MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose a little-known legislator from India’s poorest state as the party’s youngest president on Tuesday, a generational shift in the effort to retain young voters.

Nitin Nabin, 45, takes over from outgoing president JP Nadda, 65, months before key state elections, one of them in the eastern state of West Bengal, which the BJP has never won and is strongly focused on.

A five-time lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar, Nabin was elected unopposed as the party’s 12th president after Modi and other leaders proposed him.

Hundreds of workers watched at party headquarters in New Delhi as Nabin, his forehead smeared with a vermillion mark and his shoulders wrapped in a scarf with the party symbol, took the oath of office before Modi and four past presidents.

“When it comes to the party, I am a worker and he is my boss,” Modi, 75, said in his remarks, pointing to Nabin, who will serve a three-year term.

In his speech, Nabin repeatedly praised Modi as a generational leader and urged young people to take an active part in politics.

More than 40% of India’s one billion voters are aged between 18 and 39, the Election Commission and analysts estimate.

The BJP suffered a shock setback in the 2024 general election as Modi lost his majority after 10 years in power and had to rely on regional allies to form a government.

But it has since regained ground, winning critical state and civic body elections. The party and its allies govern 19 of India’s 28 states.

ADAMUZ: Spain began three days of national mourning on Tuesday for 41 people killed after two high-speed trains collided in the country’s deadliest train accident in over a decade.

The disaster took place late Sunday when a train operated by rail company Iryo, travelling from Malaga to Madrid, derailed near Adamuz in the southern Andalusia region.

It crossed to the other track, where it crashed into an oncoming train, which also derailed.

The death toll rose to 41 after the body of a passenger was recovered on Monday evening from one of the Iryo train carriages, the regional government said.

Over 120 people were injured, with 39 still in hospital, including four children, it added.

Flags flew at half-mast on public buildings, television anchors wore black, and cabinet ministers curtailed public appearances as Spain observed the first of three days of national mourning.

Heavy machinery was deployed on Monday to lift the most severely damaged train carriages and give rescuers better access.

The head of Andalusia´s regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno, warned Monday it would take another 24-48 hours “to know with certainty how many deaths have resulted from this terrible accident”.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were scheduled to meet with rescuers and officials in Adamuz later on Tuesday.

Harrowing

Aerial footage of the crash site from Spain’s Guardia Civil police showed the two trains far apart, as rescuers in high-visibility neon vests worked nearby.

Among the survivors is a six-year-old girl who lost her parents, brother and cousin in the crash, according to Spanish media.

The 27-year-old driver of one of the trains was among those killed, daily newspaper El Pais reported.

The collision occurred in a hilly, olive-growing region accessible only by a single-track road, making it difficult for ambulances to reach the area.

Firefighter Angel Uceda, who was among the first rescuers on the scene, told Onda Cero radio that mobile phones were ringing beside injured victims as he entered the wrecked train carriages.

“It was harrowing, but we had to do our job and do what was needed,” he said.

Unlike the 2013 accident, the derailment occurred on a straight section of track, and the trains were travelling within the speed limit, officials said.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the first train to derail was “practically new” and the section of the track where the disaster happened had been recently renovated, making the accident “extremely strange”.

The company said around 300 people were on board its service from the Andalusian city of Malaga to the capital, Madrid.

Renfe, the operator of the second train travelling to the southern city of Huelva, said it was carrying 184 passengers.

Solidarity

Human error has “been practically ruled out”, Renfe President Alvaro Fernandez Heredia told Spanish public radio RNE.

Heredia also ruled out speeding as a cause of the accident. He said both trains were travelling just over 200 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, below the 250 kilometres per hour limit for that section of track.

Spain has Europe’s largest high-speed rail network, with more than 3,000 kilometres of dedicated tracks connecting major cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga.

In Adamuz, where white buildings gleam among orange-lined streets, residents rushed to the town hall with supplies as news of the disaster spread.

“We started bringing water, blankets, everything we could,” Manuel Munoz, a 60-year-old olive oil factory worker, told AFP.

Among those offering condolences were Pope Leo XIV and French President Emmanuel Macron.

