Archive August 7, 2025

Sources on the ground claim troops are still building on both sides of their disputed border as Thai and Cambodian officials convene for talks in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to ratify a fragile ceasefire.

Malaysia facilitated the mediating of a truce on July 28 that put an end to five days of bloody battles between Thai and Cambodian forces.

Despite their representatives attending border talks in Kuala Lumpur that started on Monday, the two neighbors have accused one of breaking the terms of the shaky ceasefire.

A meeting between Thai Deputy Defense Minister Natthaphon Nakpanit and Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha will take place on Thursday, followed by observers from Malaysia, China, and the United States.

The situation is unstable, according to Wasawat Puangpornsri, a member of Thailand’s parliament whose district includes Nam Yuen, a border district in Ubon Ratchathani province, at any time.

Wasawat Puangpornsri said a large number of Thai and Cambodian troops were stationed about 50 meters apart from one another around the Chong Anma border crossing in Nam Yuen district on Tuesday when he visited the area.

About 20 000 Thai residents’ attempts to return to their homes in Ubon Ratchathani were thwarted on July 24 due to simmering tensions that turned into intense fighting between the two nations.

Wasawat Puangpornsri and other government representatives were looking into reparations for the damaged civilian homes in the area while the fighting broke out.

After a brief firefight in May that left a Cambodian soldier dead and damaged Bangkok and Phnom Penh diplomatic relations, residents of the area informed Al Jazeera.

Both militaries held the first shots responsible for the May incident and the ongoing conflict, which included Thai fighter jets bombing Cambodia and Thai forces firing artillery and rockets at civilian areas on July 24.

Phian Somsri, a local Thai resident, claimed she was feeding her ducks at the time the explosions started in July.

She said, “I prepared for it, but I never really thought it would happen,” while reclining on a Buddhist pagoda’s tile floor.

According to Phian Somsri, who told Al Jazeera, “Bombs were falling in the rice fields.” She described how she received a frantic call while preparing to flee after gathering her belongings.

One of her closest friends, Grandma Lao, had just been killed when a rocket struck her home.

“I was shocked and dejected, and I hoped it wasn’t true. But she added that she was also extremely scared because she could also hear the bombs and gunfire.

I pray that everything will go smoothly and peacefully.

At least 24 civilians were killed on July 28 in Cambodia and Thailand, and more than 260, 000 people were displaced from their homes on both sides of the border when the guns went silent after five days of fighting.

Both nations continue to deny any violations of the ceasefire even as discussions about the General Border Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur raged this week to stop further clashes.

Hun Sen, a former Cambodian leader, claimed on Sunday that a new Thai offensive was on hold, though it never materialized.

Hun Sen is largely regarded as the country’s true power and continues to call the shots despite giving power to his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet, in 2023.

The district’s head, who is located far from the fighting and where displaced Thai people have been evacuated, also confirmed that despite the ongoing tension and rumors of renewed troop expansion, people are not yet resettling in Ubon Ratchathani.

The district official, who requested that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media, claimed that the Thai military was cautious of its Cambodian counterpart.

He continued, adding that many of the evacuees have experienced traumatization as a result of their recent trauma. “They don’t trust the Cambodian side,” he said.

When his house was shattered by rocket fire on July 25, Netagit, 46, a janitor for a village hospital, described how he was escaping to a bomb shelter close to a Buddhist temple.

He told Al Jazeera as he examined the ruin of his home and said, “I have no idea what I’m going to do next.”

His wife and her parents, along with his two children, had resided here. A corrugated iron roof is now strewn across the ground in pieces, and his family’s personal belongings have now poured into the street and the concrete walls have fallen off.

He initially tried to keep the destruction of their home a secret from his children.

They saw the pictures and began crying, Netagit said, “but I didn’t want to tell them.” He continued, “I’m just trying to get ready for whatever comes next.”

Residents of this district are hopeful that Kuala Lumpur’s border talks will lead to stability, but they are anxious about continued troop movements and diplomatic tussles.

Phian Somsri’s husband was given a week to spend at home before having to return for a short while to check on their property.

She claimed that by that point, all of her ducks had died.

She said, “I just want to go home because I’m so overwhelmed.”

