Cambodia-Thailand fighting. The countries’ military forces traded artillery fire along their border for the second day today. It is their worst fighting in more than a decade and has prompted tens of thousands of people to flee. Though China, Myanmar, and the United States have offered to help mediate, a spokesperson for Thailand’s foreign ministry said today that Bangkok currently favors direct talks with Phnom Penh.
Zelenskyy’s shift on corruption. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy endorsed a new bill that he said would increase the independence of anti-corruption groups yesterday. His previous support of a law to bring them under executive control prompted the country’s biggest protest since the Russian invasion and criticism from international bodies like the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The shift came after a phone call with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
U.S. sanctions relaxation in Myanmar. The United States lifted financial sanctions on multiple allies of Myanmar’s ruling generals after the junta leader wrote Trump a praiseful letter. That letter was in response to a Trump tariff threat that—perhaps inadvertently—constituted rare U.S. direct acknowledgement of the junta’s authority. The Biden administration had sanctioned junta members.
Chevron in Venezuela. The Trump administration reissued a license for Chevron to produce and export oil from Venezuela, unnamed sources told multiple news outlets. Washington had cancelled the license around four months ago, saying the move was due to President Nicolás Maduro’s undemocratic election and Caracas’s initial reluctance to accept U.S. deportees. An unnamed State Department official told journalists that Maduro’s government was still illegitimate but that Washington would help U.S. companies.
Australia-UK defense talks. The countries will sign a fifty-year treaty committing to cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines, senior officials said after bilateral defense talks today in Sydney. Australia’s defense minister said the treaty would “underpin the development of AUKUS,” a trilateral military partnership with the United States that the Trump administration is currently reviewing.
Legal relief for Philippine VP. The country’s top court threw out an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, saying it ran counter to a constitutional ban on multiple impeachment trials in a single year. She is widely expected to launch a 2028 presidential run, which would have been barred by an impeachment conviction.
Russia plane crash probed. Russian authorities are investigating yesterday’s crash of a passenger plane in far eastern Russia. All forty-eight people on board died. The plane was built in 1976. Western sanctions on Russia have made it more difficult for it to access airplane parts, and its air safety record has worsened since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
ICC ruling on Central African Republic. The International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday found two men found guilty of leading Christian-dominated militia attacks on Muslims in the country in 2013 and 2014. It sentenced them to up to fifteen years in prison; they had pleaded not guilty. The court has been investigating attacks in the country since 2014.
