Business

A ship has docked in a Ukrainian Black Sea port to begin loading wheat for hungry people in Ethiopia. That would be the first food delivery to Africa under a U.N.-brokered plan to unblock grain trapped by Russia’s war on Ukraine and bring relief to some of the millions worldwide on the brink of starvation. For months, fighting and a Russian blockade meant grain produced in Ukraine, known as the world’s breadbasket, piled up in silos. In recent days, several ships carrying grain have left Ukrainian ports under the new deal — but those shipments were animal feed and went to previous buyers. The ship named Brave Commander will carry its wheat to Djibouti, where it will be unloaded and sent on to Ethiopia.

The head of Kenya's electoral commission says vote-tallying in the country's close presidential election isn’t moving fast enough. Meanwhile, parallel counting by local media dramatically slowed amid public concerns about censorship or meddling. With no clear winner emerging and perhaps days more to wait, social media is busy with unverified claims by both candidates’ supporters. Human rights groups call that dangerous in a country with a history of political violence. Kenya could see a runoff presidential election for the first time. One electoral expert says there shouldn't be a problem finishing the count by the constitutional deadline of seven days after Tuesday’s vote.

A judge has ordered a gunman who took up to 10 hostages at a Beirut bank to force the release of his trapped savings to stay behind bars. It's apparently a bid to prevent copycats as desperation deepens over Lebanon’s economic meltdown. Relatives said Friday that keeping him in custody breaches an agreement that had him surrender after a seven-hour standoff in return for $35,000 and promises that he would be questioned then set free. It was the latest reminder of the pain created by Lebanon’s nearly three-year economic and financial crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the world's worst since the 1850s.

Greece’s coast guard says a search and rescue operation is continuing for a third day for migrants reported missing after their boat capsized south of the Greek island of Rhodes. The coast guard says a Greek frigate and three merchant ships are searching areas south of Rhodes and southeast of Karpathos. A total of 29 male survivors were picked up by a merchant ship and a Greek air force helicopter in the early hours of Wednesday after the boat sank. Survivors initially indicated 60 to 80 people had been on board. But that figure was later revised and the coast guard said Friday that a total of 50 to 60 people were now believed to have been on board.

Portugal’s prime minister says European authorities are considering a liquefied natural gas pipeline from Spain to Italy. That option would get around France’s opposition to a gas link-up across the Pyrenees between the Iberian peninsula and central Europe. Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Friday that his country and Spain could send a lot of the liquefied natural gas, or LNG, they receive from around the world to other European Union countries. EU countries have struggled to find ways of weaning the bloc off its reliance on Russian natural gas. Russia has weaponized gas exports to pressure the bloc into reducing its sanctions over the war in Ukraine.