One thing is certain: US President Donald Trump is more interested in onshoring than friend-shoring, according to experts, even as the US imposes a 50% tariff on India, which is the highest rate among all nations so far.

The US added an additional 25% tariff on India’s import of Russian oil on Wednesday, bringing the total to 50%. Given that New Delhi was one of the first to begin trade negotiations with Washington, DC, and that Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have frequently compared themselves as friends in public appearances. Only India and Brazil are the other nations that are subject to such high tariffs.

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s vice president of strategy and research, Vina Nadjibulla, described the trade negotiations as a surprise.

India joins a small group of nations without a deal and with the highest tariff rates because of this, which is undoubtedly the worst in their relationship in many, many years. They now require a logical next step and a method for restoring trust, according to Nadjibulla.

There have been a number of events over the past few weeks that have suggested there may be differences between the two nations, despite the shock of the proposed three-week tariffs.

Trump reportedly expressed his frustration over a deadlock in trade talks and called both nations “dead economies” just last week when he threatened to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil and arms.

Negotiations are in a bind

India and the US exchanged about $ 212 billion in bilateral trade last year, with a trade gap of about $ 46 billion in India’s favor. Modi has stated in the past that he intends to increase trade between the two nations by $500 billion over the next five years.

New Delhi said it would increase purchases of defense and energy as part of the tariff negotiations and that it would remove levies from US industrial goods. Despite being subjected to intense home pressure from the auto lobby, it also offered to lower car taxes.

However, it refused to impose duties on farm and dairy products, which are politically sensitive industries that employ hundreds of millions of predominately poor Indians, in a manner similar to that of some other nations like Canada.

According to Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, there are geopolitical layers to what was supposed to be a trade conversation.

The difference in perceptions about how the most recent conflict between India and archrival Pakistan ended in May was a very public one. Trump has repeatedly alleged that he orchestrated a ceasefire. India has asserted repeatedly that Modi and Trump never spoke during the conflict and that Trump had no say in negotiating a truce.

Aamer, a Pakistani company, has stated it will nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and has so far departed from agreements with the US to explore its critical minerals and oil reserves as its efforts to reestablish ties with the US play out, according to Aamer.

New Delhi is now trying to navigate a difficult road because of all of this. Aamer argued that this will put India’s foreign policy on the test, and that the question is whether or not the US will continue to support its long-standing ties with Russia, which has long been its defense and trade partner.

New Delhi criticized Wednesday’s tariff as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable” and claimed that the country’s 1.4 billion-person population needs to be served by its imports of Russian oil in order to meet its goal of ensuring its energy needs.

Beyond that, Aamer claimed, “India doesn’t want to look weak.” Modi and India both have global standing, so it must be strong in this regard. It will continue to advocate for its foreign policy as being driven by its own national security.

Robert Rogowsky, a professor of international trade at Monterey’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies, predicted “very creative diplomacy” in the “near term” as India and the US attempt to rekindle relations despite tensions.

He told Al Jazeera, “Strong-arming individuals like Modi will unavoidably cause shifts and counter-shifts.”

adding instability

India can concentrate on bolstering its bilateral trade agreements, including those that it signed with the United Kingdom last month and those that are currently being worked out with the European Union, according to Aamer.

In response to the recent months when Trump took office and hit allies with tariffs, India is also attempting to stabilise relations with China. At the end of the month, Modi intends to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Since the two nations met in the Galwan River valley in 2020, he would make his first trip to China.

The US’s trade blow comes at a time when businesses have been attempting to establish themselves as a hub for manufacturing and as a choice for businesses looking to expand outside of China.

Apple, for instance, announced in April that all iPhones intended for sale in the US would be assembled in India by the following year. A country with a 50% tariff on its products is not attractive to business, according to Nadjibulla, and this only “adds to the instability and uncertainty that businesses were already feeling” due to all the Trump tariffs.

The Norwegian government on Tuesday said it would review its sovereign wealth fund’s investment in Israel after the Scandinavian country’s leading newspaper revealed that the nearly $2 trillion fund had a stake in an Israeli company aiding Israel’s war in Gaza.

The newspaper, Aftenposten, identified the company as the Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL) group, which provides parts to Israeli fighter jets that are being deployed in its devastating war on Gaza.

