Thailand, Cambodia, sign new ceasefire agreement

Thailand, Cambodia, sign new ceasefire agreement

9News

Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement on Saturday to end weeks of fighting along their border over competing territorial claims.

The agreement took effect at noon (4pm Saturday AEDT) and calls for a halt in military movements and airspace violation for military purposes.

Only Thailand has carried out airstrikes, hitting sites in Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, according to the Cambodian Defence Ministry.

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The deal also calls for Thailand, after the ceasefire has held for 72 hours, to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.

Within hours of the signing, Thailand's Foreign Ministry protested to Cambodia that a Thai soldier sustained a permanent disability when he stepped on an anti-personnel land mine it charged had been laid by Cambodian forces.

Defence ministers met at the border to sign the agreement

The agreement was signed by the countries' defence ministers, Cambodia's Tea Seiha and Thailand's Nattaphon Narkphanit, at a border checkpoint. It followed three-day lower-level talks by military officials.

It declares that the sides are committed to an earlier ceasefire that ended five days of fighting in July and follow-up agreements.

The original July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalised in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

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Despite those deals, the countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued, escalating in early December to widespread heavy fighting.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the ceasefire announcement and urged Cambodia and Thailand to fully honour it and the terms of the peace accord reached earlier in Malaysia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the ceasefire "a positive step towards alleviating the suffering of civilians, ending current hostilities, and creating an environment conducive to achieving lasting peace," his spokesman said.

The UN chief expressed appreciation to Malaysia, China and the US for their efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The United Nations stands ready to support efforts aimed at sustaining peace and stability in the region."

Civilians bore the brunt of the fighting

Thailand has lost 26 soldiers and one civilian as a direct result of the combat since December 7, according to officials. Thailand has also reported 44 civilian deaths.

Cambodia hasn't issued an official figure on military casualties, but says that 30 civilians have been killed and 90 injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated on both sides of the border.

"Today's ceasefire also paves the way for the displaced people who are living in the border areas to be able to return to their homes, work in the fields, and even allow their children to be able to return to schools and resume their studies," Cambodia's Defence Minister Tea Seiha told reporters after the signing.

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Each side blamed the other for initiating the fighting and claimed to be acting in self-defence.

The agreement also calls on both sides to adhere to international agreements against deploying land mines, a major concern of Thailand.

Thai soldiers along the border have been wounded in at least 10 incidents this year by what Thailand says were newly planted Cambodian mines. Cambodia says the mines were left over from decades of civil war that ended in the late 1990s.

Following the latest injury on Saturday, Thailand's Foreign Ministry noted that the new agreement "includes key provisions on joint humanitarian demining operations to ensure the safety of military personnel and civilians in the border areas as soon as possible."

Another clause says the two sides "agree to refrain from disseminating false information or fake news."

The agreement calls for a resumption of previous measures to demarcate the border. The sides also agreed to cooperate in suppressing transnational crimes. That's primarily a reference to online scams perpetrated by organised crime that have bilked victims around the world of billions of dollars each year. Cambodia is a centre for such criminal enterprises.

Malaysia's leader hails the agreement

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was instrumental in putting together the original ceasefire, said the new agreement "reflects a shared recognition that restraint is required, above all in the interest of civilians."

Many clauses similar to those in Saturday's agreement were included in October's ceasefire document, and were open to various interpretations and generally honoured only in part. These included provisions concerning land mines and the Cambodian prisoners.

The fragility of the new agreement was underlined by Thailand's Defence Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri in a news briefing after Saturday's signing. He said that the safe return of civilians to their homes would indicate the situation had stabilised enough to allow the repatriation of the captured Cambodian soldiers.

"However if the ceasefire does not materialize, this would indicate a lack of sincerity on the Cambodian side to create sure peace," he said.

"Therefore, the 72- hour ceasefire beginning today is not an act of trust nor unconditional acceptance but a time frame to tangibly prove whether Cambodia can truly cease the use of weapons, provocations and threats in the area."

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Alleged drink driver crashes into fire hydrant in Melbourne

Alleged drink driver crashes into fire hydrant in Melbourne

9News

A woman accused of driving at over three times the legal alcohol limit has allegedly crashed into a fire hydrant and a fence in Melbourne overnight.

Police were called to the scene on Faulkner Street in Blackburn South at about 1.10am.

The driver, a 44-year-old woman, underwent a breath test and allegedly returned a reading of .178.

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The legal limit is 0.05.

