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Toronto Sun
4 days ago
- General
- Toronto Sun
Thai woman herds cats under fire in Cambodia clashes
Published Jul 25, 2025 • 2 minute read Thai seamstress Pornpan Sooksai did not hesitate to corral her quintet of cats to safety, even as the cross-border blasts from Cambodia rang out Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP SURIN, Thailand — When the first salvo of Cambodian artillery screamed across her village, Thai seamstress Pornpan Sooksai's thoughts turned to her five beloved cats: Peng, Kung Fu, Cherry, Taro and Batman. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'I suddenly heard a loud bang,' the 46-year-old told AFP. 'Then our neighbour shouted, 'They've started shooting!' So everyone scrambled to grab their things.' Nearly 140,000 people have been evacuated from the Thai frontier, fleeing with the belongings dearest to them as the country trades deadly strikes with neighbouring Cambodia for a second day. Pornpan was hanging out laundry in her village in the border district of Phanom Dong Rak, but did not hesitate to corral her quintet of cats — even as the cross-border blasts rang out. 'Luckily they were still in the house. I put them in crates, loaded everything into the truck, and we got out,' she said at a shelter in nearby Surin city, camping out alongside her fellow evacuees. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tensions have been building between Thailand and Cambodia since late May, when a Cambodian soldier was shot dead in a firefight over a long-contested border region. Tit-for-tat trade curbs and border closures escalated into conflict on Thursday, and each side has accused the other of firing the opening shot in the battle now being waged with jets, artillery, tanks and troops. At least 16 people have been killed, according to tolls from both sides, the majority of them civilians. But Pornpan was well-prepared to save her felines. 'Since I heard about the possible conflict two months ago, I stocked up on food and bought cat carriers,' she said. 'If I leave the cats behind, they'd die.' Alongside her cats, Ponrpan also evacuated nine other family members, including her elderly mother with Alzheimer's. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The process took its toll once the adrenaline wore off midway through their escape. 'I was terrified the whole time. I was scared the bombs would hit us or the house,' she said. 'I had a panic attack in the car. My body went numb. I had to go to hospital during the evacuation.' At the Surin city shelter her cats have been installed in their portable kennels — drawing curious children waiting out the conflict alongside their parents on the gymnasium floor. Skittish from the sudden onset of gunfire, they are slowly recovering from their ordeal. 'One kept trying to escape its crate, wouldn't eat and kept crying,' Pornpan said. 'Another one was panting -– maybe heatstroke. I had to splash water on it.' Toronto & GTA Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls News
IOL News
4 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Thailand and Cambodia's deadly border dispute: What We Know
Evacuees line up for food they take shelter in a gymnasium on the grounds of Surindra Rajabhat University in the Thai border province of Surin on July 25, 2025. More than 100,000 people have fled the bloodiest border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia in a decade, Bangkok said on July 25, as the death toll rose rises and international powers urged a halt to hostilities. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP Thailand said on Friday it has evacuated more than 100,000 people along the Cambodian border as the two countries fight their bloodiest military clashes in over a decade. The interior ministry said 100,672 people from four border provinces had been moved to shelters, while the health ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 14. Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, in a sharp escalation of a long-running border dispute. The two countries are locked in a bitter feud over parts of the Emerald Triangle, where their borders meet Laos and several ancient temples stand. How did it start? The territorial row has dragged on for decades, but the latest flare-up between the two countries began with military border clashes in May that left one Cambodian soldier dead. Since then, the two sides have hit each other with retaliatory measures, with Thailand restricting border crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports. Five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine blast on Wednesday in the Nam Yuen district of northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, according to the Thai army. The Thai Ministry of Public Health said Thursday that at least 11 civilians had been killed in cross-border strikes by Cambodia. A spokesperson for Cambodia's defence ministry declined to comment on Thursday when asked about casualties on its side. What happened? The conflict blazed on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery into Thailand, and Thai F-16s carried out strikes on two Cambodian military targets, officials said. A Cambodian shell hit a Thai house, killing one civilian and wounding three, including a five-year-old. The clashes erupted near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey, with both sides trading blame. Thailand condemned Cambodia as "inhumane, brutal and war-hungry", accusing it of targeting homes and civilian infrastructure. What is the state of diplomacy? The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after the landmine injuries. Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia "as soon as possible" unless they had urgent reasons to remain. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Thursday requested the UN Security Council convene an "urgent meeting" to address what his foreign ministry called "unprovoked military aggression". China, a close ally of Cambodia, said it was "deeply concerned" about the clashes, calling for dialogue. Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister of Malaysia, which currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, called on its fellow ASEAN members, Thailand and Cambodia, to "stand down". Thai political crisis? The border dispute has also triggered a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from office pending an ethics probe over her conduct. In an attempt to defuse the row, Paetongtarn held a diplomatic call with Hun Sen, Cambodia's former longtime ruler and father of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. The phone call was leaked from the Cambodian side last month, sparking a judicial investigation. Cambodia's future conscripts? Hun Manet announced this month that Cambodia would start conscripting civilians next year, activating a long-dormant mandatory draft law. He cited rising tensions with Thailand for the decision. Cambodia's conscription law dates back to 2006 but has never been enforced. Hun Manet has proposed conscripts serve for two years to bolster the country's 200,000 personnel, requiring citizens aged 18 to 30 to enlist in the military. AFP
AFP
06-02-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Old protest pictures misrepresented as Myanmar workers demanding higher pay
"Today: Burmese workers in Thailand got too arrogant; they marched to protest in front of the UN office," says a Thai-language Facebook post published 1. "These Burmese workers demand a 700-baht minimum wage. If any rich companies want to pay them, fine ... But even Thai workers are still struggling with just 400 baht a day." The post includes three images of protest scenes with Myanmar's national flag visible in the crowd. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken February 4, 2025 The post accumulated more than 9,000 likes and over 15,000 . spread elsewhere on Facebook. On February 1, and Burmese activists gathered outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the military . Image Thai activists hold a banner and placards during a protest on the fourth anniversary of the Myanmar military coup in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok on February 1, 2025 (AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA) Meanwhile, Thai nationalist group Won't Tolerate held a protest outside the UN office to oppose alleged demands from Myanmar migrant workers (archived link). The activists claimed Myanmar workers were pushing for a "600-700 Thai baht" ( $17-20) minimum wage -- higher than the Thai minimum wage of 400 baht (USD$11.87) per . However, the three photos shared online are old and unrelated to recent events. First photo A reverse image search on found two of the photos were taken at past demonstrations and originally published by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand, a pro-democracy activist group active since . organization originally published the first photo to X on February 28, 2021 with the caption: "Fight for democracy" (archived link). A representative from the group confirmed to AFP on February 2, 2025 that the image was taken during a protest on February 28, 2021, during which demonstrators marched from Victory Monument to then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's residence in Bangkok (archived link). the 2,000 demonstrators was a group of migrant workers from Myanmar protesting the military . Image Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo shared by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand in 2021 Second photo Milk Tea Alliance Thailand posted the second picture on Facebook during a separate (archived link). "This photo was taken during an August 16, 2021, protest against the Thai and Myanmar dictatorships," a representative of Milk Tea Alliance Thailand told AFP. Image Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo shared by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand in 2021 Anti-government protestors marched toward the Thai prime minister's estate in to demand his resignation over his alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic (archived link). Third photo The third picture back to an X post published June 1, 2024 (archived link). Its caption #BangkokPride2024. Image Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo from the 2024 Bangkok Pride parade A pride parade took place in Bangkok on June 1, 2024, during which protesters called for LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality and other political causes, including democracy in Myanmar and the . X user shared metadata with AFP that confirms the photo was taken in Bangkok on June 1, 2024. No reports of 700-baht wage protest AFP found no credible reports of Burmese migrant workers protesting for a daily minimum wage of 700 baht in Thailand. Adisorn Kerdmongkol, manager of the Migrant Working Group (MWG), confirmed to AFP on February 4 that there have been "no reports" of such a . Ahead of the coup anniversary, Veera Sangthong, an activist from the Myanmar labour rights group Bright Future, told AFP he submitted a petition with six demands to the United Nations in Bangkok on January . The petition for recognizing the "Pink Card" (a non-Thai ID) as a valid document for migrant workers, supporting humanitarian aid at the Myanmar border and urging the United to boycott Myanmar's 2025 election. "Nowhere in the demands did Myanmar workers call for a 700-baht minimum wage," Sangthong . Image Screenshot of Bright Future's petition submitted to the United Nations, provided to AFP by Veera Sangthong The "600-700 baht" narrative appears to stem from a comment Sangthong reportedly made during an International Migrants Day protest in December 2022. However, it did not reflect any official demand from Myanmar (archived link). According to Thailand's Ministry of Labour, Thailand's daily minimum wage ranges from 337 to 400 baht, effective January 1, 2025 (archived link).
