Tourists urged to avoid travel to Cambodia and Thailand amid escalating conflict
The British foreign ministry has advised Brits to avoid the region, which is experiencing the worst fighting between the countries in 13 years.
Thailand scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to bomb targets in Cambodia on Thursday after artillery volleys from both sides killed at least 12 civilians, as border tension boiled over into rare armed conflict between the Southeast Asian countries.
Both blamed each other for starting a morning clash at a disputed area of the border, which quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling in at least six locations 209 kilometres (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century.
Thailand 's acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai has accused Cambodian forces of deliberately targeting civilian areas after 12 people were killed in border clashes.
The southeast Asian neighbours exchanged fire across several disputed zones along their land border, in the deadliest clashes since 2011.
Both nations have claimed the other fired first.
Thailand's health minister said 11 civilians and a soldier were killed in fighting across Surin, Ubon Ratchathani and Sisaket provinces.
The number of Cambodian losses is unclear.
Thai authorities have evacuated approximately 40,000 civilians from 86 villages near the border. Cambodian authorities have not yet confirmed how many civilians have been evacuated.
The Thai army said it flew F-16 fighter planes to bomb two military targets in Cambodia.
'We have used air power against military targets as planned,' army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon said.
The Cambodian defence ministry said the Thai planes had dropped bombs on a road near the ancient Preah Vihear Temple, close to the border.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
How Labour minister's attack on quality of Scotland's water backfired badly
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Westminster went into recess this week, a time of year when MPs can take a breath, undertake summer surgery tours and constituency visits, and generally catch up with work back home that can be difficult with the weekly commute to London. It is also historically when we enter what is known as 'silly season', described in the Collins dictionary as 'the time around August when the newspapers are full of unimportant or silly news stories because there is not much political news to report'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This week it arrived a few days early as a Labour Cabinet minister sought to make the case against water nationalisation using inaccurate figures about Scottish water quality. A Labour politician, Environment Secretary Steve Reed no less, arguing against a successfully nationalised public utility and showing a courageous streak by criticising Scots over the quality of their tap water. Just 16 per cent of England's water bodies are in good ecological status, compared to 66 per cent in Scotland (Picture: Christopher Furlong) | Getty Images Swimming in sewage Now, there are times, when stories that the political bubble, politicians and journalists alike, think are terribly serious fail to capture the public imagination. The quality of Scotland's water is not one of them. People in Scotland, of all political persuasions and none, take some pride in the quality of Scotland's water – not least those of us who drink London tap water during our weekly London commute! The Secretary of State was swimming in sewage of his own making and gave Scottish Government Cabinet minister Gillian Martin ample opportunity to rebut his claims in a pointed letter. Sixty-six per cent of Scotland's water bodies are of good ecological status compared to 16 per cent in England and 29 per cent in Wales. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Whilst there is always more that can be done and Scottish ministers are right to focus on areas for which they have responsibility, Scottish water is improving with 87 per cent assessed as 'clean or good', up from 82 per cent in 2014. There is always work to be done in Scotland, and in fairness Scottish ministers have the benefit of being answerable to the public rather than shareholders, but nonetheless the intervention was 'courageous' by the British minister. £78bn in shareholder dividends A recent report by the UK Environment Agency showed serious pollution incidents in England were up 60 per cent compared to the previous year with 'consistently poor performance from all nine water and sewage companies' in England. The Environment Agency put this down to 'persistent underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance and reduced resilience due to the impacts of climate'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Secretary of State even conceded on Sky News this week that most of the £104 billion investment needed in the water industry in England would have to be paid back by bill payers. What's more, since privatisation by the Tories in the 1990s, water companies have paid out £78bn in dividends and millions in bonuses to water company bosses, a system that a Labour minister was now seeking to defend. One might say that the UK Government has found itself up a rather polluted creek without a paddle. No wonder so few voices are calling for Scottish water to be privatised given the unfolding disaster south of the Border. Bill payers in Scotland gain from successive devolved administrations managing water better. Since 2010 for instance, average charges to Scottish customers have reduced by over 10 per cent with average prices significantly lower than in England and Wales. Given all of this you might have expected the Secretary of State to be more focused on keeping to past Labour commitments that might help voters down south. In the 2020 Labour leadership race, one of Keir Starmer's ten key pledges was to 'support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water'. That commitment appears to have been one of many dropped by Labour in office. Scottish Labour's favourite tactic Labour finds itself politically rudderless in stormy waters, pun absolutely intended. No wonder, the party has won power and doesn't know what to do with it. The Secretary of State was left gasping, a fish out of water. When he was interviewed, unable to defend his own record, he did what Labour MPs are getting rather good at, talk about something else entirely. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's a favoured tactic of Scottish Labour MPs to talk about anything but their own Westminster government. At the most recent Scotland Office question time, supposed to be Scotland's voice in the UK Government, only my Dundee colleague Chris Law and I seemed to be bothered to ask about issues pertinent to the UK Government. Labour MP after Labour MP stood up to talk about the Scottish Government, telling us something of who is setting the policy agenda – and it isn't this Labour administration. The lack of Labour MPs' curiosity about the work of their own government and the Secretary of State's brazen deflection tells us of a Westminster government and UK ruling party without much of a political compass, holed below the water line by their own lack of purpose. My experience of speaking to voters tells me that people want to know what you are for, rather than what you are against. Even where voters disagree with you, and plenty do, they respect parties who are clear on their beliefs. Things could always be better and Scottish ministers should continue to keep up their work to ensure that Scottish water is cheaper, less polluted and more sustainable than elsewhere. The same goes the other way, and given the state of England's waters maybe, just maybe, Labour ministers could do with focusing on areas over which they have responsibility. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Water is a precious commodity, and it has rightly grabbed a bit of attention this week. It's certainly more deserving than this week's early silly season but we shouldn't let that wander into September. Time for some serious politics about a serious resource – time for Labour ministers to focus on the day job?
