A crane at a China-backed high-speed rail project in Thailand collapsed onto a passenger train on Wednesday and caused it to derail, killing at least 32 people, authorities said. The massive crane’s broken structure was left resting on giant concrete pillars, while smoke rose from the wreckage of the train below, footage from the scene verified by AFP showed. The company contracted to build the section of the high-speed rail where the crane fell, Italian-Thai Development — one of Thailand’s biggest construction firms — has seen a series of deadly accidents at its sites in recent years. The firm expressed condolences for those killed and the dozens injured, saying in a statement it would “take responsibility for compensating the victims’ families and covering medical expenses for those injured”. The Thai health ministry said 32 people were killed, three were missing and 64 were hospitalised, including seven in serious condition. Dozens of rescuers worked into the evening, using other cranes to remove wreckage ...
Onchain gold products added billions in new value last year, outpacing physical bullion and most gold ETFs as trading activity increasingly shifted to blockchain rails. Onchain gold products added billions in new value last year, growing faster than the overall gold market and most major spot gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as onchain trading activity accelerated. The market capitalization of tokenized gold jumped 177% over the past year, while the number of holders nearly tripled, with more than 115,000 new wallets added during the year, outpacing most other RWA categories, according to data compiled by Cex.io from public blockchain and market sources. The tokenized gold market added close to $2.8 billion in net value in 2025, expanding from about $1.6 billion to $4.4 billion, per the report. That increase alone represented almost 25% of total net inflows across the RWA sector, exceeding the combined growth seen in tokenized stocks, corporate bonds and non-US Treasurys. Read more
Danish badminton player and world number three Anders Antonsen has announced his withdrawal from the India Open due to “extreme pollution” in New Delhi. “Many is [sic] curious as to why I have pulled out of the India Open for the third consecutive year,” the 28-year-old said on his Instagram stories early on Wednesday morning. “Due to the extreme pollution in Delhi at the moment, I don‘t think it’s a place to host a badminton tournament. “Crossing my fingers that it will be better in the summer when the World Championships will take place in Delhi,” Antonsen, who was seeded sixth in the tournament, added. He added that the Badminton World Federation had “once again” fined him $5,000 as a result of his withdrawal from the tournament. In another Instagram story, Antonsen posted a screenshot of air quality monitor IQAir, which showed Delhi’s AQI at 348, falling in the “hazardous” category, at 3:30am local time. Delhi and its neighbouring districts are prone to a thick smog every winter as cold, heavy air traps c...