In recent weeks, Israeli-induced starvation deaths have caused a global outcry, with Western countries ramping up pressure on Israel to end the war that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and ravaged Gaza – home to 2.3 million people.

More than 200 people have died of starvation as Israel has obstructed the entry of humanitarian aid despite its so-called “tactical pause” in its nearly two years of war.

So, what did Norway say, and are Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestinian territory turning the tide of public opinion against it?

What did Norwegian leaders say?

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said that the investment in the Israeli firm was “worrying”. “We must get clarification on this because reading about it makes me uneasy,” Stoere told public broadcaster NRK.

Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who manages the world’s largest fund, ordered the central bank to conduct a review of the fund portfolio to make sure Israeli companies aiding the occupation of the West Bank or the war in Gaza are barred from investments.

“The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund’s investments in Bet Shemesh Engines,” Stoltenberg, a former NATO chief, said, referring to the growing public and political pressure.

The decision came weeks after Norway’s parliament rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“In light of … the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, I will today ask Norges Bank and the Council on Ethics to conduct a renewed review of the fund’s investments in Israeli companies and Norges Bank’s work on responsible management,” Stoltenberg said. Norges Bank is Norway’s central bank.

The independent ethics council, which provides recommendations on which companies should be banned from the oil fund’s portfolio, has since 2009 suggested excluding nine Israeli groups.

How much investment is at stake?

Norges Bank, which manages the $1.9 trillion wealth fund, took a 1.3 percent stake in BSEL in 2023 and raised this to 2 percent by the end of 2024, holding shares worth $15m, the latest available NBIM records show.

The fund held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95bn, its records show.

The value of its stake was more than four times higher than it was at the end of 2023, shortly after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. At least 1,139 people were killed in that attack.

The sovereign fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecom group in the last year, and its ethics council has said it is reviewing whether to recommend divesting holdings in five banks.

In May, the sovereign fund decided to divest from Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy for its involvement in supplying infrastructure and fuel to illegal Israeli settlements.

In December 2024, the fund sold all its shares in the Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the illegal settlements, which are considered the biggest impediments in the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state as part of the so-called two-state solution.

Moreover, Norway’s largest pension fund has decided to sever its ties with companies doing business with Israel.

KLP, which manages a fund worth about $114bn, said in June that it will no longer do business with two companies – the US Oshkosh Corporation and ThyssenKrupp from Germany, which sell equipment to the Israeli military that is possibly being used in the war in Gaza.

According to the pension fund, it had investments worth $1.8m in Oshkosh and almost $1m in ThyssenKrupp until June 2025.

Last year, KLP also divested from US-based Caterpillar, which makes bulldozers.

Which other funds and companies have severed ties with Israel?

French insurance giant AXA last August reportedly divested from its remaining investments in Israeli banks for funding illegal settlements, according to a report by advocacy group Eko.

Norwegian asset manager Storebrand has also sold shares in some Israeli firms.

The move came after sustained campaigning by human rights groups, who highlighted Israeli rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Another major pension fund from Denmark, its largest, divested from several Israeli banks and companies last February over fears that the investment could be used to fund the illegal Israeli settlements.

The fund has sold its stocks and shares to the tune of 75 million krone ($7.4m) in value.

Last month, Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund divested shareholdings worth more than 1 million euros ($1.2m) from two accommodation companies linked to Israeli settlements. The two companies have been identified as Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, according to media reports.

The Irish government, which has been vocal against Israel’s war on Gaza, divested 2.95 million euros ($3.43m) worth of shares from six other Israeli companies.

Amid pressure from campaigners and activists from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), several corporations have been forced to sever ties with Israel. Shipping giant Maersk was forced to cut ties with companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in June.

The BDS, a grassroots organisation inspired by the anti-apartheid South Africa movement, calls for economic pressure on the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian lands.

Several of Europe’s biggest financial firms have cut back their links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, a Reuters analysis of filings shows, as pressure mounts from activists and governments to end the war in Gaza.

Which countries have taken action against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza?

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in July, banned exports of coal to Israel until the genocide stops. “We cannot allow Colombian coal to be turned into bombs that help Israel kill children,” the left-wing president said.

He has also pledged to cease all arms trade with Israel. Under Petro, Colombia has helped set up the Hague Group of 12 countries aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Spain’s left-wing coalition government in June cancelled a contract for antitank missiles from Israeli company Rafael over the war atrocities in Gaza. The decision will affect a deal worth an estimated 285 million euros ($325m).

