Thai interior ministry says people from four border provinces moved to shelters as authorities say death toll from conflict has risen to 14
Thailand evacuated more than 100,000 people along the Cambodian border, it said on Friday, 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 the death toll had risen to 14.
In a packed court thousands of kilometres from home, Cynthia Houniuhi saw years of work come to fruition with the landmark ICJ opinion on climate harm
“I’m so nervous about today … it’s going to be OK. Let’s pray.”
Those were the quiet but powerful words of Cynthia Houniuhi on Wednesday morning, just before the international court of justice (ICJ) handed down its historic advisory opinion on climate change at the Peace palace in The Hague.
Wall Street Journal reports ex-president’s letter, while New York Times reports Trump called Epstein ‘the greatest’
Donald Trump apparently isn’t the only president that sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. “The biggest name in the album” was Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The ex-president’s letter appeared alongside nearly 50 others, including other prominent celebrities and executives.
Last week, the Journal reported that Trump had authored a “bawdy” letter to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. The letter was included in an album Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell compiled on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters and the newspaper’s publisher Dow Jones for libel and slander over the reporting.
Analysts say the Japanese are suffering a crisis of confidence that is feeding xenophobia amid economic insecurity and a record number of foreign residents
The emergence of a rightwing populist party in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday running on a Trump-style “Japanese First” slogan has raised concerns of a backlash against the growing foreign presence in the country.
The party, Sanseito, has successfully tapped into unease around an expanding immigrant population and a huge influx of tourists after the pandemic. But many see the underlying cause as economic insecurity among a population that both understands the need for overseas labour and visitors, and feels anxiety at the changes they bring and symbolise.
EU welcomes reversal as essential to European support for Ukraine; US announces US$330m in further military sales. What we know on day 1,248
The Ukrainian anti-corruption body, Nabu, said a new bill submitted to parliament on Thursday “restores all procedural powers and guarantees of independence of the Nabu and Sapo”. Nabu investigates corruption cases and Sapo prosecutes them. A Nabu statement said both agencies took part in the preparation of the new law and they urged the parliament “to adopt the president’s initiative … in its entirety as soon as possible. This will prevent threats to criminal proceedings brought by the Nabu and the Sapo.”
The EU welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s move to reinstate the independence of the anti-corruption agencies after the shock adoption this week of a bill that stripped their autonomy. After protests on the streets and from international allies of Ukraine, the Ukrainian president said the further bill would ensure the rule of law and the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. An EU spokesperson said: “We provide significant financial support to Ukraine and this is conditional to progress and transparency, judicial reform and democratic governance.” Those points were reinforced by European leaders with whom Zelenskyy consulted over the crisis, including Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz of Germany and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.
There were tensions over the Ukraine war as EU officials met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday. Antonio Costa, the European Council president, said the EU officials discussed “at length” their expectations for China to discourage Russia in its war against Ukraine. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, prior to the meeting said China was “enabling Russia’s war economy”. Xi told EU to “properly handle differences and frictions … The current challenges facing Europe do not come from China.”
A Russian attack killed three family members already displaced by the war, authorities announced on Thursday. The father, mother and son had fled to the village of Pidlyman in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine after Russian forces invaded their home town. A strike later on Kharkiv city wounded 33 people, including a 10-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and girl, the governor said. A separate Russian drone and missile barrage wounded seven people including a child in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy, emergency services said.
The US state department on Thursday said it had approved military sales worth US$330m to Ukraine comprising $150m worth of maintenance, repair and overhaul capability for M109 self-propelled howitzers, and $180m to sustain air defences. The Pentagon said contractors involved would include BAE Systems, Allison Transmission, Daimler Truck North America, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Radionix and Systems Electronic Export. The US on Wednesday announced sales of $322m related to Hawk surface-to-air missiles and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Reuters are reporting that an Indian companyshipped $1.4m worth of an explosive used in missile warheads, rocket motors and bombs to Russia in December 2024 despite the threat of US sanctions, according to Indian customs data seen by the news agency. One Russian company listed as receiving the compound, known as HMX or octogen, was an explosives manufacturer, which Ukraine’s SBU security service has linked to Moscow’s military. An SBU official said Ukraine launched a drone attack in April against one of the company’s factories.
The US government has identified HMX/octogen as “critical for Russia’s war effort”. The US state department did not comment to Reuters on the specific shipments but said it had repeatedly communicated to India that companies doing military-related business with Russia were at risk of sanctions. However, under Donald Trump, Russia-related sanctions work has slowed to a trickle. India’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “India has been carrying out exports of dual-use items taking into account its international obligations on non-proliferation,” adding that such exports were subject to “holistic assessment”.
