logo
Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘full and unconditional' ceasefire

Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘full and unconditional' ceasefire

Telegraph12 hours ago
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire that will start at midnight tonight after a five-day conflict.
At least 33 people have been killed and thousands displaced since a war broke out between the two countries following months of tension on July 24.
Malaysia hosted mediation talks between the two nations and on Monday morning, Anwar Ibrahim, its prime minister, said: 'Both Cambodia and Thailand reached a common understanding as follows: One, an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with effect from 24 hours local time, midnight on July 28, 2025, tonight.'
Phumtham Wechayachai, the acting prime minister of Thailand, said his country had negotiated a ceasefire 'in good faith' and that his country was committed to peace.
Talks were held between the two countries after Donald Trump urged both nations to agree to a ceasefire as a pre-condition to trade negotiations.
The conflict dates back over a century, when the two countries' borders were drawn following France's occupation of Cambodia.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump is winning his trade war … but Americans will pay the price
Trump is winning his trade war … but Americans will pay the price

The Independent

time22 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Trump is winning his trade war … but Americans will pay the price

President Donald Trump nabbed a major win over the weekend when he announced a trade agreement with the European Union that would slash the rate of tariffs down to 15 percent. While not the fabled ' 90 deals in 90 days ' that his trade adviser Peter Navarro had pledged when Trump initially paused his 'reciprocal tariffs,' it was still a fairly big deal given that the European Union is the biggest trading partner of the United States. And last week, Trump announced the ' largest TRADE DEAL in history ' with Japan. And a few months ago, he announced a multibillion-dollar deal with the United Kingdom. All of these countries or blocs are massive trading partners. But it didn't lead to the euphoria on Wall Street that Trump likely wanted. As of the stock market's closing bell on Monday afternoon, the S&P 500 barely budged and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped slightly. It might be because Americans will continue to pay more for products than they did before the deal. But one economist had another thought about the 'biggest deal ever,' as Trump alternately put it, landing with a thud. 'I also think that the markets have taken TACO a bit too seriously,' Tara Hoops, director of economic analysis at the Chamber of Progress, told The Independent. Referencing the acronym for 'Trump Always Chickens Out' — where he has gained a reputation for talking a big game regarding imposing tariffs, or in demanding ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, and then backing down hours or days later — Hoops said, Wall Street is in a mode 'where no one is actually believing the frameworks that are coming out.' For all of Trump's talk about how the reciprocal tariffs might lead to a renaissance of American manufacturing, Hoops flagged a fatal flaw: American auto manufacturers will pay 50 percent tariffs on steel and an additional 25 percent on other automobile parts. 'Meanwhile, the same people could just go to the EU and pass on to the consumer,' Hoops said. ' So the only person who is winning here might be Trump, because it seems to him that he has a deal, but the consumers are the ones who have to pay more for these goods.' Trump has said that the United Kingdom will know ' pretty soon ' if it will face 50-percent tariffs, but that will likely be cold comfort. And the 50-percent tariffs on European aluminum and steel will remain. Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said that the European Commission started with far too much optimism about the contours of a trade deal with the United States, where they hoped there would be zero tariffs on either sides. 'I think that was really a complete misread of what the Trump administration was going to do on trade,' he told The Independent. 'It might not have been driven by naiveté but rather fear about whether the United States would uphold commitments in Ukraine and NATO. 'I think the combination of those two — just really a misread of Trump's attitudes on trade combined with those concerns about security relationships — made them not retaliate, not respond aggressively, make them not try to build an alliance with Canada and South Korea, other major American trading partners,' he added. Veuger noted that in recent months, even as Trump has paused his tariffs, the value of the dollar has gone down. 'But it's certainly not comprehensive, and also really doesn't resolve all of the trade issues that exist between the US and the EU, for example,' he said. Another unintended consequence may be that Americans might have to replace products they purchase from other countries with lower-quality products made in the United States. And Trump's rupture on tariffs means that other countries will not necessarily trust the word of an American president — because they can simply retract it the way Trump has. So far, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said that this Friday is the drop-dead date for tariffs. But this week will also show some critical tests for whether Trump puts the foot on the gas for tariffs. On Wednesday, the quarterly GDP report will drop, which will show how much the U.S. economy grew. It will be a helpful barometer because it will simultaneously show how markets reacted to the 'Liberation Day' announcements as well as the pause. That same day, the Federal Reserve will meet and make its announcement on interest rates. Trump has not been happy with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's decision not to cut rates and he likely will keep them the same this go around as the market absorbs the rates. Lastly, on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its jobs report, which will again be another measurement of the health of the economy since Trump's announcement. If any of these indicators are weak, cause the stock market to nosedive or the cost of U.S. bonds to spike again, it might be time to fire up some tortillas and get ready for a fresh batch of TACO.

