Michael Sullivan

Sam Greenglass, NPR News, Washington.

Prime Minister Anitin Chonvirakun's Bumjai Thai Party fared far better than pre-election polls suggested, with preliminary results showing it winning nearly 200 seats in the 500-seat parliament, far ahead of the second-place Progressive People's Party.

Analysts said Bumjaitai rode a wave of nationalist fervor following its performance leading the government in the recent border war with Cambodia.

The People's Party's performance was a sharp drop-off from the 2023 election, when its previous incarnation won the most seats but was denied the right to lead by conservative elements in the Senate and the courts.

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai.

The former Minister of Public Security had been party chief since mid-2024, after the death of then-General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and had been the chief enforcer of the massive anti-corruption campaign that began under the former chief.

The economic reforms Tho Lam's enacted since 2024 have helped spur Vietnam's rapid economic growth, and he's promised even more, even as he appears to be trying to add the role of president to his portfolio.

The dual role would be broadly similar to that of China's Xi Jinping in the one-party state, where power has traditionally been split between the party general secretary and the president, prime minister, and head of the National Assembly.

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Thai officials say the train was carrying nearly 200 people when the accident occurred in Nakhon Ratchasima province as the train traveled from the capital, Bangkok, to Ubon Ratchathani.

The crane was being used to build a high-speed rail line above the existing one when it fell onto the moving train.

causing it to derail and catch fire.

Images shared by the authorities show overturned carriages and firefighters extinguishing the blaze shortly after the incident.

It's not yet clear how the accident occurred.

Thailand's transport minister has ordered an investigation.

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh amid widespread reports of killing, rape, and arson, with entire villages being burned to the ground.

A UN fact-finding mission concluded the Myanmar military's actions had included genocidal acts.

The predominantly Muslim West African country of Gambia filed a formal case against Myanmar at the court in 2019, where Myanmar's then de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the court the facts presented by Gambia were incomplete and misleading.

Suu Kyi remains in prison in Myanmar following the military's 2021 coup.