Cambodian residents living near the Cambodian-Thai border have been forced to flee their homes as clashes between the two Southeastern Asian countries intensified, less than two months after they signed a joint peace declaration.
Renewed violent clashes erupted again along the border of the two countries last Sunday afternoon, with both sides accusing each other of firing first. The fighting has triggered resident evacuation from both sides, with many displaced families calling for an end to the violence.
Em Urn, a Cambodian villager who fled the fighting, said he escaped with nothing after an explosion struck near his home.
"I was at home, running an electric wire to pump the water, when I heard a loud explosion. My hands couldn’t grip anything anymore. I arrived here with nothing. I just wanted to save my life by fleeing across the Thai border. It was incredibly hard and far. I'm terrified of the bombs dropping on us. I heard explosions the whole way here," said Em Urn.
Another displaced resident, Sear Sot, said she left her village after a bomb landed nearby.
"I can't stay there any longer. I live close to the border. A bomb dropped close to my village. I'm scared because I have children -- six children. They are still young. It's very difficult. I don't have any money. I borrowed my neighbor's gas. I do want the war to end soon because my living condition has worsened. I was scared when the war broke out, [and] my family members were separated. We won't be able to find each other," said Sear Sot.
More than 400,000 Thai residents across seven provinces have been evacuated due to the clashes, Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri said on Wednesday.
Cambodian Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra said at least 16,568 Cambodian families with 54,550 people have fled their homes near the border for safe shelters.
Border clash forces Cambodian residents to flee as fighting with Thailand intensifies
Shanghai has opened up more roads to conduct autonomous driving tests as part of the city's latest efforts to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across key industries and public services, officials said on Sunday.
With the latest additions, Shanghai now boasts more than 3,170 roads for unmanned driving tests to be conducted, with a total length exceeding 5,200 kilometers, covering about one-third of the city's urban areas, authorities announced at the "Artificial Intelligence + Transportation" Shanghai Release 2025 event held Sunday.
So far, over 900 vehicles developed by 40 companies in Shanghai have obtained licenses to complete road tests, application demonstrations, and autonomous driving operations, with the total combined test mileage exceeding 32 million kilometers and the overall test duration exceeding 1.78 million hours.
Sunday's event also saw the launch of the nation's first service platform for open access and application management of traffic signal data across a megacity. The platform provides real-time data collection from more than 7,600 intersections, helping strengthen research and development which will boost mass production of advanced autonomous driving technologies.
Several major initiatives were also unveiled at the gathering, including the first group of demonstration scenarios innovatively integrating AI with the transportation sector.
Among the pioneering projects is a brand new AI pilot base built by the Shentong Metro Group – the operator of trains on Shanghai's underground system.
This will see the development of China's first multimodal body of data collected across the urban rail transit system, which will independently train vertical large language models and conduct comprehensive and efficient checks for procedures such as signal systems and intelligent security checks before they are officially launched.
"The base will enable test, verification and optimization of systems prior to their formal operation. In the past, our approach was to conduct a review after the initial development was completed and then deploy it for operation. This made it impossible to anticipate problems that would arise," said Wang Shenghua, deputy director of the chief engineer's office under the Shentong Metro Group.
Industry insiders say that these efforts to deepen the application of AI in the transportation sector highlight how this emerging technology is being further integrated across more industries and playing a more prominent role in people's everyday lives.
"Today, [AI] has been specifically integrated with various scenarios, truly and closely connecting with the government's administration, the operation of companies, and the everyday experiences of people in their daily lives," said Zhong Junhao, secretary general of the Shanghai AI Industry Association.
Shanghai promotes AI-powered transportation with more roads opened for autonomous driving tests
