest with their combine harvester on a wheat field in the southern Russian Krasnodar region on July 19, 2011. (AFP)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Türkiye is in close contact with the United Nations on reviving the Black Sea grain initiative and he will discuss it with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at its general assembly this month, Turkish media reported. 

Speaking to reporters after talks in Russia with Vladimir Putin, Erdogan was quoted as saying the latest UN proposal sought to address some Russian demands, and he repeated he believed a solution could be found soon. 

Russian demands include a return of its Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT payments system and insuring the ships involved in the grain initiative, he was quoted as saying by TRT, Haberturk, and other Turkish broadcasters. 

"On August 28, UN Secretary General Guterres, in the letter he sent, proposed an intermediary mechanism that would result from the SWIFT transaction, not directly SWIFT as the Russians wanted," Erdogan said. "They said work was underway on the insurance issue too." 

He added that Moscow was putting these two demands forth as "musts" to revive the initiative, and that Putin had told him he would not take steps on this until "Europe keeps the promises they made me", according to Turkish media. 

NATO member Türkiye is seeking to convince Russia to return to the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by Ankara and the United Nations. Moscow withdrew in July, ending a year of protected exports from Ukrainian ports amid the war. 

On Monday, Putin repeated that Russia could return to the initiative, but only if the West stopped restricting Russian agricultural exports from reaching global markets. 

Erdogan will participate in the G20 summit in India on Sept. 9-10 before attending the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 18-26. 

"We will have meetings with Guterres there to discuss these issues," Erdogan was cited as saying. 

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World

Somalia Federal Troops and Armed Opposition Clash in Baidoa City

Civilians gather at a street following clashes between Somalia's federal troops and armed opposition groups, in Baidoa, Somalia August 17, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Civilians gather at a street following clashes between Somalia's federal troops and armed opposition groups, in Baidoa, Somalia August 17, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
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Somalia Federal Troops and Armed Opposition Clash in Baidoa City

Civilians gather at a street following clashes between Somalia's federal troops and armed opposition groups, in Baidoa, Somalia August 17, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Civilians gather at a street following clashes between Somalia's federal troops and armed opposition groups, in Baidoa, Somalia August 17, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Somalia's federal troops and armed opposition groups clashed in heavy fighting in Baidoa city center on Monday, a local resident and an army officer told Reuters.

The administrative capital of South West state, Baidoa is home to international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies. It is one of Somalia's largest cities ‌with a population ‌of over a million people.

Fresh fighting ‌in ⁠the city could ⁠compound a dire humanitarian crisis in the area.

Baidoa hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people and one in four children at displacement sites there are severely malnourished, according to a July survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres.

"Militias loyal to the ⁠former Baidoa president entered Baidoa from two ‌sides, challenging two battalions ‌of federal military. Fighting has intensified now," Farah Nur, ‌a shopkeeper in the city, told Reuters.

Federal troops ‌have been in charge of the city since March when they seized control, which prompted South West state leader Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen to resign.

Nur told Reuters ‌federal forces were using heavy weapons and that he had seen at ⁠least two ⁠civilians killed in their houses by stray bullets and that several others who were injured were being taken to hospital.

Hassan Mohamed, Laftagareen's spokesperson, said in a post on Facebook that their troops had captured Baidoa and asked federal forces to surrender. His claim could not be independently verified.

"The armed militias attacked Baidoa this morning, we are pushing them back....there are casualties as stray bullets enter houses," Captain Osman Abdullahi, a Somalia federal military officer, told Reuters.

World

Rain Brings Respite as Belgium Wrestles Massive Wildfire

Belgian firefighters work in a forest affected by a wildfire in Waimes, Belgium, August 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Belgian firefighters work in a forest affected by a wildfire in Waimes, Belgium, August 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Rain Brings Respite as Belgium Wrestles Massive Wildfire

Belgian firefighters work in a forest affected by a wildfire in Waimes, Belgium, August 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Belgian firefighters work in a forest affected by a wildfire in Waimes, Belgium, August 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Much-needed rain brought some respite Monday to firefighters on their fourth day battling Belgium's worst wildfire in a century, which has scorched vast expanses of nature reserve on the German border.

Europe has been swept by weeks of devastating wildfires fueled by dry conditions and a historically hot summer that has already contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

France, Greece, Portugal and Spain were also battling major fires over the weekend.

In Belgium, currently the continent's most urgent fire front, around 500 firefighters and emergency crews have mobilized to contain the blaze, which broke out Friday for reasons still unknown in the High Fens park, an area of boggy peatlands, pine forests and hiking trails.

Water-bombing aircraft and farmers' tractors have joined forces to help tame the fire, which as of Sunday had spread to 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) -- an area half the size of Manhattan.