Her licence was suspended and she is expected to be charged on summons with drink driving offences.

The woman was not physically injured in the crash.

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Trump says violence in Nigeria targets Christians. The reality is more nuanced

Trump says violence in Nigeria targets Christians. The reality is more nuanced

9News

After months of warning that the US could take military action to stop violence against Christians in Nigeria, President Donald Trump announced on Christmas Day that he had done just that – delivering a strike on Islamic State terrorists in the country's north-west.

US Africa Command said it conducted the strikes in Sokoto state, which borders Niger to the north, "in coordination with Nigerian authorities." AFRICOM's initial assessment is that "multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps," according to a news release.

Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris said on Friday that the strikes were carried out in the Bauni forest of the Tangaza area against two major ISIS enclaves, and that the targeted elements were "successfully" neutralised.

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Trump later told Politico that the strike had originally been planned for December 24, but he delayed it a day to "give a Christmas present" to the terrorists. "They didn't think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated," he told Politico.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told CNN on Friday that he had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to the strike and that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu gave the "go ahead."

Details are still emerging about the strike, which came after Trump threatened to suspend aid to Nigeria over violence against Christians, even calling on his secretary of defense to "prepare for possible action" against Africa's most populous nation in November.

But the reality on the ground is more nuanced than Trump's characterisation suggests, experts and analysts have told CNN this year.

Both Christians and Muslims – the two main religious groups in the country of more than 230 million people – have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists.

In the wake of the strike, Yuggar said Nigeria's focus is "to fight against terrorism, to stop the terrorists from killing innocent Nigerians, be (they) Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever religion."

Here's what you need to know.

Years of violence

Nigeria has grappled for years with deep-rooted security problems driven by various factors, including religiously motivated attacks.

The country has roughly equal numbers of Christians – predominantly in the south – and Muslims, who are mainly concentrated in the north.

Sokoto state, in Nigeria's north-western corner, is bordered to the north by Niger, and is home to four million people – the majority of whom are Muslim.

The violence in the country's north-west is mainly driven by criminal bandit groups, analysts say, but growing links with Islamic State-affiliated jihadists have created a hybrid crime-terrorism threat.

"The region where the strike has actually taken place is dominated by criminal bandits, who have been tormenting rural villages and towns with some form of ISWAP (a Boko Haram breakaway group known as the Islamic State in West Africa Province) presence in that region, but not really specifically in Sokoto," Oluwole Ojewale, a Dakar-based African security analyst told CNN yesterday.

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In 2012, the Islamist group Boko Haram issued an ultimatum, ordering Christians in the northern region to leave while calling on Muslims in the south to "come back" to the north. Most targeted killings in recent years have been in the north.

Security analysts said Lakurawa, a lesser-known group prominent in northwestern states, could have been the target of Thursday's strikes. Lakurawa – an offshoot of Boko Haram – has become increasingly deadly this year, often targeting remote communities and security forces, and hiding in the forests between states.

In January, Nigeria's authorities declared the group a terrorist organisation and banned its activities nationwide.

Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-aligned jihadist group that also splintered from Boko Haram, operates in the country's north-west and north-central regions and is known for its kidnappings, attacks on civilians and cooperation with transnational jihadist actors.

Observers say other violent conflicts arise from communal and ethnic tensions, as well as disputes between farmers and herders over limited access to land and water.

Nigeria has not named a specific organisation that was targeted on Thursday.

The US strike could "disrupt ISIS operations in the short term, but the long-term issues that surround violence in Nigeria are extremely complex," said CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, pointing to the economic factors at play.

"The way most of these strikes work is that they need to be part of a larger campaign, and what we're not seeing here is that larger campaign."

Has the long-running violence killed Christians?

Yes – though that's only part of the picture.

John Joseph Hayab, a pastor who leads the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the country's northern region, agrees with Trump's claim of "systematic killings of Christians" in that area.

The scale of the killings has reduced in the last two years, he said.

However, this year has seen a spate of high-profile attacks in predominantly Christian pockets of the north, which has drawn international attention and condemnation.

In April, gunmen believed to be Muslim herders killed at least 40 people in a mostly Christian farming village.

Two months later, more than 100 people were massacred in Yelwata, a largely Christian community in the southeastern state of Benue, according to Amnesty International.

The killings have been seized upon among parts of the Christian evangelical right in the US.

In August, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill calling for sanctions against Nigeria for purported violations of religious freedom.

What about Muslim victims?

