World, in brief

Two high-speed trains collided near Urda, in Spain's Toledo province, just before 9am on Wednesday. [1] At least 68 people were killed, the leader of the Castilla-La Mancha region said. [2] It is Europe's deadliest train crash since 2013, when 80 died at Santiago de Compostela. [3]

A train run by Renfe, Spain's state rail company, hit the back of a stopped train. [1] The stopped train belonged to Iryo, a private, Italian-owned company that began running in 2022. [3] Both trains were going from Madrid towards Seville on the same high-speed line. [4] Renfe's train carried 397 passengers and Iryo's carried 147, the regional government said. [3]

At about 8:30am a computer fault shut down LZB, the line's automatic safety system. [5] LZB stops a train automatically when the track ahead of it is taken. [1] About 6 trains stopped on 63km of track, said Oscar Puente, Spain's transport minister. [5] Control of the trains then passed to a command centre in Madrid run by Adif. [1][6] Adif is the state company that runs and maintains Spain's rail tracks. [6] At 8:36 the centre told the Renfe train to carry on, despite a red signal. [5] When the system fails, the rules say trains must go slowly enough to stop by sight. [5] The Renfe train ran about 25km in 17 minutes and hit the Iryo train at 8:53. [5] Puente said the train may have reached 200km an hour on that stretch. [5]

Spanish media published audio of the control centre talking to the drivers before the crash. [7] In one clip an operator tells the Renfe driver to carry on 'at normal speed'. [7] The driver asks to be sure, and the operator answers: 'Yes.' [7] Minutes later the Iryo driver told the centre she was stopped at Urda's entry signal. [7] So the centre knew the Iryo train was standing there, DW's reading of the audio suggests. [7] No order to stop or slow the Renfe train appears to have followed. [7][8]

Puente called the centre's decision to restart traffic 'inexplicable' and 'clearly' wrong. [1] He said the train drivers were not to blame. [9] The Guardia Civil, Spain's national police force, questioned the control centre operator on duty. [8][4] CSIF, a civil servants' union, said Puente was 'using a worker as a scapegoat'. [4] The union said Puente had dodged blame for the computer fault that started it. [4] Puente would not answer questions about whether he will resign. [6]

Another 107 people needed hospital care, 15 of them in a serious condition, officials said. [1] Later, 56 had gone home, and 53 were still in hospital. [6] Relatives had reported 64 people missing by Thursday morning, the Guardia Civil said. [1] Police opened offices in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville to take DNA from relatives. [1] 'We still can't say with certainty that there are no more victims,' said a regional spokeswoman. [1] People from Urda drove survivors away in their own cars and brought food and blankets. [2][9]

In January, 46 died at Adamuz on the same line, in Renfe and Iryo trains again. [1] There, an Iryo train came off the rails and hit an oncoming Renfe train. [6] A police report in February pointed to a fault in the track or a weld. [3] Before this year, Spain's high-speed network had no deadly crash since it opened in 1992. [6] Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called two crashes in a year 'unacceptable for a country like Spain'. [1] Sanchez promised the 'utmost severity' if negligence or failed safety systems caused it. [1]

Spain spent about 1.5 billion euros a year on high-speed lines from 2018 to 2022. [3] That was more than any other European country, but most went on building new lines. [3] Only about 16% went on maintenance, repairs and upgrades, European Commission figures show. [3] Italy, Germany and France spent between 33% and 39% of their budgets on maintenance. [9] Spain's rail accidents rose from 45 in 2016 to 69 in 2025, its safety agency says. [3] High-speed passengers fell 14% in the first half of 2026, to about 25 million. [3] A union spokesman said rival private trains had added traffic without matching upkeep of the lines. [3]

Spain holds a general election on 29 November, and both main parties paused campaigning. [7][4] Vox, the far-right party, kept up its rallies. [4] About 1,500 people protested outside Spain's transport ministry, and police fired tear gas. [6] Alberto Nunez Feijoo's People's Party, which leads the polls, demanded an independent review of the network. [9][10] Train drivers went ahead with a strike they had planned before the crash, over safety spending. [1]

