BANGKOK, July 25 – Clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops took place along their border for a second day early on Friday, with Cambodia using heavy weapons including artillery and rockets, Thailand’s military said.
“Cambodian forces have conducted sustained bombardment utilising heavy weapons, field artillery, and BM-21 rocket systems,” it said in a statement.
“Thai forces have responded with appropriate supporting fire in accordance with the tactical situation.”
REUTERS
HANOI, July 25 – At least nine people, including children, were killed in central Vietnam when a bus crashed early on Friday, the government said.
The accident, which took place at 1:45 a.m. in the central province of Ha Tinh, left another 16 injured, the government said in a statement.
Traffic accidents are common in Vietnam, with road crashes killing 5,024 people in the first half of this year, down from 5,343 in the same period of 2024, according to data from the government’s National Statistics Office.
The government report said the bus was en route from the capital Hanoi to Danang when it veered off the road and hit traffic signposts before rolling over.
All of the injured have been hospitalised with multiple injuries, the government said, adding that the dead are aged between 4 and 49.
REUTERS
ISTANBUL – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) announced Thursday that it has lost contact with the “Handala,” a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza as part of the group’s mission to break Israel’s blockade.
According to a statement posted on the coalition’s official Telegram channel, the group said: “All communications with the ‘Handala’s crew have been jammed.”
“We lost all contact with our crew, and there are multiple drones near the vessel,” it said. “Which means that they could have been intercepted or attacked.”
No further details were available regarding the ship’s precise location, the status of its crew, or confirmation of an Israeli intervention.
ANADOLU, 24.7.2025
DAMASCUS, July 24 – A powerful explosion rocked the area around Maarrat Misrin in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, including a woman and a child, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The blast, which occurred in an area east of al-Foua and near the town of Sirin, is believed to have originated from a weapons depot, the observatory reported. Explosions continued later in the day as additional ammunition detonated, further complicating rescue efforts.
The Syrian health authorities, quoted by state news agency SANA, reported earlier that seven people were killed and 157 injured in a non-final toll. Many of the wounded are in critical condition. Hospitals across Idlib launched urgent appeals for blood donations, and civil defense teams engaged in retrieving bodies from the rubble.
The observatory noted that the toll could rise, and there were reports of additional casualties. The explosion has caused widespread panic, especially in surrounding displacement camps that house families from across Syria.
Eyewitnesses reported massive secondary blasts, heavy fires, and dense black smoke engulfing the area. Civilian homes, vehicles, and nearby infrastructure sustained damage. Ambulance and civil defense crews rushed to the scene as security forces cordoned off the area, and emergency alerts were issued.
Residents also reported the presence of unidentified aircraft in the sky at the time of the incident, although there has been no official confirmation of any airstrike or foreign involvement.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. As of Thursday evening, no group has claimed responsibility, and Syrian interim authorities have not released a conclusive statement on the nature of the blast.
XINHUA
July 24 – Hulk Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and loudly supported Donald Trump for president, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment said on Thursday.
“WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s,” WWE said in a statement.
Police in Clearwater, Florida, said authorities had responded to a medical call for a cardiac arrest at Hogan’s residence on Thursday morning. Hogan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, they said.
The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars.
A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan hoisted fellow wrestler André the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the Frenchman.
Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like “Rocky III” and “Santa With Muscles,” but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow.
In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.
“Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!” Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top. “Let Trumpamania rule again!”
BECOMING ‘HULK’
Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug. 11, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.
Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling.
His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan’s leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and – he later admitted – anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the “24-inch pythons.”
The “Hulk” moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time. He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. “Hogan” was the invention of promoter Vincent J. McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars.
His appearance as wrestler Thunderlips in “Rocky III,” where he dwarfed leading man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now controlled by McMahon’s son Vincent K., he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to claim the world championship, a belt he would hold for four years.
Hogan became a household name, appearing on the cover of magazine Sports Illustrated and performing alongside pop culture stars like Mr. T. The WWF came to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view events.
FACING ‘THE ROCK’
Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking on a persona as the villainous “Hollywood” Hogan, the head of a gang of rulebreakers known as the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his career.
Hogan eventually returned to the WWF, now known as WWE, and faced Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002.
“I’m in better shape than him,” Hogan told Reuters at the time, five months shy of his 50th birthday. “I’ll stand next to The Rock and pose down with him if he wants to.” The Rock ultimately won the match.
Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Hall of Fame, and referred to himself as the “Babe Ruth” of wrestling – after the New York Yankees’ famed baseball player.
But Hogan’s support of Trump in 2024 did not go down well with all wrestling fans, and he also faced other controversies.
Gossip website Gawker was shuttered after it posted parts of a sex tape between him and a friend’s wife and Hogan sued on privacy grounds, winning a $140 million judgment.
