Negotiations underway for a sea corridor to export Ukraine’s grain

The UN’s plan includes cooperation between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to ease the global food crisis. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Negotiations underway for a sea corridor to export Ukraine’s grain [Scattered grain sits inside a warehouse damaged by Russian attacks in Cherkaska Lozova, outskirts of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, May 28, 2022.] Credit: Bernat Armangue/AP/File photo Ukraine The UN has proposed a plan for a sea corridor to transport Ukrainian grain exports, and Turkey has agreed to help facilitate the process. But Anakra says it needs guarantees from Moscow and Kyiv that its [ships will be safe](. The proposal is an attempt to help ease a growing global food crisis by shipping grain that’s been stuck at Black Sea ports due to the war in Ukraine. But the Kremlin says its cooperation will depend on ending sanctions against Russia, while Ukraine has called Moscow’s conditions unreasonable. Russia and Ukraine are the world's [third and fourth largest grain exporters](, respectively. Germany At least one person has died, and nine remain seriously injured, after a man drove a car into a German school group at a popular shopping district in Berlin on Wednesday. The man was arrested at the scene, and emergency officials say they’re still unsure if the incident was intentional or an accident, but police say the dual German Armenian citizen living in Berlin was [initially apprehended]( by passers-by. The location of the incident is opposite Breitscheidplatz, where 12 people were killed in a [2016 ISIS attack](, after a truck drove into a crowd of people at a Christmas market. Democratic Republic of Congo Belgium’s King Philippe is on a six-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former colony of his country. His visit has been presented as an [opportunity for reconciliation]( over the host of atrocities committed under Belgian colonial rule. Historians have recorded that millions of people were killed, mutilated or died of disease, as they were forced to collect rubber, while their land was also pillaged for its mineral wealth, timber and ivory. “We are not forgetting the past, we are looking to the future,” said Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya. Meanwhile, [fighting continues with the M23 rebel group](, with at least 18 people being killed on Sunday during a village raid in the eastern part of the country. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [‘Too little too late’: Ghana’s small farmers worry fertilizer aid won’t arrive in time to avert food crisis]( [Kassim Ahmed stands by his okra crop. He's been farming for 26 years.]( Credit: Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman/The World The African Development Bank Group has pledged $1.5 billion to tackle a massive fertilizer shortage across the continent, but smallholder farmers in Ghana worry that it [may already be too late]( to avert a food crisis. [This Turkish lab is turning algae into jet fuel]( [Berat Haznedaroğlu, director of the Istanbul Microalgae Biotechnologies Research and Development Center at Boğaziçi University, stands by a racetrack algae pool, a motor to one side.]( Credit: Durrie Bouscaren/The World Scientist Berat Haznedaroğlu is the director of Turkey's first initiative to [turn algae into fuel]( for airplanes. Algae biofuels are considered renewable, because the algae absorb carbon while growing — more efficiently than corn and soy. But scaling up has been a challenge. --------------------------------------------------------------- Help The World invest time and care in our journalism With every story we share, we invest time and care to ensure that we are centering the voices of those behind the headlines. This type of independent, human-centered journalism is more important now than ever before. Can we [count on you]( to keep our nonprofit newsroom going strong? --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot Kenichi Horie, an 83-year-old Japanese man, is now the oldest person to complete a solo, nonstop voyage across the Pacific. 🚣‍♂️ In 1962, he was the [very first person]( ever to do so, sailing from Japan to San Francisco. And this time, he completed the feat in the opposite direction, leaving from San Francisco and arriving in the Kii Strait off Japan’s western coast, finishing the voyage in 69 days. Horie has also embarked on a number of other long distance solo voyages. [Japan's Kenichi Horie is seen on his sailing boat after his trans-Pacific sailing, at Osaka Bay, western Japan, June 4, 2022.] Credit: Kyodo News via AP In case you missed it on The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.