Muslims have also been victims of targeted attacks by Islamist groups seeking to impose their extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

At least 50 worshippers were killed in August when gunmen attacked a mosque in the north-western state of Katsina, and many similarly brutal attacks have been carried out in Muslim communities by Boko Haram and other armed groups in the north.

"Yes, these (extremist) groups have sadly killed many Christians.

However, they have also massacred tens of thousands of Muslims," said Bulama Bukarti, a Nigerian human rights advocate specializing in security and development.

He added that attacks in public spaces disproportionately harm Muslims, as these radical groups operate in predominantly Muslim states.

What little data exists also does not support Trump's claims that Christians are being disproportionately targeted.

Out of more than 20,400 civilians killed in attacks between January 2020 and September 2025, 317 deaths were from attacks targeting Christians while 417 were from attacks targeting Muslims, according to crisis monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.

The organisation did not include the religious affiliation of the vast majority of the civilians killed.

Oyewale said that Trump's "binary framing of the issue as attacks targeting Christians does not resonate with the reality on the ground."

Nigeria is already divided along political and religious lines, Oyewale said, who added that the US president's rhetoric "goes a long way to actually open the fault lines of division that already exist in the country."

What have authorities said?

In November, Trump designated Nigeria a "Country of Particular Concern" under the US International Religious Freedom Act – which suggests his administration has found that Nigeria has engaged in or tolerated "systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom."

But the Nigerian government rejected claims that it was not doing enough to protect Christians from violence. At the time, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said that "the characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality."

However, several experts and analysts told CNN they believed the government needed to better protect all citizens – as people are being impacted by mass killings regardless of their religion or background.

Encapsulating the voices of other prominent politicians and leaders across Nigeria on Friday, former Senator Shehu Sani said on X: "The narrative that the evil terrorists only target one faith remains absolutely false and misleading," before adding: "The ultimate security and peace in our country lies with ourselves and not with the US or any foreign power."

Tinubu has not yet publicly commented on Thursday's strike, but earlier in the day, had shared a Christmas message on social media.

"I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence," he wrote.

Man charged after allegedly hitting another man with a hammer in road rage

Man charged after allegedly hitting another man with a hammer in road rage

9News

Police have charged a man after he allegedly assaulted another driver with a hammer in a road rage incident in Melbourne's south-west.

The incident happened after two cars allegedly collided on McGrath Road in Wyndham Vale at about 8.45pm yesterday.

A fight broke out before one of the men allegedly hit the other with a hammer.

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The 53-year-old victim got back into his vehicle and drove to Chapman Drive before later being taken to hospital with serious injuries to his upper body.

The other driver, a 36-year-old man, ran from the scene but was later charged.

The Werribee man was charged with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault and assault with a weapon.

He was bailed to appear at court on April 2.

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Wild weather to batter parts of Queensland as storm clean-up continues

Wild weather to batter parts of Queensland as storm clean-up continues

9News

Thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and flash flooding are threatening to hamper New Year's celebrations across northern Queensland, as residents on the Gold Coast continue the clean-up following a ferocious Christmas Day storm.

Monsoonal rain and flooding is expected to lash northern Queensland in the coming days, with several hundred millimetres of rain expected, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

Much of the top of the country is under flood watch, from eastern parts of the NT, through to western, northern and even eastern Queensland, which could spark riverine flooding, the BoM said.

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"[Heavy rain is] expected to move in across the area later this weekend and early next week. That's going to bring widespread, heavy, even locally intense rainfall to the area, BoM meteorologist Felim Haniffy said.

"[We] could see daily falls of 100 to 200mm."

North-west Queensland and the North Tropical Coast is set to receive more than 300mm of rain in the next five to seven days.

The wet conditions are also likely to spread to Cairns and Bowen over the weekend.

The fierce weather system is being driven by a monsoon trough spread across the north of the state, as well as other low-pressure troughs in the west and east parts Queensland.

The troughs are expected to mingle with significant moisture across the tropics and drive widespread showers and thunderstorms through northern Australia.

Thunderstorms may also bring flash flooding in certain areas, with residents across northern parts of Queensland and the NT warned to be on high alert.

New Years revellers are warned to be aware of the possibility of road closures, wet and muddy conditions and the potential for remote communities in western Queensland to be cut off due to the storms.

Holidayer hit by flying bin during Christmas Day storms

Meanwhile, a holidayer was hit with a flying bin as heavy storms lashed the Gold Coast on Christmas Day.