Why it matters. Renfe has stopped selling tickets on the Madrid to Andalusia line until 13 December. [3] Spain's Rail Accident Investigation Commission and the courts are now looking for the cause. [11] The investigation is expected to focus on the 17 minutes before the crash. [4]

With 89.8% of ballots counted, Netanyahu's camp had 53 of the 120 seats in parliament. [23] The camp of Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, had 48 seats. [23] Two Arab-led parties were set for a record 19 seats, beating their best of 15. [23] A government needs 61 seats, so neither camp can govern on its own. [23] Eisenkot refuses to govern with the Arab parties, though his ally Yair Golan wants them in. [23][24] Avigdor Lieberman, whose party is set for 7 seats, ignores the opposition's calls, Israeli TV said. [25]

Why it matters. President Isaac Herzog will pick who tries first to form a government next week. [26]

Netanyahu's Likud party claimed, without evidence, that Arab-led parties had 'stolen' the election. [17] It asked the police and the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, to investigate. [17] The elections committee's chairman asked the Shin Bet to look into claims of foreign funding. [27][17] His letter gave no details, and the committee wants findings within a week. [17] Results must be certified by 4 November under Israeli law. [17] Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, said Arab party leaders must be questioned 'today'. [17] The elections committee has said few problems were reported in the vote. [26]

Why it matters. Arab citizens are about a fifth of Israel's people. [28] Israeli broadcasters said turnout among them may have reached 80%. [29] Crime drove many to vote: 186 people have been killed in Arab communities this year. [30] Golan accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the result by targeting Arab voters. [17]

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said 3 tankers hit sea mines in Hormuz in 24 hours. [14] The Guards said the ships caught fire while using an 'unauthorized' route. [14] Separately, UKMTO, a British navy agency, reported a ship on fire off Khasab in Oman. [14] The burning ship was 9 nautical miles north of Khasab, and its crew is unaccounted for. [14] Iran has tried to control the strait since the US and Israel attacked it in February. [14] Iran also said it shot down another US drone near the strait. [14]

Why it matters. About a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments pass through the strait. [31] Attacks on ships there are the most since the war began, a US think tank says. [14]

US Vice President JD Vance wrote to a senior Iranian official, the Wall Street Journal said. [32] The letter went to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. [32] The Journal said Trump ordered it, to restart peace talks. [32] Trump said no, and that it was about getting medical supplies to Iran. [32][33] Oman's foreign minister proposed a security pact joining Gulf states with Iran, Iraq and Yemen. [34] A Gulf security plan without Iran is 'inherently unstable', Badr Al Busaidi said. [34] Iran's president told Putin in Moscow the region can solve its problems without the US. [35]

Why it matters. The US has warned Gulf states it may strike Iran after its 3 November elections. [36]

Russia said it downed most of 613 drones flying towards Moscow overnight into Thursday. [37] Moscow's mayor said 231 were destroyed as they neared the city. [37] The rest were stopped further away, he said. [37] In September, Russia reported shooting down more than 1,600 drones in one record attack. [37] Russia hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-biggest city, damaging an education building, its mayor said. [37]

Why it matters. The attack came as Ukraine, Russia and the US plan talks in Abu Dhabi next month. [38]

Zelensky warned a planned US, Russia and China summit could share out the world between them. [38] 'We really don't want this to turn into Yalta 2, 3, 4,' he said. [38] At Yalta in 1945, the winning powers of the Second World War redrew the world map. [38] Putin proposed the three-way meeting, at an Asia-Pacific summit next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. [38] Trump said on Wednesday a Putin-Zelensky meeting would be set up 'very soon'. [39] Putin has consistently refused to meet Zelensky face to face. [39]

Why it matters. Ukraine wants its own talks with the US and Russia in Abu Dhabi to come first. [38] The war, begun by Russia's invasion in February 2022, is in its fifth year. [39]