Few months earlier, Spain halted a controversial $7.5m deal to buy ammunition from an Israeli company, following criticism from far-left allies within the coalition government.

Madrid has also called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel over its Gaza war.

Several Western countries have sanctioned Israeli settlers in the West Bank amid record violence against Palestinians.

In July 2024, Australia sanctioned Israeli settlers, joining France, the UK.

The sanction came after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a nonbinding opinion that all Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land is illegal and must stop as soon as possible.

In June, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom formally sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for “incitement of violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

In the same month, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Sweden has also asked the European Council to adopt sanctions “against Israeli ministers who promote illegal settlement activities and actively work against a negotiated two-state solution”.

The EU provides millions of dollars in funds to Israel as part of its Horizon Europe research projects, while Western leaders have defended Israel for its war atrocities in Gaza and also shielded it from the United Nations resolutions critical of its abuses.

Western countries have also been criticised for failing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who face warrants from the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza.

A march has begun from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas northward to the central part of the country, in protest of policies that make legal immigration status difficult to achieve.

Wednesday’s march set out from the border city of Tapachula, near Guatemala, and nearly 300 migrants, asylum seekers and supporters took part.

But the demonstration was overshadowed by the arrest one day earlier of one of its leaders, prominent immigration activist Luis Garcia Villagran.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the arrest in her morning news conference on Wednesday. She alleged that Garcia Villagran had been detained for taking part in human trafficking.

“That is the crime,” she said, adding that Garcia Villagran was “not an activist”.

She added that an arrest warrant had been pending for the activist for years. But it was unclear why his arrest was carried out now.

The nonprofit Pueblo Sin Fronteras, however, disputed Sheinbaum’s characterisation of Garcia Villagran.

“The detention of Luis Villagran, director and human rights defender, is an unacceptable assault,” the nonprofit’s head, Irineo Mujica, wrote in a post to social media.

“Luis Villagrán’s only ‘crime’ is to defend those who have no money or voice, and to tell the truth, which bothers the powerful. Stop criminalising human rights defenders!”

Mujica – who was detained himself in 2019 on similar charges, only to be released – argued that Garcia Villagran’s arrest was a political distraction.

“This is a smokescreen: dirty and corrupt politics to cover up the true networks of corruption,” he said.

Mujica and Garcia Villagran have both been prominent voices in a movement to make legal immigration pathways more accessible.

They have also been among the organisers associated with the trend of the migrant “caravans” that travel from southern Mexico to the United States border in recent years.

Some of those past caravans have involved thousands of people, many of whom banded together for protection against criminal networks, corrupt officials and other threats they may face as they migrate.

Migration northwards, however, has slowed, particularly since US President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January.

Trump quickly attempted to bar asylum claims at the border, a move that has spurred a legal backlash.

Last month, a court blocked his asylum ban on the basis that it created an “alternative immigration system” without deference to Congress’s laws.

But Trump’s policies have nevertheless had a dampening effect on immigration at the border. In June, US Customs and Border Protection recorded only 9,306 “encounters” with migrants and asylum seekers at the country’s southern border – a nearly 93 percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Wednesday’s march had a different objective than those past caravans, though, particularly as migrants and asylum seekers turn away from the US and seek other destinations.

Organisers of the march sought to draw attention to the slow processing time for asylum applications in Mexico and other hurdles to achieving legal immigration status.

It also served as a demonstration against Mexican policies that have sought to keep undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in the south of the country, away from the US border.

The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to crack down on immigration into the US, including through the threat of tariffs.

Garcia Villagran’s arrest in the hours leading up to the march, however, left some migrants and asylum seekers fearful of taking part in the march.

The news agency AFP obtained one message that was circulating among participants that read, “Hide, don’t let yourselves get caught.”

A Catholic priest who took part in Wednesday’s march, Heyman Vazquez, told The Associated Press news agency that Garcia Villagran’s arrest was “unjust”.

He added that the arrest revealed a sense of insecurity in the government over the question of migration. The solution, he explained, would be to make it easier for migrants and asylum seekers to obtain legal status, thereby removing the need for such protests.