Construction crane collapses on passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32, officials say
A view of the scene after a crane being used to build a high-speed rail bridge collapsed onto a passenger train killing at least 12 injuring 30 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on January 14, 2026 (Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least 32 people were killed on Wednesday as a construction crane for a high-speed rail bridge collapsed onto a moving passenger train in Thailand, government officials said.
At least 64 others were injured, the Thai Ministry of Public Health said in a statement. Thirty-one of those who were killed were pronounced dead at the scene, the ministry said, adding that another person died as they were being transferred to a hospital.
The crane crashed onto the train at about 9 a.m. as the train traveled between the Nong Nam Khun and Sikhiu stations, in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, according to the Office of the Prime Minister.
“Train derailed and caught fire. 30+ passengers injured, many trapped in carriages,” the government said in an initial statement posted on social media. “Multiple rescue teams deployed.”
The train, which had departed from Bangkok, was carrying 195 passengers and staff members, according to the State Railway of Thailand.
“These figures are currently being verified and officially confirmed by the relevant agencies on the ground,” the minister said in Thai in a statement posted to social media.
The health ministry raised that figure again, saying several hours later that at least 22 people had been killed. The ministry in a subsequent update at about 4:30 p.m. said the toll had again climbed, hitting 31. The ministry said two hours later that the death toll at the scene had risen by one, adding that three people were also considered missing.
The bodies of the dead were transferred to Sikhiu Hospital, the ministry said, adding that many of the injured were being treated at several local hospitals. Eleven were still hospitalized as of the 4:30 p.m. update, the ministry said.
The train was listed as the Special Express Train No. 21, which connects Bangkok, the capital, with Ubon Ratchithani, a city in the northeast, according to the railway.
(LONDON) — An American fighter jet appears to have been shot down by Iran, according to three U.S. officials. Search and rescue operations are currently underway, the officials said.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla bid farewell to President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu as they depart from Windsor Castle, March 19, 2026 in Windsor, England. (Aaron Chown/Wpa Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — King Charles and Queen Camilla will make an official state visit to the U.S. this spring, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday.
The British royals are embarking on the trip to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence and were invited by President Donald Trump, according to the palace.
In a social media post, Trump said the royal visit will take place April 27-30. It will include a banquet dinner at the White House on Tuesday, April 28, he noted.
After visiting the U.S., Charles will also visit Bermuda, a British overseas territory, making his first visit to the island as monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II made the last state visit to the U.S. in May 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
Charles and Camilla‘s visit comes during a tense period amid the ongoing U.K. police inquiry into the Jeffrey Epstein files and the Iran war.
It is unclear if Charles will visit with his second son, Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and their two children.
A huge banner displayed in Revolution Square depicts a missile attack on board a US Carrier painted in US flag colors in the Persian Gulf on January 26, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Iranian military forces are prepared to “immediately” retaliate against any U.S. attack, Tehran’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday, as more American military assets arrived in the region and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a new attack on the country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post to X on Wednesday that Iran’s “brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea.”
“Valuable lessons learned” during the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S. in June “have enabled us to respond even more strongly, rapidly and profoundly,” Araghchi wrote.
“At the same time, Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” the foreign minister added.
“Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he wrote.
Araghchi issued the warning after Trump touted what he called a “massive armada” heading toward Iran, which he said was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”
Trump urged Iran to make “a fair and equitable deal” regarding its nuclear program, key facilities and personnel of which were among the targets attacked by Israel and the U.S. in June.
“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!,” Trump said a social media post.
Trump referred to the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last summer. “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” Trump added.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three destroyers, arrived in the Middle East earlier this week, bolstering the U.S. military presence in the region.
The carrier is carrying a complement of strike aircraft, while the accompanying destroyers are armed with Tomahawk missiles.
The naval buildup adds some 5,000 American troops to the region, swelling an already robust American military footprint spread across multiple bases across the Middle East, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
In total, more than 30,000 U.S. troops are deployed across the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the first U.S. aircraft carrier to operate in the region since last summer.
Araghchi on Wednesday denied any request for new talks Tehran and Washington, D.C., though said Iran was in touch with “various intermediaries.”
“Our position is clear. Negotiations cannot take place under threats, and any talks must be conducted in conditions where threats and excessive demands are set aside,” Araghchi said.
The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Thursday that Iran is “ready for sincere and genuine negotiations with America,” as quoted by the state-aligned Tasnim News Agency. Ghalibaf warned that though Trump “may be able to start a war,” he cannot foresee how it will end.
Trump’s latest threats focused on Iran’s nuclear program, which — alongside Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its use of regional proxy forces — has been a key and longstanding concern for the U.S., Israel and their regional partners.
Trump’s Wednesday social media post did not mention Tehran’s bloody suppression of nationwide anti-government protests over the past month. The demonstrations began in late December in response to the collapsing value of the national currency — the rial — before morphing into a wider anti-regime movement which drew backing from dissidents abroad and Western governments.
Trump lent his support to protesters in mid-January, urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” He added, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
The president then appeared to back off the prospect of imminent U.S. strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had informed him that the killing of protesters and executions of those arrested had stopped.
The major security crackdown appears to have suppressed the massed demonstrations. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) — which relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting and has been accurate during previous unrest — said Wednesday that at least 6,373 people had been killed in the protests.
The dead included 5,993 protesters, 113 people under the age of 18, 214 government-affiliated personnel and 53 non-protesting civilians, HRANA said. The organization said it is still reviewing 17,091 reports of other deaths.
A total of 42,486 people have been arrested in the demonstrations since they began on Dec. 28, including 11,018 injured protesters with serious wounds, according to HRANA.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. regional buildup represents a “baseline” for defense.
“We have to have enough force and power in the region just on a baseline to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region,” Rubio said.
Rubio also said that it was an “open question” and “no one knows” who would fill a leadership void in Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was removed from power.
Rubio asserted that protests across Iran due to a free-falling economy show “that [the] regime is probably weaker than it has ever been.”
If the regime were to fall, he said the U.S. could “hope” for a “transition” like the one it is attempting to facilitate in Venezuela.
But Rubio added that he “would imagine it would be far more complex … because you’re talking about a regime that’s been in place for a very long time.”