The two faces of JD: Once a Jeffrey Epstein truther, Veep Vance becomes Trump and Bondi's latest spin doctor
The two faces of JD: Once a Jeffrey Epstein truther, Veep Vance becomes Trump and Bondi's latest spin doctor

The Independent

time22 minutes ago

  • The Independent

The two faces of JD: Once a Jeffrey Epstein truther, Veep Vance becomes Trump and Bondi's latest spin doctor

Vice President J.D. Vance hit the campaign trail in Ohio on Monday, as he sought to help his boss and the GOP that is lined up behind him sell the 'big, beautiful' budget reconciliation package to midterm voters. Instead, the president's Twitter-happy running mate found himself answering questions about Jeffrey Epstein — and in a generally unfamiliar role: battling speculation on the right instead of fueling it. The vice president, who less than three weeks before the 2024 election declared that 'we' should release the 'Epstein list,' has a new message, as his colleagues now insist that the list isn't real: 'Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide.' Vance was in a Democratic-held district in Canton, Ohio — about three hours north of his hometown of Middletown — on Monday as the president and his party try and turn their focus towards next year's midterms. But they're the only ones whose attention has shifted — DC's focus remains firmly on Jeffrey Epstein and the growing uproar around the White House's handling of the so-called 'client list' or 'Epstein files.' And if Monday's road trip is any indicator, so has much of America's. After he concluded his remarks, the vice president hosted a press conference in front of his supporters, who watched up close as Vance evolved from conspiracy theorist to spin doctor in real time. 'The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff, but some of that stuff takes time,' said Vance, who went on to accuse the media of being uninterested in the story during the Biden administration. There are a few problems here. For one, that it isn't true. Vance's reference to Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'release all credible information' is just a flat-out falsehood. The Justice Department stated explicitly — and continues to state — that it won't release further documents from its own trove at all. The FBI and DOJ's joint memo was pretty clear: 'we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials'. What Bondi did authorize was a motion in court seeking for a judge to allow the release of grand jury transcripts to the public. Her agency made no attempts to justify the motion beyond satisfying public speculation, and it was denied — a foregone conclusion for a strategy that DOJ attorneys acknowledged in their own filings was a long shot. Republican leadership, meanwhile, is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Speaker Mike Johnson, remarking Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, positioned himself as pro-transparency while simultaneously coming out against a bipartisan resolution to force the Justice Department to release the files, with redactions for victim information and examples of pornography. It's also unclear what Vance meant when he said that the administration's efforts to make this story go away would 'take time.' Bondi's motion is already denied; she's made no indication that her efforts to see grand jury transcripts released will continue. Those transcripts likely also hardly scratch the surface of 'all credible information' the government has on the subject of Epstein. The Justice Department explained in July that further files from the investigation would not be released. The agency also declared that a list of the convicted pedophile's alleged co-conspirators did not exist, and that investigators "did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties." So what is the administration actually still doing? Unclear. Vance wouldn't say. But he was clear on one thing: they're doing it! 'Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow that's a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush,' Vance griped on Monday. Having now passed the mammoth reconciliation package, the Republican Party is mindful of one political reality: that even with Trump's success in bullying backbenchers into line, the GOP has used up the bulk of its political capital. The chances of passing another piece of legislation through the Senate are slim, given the number of Democrats the party would need on their side to break a filibuster. Even a second reconciliation package seems off the table given the level of deficit spending Republicans budget hawks just had to swallow the first time around. But the vice president and the rest of his party are in a tough spot. Aside from an extension of existing tax cuts, the main provision of the 'big, beautiful bill' was a massive surge in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a tricky sell for the Republican Party given that polling on the issue of immigration is quickly turning against the president thanks to highly public raids on farms and other businesses. Funding that provision and the extension of the tax cuts is the largest cut to Medicaid spending in history, driven by new work requirements expected to lead many to lose their coverage. Those Medicaid cuts are Democrats' favorite topic when discussing the second-term Trump agenda. Vance, as a result, is stuck arguing the nuts and bolts, pushing the GOP line that Democrats opposed extending tax cuts during an affordability crisis. Attacking Rep. Emilia Sykes, whose district he visited, Vance said on Monday: 'You know why she's not here today? Because she's not celebrating no taxes on tips. She's not celebrating no taxes on overtime…she fought us every step of the way.' As he spoke, however, 'Epstein Island' was the No. 1 trending term on Twitter/X, thanks to Trump's awkward quip Monday morning that he never 'had the privilege' of visiting the island where many of Epstein's crimes involving underaged girls were alleged to have taken place. It's hard to say yet how much the Epstein issue will affect the midterms — if at all. But with Donald Trump personally making the situation worse by throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, it will likely be up to Vance and the president's other allies to help dig him out of this hole.

North Korea says Trump must accept new nuclear reality
North Korea says Trump must accept new nuclear reality

Reuters

time22 minutes ago

  • Reuters

North Korea says Trump must accept new nuclear reality

SEOUL, July 29 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday the United States must accept that reality has changed since the countries' summit meetings in the past, and no future dialogue would end its nuclear programme, state media KCNA reported. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who is believed to speak for his brother, said she conceded that the personal relationship between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump "is not bad." But if Washington intended to use a personal relationship as a way to end the North's nuclear weapons programme, the effort would only be the subject of "mockery," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by KCNA. "If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-U.S. meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the U.S. side," she said. DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korea's capabilities as a nuclear weapons state and the geopolitical environment have radically changed since Kim and Trump held talks three times during the U.S. president's first term, she said. "Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... will be thoroughly rejected," she said. Trump has said he has a "great relationship" with Kim, and the White House has said the president is receptive to the idea of communicating with the reclusive North Korean leader.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store