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
Trump warns 'there'll be no Europe left' before immediately hitting golf course
Donald Trump is following up his dire warnings about the future of Europe by cracking on with the real business of his trip to Scotland: a few rounds of golf. The US President landed at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire yesterday evening for his first UK visit since returning to the White House in January. It took only a few minutes after stepping off Air Force One for Trump to begin predicting doom for the West due to immigration. He told reporters: 'On immigration, you better get your act together. You're not going to have Europe anymore, you've got to get your act together.' The President claimed nobody had entered the US last month before describing the situation faced by Europe as a 'horrible invasion'. His British mini-break will begin with a day of golf at his Turnberry course on the Ayrshire coast. Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here. More serious discussions with leaders including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Scottish First Minister John Swinney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will come on Sunday and Monday. Police in Scotland are bracing for a major operation as protesters begin to gather at a number of spots Trump is expected to visit on his brief tour. The presidential motorcade, containing more than two dozen vehicles, passed a small protest on its way into Turnberry yesterday evening but demonstrations are expected to swell today. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Later, the entourage will travel east across Scotland to Aberdeen and another of Trump's links courses near Balmedie, on the coast north of the city. Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, who met the President at Prestwick just after he arrived at around 8.30pm yesterday, said Trump's first words after stepping off the plane were: 'It's great to be here, I always love standing on the soil of Scotland.' Murray added: 'I said, 'I hope you're looking forward to a bit of downtime with some golf this weekend', and he said, 'Yes'. 'And I said, 'Well, we've whipped up a bit of a wind for you to make it a bit more competitive', and he went, 'I'm looking forward to it'.' Trump is expected to meet with von der Leyen tomorrow in an effort to thrash out a trade deal between the EU and the US. More Trending The EU has been one of the biggest targets of the tariff campaign from the White House since dramatic new trade measures were announced at the beginning of April. Starmer is understood to be travelling to Scotland on Monday for a meeting with the President, where the finer details of the UK's trade deal with the US are likely to be discussed. Speaking at Prestwick yesterday, Trump said: 'I like your Prime Minister, he's slightly more liberal than I am – as you probably heard – but he's a good man. He got a trade deal done.' He also suggested the meeting would be taking place this evening, which is not believed to be accurate. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: New arrest in cold case of mum killed 30 years ago walking home from shops MORE: Trump says 'I'll give you a list' of Epstein associates and 'I'm allowed' to pardon Maxwell MORE: Donald Trump's Scotland visit branded 'cynical circus' by his nemesis in land battle
ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
PM suggests UK will play role in Gaza aid airdrops amid mounting calls for Palestinian statehood
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has suggested the UK will play a role in dropping aid into Gaza by air, as he faces calls from 221 cross-party MPs to recognise a Palestinian state. Israel said on Friday it will allow airdrops of aid by foreign countries into Gaza to alleviate starvation in the Palestinian territory. Starmer said the UK will 'do everything we can to get aid in via this route'. Meanwhile, he faces growing calls to recognise a Palestinian state immediately. Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents, have signed a letter calling on the government to take the step at a UN meeting next week. France's president Emmanuel Macron announced his nation would formally recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, leading UK politicians to question whether the British government would follow suit. US President Donald Trump suggested Macron's announcement 'doesn't matter' as he left America for a visit to Scotland. But Sarah Champion, the senior Labour MP who organised the letter by parliamentarians, said recognition 'would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people'. Other senior Commons figures who signed the letter include Labour select committee chairs Liam Byrne, Dame Emily Thornberry and Ruth Cadbury. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, as well as Tory former minister Kit Malthouse, and Sir Edward Leigh – Parliament's longest-serving MP – also signed it. The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs. In a video statement released on Friday, Starmer made plain his desire for a ceasefire in the war. He said: 'I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying. 'The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.' Signalling the UK is willing to help get aid into Gaza via air, the prime minister added: 'News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late, but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route. 'We are already working urgently with the Jordanian authorities to get British aid on to planes and into Gaza.' Children who need specialist medical treatment will be evacuated from Gaza to the UK, Starmer added. He also called for an international coalition to 'end the suffering' in Gaza, similar to the coalition of the willing aimed at helping Ukraine. Starmer had earlier responded to calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state, insisting such a move needed to be part of the 'pathway' to peace in the Middle East, which he and allies are working towards. He added: 'Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.' In a statement released on Friday alongside the leaders of France and Germany, the prime minister urged Israel to stop restricting the flow of aid into Gaza. Charities operating in Gaza have said Israel's blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing people there towards starvation, warning that they are seeing their own workers and Palestinians 'waste away'. The prime minister will meet the US president during his trip to Scotland, where he arrived on Friday evening. US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday, with Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
