
Thailand-Cambodia border clash live: Thailand urges nationals to leave Cambodia after troops trade fire
Date: 2025-07-24T04:07:30.000Z
Title: Two killed in Cambodian shelling, says Thai official
Content: At least two Thai civilians have been killed and two others injured by the shelling from the Cambodian side on Thursday, a Thai district official told Reuters.
Some 40,000 civilians from 86 villages in Thailand have also been evacuated to safer locations, the district chief of Kabcheing in Surin province, Sutthirot Charoenthanasak, told the news agency.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-24T04:00:26.000Z
Title: Thai embassy urges nationals to leave Cambodia over border clashes
Content: Agence France-Presse is reporting that Thailand's embassy has urged nationals to leave Cambodia over the border clashes.
It comes after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia on Wednesday and said it would expel Cambodia's envoy in Bangkok, after a second Thai soldier in the space of a week lost a limb to a landmine in the disputed area.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-24T03:58:35.000Z
Title: Opening summary
Content: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of clashes on the Thai-Cambodia border.
Thai and Cambodian soldiers have fired at each other in a contested border area on Thursday, after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.
It was not immediately clear if the clash was ongoing. A livestream video from Thailand's side showed people running from their homes and hiding in a concrete bunker Thursday morning as explosions sounded periodically.
The clash happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple stands along the border of Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia Oddar Meanchey province.
You can read our full report here:
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Miliband refuses to publish details of green energy deal with China
Following the decision, the Ministry of Defence raised concerns that the Chinese could use the turbines as spy sensors – but the Treasury was said to be resisting attempts to block the deal because of a desire to encourage inward investment. In Freedom of Information disclosures, the Government revealed that while Mr Miliband had been in China from March 13 to 17, Ofgem officials stayed until March 21. The officials, including Mr Brearley, used four temporary 'burner' phones while in the country, a standard security precaution government visitors are advised to take while in China. An Ofgem spokesman said: 'We always seek to keep expenditure as low as possible to deliver the best value for money and we regularly review our business travel and expenses policy in order to minimise the number of flights Ofgem staff take.' The group's food, local transport, and accommodation costs were paid for by the Foreign Office, the British embassy in China and the UK Integrated Security Fund, they added. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero insisted it was 'misleading' to suggest memorandums signed with other countries are made 'publicly available'. A spokesman said: 'The MoU is not about encouraging Chinese investment or involvement in the UK critical national infrastructure. 'Instead, it renews a partnership that has been in place for over ten years, and which facilitates the sharing of research and ideas to support the global clean energy transition.'


The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
Online hate and rising vitriol: deep divisions amid shaky peace between Thailand and Cambodia
As a Cambodian living in Thailand, 31-year-old Da, has kept her children home from school this week in fear they might face abuse. 'One of my friends went to the market yesterday to buy durian and the seller told her that she hated Cambodians,' she says, of rising tensions between the neighbouring countries. Days after Thailand and Cambodia announced a ceasefire after a deadly five-day conflict, relations remain dangerously frayed, and peace tenuous. Since the truce both sides have accused each other of violating it, while online, public distrust is being fuelled by a bitter confluence of disinformation, threats and nationalism. Dowsawan Vanthong, 50, who is volunteering at a temple in Surin, northeastern Thailand, that is hosting evacuated people, worries that even if calm prevails and the disputed border eventually reopens, relations won't be the same. 'For me, I can make a distinction and separate normal Cambodians [from the government or military]… But I'm not sure if everyone could do this, especially people in the areas that were most affected,' she says. At least 43 people were killed on either side of the border in the clashes, the worst to grip the two nations in more than a decade. In normal times, residents would regularly cross the 800km border that separates the two countries, going back and forth for trade and work, school or healthcare. Before the conflict started, more than 520,000 Cambodians worked across Thailand, often in low-paid jobs in agriculture, construction, fishing and manufacturing. But the border is now almost entirely shut, though Cambodians living in Thailand can return home. Thousands have queued up to do so, worried about rising vitriol in Thailand. Da, who works as a cleaner and asked for her real name not to be published due to the tensions, says she has to stay in Thailand for economic reasons and to pay off debts, but she feels still feels uneasy about the decision. 