Triple M Radio host Margaux Parker and her husband, Brisbane Broncos legend Corey Parker, were holidaying at Broadwater Tourist Park when the fierce storm hit, forcing them to scramble to secure their belongings.

"It was wild, we've never experienced anything like that and we definitely have seen some storms down there on the Gold Coast before at this time," Mrs Parker said.

"We've definitely seen our fair share of storms. We've had hail and we've had the cyclone a couple of years ago that came through in 2023, but nothing quite like this.

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"It was different. It was a lot shorter, but definitely sharper. It came in with a punch and it definitely left a lot of destruction in its path."

A freak "microburst" turned the holiday into a disaster zone yesterday, with 90km/h winds toppling a 30-tonne crane above the campsite, forcing hundreds to evacuate.

"Unfortunately, our caravan just happens to be in the exclusion zone because that crane that has folded in half is sort of posing a little bit of a danger to the caravaners below it," Mrs Parker said.

"There are gazebos that don't belong in the front yards of certain caravans, there are boats off their trailers, there are trailers with boats that have made their way down the street.

"So it's a little bit of a shamozzle and it doesn't look very pretty at the moment, but as soon as we're able to be into that exclusion zone, we can start to assess the damage and do a bit of a clean up."

Strong winds continue to hamper efforts to dismantle the crane, with fears it could take days to remove.

"The whole crane is actually leaning now towards the north, which puts the whole northern section of the caravan park in danger," Queensland Police Acting Inspector Peter Venz said.

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Man charged for allegedly performing Nazi salutes in public

Man charged for allegedly performing Nazi salutes in public

9News

A Canberra man has been charged with allegedly performing Nazi salutes in public, as well as trespassing and defacing Commonwealth property.

The 18-year-old allegedly performed two separate Nazi salutes directed towards people at a suburban shopping centre in Canberra over recent months.

"Anyone allegedly performing Nazi salutes is displaying criminal behaviour that brings pain and anguish to the Jewish community and divides Australian society," AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said.

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The Weston man allegedly trespassed at the Australian National University on multiple occasions in August and September and stuck propaganda-style stickers on buildings and other property

It will be alleged that the man performed a Nazi salute towards an individual who confronted him while he was placing stickers at a shopping centre in October.

He allegedly performed a Nazi salute on December 12 at a separate shopping centre.

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A search warrant was later executed on his property on Wednesday.

Police seized multiple items, including mobile phones, a computer, stickers, storage devices, a video camera and clothing.

The man was charged with two counts of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols or giving Nazi salute, two counts of damaging Commonwealth property and two counts of offensive or disorderly behaviour on Commonwealth premises.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism & Special Investigations Stephen Nutt said the acts will not be tolerated by the AFP.

"The AFP established the National Security Investigations team in September to target groups and individuals causing high harm to Australia's social cohesion, including attempts to vilify marginalised communities.

"Antisemitism is a cancer that requires swift and direct action, which is what the AFP is continuing to do. Along with our law enforcement partners, we are committed to stopping hate, division and violence in the community."

The 18-year-old will face court today.

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Turkey detains dozens of IS suspects planning attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations

Turkey detains dozens of IS suspects planning attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations

9News

Istanbul police launched scores of simultaneous raids on Thursday, detaining over a hundred suspected members of the militant Islamic State group who were allegedly planning attacks against Christmas and New Year's celebrations, authorities said.

A statement from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said police were tipped off that the extremist group had called for action — particularly against non-Muslims — during the celebrations.

The office had issued warrants for 137 suspects, of whom 115 were detained. Officers also seized many firearms, cartridges and documents during the raids. It said 124 locations were raided.

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The arrests come days after the Trump administration launched widespread military strikes in neighbouring Syria to "eliminate" Islamic State fighters and weapons' sites in retaliation for an ambush blamed on the group that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter.

Syrian security forces have also launched operations against IS in recent days, including two raids on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital. In those raids, Syrian officials said Taha al-Zoubi, identified as the IS leader in the Damascus area, was captured and Mohammed Shahadeh, a senior IS commander in Syria, was killed.

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Top Turkish officials visited Syria earlier this week to discuss counterterrorism efforts against IS, among other issues.

At its peak in 2015, IS controlled a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria half the size of the United Kingdom. It was notorious for its brutality against religious minorities as well as Muslims who do not follow the militants' extreme interpretation of Islam.

After years of fighting, the US-led coalition broke the group's last hold on territory in late 2019, but IS cells in multiple countries continue to carry out periodic attacks.

