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BANGKOK, July 18 (Reuters) - Thailand’s prime ministerial hopeful said on Tuesday he was willing to manage the pace of his Move Forward party’s ambitious reform drive if he becomes leader, but vowed no retreat from a plan to change a law that forbids insulting the monarchy....

Over 50 leaders from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean will hold their first summit in eight years on Monday, adding momentum to an EU push for new political and economic allies prompted by the Ukraine war and suspicion of China.

The Kerch Bridge connects Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. The Russian military is heavily dependent on the rail link that crosses it to supply the illegally occupied territory in southern Ukraine. It’s not currently clear how it was hit and to what extent it was damaged....

Kerry arrived in Beijing on Sunday for talks aimed at reviving efforts by China and the United States toward curbing climate-warming emissions. Experts have said any move to cooperate on methane - a greenhouse gas responsible for roughly 30% of global warming - could provide a way forward.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday, “China’s rise and how it seeks to exert that influence is also a major driver of the increasing strategic competition, particularly in our wider home region, the Indo-Pacific,” Hipkins said in a speech to the China Business Summit....

A floating barrier of orange buoys put in the Rio Grande by the Texan government to hinder migrants crossing into the U.S. violates a water treaty and may encroach on Mexican territory, incoming Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said on Friday.

A flurry of economic data from China on Monday is expected to show its post-pandemic bounce is quickly fizzling out, raising expectations that Beijing needs to unveil more stimulus measures soon to shore up activity and shaky consumer confidence.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia had a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and reserved the right to use them if such munitions, the use of which he said he regarded as a crime, were deployed against Russian forces in Ukraine....

The last ship to travel under a U.N.-brokered deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa early on Sunday ahead of a deadline to extend the agreement, according to a Reuters witness and MarineTraffic.com....

BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - A Chinese naval flotilla set off on Sunday to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan in an exercise aimed at “safeguarding the security of strategic waterways”, according to China’s defence ministry....

July 16 (Reuters) - At least 4,000 people have been evacuated as a forest fire burned out of control on the Spanish island of La Palma, authorities said on Sunday, as Europe struggled to cope with a heatwave....

cross-posted from: lemm.ee/post/1159654...

China and the Solomon Islands on Monday signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, four years after the Pacific nation switched ties from Taiwan to China....

BAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011....

Elon Musk says Twitter’s cash flow still negative as ad revenue drops 50%::Twitter’s cash flow remains negative because of a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load, Elon Musk said on Saturday, falling short of his expectation in March that Twitter could reach cash flow positive by June.

Kyiv has said it will use the munitions, banned in more than 100 countries, to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers when trying to take back its own territory. Putin told state TV Moscow would respond in kind if necessary.