Fed chair pushes back on Trump criticism of renovation costs as president presses central bank to cut interest rates
Donald Trump sparred with the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, on Thursday during a rare presidential visit to the central bank’s headquarters.
Trump was continuing his campaign to pressure the Fed to cut interest rates and was visiting its Washington headquarters to view costly renovations he has suggested are tantamount to fraud.
I’m very confused. I love dance so much that I’ve been working towards a career in it since forever, but now I wonder if it is just a fun hobby. I’m not sure I can make it as a dancer, as I feel I’m not that good and I keep getting injuries. I’ve also heard that dance careers are hard and the working environments are not nice. How do I decide if I want this as a career or just as a hobby?
Eleanor says: Great question. Not, do I be a dancer, but, how do I decide whether to be a dancer?
The highly anticipated sequel to 1984’s seminal comedy sees the band reunite for a farewell show with appearances from Elton John, Questlove and Paul McCartney
The first trailer for the long-awaited sequel to This Is Spinal Tap has been released, showcasing the venerable rockers’ supposed last hurrah in a film called Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
Spinal Tap II reunites Nigel Tufnel, David St Hubbins and Derek Smalls (played by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) as they get together for a final concert, more than 40 years after the 1984 mockumentary that made their name. In between, Spinal Tap released the album Break Like the Wind in 1992, appeared on The Simpsons, played the Live Earth charity concert in 2007 and Glastonbury in 2009.
Most comprehensive study of its kind highlights dangers of vehicle emissions and woodburning stoves
Exposure to certain forms of air pollution is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.
The illness is estimated to affect about 57 million people worldwide, with the number expected to increase to at least 150m cases by 2050.
‘He’s got that pace back … he’s a proper wicket-taker’
Captain takes five for 72 as England dominate India
Zak Crawley hailed Ben Stokes’s “phenomenal” resurgence with the ball as the England captain took his first Test five-wicket haul in eight years, driving the hosts into control of the fourth Test in Manchester.
Stokes finished with figures of five for 72 before Crawley struck 84 as England closed the second day on 225 for two, trailing India’s first-innings total by 133 runs. The former has recovered from a hamstring tear, sustained against New Zealand late last year, to become his side’s leading bowler this summer. He sits at the top of the series’ wicket-taking charts with 16 at an average of 24.75.
Hulk Hogan broke containment. As popular as professional wrestling became during the 1980s, its ins and outs were not as well-publicized as the highlights of more superficially respectable sports such as football, baseball and basketball. Even non-sporty 80s kids could probably name a bunch of teams and a few ultra-famous players such as Michael Jordan, Joe Montana or Darryl Strawberry. Wrestlers, meanwhile, were essentially both the players and the teams, which should have made them easier to differentiate – but, in reality, made the whole thing seem like a TV show that you either watched, or you didn’t. Hulk Hogan, who died this week just shy of 72, was different. For better or worse.
Hogan, born Terry Bollea, had a wrestling career that synced near-perfectly with wrestling’s growing 1980s-era popularity. After bouncing between the World Wrestling Federation (the Vince McMahon-run organization now known as WWE) and the American Wrestling Association in the early 80s, Hogan returned to the WWF in 1983 and presided over an outbreak of what was diagnosed as “Hulkamania”. Even those who received the proper vaccinations against Hulkamania – namely, not paying attention to wrestling – could see the symptoms manifesting in others, and especially in the Hulkster himself. The red-and-yellow shirt he would tear off, the biker stache, the bandanna atop his thinning blond mane became instantly recognizable trademarks even for non-fans.
Marco Rocco was suspended for bat-flip celebration
Family sought emergency ruling to overturn penalty
Judge granted relief hours before state tourney game
The 12-year-old Little Leaguer who faced suspension from his team’s first state tournament game for flipping his bat after hitting a game-winning home run will be allowed to play Thursday night.
Marco Rocco of Haddonfield, New Jersey, tossed his bat in the air on 16 July after his sixth-inning, two-run homer in the final of the sectional tournament. Marco was ejected and suspended for a game over what the family was told were actions deemed “unsportsmanlike” and “horseplay”.
SpaceX’s powerful internet system suffers rare disruption in one of its biggest international outages
SpaceX’s Starlink suffered one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, a rare disruption for Elon Musk’s powerful satellite internet system.
Users in the US and Europe began experiencing the outage at around 3pm EDT (1900 GMT), according to Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker that said as many as 61,000 user reports to the site had been made.
Briton wins 6-4, 6-2 to make last eight in Washington
Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans go out in straight sets
Emma Raducanu will reclaim the British No 1 ranking after winning her first meeting with the four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka in confident fashion. The clash was hotly anticipated but proved to be not that much of a contest, with Raducanu comfortably clinching a 6-4, 6-2 victory to reach the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Raducanu said: “I thought it was going to be a really difficult match. Naomi’s won four slams, she’s been world No 1, won Masters [titles]. She’s so dangerous and on the hard courts I think she’s particularly comfortable. I knew I was going to have to play really well and manage my own service games, which I’m really proud of how I did.
