US lawmakers consider changes to TikTok crackdown bill -senator

By David Shepardson ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers are considering changes to address concerns about a bill that would give the Biden administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has cosponsored the legislation said on Monday. Democratic Senator Mark Warner told Reuters that aggressive lobbying by the…

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Ukraine says Russian troops ‘trapped’ in eastern city of Bakhmut

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine said on Monday its troops had caught occupying Russian troops “in a trap” in the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut, where its forces have been gaining ground as part of their counter offensive. Russian accounts of the fighting said Moscow’s forces have repelled or contained Ukrainian advances in the east and south….

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Nearly a sixth of Ecuador’s prisoners held without sentence -census

QUITO (Reuters) – Nearly a sixth of the inmates in Ecuador’s prisons have not been sentenced, a national census showed on Monday, as President Guillermo Lasso urged the judicial system to be speedier to help ease the burden on overcrowded jails. Lasso, who will leave office later this year after bringing forward elections, told journalists…

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Analysis-Thailand’s monarchy looms over battle for prime minister

By Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) – The role of the monarchy in Thailand is at the core of a looming deadlock that could tip Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy into crisis, with reformers once again vying to dislodge the grip on power of the royalist military establishment. Despite a stunning victory with its…

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U.S. Marine Corps in historic leadership limbo due to Republican block

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Marine Corps is now without a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time in over a century thanks to a Republican senator’s block on military nominations. Retiring Gen. David Berger formally relinquished command on Monday as the Marine Corps’ commandant, creating the first of several possible vacancies of Senate confirmed leaders on…

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US Sen. Menendez says he is talking with Biden administration on F-16 sales to Turkey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez on Monday said there was a temporary “lull” in Turkey’s “aggression against its neighbors” and said he is in talks with the Biden administration about the hold he has on future U.S. sales of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara. Menendez, a Democrat, said in…

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