Residents are taking refuge in a temporary shelter in Buriram Province, following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers that have heightened tension along the Thai-Cambodian border. (Sarot Meksophawannakul/Thai News Pix/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least seven civilians have been killed and approximately 20 others have been injured in Cambodia amid renewed border clashes with neighboring Thailand, according to the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense.
This week’s Thai attacks, which stem from a long-running border dispute between the two Southeast Asian nations, have also forced more than 20,000 from their homes in several communities, the Cambodian ministry said, along with destroying infrastructure, damaging temples disrupting public services.
“In addition to these major impacts, further tragedies and damages continue to unfold, as the Thai military has launched various types of long-range munitions into Cambodian civilian settlements located up to 30 kilometers from the border,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at least one Thai soldier has been killed and 29 others have been injured in the reignited combat around contested frontier territory, according to the Royal Thai Army.
The army said in a statement that its troops were on Tuesday enduring “continuous attacks against our positions” by Cambodian forces. Opposing troops had been “firing BM-21 multiple-launch rockets and employing bomb-dropping drones and kamikaze drones targeting our bases and defensive positions across several battlefronts” near the border, the army said.
More than 125,000 people were using the hundreds of temporary shelters set up on the Thai side of the border, the army said.
Since Monday, the clashes have spread to several provinces along the Cambodia-Thailand border. Both sides accuse each other for starting the fighting.
The latest clashes come just months after both sides agreed to a ceasefire. The two Southeast Asian nations have long disputed territorial sovereignty along their land border of more than 500 miles, according to The Associated Press.
(NEW YORK) — ABC News Live’s original docuseries “Last Lands,” the Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning show, is returning for season 2, kicking off in Guatemala’s Petén region. “Last Lands” covers the two-day journey by ATV through the jungle of Guatemala in search of the ancient Mayan city, El Mirador.
Produced in partnership with ABC News Live and Global Conservation, the only international group focused solely on protecting endangered national parks and Indigenous territories in developing countries. The series takes viewers around the world, highlighting the urgent mission to protect our planet’s most threatened places.
Hosted by award-winning correspondent Bob Woodruff, “Last Lands” dives into the hidden stories of Guatemala’ s jungle. This is where the story of the Americas began in the remote area of El Mirador National Park, where the Mayan civilization thrived 2,000 years ago. Their existence ended with a mysterious collapse, leaving behind ruins of their cities in Guatemala’s northernmost corner.
The once-vibrant city stands tall within the forest today, having endured since before the time of Christ. The Mayans built a sprawling city with monuments and buildings up to 200 feet high, featuring ornate facades. They studied science and built roads to last 1,000 years, just as the Romans did.
It was sustained by a rich agricultural economy and connected by a network of causeways, all within 820 square miles located in the Mirador Basin. These cities were interconnected by the world’s first super-highway system, with these ruins being among the 51 pre-Hispanic Mayan cities created around 3,000 years ago.
There are three ways of getting there, either by chartering a helicopter, going on a three-day hike or taking a two-day trip by ATV, which is most preferred by the park rangers linked to the Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation.
Some of these rangers are part of the FUNDAECO Genesis Program — a team of six tasked with stopping poaching and illegal logging. Given cartel activity surrounding the park, these rangers are unarmed but wear bullet proof vests. Some choose to protect their identities.
“All of them are threatened,” program director Francisco Asturias told ABC News. “They are the ones who take people to jail.”
The threats are often from those who were stopped by the Genesis team for destroying the park, which can be anyone from hunters to cartel members. Pulga Garcia told ABC News he has received 500 death threats during his time as a ranger.
“But we always want to continue with the heart of a conservationist, because we were born here,” Garcia said. “To pass it on to my children and from my children, to their children. Because if we lose this jungle, we’re dead.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his press conference after the Summit of Collective Security Treaty Organization, on November 27, 2025 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
(KHARKIV, Ukraine and LONDON) — President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to Moscow on Monday to present a peace plan proposal to Russian President Vladimir Putin in what is expected to be a crucial test for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Witkoff is travelling to Putin a day after taking part in talks with a high-level Ukrainian delegation in Florida, aimed at trying to find a deal to end the war that Ukraine and Russia might accept. The Kremlin on Monday said a meeting between Witkoff and Putin was scheduled for Tuesday.
“The president will hold several closed-door meetings today in preparation for the Russian-American contacts,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
There is little expectation Putin will agree to a deal. The Russian leader has already signalled he will not compromise, last week making hardline remarks where he repeated his demands that Ukraine withdraw from territory he claims and saying it is “pointless” to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He suggested the Kremlin believes it is making sufficient progress on the battlefield and is content to wait until Kyiv concedes to its conditions.
Zelenskyy is expected to be in Paris today to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he’s expected to discuss the negotiations with the U.S. Zelenskyy and Europe appear to be signaling solidarity on a day when the U.S. and Putin are expected to dominate the airwaves.
“It will be a very substantive day,” Zelenskyy said on Monday morning. “Diplomacy, defense, energy — the priorities are clear.”
Zelenskyy on Sunday said his emissaries in Florida had reported back the “main parameters” of what had been discussed, along with “some preliminary results.” But the full details were still to be relayed, he said.
“I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday after taking part in the talks with Ukraine the next steps in the negotiations were “delicate,” adding that “it’s complicated, there are a lot of moving parts.”