• WFP estimates 17 million Afghans face acute hunger.
• Winter shuts work opportunities as need rises sharply.
• WFP says 3 million more face acute hunger.

KABUL: In the dull glow of a single bulb lighting their tent on the outskirts of Kabul, Samiullah and his wife Bibi Rehana sit down to dry bread and tea, their only meal of the day, accompanied by their five children and three-month-old grandchild.

“We have reached a point where we are content with death,” said 55-year-old Samiullah, whose family, including two older sons aged 18 and 20 and their wives, is among the millions deported by neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in the past year.

“Day by day, things are getting worse,” he added, after their return to a war-torn nation where the United Nations’ World Food Programme estimates 17 million battle acute hunger after massive cuts in international aid.

“Whatever happens to us has happened, but at least our children’s lives should be better.”

Samiullah said his family went virtually overnight from its modest home in Iran to their makeshift tent, partially propped up by rocks and rubble, after a raid by Iranian authorities led to their arrests and then deportation.

They salvaged a few belongings but were not able to carry out all their savings, which would have carried them through the winter, Samiullah added.

Reuters was unable to reach authorities in Iran for comment.

“Migrants who are newly returning to the country receive assistance as much as possible,” said Afghan administration spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, in areas from transport to housing, healthcare and food.

It was impossible to eradicate poverty quickly in a country that suffered 40 years of conflict and the loss of all its revenue and resources, he added in a statement, despite an extensive rebuilding effort.

“Economic programmes take time and do not have an immediate impact on people’s lives.”

The WFP says Pakistan and Iran have expelled more than 2.5 million Afghans in massive repatriation programmes.

Islamabad accelerated deportations amid accusations that the Taliban was harbouring militants responsible for cross-border attacks on Pakistani soil.

Tehran ramped up deportations last year amid a flurry of accusations that they were spying for Israel. Authorities blamed the expulsions on concerns about security and resources.

No income, no aid

As winter spreads across Afghanistan’s arid landscape, work opportunities have dried up, while the wave of returning Afghans has swelled the population by a tenth, said John Aylieff, the WFP’s country director.

Cuts to global programmes since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House have sapped the resources of organisations such as the WFP, while other donor countries have also scaled back, putting millions at risk worldwide.

“Last year was the biggest malnutrition surge ever recorded in Afghanistan and sadly the prediction is that it’s going to get worse,” added Aylieff, estimating that 200,000 more children would suffer acute malnourishment in 2026.

At the WFP’s aid distribution site in Bamiyan, about 180 km (111 miles) from Kabul, the capital, are stacks of rice bags and jugs of palm oil, while wheelbarrows trundle in more food, but it is still too little for the long queues of people.

“I am forced to manage the winter with these supplies; sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t,” said Zahra Ahmadi, 50, a widowed mother of eight daughters, as she received aid for the first time.

‘Life never remains the same’

At the Qasaba Clinic in the capital, mothers soothed their children during the wait for medicine and supplements.

“Compared to the time when there were no migrants, the number of our patients has now doubled,” said Dr Rabia Rahimi Yadgari.

The clinic treats about 30 cases of malnutrition each day but the supplements are not sufficient to sustain the families, who previously relied on WFP aid and hospital support, she said.

Laila, 30, said her son, Abdul Rahman, showed signs of recovery after taking the supplements.

“But after some time, he loses the weight again,” she said.

After the Taliban takeover, she said, “My husband lost his (government) job, and gradually our economic situation collapsed. Life never remains the same.”

The United States led a hasty withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan in July 2021, after 20 years of war against the Taliban, opening the doors for the Afghan Taliban to take control of Kabul.

As dusk gathers and the temperature falls, Samiullah brings in firewood and Bibi Rehama lights a stove for warmth.

“At night, when it gets very cold, my children say, ‘Father, I’m cold, I’m freezing.’ I hold them in my arms and say, ‘It’s OK.’ What choice do we have?” Samiullah said.

“(When) I worked in Iran, at least I could provide a full meal. Here, there is neither work nor livelihood.”