A US-brokered ceasefire around Oleshky, a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine, held on Wednesday. [40] Across the Dnipro river in Kherson, residents walked out. [40] Russian drones and shells have hit Kherson almost daily since Ukraine retook it in November 2022. [40] 'If it stays this way, it would be really wonderful,' a kiosk owner said. [40] The six-day ceasefire is meant to get food and medicine into Oleshky. [40] About 2,000 people still live there, and every road in was mined. [41] Mine clearing on the road in began on the truce's first morning, a rescue group said. [41]

Why it matters. The Save Ukraine Foundation says it rescued at least 300 people from Oleshky in six months. [41]

North Korea fired about 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea said. [42] They were launched at about 12:30pm from near Wonsan, on the North's east coast. [42][43] It came days after Kim Jong Un, North Korea's leader, visited China, its main ally. [44] Tension has grown since a landmine wounded three South Korean soldiers on 21 September. [42] A joint South Korean and UN inquiry found North Korea planted the mines, which it denies. [42][44] Last week the North said it would restart loudspeaker propaganda along the border. [44]

Why it matters. South Korea had proposed talks on the border row less than a week earlier. [42][45] North Korea has tested missiles more than 10 times this year. [46]

Putin told African leaders in Moscow on Wednesday that Russia is their best partner. [20] Delegations from 48 countries came, including 22 African leaders. [20] At the first summit in 2019, 43 African leaders came, and in 2023 only 17 did. [22] Putin accused the West of using debt to hold back Africa's growth. [20][47] Russia's most important African partner is Egypt, with trade of 10.5 billion dollars in 2025. [48] 'We do not want to be consigned to exporting our raw materials,' said Burundi's president. [49]

Why it matters. Russia's Africa Corps has replaced Wagner's mercenaries in the Sahel, the dry belt below the Sahara. [22] A journalists' group counted 502 Africans killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine by June. [22]

Ethiopia has received 12 Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said. [21] He announced it at the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow and called it a 'milestone'. [21] Ethiopia also plans to buy 4 S-400 air defence systems from Russia, he said. [21] Abiy said Ethiopia is the first country south of the Sahara with this kind of weapon. [21] Fighting has grown in Tigray, Ethiopia's northern region on the border with Eritrea. [21] An analyst told BBC Amharic the jets suggest Ethiopia is preparing for wars with other countries. [21]

Why it matters. With air defences, the jets could protect cities and the Renaissance Dam, the analyst said. [21]

The US put sanctions on Rwanda's defence ministry on Wednesday over the war in eastern Congo. [50] The US Treasury says Rwanda sent thousands of troops to fight beside M23, a rebel group. [51][50] M23 took Goma and Bukavu, two of eastern Congo's main cities, in January 2025. [51] The US says minerals from rebel-held mines pass into Rwanda, which exports more than it produces. [51] The US also hit Zigama, a Rwandan savings society it says helps fund the support. [52] Rwanda's government denies backing M23. [51]

Why it matters. Congo and Rwanda signed a US-brokered peace deal in December 2025, but the fighting goes on. [51] Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi had asked the world for sanctions on Rwanda days before. [51]

Hong Kong's leader, John Lee, apologised on Thursday for a fire that killed 168 last November. [53] The blaze tore through 7 towers at Wang Fuk Court, a housing estate in Tai Po. [54] The buildings were being repaired under a contract worth more than 38 million dollars. [54] An independent committee found the housing bureau's checking unit failed to oversee the work. [53] Lee said the buildings, fire and labour departments also fell short. [53] Housing Secretary Winnie Ho resigned on Wednesday, though no wrongdoing by her was found. [54]

Why it matters. Separately, 7 people and 2 companies are charged with crimes including manslaughter. [54] Prosecutors say they hid the past court record of the firm that won the repair contract. [54] A three-month inquiry into officials' conduct comes next. [53]