Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, minimal progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and China’s record-breaking trade surplus.

Thailand launched deadly airstrikes on Cambodia on Monday, upending a tenuous U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal signed less than two months ago. With both countries accusing each other of instigating the latest round of fighting, regional leaders warn that the decades-long border dispute between the two countries could trigger widespread instability, particularly as fighting displaces tens of thousands of civilians on both sides.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, minimal progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and China’s record-breaking trade surplus.

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Thailand launched deadly airstrikes on Cambodia on Monday, upending a tenuous U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal signed less than two months ago. With both countries accusing each other of instigating the latest round of fighting, regional leaders warn that the decades-long border dispute between the two countries could trigger widespread instability, particularly as fighting displaces tens of thousands of civilians on both sides.

The Thai-Cambodia conflict dates back to a 1907 map drawn up when Cambodia was under French colonial rule. According to the map (and a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling), Cambodia has sovereignty over an area of land along the two countries’ border that includes the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple. Thailand, however, disputes this claim, arguing that the map is inaccurate.

In recent years, the two nations’ animosity has manifested in few direct altercations, with 2011 being the last time that a major incident turned deadly. But that changed in July, when fighting erupted across Thailand and Cambodia’s shared 500-mile land border, killing dozens of soldiers and civilians over the course of five days.

U.S. President Donald Trump flexed his self-proclaimed peacemaker-in-chief credentials to negotiate a cease-fire deal throughout the summer and fall. But within weeks of signing a comprehensive agreement in late October, Thailand announced that it would be indefinitely suspending the agreement, citing injuries to Thai troops from nearby land mines; under the truce deal, Thailand and Cambodia are required to work together to remove land mines from the area.

On Sunday, the cease-fire was further strained when the Thai army accused Cambodia of killing at least one........

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