Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly €260m ($275m; £230m). The trains could not fit into non-standard tunnels in the northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria. The head of Spain’s rail operator Renfe, Isaías Táboas, and the Secretary of State for Transport, Isabel Pardo de Vera, have now left their roles.  The design fault was made public earlier this month.  The Spanish government says the mistake was spotted early enough to avoid financial loss. However the region of Cantabria has demanded compensation.  Renfe ordered the trains in 2020 but the following year manufacturer CAF realised that the dimensions it had been given for the trains were inaccurate and stopped construction.  The rail network in northern Spain was built in the 19th Century and has tunnels under the mountainous landscape that do not match standard modern tunnel dimensions. (BBC)…[+]

Rescuers are once again searching for people trapped under rubble in Turkey after another earthquake hit the country, killing at least six people. A 6.4 magnitude tremor struck near the city of Antakya near the border with Syria, where massive quakes devastated both countries on 6 February. The earlier quakes killed 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria with tens of thousands more left homeless. Buildings weakened by those tremors collapsed in both countries on Monday. Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency says the 6.4 earthquake occurred at 20:04 local time (17:04 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles). This was followed by a 5.8 aftershock three minutes later and 31 subsequent aftershocks that were not as severe.(BBC)…[+]

The discovery of two charred bodies in a burnt vehicle in India’s Haryana state has led to anger and questions over police handling of the case. Police say the bodies belonged to two Muslim men from neighbouring Rajasthan state who had been reported missing. Their relatives say they were killed by right-wing Hindus who reports say accused them of cow-smuggling. Leaders of the Bajrang Dal group have denied the claims as have police, who say they’re investigating the killings. Police in Haryana said last week they began investigating after locals found the vehicle and its two bodies in the village of Barwas in the state’s Bhiwani district.

A vast trove of Cambodia’s Angkorian crown jewellery, some dating back to the 7th Century, resurfaced in London last summer, it has been revealed. The stolen items belonged to British antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford. Experts say they have never seen most of the jewellery before and are stunned by its existence. The collection has been secretly returned to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, and is due to go on display there in the country’s national museum. Latchford died in 2020 while awaiting trial in the US. His family promised to return his stolen collection to Cambodia after he died, but the authorities did not know what exactly would be handed over or how it would happen. Brad Gordon, the head of Cambodia’s investigative team, became the first representative of the nation to see the jewellery when he visited London last summer. He told the BBC: “I was driven by a representative of the Latchford family to an undisclosed location. In the parking lot was a vehicle with four boxes inside. “I felt like crying. I just thought – wow – the crown jewels of ancient Cambodian civilization packed into four boxes in the back of a car.”(BBC)…[+]

The US will back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes” President Joe Biden said as he made an unannounced and symbolic visit to the capital, Kyiv. “We have every confidence you’re going to continue to prevail,” he said. Mr Biden’s first trip to Ukraine as president came days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion. He said President Putin had been “dead wrong” to think Russia could outlast Ukraine and its Western allies. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the pair visited a memorial to soldiers who have died in the nine years since Russia annexed Crimea and its proxy forces captured parts of the eastern Donbas region. Mr Biden’s presence was intended to reaffirm America’s “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”, according to a White House statement. The New York Times reported that he took a 10-hour train journey from Poland to reach Kyiv. He left Ukraine on Monday to travel to Poland.(BBC)…[+]

US President Joe Biden called on Republicans to help “finish the job” of delivering for hard-working families in his annual State of the Union address. The Democrat stressed the importance of finding consensus as he addressed a divided Congress, where the lower chamber now has a Republican majority. But a series of interruptions and heckles showed the uphill task it will be to find co-operation. In their speech, Republicans accused the president of “woke fantasies”. Mr Biden’s words were received by a packed chamber and high-profile guests – including U2’s Bono – as well as Supreme Court justices. Over the president’s shoulder at the rostrum in the House of Representatives was one of his most vocal critics, the Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Mr Biden extended an olive branch to the opposition party, which took over the lower chamber last month with vows to investigate the president’s family and Cabinet. “To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” said the president. “We’ve been sent here to finish the job!” he added.(BBC)…[+]

There are strong indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to supply the missile that downed flight MH17 in 2014, international investigators say. The aircraft was hit by a Russian-made missile over Ukraine, killing nearly 300 people. Prosecutors said there was evidence that Mr Putin decided to provide the missile to Moscow-backed separatists. There is no suggestion that Mr Putin ordered the aircraft be shot down. Russia denies all involvement in the downing of the plane. The prosecutors said on Wednesday that they had exhausted all leads and could not continue with any more criminal proceedings. The Boeing 777 was flying from the Dutch capital to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile in July 2014 during a conflict between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Of the 298 passengers and crew, 196 were Dutch while many of the other passengers came from Malaysia, Australia, the UK, Belgium and other countries.(BBC)…[+]

New Zealand’s navy has intercepted a floating haul of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean in what the country says is its largest drug bust ever. The stash – weighing total 3.2 tonnes (3,200kg) and worth NZ$500m (£263m; $316m) – was found drifting hundreds of kilometres northwest of New Zealand. Police believed it was destined for Australia, where it would have been enough to serve that market for a year. The packages were strung up with buoys and some labelled with a Batman symbol.Pictures released by New Zealand police and defence officials also showed cocaine packets labelled with a black four-leaf clover symbol. These were the “trademark logos” for the drug producers, believed to be in South America, said New Zealand officials. “This is the largest find of illicit drugs by New Zealand agencies, by some margin,” said New Zealand’s police commissioner Andrew Coster on Wednesday. “It is more than New Zealand would use in 30 years,” he added.(BBC)…[+]

A candidate for mayor in Ecuador, who was murdered just hours before polls opened, has won the election in the city of Puerto López. Omar Menéndez, 41, was shot dead by gunmen who burst into the room where he was with campaign workers on Saturday. A teenager was also killed in the attack. Police are still investigating the possible motive behind it. A member of Mr Menéndez’s party is expected to replace the murdered politician as mayor. The municipal elections were held during an escalating crime wave linked to the growing influence of violent drug gangs in the Andean country.

Mr Menéndez was not the only politician to be killed in the run-up to the election. Two weeks earlier, the candidate for mayor of the coastal town of Salinas, Julio César Farachio, was also shot dead. Police have arrested a suspect in Farachio’s murder who had previously threatened the 45-year-old candidate. The suspect had recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for drug trafficking, local media reported. No arrests have been made so far in the fatal shooting of Omar Menéndez, whose assailants fled on a motorbike.(BBC)…[+]

A baby girl has been rescued by authorities after she fell down a deep well in northern Thailand. The 19-month-old child fell down the 13m (42ft) deep shaft while playing on Monday afternoon in Tak province, near the Myanmar border. Authorities launched an overnight rescue operation after the girl’s parents – who had been working in a nearby field – raised the alarm. She was taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries, officials said. “She has signs of fatigue but still has good vital signs,” local police chief Ratsaran Ketsoising told AFP.

Panic was sparked after the baby girl – who is said to be the daughter of two Myanmarese migrants – fell through a 30cm (12in) wide gap at the top of the well. The baby’s parents said they had taken her to work with them at a tapioca farm in the Khiri Rat sub-district. They said they had left her under a tree while they worked. But they raised the alarm after they were unable to find the child during their break and heard cries coming from the nearby well.(BBC)…[+]