Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday (today) to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports to grain exports, Turkey said, raising hopes that an international food crisis caused by Russia's invasion could be eased. Ukraine and Russia, both among the world's biggest exporters of food, did not immediately confirm Thursday's announcement by the office of the Turkish presidency. But in a late night video address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hinted his country's Black Sea ports could soon be unblocked. The blockade by Russia's Black Sea fleet has reduced supplies to markets around the world and sent grain prices soaring…

Major Nigerian cities including the Federal Capital Territory were thrown into darkness on Wednesday when the country’s electricity grid collapsed. Electricity distribution companies announced Wednesday that the collapse occurred at about 11:00 am. Wednesday’s incident is the seventh reported collapse in 2022. The government blames poor management and low gas supply as the major causes of the repeated breakdown of the grid, which is managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria. The electricity distribution companies across Nigeria get their electricity supply from the national grid. The Eko Electricity Distribution Plc informed its customers of the grid collapse via Facebook. “Dear…

Ukrainian armed forces said they had killed 111 Russian soldiers in the south and east over the past day, as comments from Russia's foreign minister showed the Kremlin's goals had grown during the five-month war. DIPLOMACY * Sergei Lavrov's comments, the clearest acknowledgment yet that Russia's war goals have expanded over the five months of war, came after Washington said it saw signs Moscow was preparing to formally annex territory it has seized in its neighbour. * European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels agreed a new round of sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine, including a ban on importing gold…

Central Bank of Nigeria increased its key interest rate at successive meetings for the first time in more than a decade and signaled even higher borrowing costs, escalating its response to curb accelerating inflation. The monetary policy committee voted to hike the rate by 100 basis points to 14%, Governor Godwin Emefiele said in a televised briefing in the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday. Four of eight economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast an increase -- with only two predicting that margin. The last time the MPC hiked at two consecutive meetings was in 2011. The MPC “expressed concern about the…