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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

Packed Bus Plunges Off Nepal Highway, Killing and Injuring Scores

Nepalese police officers prepare to depart for duty in various regions ahead of the upcoming election in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepalese police officers prepare to depart for duty in various regions ahead of the upcoming election in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
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Packed Bus Plunges Off Nepal Highway, Killing and Injuring Scores

Nepalese police officers prepare to depart for duty in various regions ahead of the upcoming election in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepalese police officers prepare to depart for duty in various regions ahead of the upcoming election in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A packed bus on its way to Nepal's capital drove off a mountain highway in Nepal early Monday, killing 19 people including a British national and leaving another 25 wounded.

There were dozens of people on board the bus, which was heading from the resort city of Pokhara to Kathmandu when it drove off the Prithvi highway after midnight, police said. The bus rolled down a mountain slope and landed on the banks of Trishuli river near Benighat, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, the Associated Press reported.

Among those who died was a 24-year-old British national, according to a statement from the Dhading district police office. Only nine bodies have been identified.

The injured included a Chinese national, who is being treated at the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu, and a 27-year-old woman from New Zealand who received minor injuries and was being treated at a local hospital.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency, citing the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, reported earlier that one other Chinese national was missing.

Rescuers reached the accident site soon after the accident, and the injured were pulled out of the wreckage and driven to hospitals for treatment, according to government administrator Mohan Prasad Neupane.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

World

EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for ‘Diplomatic Solution’ on Iran 

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
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EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for ‘Diplomatic Solution’ on Iran 

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged a "diplomatic solution" on Iran on Monday ahead of expected talks between Tehran and Washington, as US President Donald Trump threatens strikes on the country.

"We don't need another war in this region. We already have a lot," Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"It is true that Iran is at its weakest point that they have been. We should be really using this time to find a diplomatic solution."

World

North Korea Touts Nuclear Advances as Kim Re-Chosen to Lead Ruling Party 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
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North Korea Touts Nuclear Advances as Kim Re-Chosen to Lead Ruling Party 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korea's ruling party touted nuclear advances as it re-elected Kim Jong Un to the top post of general secretary, state media said Monday, during a rare national congress.

Thousands of party elites have packed the capital Pyongyang for a once-in-five-years summit of the ruling Workers' Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.

The congress offers a rare glimpse into the political workings of reclusive North Korea, and is widely seen as a forum for Kim to flex his grip on power.

Military top brass made a "pledge of loyalty" to Kim as delegates rubber-stamped his re-election as general secretary on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency said.

The congress singled out Kim's efforts to keep unnamed foes at bay by "radically" improving its "nuclear forces".

"He has energetically led the work to turn the Korean People's Army, the pivot of national defense and pillar of safeguarding peace, into an elite and powerful army," read a party statement.

"And thus (he has) built the revolutionary armed forces capable of coping with any threat of aggression on their own initiative and fully prepared for any form of war."

China's President Xi Jinping hailed a "new chapter" in relations with North Korea after Kim's re-election.

In a striking display of his elevated status on the world stage, Kim appeared alongside Xi and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing last year.

Kim is expected to unveil the next phase in North Korea's nuclear weapons program later in the days-long congress.

Under Kim, North Korea's nuclear arsenal has been transformed from a source of mild global concern to something treated as a genuine threat.

It has been more than eight years since North Korea's last nuclear test triggered a man-made earthquake underneath the northern Hamyong mountains.

Pyongyang's atomic scientists have worked since then to harness this power in portable warheads that can be attached to long-range missiles.

Kim unveiled a battery of huge nuclear-capable rocket launchers just days before the congress opened.

- Friend or foe -

Photos released by state media showed dozens of launch vehicles parked in neat rows on the plaza of Pyongyang's House of Culture.

It is just the ninth time the Workers' Party congress has convened under North Korea's decades-spanning Kim rule.

The meeting was shelved for decades under Kim's father Kim Jong Il, but was revived in 2016.

Analysts will scour photographs to see which officials are seated closest to Kim, and who is banished to the back row.

Particular attention will be placed on the whereabouts of Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae, who has emerged as North Korea's heir apparent according to Seoul's national intelligence service.

At the previous congress five years ago, Kim declared that the United States was his nation's "biggest enemy".

There is keen interest in whether Kim might use the congress to soften this stance, or double down.

US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting.

Kim has so far largely shunned efforts to resume top-level diplomatic dialogue.