The border dispute is not the only factor in restarting clashes. Scores of online scam centres operate along the border, run by criminal networks linked to Cambodian elites. Thailand considers them strategic military targets and is using the war to build up nationalist support ahead of upcoming elections. Thailand's opposition People's Party has called for a return to diplomacy.
At the general audience in St Peter's Square, the pope appealed to the two Southeast Asian countries once again embroiled in fighting. In his weekly catechesis, he reflected on death and its "pedagogical value", despite today’s tendency to remove it. Leo also warned against transhumanism, which theorises the prolongation of life through technology, asking: “could science itself guarantee us that a life without death is also a happy life?”
The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has reignited, with new airstrikes and hundreds of thousands of displaced people on both sides. Domestic Thai political tensions are behind the military crisis. PM Anutin Charnvirakul's government, in difficulty and on the verge of parliament’s dissolution, is exploiting nationalist rhetoric to bolster support. Meanwhile, Cambodia is drawing militarily closer to Vietnam.
Visitors from China will be able to use payment apps, making transactions easier. Soon, Thai nationals will also benefit from this technology in China. The system, increasingly used across ASEAN, serves not only to exchange money but also to strengthen trust, convenience, and a shared commitment to a more seamless financial future.
The death toll from recent floods has topped 1,300, while 1.2 million people have been displaced in Indonesia alone. The insurance coverage gap is widening, as experts note that increasingly frequent extreme events threaten to make current models unsustainable. Insurance companies are preparing to exclude some natural risks, while most losses in developing countries remain uninsured.
The extradition of She Zhijiang from Thailand to China comes at a time of intense international pressure on Bangkok to crack down on criminal networks operating between Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The case reignites attention on the proliferation of scam centres and their impact on Thai tourism, which has seen sharp declines over the past year.