'The kids saw on social media that a lot of Cambodians are going back home, so they wanted to as well,' she says. Social media commentaries have become increasingly incendiary and, at times, violent. In a viral TikTok clip, a Thai man appears to instruct young Cambodians to tell Hun Sen - the former Cambodian leader who remains extremely powerful – not to attack Thai people. When one of the group smiles, the man slaps him on camera. Hun Sen later shared the video on his Facebook page, warning Cambodians in Thailand to stay safe. Another video, shared widely online, apparently shows a group of Thai people beating up a man who is reportedly a Cambodian national. When two Cambodian women posted videos stamping on the Thai flag, part of a new social media trend, people demanded their deportation. Thai authorities have urged young people and social media influencers against inciting violence, but the bitterness has continued to be shared online. The South-east Asian neighbours have a long history of rivalry, especially arguments over the roots of their shared heritage. In 2003, when false rumours that a Thai soap opera actor had suggested Angkor Wat, a Unesco world heritage site, belonged to Thailand, riots erupted in Phnom Penh, and the Thai embassy set on fire. Diplomatic rows and social media storms have broken out periodically since. Two years ago, Thailand boycotted a kickboxing event at the South-East Asian Games in Cambodia after the discipline was called Kun Khmer rather than Thailand's name for the sport, Muay Thai. Even well-meaning posts can spiral into online wars. The UK ambassador to Cambodia Dominic Williams inadvertently created a social media furore in 2023 when he posted a picture of some sweet treats on social media, captioned 'Khmer dessert'. Thai people responded with a flood of angry comments claiming the snacks were in fact Thai. Social media, far more prevalent than the last time the border dispute erupted in 2008 and 2011, has inflamed tensions. Some have pushed back. A major hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province was forced to backtrack after it suspended services for new Cambodian patients and announced it would be strictly 'zoning' existing Cambodian patients due to the recent fighting. Critics pointed out the policy was discriminatory. But online others supported the hospital. 'Shall we help them get better so they can shoot at us again?' wrote one commentator. The public mood in Thailand – and pressure for Thai authorities to seek responsibility for Cambodian attacks on Thai civilians – could threaten the fragile ceasefire. Ken Lohatepanont, a political analyst in Thailand, says the ceasefire will probably hold for now, but the prospects in the medium and long term are less clear. 'Thailand and Cambodia are still going to have a lot of border issues to resolve, because none of the core points of contention have actually been discussed so far,' he said. Both Thailand and Cambodia still insist on usingdifferent maps to demarcate the border. Da, who lives far from the border, in Rayong province, is mostly staying at home, going out only to buy food and work. 'In my opinion, both sides have done things wrong – they need to find a way to speak peacefully,' she says. 'I want the situation to go back to normal, to open the border gates so that Thai and Cambodian people can come together again.'


Reuters
13 hours ago
- Reuters
US, NATO developing novel funding mechanism for Ukraine weapons transfers
WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The United States and NATO are working on a novel approach to supply Ukraine with weapons using funds from NATO countries to pay for the purchase or transfer of U.S. arms, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The renewed transatlantic cooperation on Ukraine comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Moscow's ongoing attacks on its neighbor. Trump, who initially took a more conciliatory tone toward Russia as he tried to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, has threatened to start imposing tariffs and other measures if Moscow shows no progress toward ending the conflict by August 8. The president said last month the U.S. would supply weapons to Ukraine, paid for by European allies, but did not indicate how this would be done. NATO countries, Ukraine, and the United States are developing a new mechanism that will focus on getting U.S. weapons to Ukraine from the Priority Ukraine Requirements List, known under the acronym PURL, the sources said. Ukraine would prioritize the weapons it needs in tranches of roughly $500 million, and NATO allies - coordinated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte - would then negotiate among themselves who would donate or pay for items on the list. Through this approach, NATO allies hope to provide $10 billion in arms for Ukraine, said a European official, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was unclear over what timeframe they hope to supply the arms. "That is the starting point, and it's an ambitious target that we're working towards. We're currently on that trajectory. We support the ambition. We need that sort of volume," the European official said. NATO declined to comment. The White House, Pentagon, and Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. Russian forces are gradually advancing against Ukraine, and control one-fifth of Ukraine's territory. If a NATO country decides to donate weapons to Ukraine, the mechanism would allow that country to effectively bypass lengthy U.S. arms sales procedures to replenish its own stocks, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. But the NATO country would have to pay the U.S. up front for the speedier replenishment. The money would be paid into a U.S.-held account, possibly at the U.S. Treasury Department, or to an escrow fund, although the exact structure remains unclear, the official said. NATO countries also have the option of simply paying the United States to send weapons directly to Ukraine. In that case, the payment could be made via NATO or directly to the U.S. Department of Defense, said a second source, speaking on condition of anonymity. This would be in addition to the United States' own effort to identify arms from U.S. stockpiles to send to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the U.S. president to draw from current weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency. At least one tranche of weapons for Ukraine is currently being negotiated under the new mechanism, two sources said, though it was unclear if any money has yet been transferred. Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation, known as the PEACE Act, that aims to create a fund at the U.S. Treasury in which allies can deposit money that would pay to replenish U.S. military equipment donated to Ukraine. Ukraine's needs remain consistent with previous months - air defenses, interceptors, systems, rockets, and artillery. The last statement of need from Ukraine came at the July 21 Ramstein conference led by EU allies, including Britain.