Israel orders evacuations in northern Gaza as Trump calls for war to end

-
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi Reuters  The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against  Hamas , as U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to the  war  amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire. “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,”  Trump  posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages. But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. offi...
Post a Comment

Thailand closes border crossings with Cambodia as dispute deepens

-

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, Associated Press

Thailand began imposing land border restrictions Monday including blocking tourists heading into Cambodia as the two countries engage in retaliation in their border dispute.

Relations between the countries have deteriorated following an armed confrontation May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in a relatively small, contested territory. While the two sides have agreed to de-escalate their dispute, they continue to implement or threaten measures that have kept tensions high.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Monday that Thailand will boost screening at land borders and block departing tourists, saying that only students, medical patients and others who need to purchase essential goods would be allowed to enter or leave Thailand.

She said the measures were aimed at blocking people heading toward Cambodia’s lucrative casinos, but it appeared that all tourists would be blocked.

The Thai army said in a statement later Monday that it had implemented the measures at every land border checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia in five provinces, and that it was stopping all crossings except for people with essential needs.

Cambodia, for its part, has boycotted some Thai internet services, and blocked electricity and fuel supplies from Thailand in response to the border dispute. Prior to the boycott, Cambodia imported 30% of its gasoline and other fuel from Thailand.

Paetongtarn also said Monday that Thailand will consider blocking exports that could facilitate scam operations in Cambodia and will coordinate with other countries and international agencies to crack down on cybercrime based in Southeast Asia.

Thailand earlier this year implemented measures aimed at cracking down on online scam operations in neighboring Myanmar, severing electricity, internet and gas supplies to border towns where the scams were based.

Paetongtarn’s comments suggested Thailand would soon impose similar measures aimed at similar scam operations in Cambodia.

An April U.N. report named Cambodia as a hub for scam operations in which workers go online to lure victims through false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.

Paetongtarn has been attacked over her perceived soft stance toward Cambodia, especially by right-wing nationalists who are longtime foes of her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

A phone call leaked last week between Paetongtarn and Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, the former prime minister who ruled Cambodia over four decades, sparked outrage and calls for Paetongtarn’s resignation.

Critics said she tried to appease Hun Sen, a longtime friend of her father, and made Thailand look weak by calling a Thai army commander in charge of the disputed border area as “an opponent.” Several nationalist activist groups have planned a rally this week to demand Paetongtarn’s resignation.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/OmhVvYu

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Israel-Hezbollah attacks continue despite international pressure for ceasefire

-
By Timour Azhari and James Mackenzie Reuters  Israel rejected global calls on Thursday for a ceasefire with the Hezbollah movement, defying its biggest ally in Washington and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war. Despite Israel’s stance, the U.S. and France sought to keep prospects alive for an  immediate 21-day  truce they proposed on Wednesday, and said negotiations continued, including on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York. An Israeli warplane struck the edges of the capital Beirut, killing two people and wounding 15, including a woman in critical condition, Lebanon’s health ministry said. That took deaths overnight and on Thursday to 28 and over 600 since Monday. The strike killed the head of one of Hezbollah’s air force units, Mohammad Surur, Hezbollah said, the latest senior Hezbollah commander to be targeted in days of assassinations among the group’s top ranks. On t...
Read more

Bolivia wildfires burn record area, scorching homes and farms

-
Image
By Monica Machicao and Daniel Ramos Reuters Wildfires in Bolivia have burned through more than 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) this year, mostly in the country’s tropical east, smashing records for its worst-ever fire season and scorching an area the size of Iceland or Cuba. The new figures released on Monday by non-governmental organization Tierra Foundation represent the equivalent of nearly 19 million American football fields. Fires in recent months have propelled Bolivia past devastating fire years in 2010 and 2019. Santa Cruz, a wealthy farming region in the country’s eastern lowlands near Brazil, has been the hardest hit, accounting for almost 7 million hectares of the total, followed by the nearby department of Beni, with 3 million hectares. “What’s happened in recent months in eastern Bolivia, and will continue to occur at least through October, is a disaster of a magnitude unprecedented in the country,” Juan Pablo Chumacero, researcher at the Tierra Foundation, to...
Read more