World news

World news

The train was travelling from Bangkok to Thailand's northeast when it derailed after a construction crane fell on to it. At least 22 people have been killed after a construction crane fell on a passenger train in northeast Thailand. The accident took place on Wednesday morning in the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230km (143 miles) northeast of Bangkok. The train was headed from the Thai capital to Ubon Ratchathani province.

Five decades in the south Jordan valley were ending in a day, and Mahmoud Eshaq struggled to hold back his tears. The 55-year-old had not cried since he was a boy, but as he dismantled the family home and prepared to flee the village where his whole life had played out, he was overwhelmed by grief. While Eshaq's children loaded mattresses, a fridge, sacks of flour and suitcases of clothes into a truck,

This annual survey of more than 1,300 global leaders and experts shows a fascinating divide in perceptions of short-term and longer-term risks. Most are anxious about physical conflict in the short term, ranking 'geoeconomic confrontation' as the most pressing global risk over the next two years. Misinformation and disinformation came second, with societal polarization coming third. Collectively, economic risks showed the largest jump, with more concerns about an economic downturn, inflation and an asset bubble burst

China recorded strong exports in 2025 with a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus, as producers shifted their focus to markets other than the US amid Trump's tariffs. Customs data showed that Beijing's global surplus rose 20% from the previous year, which saw a $992 billion surplus. Exports in 2025 stood at $3.7 trillion and imports at $2.58 trillion, government data showed on Wednesday. The record surplus was aided by a 6.6% bump in exports in the month of December when compared to December 2024,

Every evening around 8pm, Faisal Khan locks himself inside his small hostel room at East West Medical College in Nishat Nagar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. If there is a knock on the door, he pauses before opening it, listening carefully first for familiar voices. Outside the campus, he avoids crowded tea stalls and markets. He does not speak Bangla fluently, and he knows that his accent could give him away as an Indian an identity he desperately wants to mask these days,

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has conveyed to a governing party executive her intention to dissolve parliament's lower house next week, according to the Kyodo news agency, less than three months into her tenure. Citing a source, Kyodo reported on Tuesday that Takaichi plans to declare the dissolution of parliament at the beginning of the regular session of the Diet on January 23.

Spent bullet shell casings litter the classrooms and corridors of Qassem Amin school in Aleppo's Ashrafieh neighbourhood. Desks barricade the stairwells; glass from shattered windows crunches underfoot. The school's playground turned into a battleground last week, as it sat on the front line of fierce fighting between fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian government forces. list of 3 itemsend of list SDF snipers had commandeered the top floor of the school five months earlier, while classes continued below, school staff explained.

The SDF denies the Syrian Ministry of Defence's accusations that it had deployed military forces to the Deir Hafer front in the eastern Aleppo countryside. The Syrian army has sent reinforcements to rural eastern Aleppo, after observing the arrival of more Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces in the area, following days of deadly battles inside the city itself and the departure of the SDF. The official news agency SANA broadcast footage on Monday of Syrian army troops heading towards the deployment line east of Aleppo.

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday said they were seeking the death sentencefor former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to declare martial law in December 2024. The special counsel team, assembled in the wake of Yoon's impeachment in April, described the former president as the ringleader of an insurrection, citing his efforts to seize control of the judiciary and legislature during the abortive martial law attempt. The entire episode lasted six hours.