Black Sea Threats, Thailand’s Democracy Struggle: Weekend Reads

Russia’s navy conducted a live-fire exercise in the Black Sea after Moscow and Kyiv traded threats about targeting any ships heading to the other’s ports following this week’s collapse of a deal that had allowed Ukraine to export some grain via safe corridors.

As heat builds across the Mediterranean, temperatures are expected to climb toward a European record next week. Interconnected domes of high pressure are bringing extreme heat across the Northern Hemisphere, from California’s Death Valley to Turpan in western China.