THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Emergency crews cut through the mangled remains of a passenger train on Thursday, progressing “centimeter by centimeter” in their search for the dead from a head-on collision in northern Greece that killed at least 46 people. Rail workers went on strike to protest years of underfunding they say has left the country’s train system in a dangerous state.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian officials accused Ukrainian saboteurs of crossing into western Russia and attacking local villages Thursday, an accusation that Ukraine denied, warning that Moscow could use the claims to justify stepping up its own assaults in the ongoing war. The exact circumstances of the incident reported in the Bryansk region were unclear, including what the strategic purpose of such an attack might be.

TEMPE, Greece (AP) — A head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train flattened carriages, killed at least 36 people and injured some 85, Greek officials said Wednesday, with the death toll expected to rise. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but the stationmaster in the nearby city of Larissa was arrested Wednesday. The police did not release his name. Another two people have been detained for questioning.

BAGHDAD (AP) — An international archeological mission has uncovered the remnants of what is believed to be a 5,000-year-old restaurant or tavern in the ancient city of Lagash in southern Iraq. The discovery of the ancient dining hall — complete with a rudimentary refrigeration system, hundreds of roughly made clay bowls and the fossilized remains of an overcooked fish — announced in late January by a University of Pennsylvania-led team, generated some buzz beyond Iraq’s borders.

BEIJING (AP) — For the second day in a row, China on Wednesday dismissed U.S. suggestions that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been triggered by a virus that leaked from a Chinese laboratory. Responding to comments by FBI Director Christopher Wray, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the involvement of the U.S. intelligence community was evidence enough of the “politicization of origin tracing.” “By rehashing the lab-leak theory, the U.S. will not succeed in discrediting China, and instead, it will only hurt its own credibility,” Mao said.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — After a hotly contested election, Bola Tinubu on Wednesday was proclaimed the winner of Nigeria's presidential election, clinching the most votes in the West African nation's closest race in recent memory. While his party will stay in power for at least another four years, he faces a divided country, having won less than 50% of the vote, less than any previous president. Tinubu, 70, struck a unified tone while speaking to the nation for the first time after his victory in Saturday's election.

TEMPE, Greece (AP) — A passenger train carrying hundreds of people collided with an oncoming freight train in a fiery wreck in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing 29 and injuring at least 85, officials said. Multiple cars derailed and at least three burst into flames after the collision near Tempe, a small town next to a valley where major highway and rail tunnels are located, some 380 kilometers north of Athens. Hospital officials in the nearby city of Larissa said at least 25 people had serious injuries.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday said it has been “open and transparent” in the search for the origins of COVID-19, after questions about how the pandemic began received new attention. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Energy assessed with “low confidence” that the pandemic that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 began with the leak of a virus from a lab. The report hasn’t been made public.

Japan’s lower house of parliament has approved a 114 trillion yen ($836 billion) budget for the next fiscal year. It includes a record 6.8 trillion yen ($50 billion) in defense spending, part of a …

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Regional officials in southern and western Russia reported a string of drone attacks near the border with Ukraine and deep inside the country that resulted in no casualties, as the war with Kyiv trudged on Tuesday.