There was “another party involved here that’ll have to be a part of the equation — and that’ll continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow, although we’ve also been in touch in varying degrees with the Russian side,” Rubio said.
“We have a pretty good understanding of their views as well,” Rubio said.
Officials from Ukraine and the United States both said the about 2-hour meeting at Shell Bay Golf Course in Hallandale Beach were productive, but neither side released details about what agreements were made and there is no indication a breakthrough was made on the most difficult issues that would allow an end to the war.
The meeting discussed a revised 19-point peace plan that was developed a week ago during another round of negotiations in Geneva between the U.S. and Ukraine. Those talks reworked an earlier 28-point plan that the Trump administration had presented and that had alarmed Kyiv and European allies as heavily favoring Russia.
Officials on Sunday did not release details about whether the proposal had again been updated.
A source familiar with the talks said they had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as including the fate of billions of dollars of Russian assets frozen by Western countries and possible elections in Ukraine. The issue of the frozen assets was a “key” one for the Russians, the source said.
On the crucial issue, though, of Russia’s demand that Ukraine surrender unoccupied territory in the Donbas region, there was no sign of progress. The source said Russia was still unwilling to discuss any form of ceasefire and Ukraine is not willing to cede territory.
Rubio said the talks had been “a very productive and useful session where additional progress was made.”
“I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important; it is about securing Ukraine’s future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it’s ever been,” he told reporters after emerging from the talks with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, who had been the lead negotiator from Kyiv.
“We worked — we already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we continued this success,” Umerov said, adding that there would be “later stages” to the talks.
Zelenskyy on Monday said initial reports from his team appeared to show that the meeting on Sunday had been “very constructive.”
“There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through,” he added.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
People gather during protest on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s been informed that the “killing” in Iran has stopped and the anticipated executions of arrested protesters won’t take place, as activists say thousands of people have died over more than two weeks of protests.
The information was coming from “very important sources on the other side,” Trump said while announcing the update during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“We’ve been told on good authority, and I hope it’s true. Who knows, right?” he added.
Asked by a reporter if this means that military action is now off the table against Iran, Trump responded, “We’re going to watch and see what the process is. But we were given a very good statement by people that are aware of what’s going on.”
More than 2,500 people have died during nationwide protests in Iran over the past 17 days, activists said Wednesday. Trump has expressed his support for demonstrators and hinted at potential American intervention against the government in Tehran over the killings.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had verified a total of 2,571 deaths — and is reviewing reports of 779 other deaths — since the protests began on Dec. 28.
The confirmed deaths include 2,403 adult protesters, 12 protesters under the age of 18, 147 government-affiliated personnel and nine non-protesting civilians, HRANA said.
Another 1,134 protesters have been seriously injured, HRANA said, with at least 18,137 people arrested.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The Iranian government has not provided any civilian death tolls related to the ongoing protests.
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, had suggested earlier Wednesday that there would be expedited trials and executions for those who have been arrested in the nationwide protests.
“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” Mohseni-Ejei said in a video shared online by Iranian state television, according to The Associated Press.
“If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect,” Mohseni-Ejei said.
Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday that he’s been told that the executions are not happening.
“It was supposed to be a lot of executions today, and the executions won’t take place,” Trump said.
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that some personnel had been advised to leave al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening due to increased tensions in the region. Reuters was the first to report the advisory.
In a statement posted to its official website, Qatar’s International Media Office acknowledged that some personnel were leaving al-Udeid. “Such measures are being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions,” the statement said.
As casualties from the protests mounted, Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump added.
When later pressed by a reporter during a visit to Michigan on Tuesday on what he meant by help is on its way, Trump responded, “You’re gonna have to figure that one out, I’m sorry.”
Trump said he thought it was “a good idea” for Americans to evacuate from Iran. The State Department on Tuesday said that all U.S. citizens should leave the country.
Trump said he hasn’t been given an accurate number of how many people have been killed so far in the protests, but said “one is a lot.”
“I think it’s a lot. It’s too many, whatever it is,” he said.
Later Tuesday, he told reporters that he will be receiving “accurate numbers” on how many protesters have been killed in Iran soon and “we’ll act accordingly.”
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran. The president and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested other options are also still under discussion.
One U.S. official told ABC News that among the options under consideration are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
Members of Trump’s national security team — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — met Tuesday morning to discuss Iran, according to Leavitt. Trump did not attend the meeting, nor was he scheduled to, she said.
Vice President JD Vance also led an Iran strategy meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the National Security Council principals committee, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting confirmed to ABC News.
Iranian officials have threatened retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in the event of any outside intervention.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial.
As the protests spread, they have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
Government forces have responded with a major security crackdown. A sustained national internet outage has also been in place across the country. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said on Wednesday that the blackout had surpassed 132 hours.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
On Wednesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted by state media telling a meeting with Economy Ministry officials that if economic conditions were improved, “we wouldn’t be witnessing their protests on the streets.”
Dissident figures abroad have urged Iranians to press the protests and topple the government in Tehran.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — who from his base in the U.S. has become a prominent critic of the Iranian government — on Monday appealed to Trump to act in support of the protesters.
On Tuesday, Pahlavi called on members of the Iranian military to join the protests. “You are the national military of Iran, not the military of the Islamic Republic,” he wrote on X.
“You have a duty to protect the lives of your compatriots,” Pahlavi added. “You do not have much time. Join them as soon as possible.”
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
