New Thailand-Cambodia border fighting shows no sign of stopping

SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating Wednesday, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters.

Associated Press reporters on the Thai side of the border heard outgoing fire.

The fighting triggered by longstanding territorial disputes followed a skirmish Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of combat in July.

Trump said he expects to speak by phone with the two leaders on Thursday, and expressed confidence that he would persuade the two sides, once again, to stop the fighting.

“I think I can get them to stop fighting. Who else can do that?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters, in which he also repeated his exaggerated claim of settling eight wars around the globe since his return to the White House. “Every once in a while, one will flame up again and I have to put out that little flame.”

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed to continue to fight, and Cambodia’s powerful Senate President Hun Sen promised a fierce response.

Over a dozen people have been killed in the latest fighting. And about 400,000 people have been evacuated while fighting continues in four border provinces, Thai military spokesperson Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said.

Cambodia has evacuated more than 127,000 villagers, its defense ministry said.

Thailand’s military said casualties include five soldiers killed and dozens wounded. Cambodia said nine civilians died, including a baby, and 46 others were wounded.

In another sign of tensions, Cambodia withdrew its team from the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, which began Tuesday in Thailand. Wednesday's announcement from the National Olympic committee of Cambodia said it regretted the action, but competitors' families were concerned about safety.

The previous ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed.

Trump late Tuesday said he would use his sway to end the renewed fighting.

“Tomorrow I’ll have to make a phone call,” Trump said.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters Wednesday that Washington had not contacted Thailand concerning a new ceasefire. He did not seem to rule out negotiations with Cambodia, but said he would not do so simply at the request of Trump, to whom he first wants to explain Thailand's position.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier called on the two sides to live up to commitments made at an October meeting in Malaysia that reaffirmed the July ceasefire and called for removing heavy weapons from the border, coordinating the removal of land mines and other steps.

The ceasefire was fragile. Both nations carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued. Cambodia was unhappy that Thailand had not returned 18 soldiers it had captured when the ceasefire came into effect, and Thailand is angry that its soldiers patrolling the frontier have been wounded by land mines it alleges have been newly laid by Cambodia.

Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles).

The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said that as of 3 p.m., Cambodian forces had fired 79 BM-21 salvos with 3,160 rockets, used artillery 122 times and employed bomb-dropping drones in 63 attacks on Wednesday. It said a hospital in Surin province was evacuated after rockets hit about 500 meters (yards) away.

The Thai army also said it destroyed a crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.

The army also announced a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in four districts of the eastern province of Sa Kaeo under a martial law order already in effect.

In a gymnasium in the northeastern Thai city of Surin, around 550 people were waiting out the combat.

Thidarat Homhual, a 37-year-old farmer, said her mind is on the family's cows, ducks, four dogs and nine cats left to fend for themselves.

“We are behind the front line. We can live like this. It’s OK,” she said. “But I want it to be over.”

Sopheng Cheang in Srei Snam, Cambodia, Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.

An evacuated elderly woman sits in a tent as she takes refuge in Batthkoa primary school in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, after fleeing home following a fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Thai residents who fled homes following the clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, rest at an evacuation center in Surin province, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai residents who fled homes following the clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, rest at an evacuation center in Surin province, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai residents who fled homes following the clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, head to a shelter in Surin province, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

An wounded Thai soldier is carried to be transferred to a hospital, in Surin province, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

An wounded Thai soldier is carried to be transferred to a hospital, in Surin province, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters. The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.

Jon Favreau arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The character Grogu arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)