August 5, 2022

*) China announces sanctions Pelosi over Taiwan visit: Foreign ministry China has announced unspecified sanctions on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her visit earlier this week to Taiwan. China is holding huge military drills involving live firing on the waters and in the airspace near Taiwan, which Beijing considers as its own territory, to protest the visit. Taiwan says Beijing's fighter jets and ships have crossed the median line that runs down the Taiwan Strait, calling China "the evil neighbour next door". *) Three more ships carrying grain leave Ukrainian ports under landmark deal Three more ships carrying grain and food items have set out from Ukrainian ports under a recent landmark deal, according to Türkiye’s National Defence Ministry. The first of them, a Panama-flagged ship, departed for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of grain on Friday. The second, a Malta-flagged sip, left with 13,000 tonnes of grain for the UK. The third Türkiye-flagged ship was sailing to the Karasu port in northwestern Türkiye with 12,000 tonnes of grain. All of them will be monitored by the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul. *) Erdogan set to visit Russia for talks with Putin on Syria, Ukraine Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting Russia's coastal city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. They will evaluate bilateral ties, mainly focusing on economy, trade and energy on Friday. They are also expected to discuss Syria and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It will be their second in-person meeting in 17 days, after their talks in Tehran. In the Iran capital, they also took part in a trilateral gathering with their Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi. *) Deadly nightclub fire in Thailand leaves multiple casualties At least 13 people have been killed and 35 injured when a fire broke out at a nightclub in an eastern province of Thailand. The cause of the fire is unknown and all victims so far have been identified as Thai nationals, police said on Friday. The fire at the Mountain B nightc