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Car with Hanukkah sign firebombed on Christmas morning

Car with Hanukkah sign firebombed on Christmas morning

9News

A car displaying a Happy Chanukkah sign was firebombed in the early hours of Christmas morning in an inner Melbourne suburb, police say.

Emergency services were called to a home on Balaclava Drive in St Kilda East just before 3am after a car displaying the mobile billboard had caught fire.

The sign at the top of the billboard referenced Chanukkah, also known as Hanukkah, which is the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, Victoria Police said.

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It runs from December 14 to December 22.

No one was in the car though the residents of the house were evacuated as a precaution.

"Police have identified a person who may be able to assist with their investigation," a statement from Victoria Police said.

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Community Security Group (CSG), a group combating antisemitism, confirmed the attack.

"CSG has already been operating at a heightened level with increased patrols, and will continue to do so," it said.

Just over a week ago a terror attack killed 15 people at a Hanukkah festival at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Anyone with any dashcam vision, CCTV footage or information should contact Crime Stoppers.

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Government raises threat level to popular tourist destination

Government raises threat level to popular tourist destination

9News

Australia has raised the threat level for travellers to Cambodia as the country's conflict with Thailand intensifies.

The Smart Traveller website now urges a high degree of caution throughout the South-East Asian country, and warns Australians to reconsider the need to travel within several provinces, including the tourist hotspot Siem Reap.

Cambodia has been embroiled in an armed conflict with its neighbour since late July over border disputes that have their roots back to the early 1900s.

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A ceasefire was brokered in October, but fighting resumed earlier this month, with US President Donald Trump trying to broker a peace between the two countries.

With no end in sight, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs has now issued new warnings to travellers ahead of the peak travel season over the Christmas and New Year period.

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"We now advise exercise a high degree of caution overall due to ongoing conflict and its security risks," the update on Smart Traveller said.

"The security situation remains unpredictable."

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Travel should be avoided completely in areas within 50 kilometres of the Cambodia-Thailand border in the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Battambang, Pailin, Pursat and Koh Kong.

It also said Australians should reconsider their need to travel within 50-80 kilometres of the border, including in the larger cities of Battambang and the province of Siem Reap, where the world-famous Angkor Wat temple site is located.

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Siem Reap is also the second-largest city in the country.

"Military strikes and violence, and the presence of landmines and unexploded ordinance," are threats facing travellers in these locations, according to Smart Traveller.

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Teen suspect in stepsister's cruise ship death says he doesn't remember anything

Teen suspect in stepsister's cruise ship death says he doesn't remember anything

9News

A 16-year-old boy being investigated in the death of his stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship last month has no recollection about what happened, according to text message exchanges between his parents filed in a custody court case in Florida.

The boy's mother told her ex-husband that the teenager kept repeating that he didn't remember anything when asked, according to court documents obtained this week by local media in central Florida.

Anna Kepner’s death was ruled a homicide, drawing international attention and sparking intense speculation on social media.

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Kepner’s cause of death was “mechanical asphyxia,” according to a copy of her death certificate obtained by ABC News, which said the 18-year-old “was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).”

Mechanical asphyxia is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.

A high school cheerleader from Florida’s Space Coast who was set to graduate next year, Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship with her father, grandparents, stepmother and her stepmother’s two children, including the 16-year-old boy.

Kepner’s death aboard the ship that sailed from Miami has remained shrouded in mystery with the FBI and medical examiner’s office in South Florida refusing to disclose any information about the case for weeks.

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The teen’s 16-year-old stepbrother has been identified as a suspect in her death, according to court documents filed by his divorced parents over custody of their youngest child in Brevard County, along Florida's Space Coast.

The disclosures offer the clearest public indication that federal investigators are scrutinising a member of the victim’s own blended family.

An attorney for the 16-year-old's mother, Shauntel Hudson, who was Kepner's stepmother, didn't respond to an emailed inquiry on Wednesday, and neither did an attorney for the boy's father, Thomas Hudson.

Their youngest child currently lives with Shauntel Hudson, and Thomas Hudson has accused his ex-wife of violating time-sharing agreements. The 16-year-old boy was sent to live with a relative of Shauntel Hudson after returning from the cruise.

In the most recent court documents, the ex-spouses discussed via text the news of Kepner’s death going viral on social media and how to protect their 16-year-old son from public scrutiny. Thomas Hudson also said he wanted his son to know that he was loved despite what had happened.

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