While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 29
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African leaders urged Russia to renew a deal on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain that Moscow tore up last week.
PHOTO: TASS ViA REUTERS
African leaders press Putin over war in Ukraine, grain deal
African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to move ahead with their peace plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain that Moscow tore up last week.
While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the second day of a summit were more concerted and forceful than those that African countries have voiced until now. They served as reminders of the depth of African concern at the consequences of the war, especially rising food prices.
“This war must end. And it can only end on the basis of justice and reason,” African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Mr Putin and African leaders in St Petersburg.
“The disruptions of energy and grain supplies must end immediately. The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular.”
Russian missile hits buildings in Ukraine’s Dnipro
Russian missiles hit a residential complex and a nearby building of Ukraine’s security service in the central city of Dnipro on Thursday, officials said, injuring nine people and causing widespread damage.
Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app the injured were receiving treatment at home.
Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov said it was the third time the SBU security service building had been targeted.
Two arrested over suspected rape of tourist in Paris park
French authorities have detained two men on suspicion of taking part in an alleged gang rape of a Mexican tourist in the Champ de Mars park, which lies at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, prosecutors said on Friday.
The men were detained on Thursday in an ongoing investigation into the suspected rape of the woman, Paris prosecutors said.
The Le Parisien daily, which first reported the incident, said that the 27-year-old woman was attacked by five men, meaning that three suspects were still at large. This has not been confirmed by prosecutors.
IOC invites Ukraine fencer to Olympics after disqualification
Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan was invited to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris next year by the IOC on Friday, after the fencer was disqualified for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent during a tournament earlier this week.
A letter sent to Kharlan signed by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said she would be granted an additional quota place at the Olympics if she was unable to qualify in the remaining period.
“Rest assured, the IOC will continue to stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian athletes and the Olympic community of Ukraine during these extremely difficult times,” it added.
Sinead O’Connor was completing new album before death
Singer Sinead O’Connor was at the time of her death completing a new album and planning a tour as well as a movie based on her autobiography, her agents said on Friday.
Her death is not being treated as suspicious but an autopsy will be conducted to ascertain the cause, authorities have said, as tributes from around the world poured in for the 56-year-old Irish star.
“Sinead was completing her new album, reviewing new tour dates for 2024 and considering opportunities in relation to a movie of her book,” her agents Kenneth Papenfus and Carl Papenfus said in a statement.