Some of the world’s biggest news outlets, including BBC News, have joined forces to voice concern over the desperate plight of journalists in Gaza, warning they are “increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families”.
Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters said they were “desperately concerned” about the journalists in Gaza after widespread warnings of mass starvation.
Celebrated flugelhorn and trumpet player released over 30 albums and sold millions of records throughout his career
The Grammy-winning jazz musician and composer Chuck Mangione died on Tuesday, according to a statement from his family. He was 84.
“The family of Chuck Mangione is deeply saddened to share that Chuck peacefully passed away in his sleep at his home in Rochester, New York on July 22, 2025,” his family said in a statement released on Thursday to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Effortless content generator’s rare gift for catching the eye has been key to the Lionesses’ run to latest major final
It was Chloe Kelly’s wedding anniversary on Thursday. We know this because she posted about it to her 1 million Instagram followers, because everyone saw her personalised shin pad adorned with her wedding photo, and because she joked last week that she still hadn’t got her husband, Scott, a card.
But then Kelly has always had a rare gift for catching the eye. Her shirt-waving celebration at Wembley remains the defining image of the Euro 2022 triumph. Her trademark headband renders her instantly recognisable in a squad full of above-average-height blond women. Her hop-skip penalty run-up is unique. In a profession where many are naturally wary of being seen to court attention, Kelly is luxuriantly comfortable with being the focus of your gaze. As her teammate Esme Morgan puts it: “She just doesn’t really care what people think.”
Portraitist withdrew her National Portrait Gallery show over reports that a transgender Statue of Liberty painting could offend Trump
Artist Amy Sherald has decided to withdraw her upcoming show at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery over fears of censorship.
Sherald, who gained wider recognition after her portrait of Michelle Obama, was set to become the first contemporary Black artist to have an exhibition at the gallery.
Police arrested rapper after finding a ‘significant amount of marijuana’ in her Atlanta home during investigation
The American rapper GloRilla was arrested on felony drug charges the night before her performance at the WNBA all-star game, after police responded to a report of a burglary at her home in Atlanta on Saturday.
The Forsyth county sheriff’s office confirmed to Atlanta’s WSB-TV that authorities responded to a call about a burglary at a home owned by the rapper, legal name Gloria Hallelujah Woods, around 1.30am on Saturday. Woods was in Indianapolis at the time to perform at the WNBA all-star game that evening.
The Irish hip-hop band Kneecap have criticised Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, after they were banned from entering the country for three years ahead of a scheduled appearance at a music festival there.
The group, who are outspoken supporters of Palestine, were due to perform at Sziget festival on 11 August. But the Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said on Thursday they had been banned because their “members repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups”.
Stripping anti-corruption agencies of their independence was a terrible – and unpopular – move. There are broader lessons for the president in this crisis
When Russian troops rolled across the border in 2022, it established a new contract between Ukrainians and their president. The existential need for unity was cemented by admiration for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s courage, and recognition of his ability to articulate the national mood and rally international support.
Ordinary politics were suspended. Critics who were already suspicious of his populist instincts and centralising tendencies did not want to aid Russia’s cause. They understood that wartime could require a different mode of leadership. This informal contract essentially held despite growing concerns about the concentration of power, the role of Mr Zelenskyy’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, and the departure of popular figures seen as potential rivals – notably the military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to London, and the foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.
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The world’s assets are piling up in the hands of the few as growth is built on widening gaps. That’s not just unfair – it’s economically unsustainable
This year’s global wealth report by the City bank UBS confirms what is self-evident but rarely confronted: while riches are accumulating, their distribution remains starkly unbalanced. In the 56 countries and economic areas surveyed, the report says global personal wealth grew 4.6% in 2024. However, not all boats have been lifted by this tide. The gap is growing between those who hold assets and those who don’t.
The figures are shocking: just 60m of the world’s adults – 1.6% of the population – have net personal wealth of $226tn, or 48.1% of all the world’s riches. At the other extreme, four in 10 adults – 1.57bn people – have only $2.7tn, or just 0.6% of all the world’s personal wealth. Economists now argue that inequality is no longer a by-product of growth but a condition of it.
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Men recently reunited with loved ones in their home country detail months of abuse at the facility
Venezuelan men who were deported by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process are speaking out about treatment they described as “hell” and like a “horror movie”, after arriving back home. A total of 252 Venezuelan nationals were repatriated in the last week in a deal between the US and Venezuelan governments, with many able to reunite with family after their ordeal in El Salvador.
Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday morning in western Venezuela after he had been away for a year.
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