In 2015, he was suspended by the WWE after another surreptitious recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur. He was reinstated in 2018.
He was married three times and had two children, who starred alongside him and first wife Linda in a 2005-2007 reality TV show, “Hogan Knows Best.”
REUTERS
KHARKIV, Ukraine, July 24 – Two people were killed in a Russian strike on eastern Ukraine on Thursday and at least 33 were wounded when Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighbourhood in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said.
The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office in eastern Ukraine said the two deaths were in the city of Kostiantynivka, where 12 people were also wounded.
In Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a 10-year-old child and a month-old infant were among those hurt when Ukraine’s second-largest city was hit by two glide bombs – air-launched munitions fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation to extend their range and precision.
“These are utterly senseless strikes with no military purpose whatsoever,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Thick black smoke billowed above the northern district of Kharkiv where a local business and an apartment bloc were damaged. Stunned residents fled, with some clutching children and flames engulfing parked cars.
“I looked around and everything was smashed,” said Yevhen Hanushchak, holding a crate with his cat outside a damaged apartment building. “Tons of smoke, people running and screaming, grabbing their things.”
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities since talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in its nearly 3-1/2 year-old-war in Ukraine stalled this year.
Glide bombs have been particularly devastating in areas closer to the battlefield. The regional prosecutors said Thursday’s attack was launched nearly 100 km (62 miles) away.
REUTERS
Residents leave the site of a Russian air strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine July 24, 2025. REUTERS
BEIJING, July 24 – Six university students drowned on Wednesday while on a field visit to a copper molybdenum mine in northern China owned by Shanghai-listed Zhongjin Gold Corp, according to a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
The students from Northeastern University in Shenyang fell into a flotation cell – a piece of mining equipment that uses a liquid solution to extract copper from crushed ore – after protective grates collapsed.
A teacher was also hurt in the accident at the mine located in China’s Inner Mongolia region, according to the filing from Zhongjin Gold, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Gold Group Co.
The company said it activated an emergency plan and reported the incident to the relevant departments of the local government.
The operator of the mine, a subsidiary of Zhongjin Gold, halted production, the company said in another stock exchange filing later on Thursday.
Shares of Zhongjin Gold closed down 4.4% on Thursday.
Such field visits have been organised for years and the incident was unexpected, said a teacher from Northeastern University, according to a social media account belonging to Henan Radio and Television.
The university sent staff to the site to manage the incident, the teacher said.
REUTERS
NICOSIA, Cyprus – Police in Cyprus found two bodies inside a burned-out car Thursday after a massive wildfire scorched 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) of forested hillsides, destroyed numerous homes and forced the evacuation of a dozen villages on the southern side of the island nation’s Troodos mountain range.
Police initially reported late Wednesday that Civil Defense personnel found the charred body of a single individual inside the vehicle on a main road connecting fire-hit hillside villages. But a second body was discovered early Thursday morning and police said identification efforts are ongoing.
Photos posted on social media purported to show the victims’ gutted vehicle on the shoulder of the main Monagri-Alassa road.
Fire Service Spokesman Andreas Kettis told state-run Cyprus News Agency there are currently no active fronts but fire crews were still battling numerous flare-ups, and winds are expected to pick up later in the day. Up to 14 aircraft are resuming water drops over hard-to-reach areas.
AP
DUBAI, July 24 – An explosion rocked the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Thursday, state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported, and an unspecified number of people were killed or injured, the local emergency operations department said.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known, the TV report said.
REUTERS
HANOI, July 24 – Heavy rains triggered by tropical storm Wipha have caused severe flooding in the central Vietnamese province of Nghe An, killing at least three people and leaving one more missing.
With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that often cause deadly floods and mudslides. Wipha is the first major storm to hit the country this year.
Wipha made landfall in Vietnam on Tuesday, after battering Hong Kong and China and worsening monsoon rains and flooding in the Philippines.
One of the victims was buried by a landslide while another was washed away by a strong current, reported the Kinh Te Moi Truong newspaper, citing information from the People’s Committee of Nghe An.
More than 3,700 houses in the province have been inundated by flood waters, and another 459 were damaged by strong winds, according to the report.
Photos on state media show homes in villages in the province submerged to the roofs.
“Our rice, our clothing and our money are all gone,” Dang Thi Ngoc, a local flood victim, told state broadcaster VTV. “We have nothing left except for our bare hands.”
Flood waters have also damaged 1,600 hectares of rice plantations and 1,290 hectares of cash crops in the province, the report said.
The government’s weather forecast agency said heavy rains reaching up to 250 millimetres are expected on Thursday and Friday and could last until Saturday in several parts of northern Vietnam, potentially causing more flooding.
REUTERS