But Tony Hosmans, a crisis management spokesman, told reporters Monday the blaze was no longer advancing towards the German border -- after creeping nearer over the weekend, prompting an evacuation order in the border town of Monschau.

The rain falling Monday on the area -- with more forecast on and off throughout the week -- was a welcome development.

"The wind is favorable and the current rainfall is helping to contain the spread" of the fire, said Hosmans.

"At present, the fire is contained wherever intervention is possible," he said -- although he cautioned it had not yet been brought under control, with an aerial reconnaissance mission due to deliver a fuller picture later in the day.

The blaze broke out in an area that was ravaged by massive fires in 1911, during a similar period of heatwaves and drought.

It is the country's largest wildfire since.

A huge area at the border has been blanketed by a thick plume of yellowish smoke, with fumes detected as far as eastern France, where authorities issued an air-pollution alert.

The smoke hazard has triggered the evacuation of two Belgian villages, whose residents were still under instruction to stay away.

- 'Happening to us' -

On-site operations have been made much harder by the fens' terrain -- a patchwork of heath, peat bogs and raised wooden boardwalks where heavy vehicles risk sinking into the ground, and firefighters struggle to tackle the fire at close range.

They have been counting heavily on aerial assistance to bring the situation under control, with two water-bombing aircraft from Sweden and two Dutch military Chinook helicopters backing up two Belgian helicopters on site.

Local farmers have also poured in to help battle the blaze, with a ballet of tractors pulling in tankers of water drawn from a nearby lake.

"We've provided drinks and some meals," Annick Dodemont, who runs one of many local businesses supporting the firefighting operation, told AFP.

"We can't go up there ourselves, so we help however we can," said the 41-year-old.

Like much of Europe, Belgium has experienced a new spell of intense heat and drought in recent days.

Temperatures reached as high as 37C in some parts of the country on Friday, creating conditions conducive to wildfire outbreaks.

"It's pretty shocking," Dodemont said from her restaurant in Eupen. "You always think it happens somewhere else. Well, not anymore. It's happening to us."

World

Taiwan's President: Record Defense Spending an Investment in Peace

A Taiwanese military member fires ammunition aboard an armoured vehicle during a drill as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taipei, Taiwan, August 13, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
A Taiwanese military member fires ammunition aboard an armoured vehicle during a drill as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taipei, Taiwan, August 13, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
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Taiwan's President: Record Defense Spending an Investment in Peace

A Taiwanese military member fires ammunition aboard an armoured vehicle during a drill as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taipei, Taiwan, August 13, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
A Taiwanese military member fires ammunition aboard an armoured vehicle during a drill as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taipei, Taiwan, August 13, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Taiwan is determined to strengthen its defenses and plans record defense spending next year, President Lai Ching-te said on Monday, describing his government's military budget proposal as an investment in peace.

Taiwan's cabinet will unveil next year's budget on Thursday, including a breakdown of where defense spending will go, but Lai confirmed media reports that 2027's overall defense budget would exceed T$1 trillion ($31.40 billion) for the first time.

His announcement comes as China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military ⁠and political pressure over ⁠the past few years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.

But Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defense, mirroring US pressure on Europe, something Lai has enthusiastically embraced.

Addressing a meeting about next year's budget, Lai said defense spending in 2027 would reach T$1.1225 trillion - exceeding 3% of gross domestic product, according to a transcript of the remarks released by his office.

According to Reuters, he said ⁠this "demonstrates Taiwan's determination to strengthen its self-defense capabilities".

"Investing in defense is investing in peace; we will continue to build a more solid defense force to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region," Lai added.

Taiwan's government has made military modernization a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defenses, including developing made-in-Taiwan submarines, given the rising threat from China.

China's military operates almost daily in the waters and skies around Taiwan, and Beijing has also been honing new tactics, such as coastguard "law enforcement" patrols off Taiwan's east coast in the Pacific Ocean.

William Chung, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan Defense ⁠Ministry think-tank the ⁠Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China's east coast activities were not only aimed at exerting psychological pressure, but also combat training and intelligence gathering.

"If actual hostilities break out across the Taiwan Strait, the entire eastern maritime area of Taiwan will be Taiwan's most critical outlet to the outside world," he told a forum in Taipei earlier on Monday.

Taiwan finished its annual Han Kuang military drills last week, simulating a range of battle scenarios including how to break a potential Chinese maritime blockade.

China's Defense Ministry called the drills a "wasteful charade" that "stoked war panic".

Lai also faces a challenge from Taiwan's opposition-dominated parliament, which only passed this year's budget late on Friday after months of delays.

The two main opposition parties say they will not write blank checks for the government.