NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister is rallying his nationalist base as the world’s biggest democracy begins a general election on Thursday, but it has become tighter than anticipated, thanks to dwindling incomes for farmers and scarce jobs.
Polls predict Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) alliance will just win a parliamentary majority, a sharp drop from his commanding mandate five years ago, when he vowed to turn India into an economic and military power.
But his government’s inability to create a million jobs every month, and ease farmers’ distress over low product prices, has taken the shine off what is still the world’s fastest growing major economy.
From sugar farmers in northern Uttar Pradesh going unpaid for produce, to small businesses in the south shut because they are unable to meet the requirements of a new, unifying national tax, discontent has brewed for months.
“The election has become a lot closer than we think, sitting in Delhi,” said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of a Modi biography and books on Hindu nationalist groups. “There is anger and disillusionment in the countryside.”
In December, alarm bells rang for Modi’s Hindu nationalists after it lost three key states to the main opposition Congress and its allies, led by Rahul Gandhi.
But a surge in tension with traditional foe Pakistan in February has pushed Modi ahead, as he projects himself as a defender of national security and paints his rivals as weak-kneed, sometimes even questioning their patriotism.
“People were very unhappy, angry that Modi makes tall promises and doesn’t deliver,” said Shiv Chandra Rai, an Uber driver in the commercial capital of Mumbai.
“Everyone said there are no jobs, everywhere farmers are struggling. But on this issue of Pakistan we are confused now. Some people feel we have to vote for Modi on this issue, it is a national problem.”
Modi ordered air strikes on a suspected camp of a militant group in Pakistan after it claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing in Indian Kashmir, launching the first such raid since the neighbors’ last war in 1971.
The nuclear-armed foes engaged in a dogfight after Pakistan sent warplanes into India the next day. They also threatened each other with missile strikes, before Western powers, led by the United States, pulled them back.
Modi claimed victory, vowing more similar action if militant attacks continue in Kashmir. He dismissed concerns over the effectiveness of the strikes and the risk of stirring tension with Pakistan.
“Why do these people get so disturbed when India acts strongly against the forces of terror?” he asked tens of thousands of cheering supporters wearing saffron headbands at a rally this week in western India, referring to the opposition.
A regional leader of a Hindu group linked to the BJP and his bodyguard were killed by gunmen who burst into a hospital in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, police said, underscoring the BJP’s concern over security in the region.
Militants fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir have warned people not to vote on Thursday.
The BJP was also targeted in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, when a bomb set off by left-wing militants killed a regional party legislator and four people with him.
The Congress, led by Gandhi, and his charismatic sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who took up a party post in January, wants to steer the campaign back to Modi’s broken promises on the economy.
Gandhi has pledged a monthly payment of 6,000 rupees for the poorest families, about 250 million of a population of 1.3 billion, in a bid to stamp out poverty.
“Congress is trying to pitch in the election with regard to farm distress, rural crisis, unemployment,” said Sanjay Kumar of new Delhi think tank the Center for the Study of Developing Societies.
About 900 million people are eligible to vote in the election, spread over seven phases into next month so that security forces can ensure a free and fair ballot at about a million polling stations.
Results will follow vote-counting on May 23.
Congress has said Modi’s party presents a threat to every opposition group by pursuing its vision of a Hindu-first India, stoking fear among the Muslim minority, a bias the BJP denies.
Narendra Modi rides nationalist fervor ahead of India election
Narendra Modi rides nationalist fervor ahead of India election
- Polls predict Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance will just win a parliamentary majority
- ‘There is anger and disillusionment in the countryside’
Bangladesh government will not ban ousted PM Sheikh Hasina’s party
- Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League was accused of extensive human rights abuses during her 15-year tenure
- This includes a violent crackdown on last year’s protest movement that killed more than 800 people
Hasina’s Awami League was accused of extensive human rights abuses during her 15-year tenure, including a violent crackdown on last year’s protest movement that killed more than 800 people.
Student leaders still grieving the deaths of their comrades have demanded the party, which played a pivotal role in Bangladesh’s bloody 1971 independence war under Hasina’s father, be outlawed.
But Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the de facto leader of the caretaker government that took office after her toppling, said it had no intention of doing so.
“Professor Yunus stated that the interim government has no plans to ban the party,” said a government statement issued late Thursday.
“However, individuals within its leadership who are accused of crimes, including murder and crimes against humanity, will be tried in Bangladesh’s courts.”
A tribunal in Dhaka has already issued arrest warrants for Hasina, who took refuge in neighboring India after her toppling, and her allies.
A fact-finding mission from the UN rights office said last month that her government was responsible for systematic attacks and killings of protesters in an attempt to hold onto power last year.
It found “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment, and the infliction of other inhumane acts have taken place.”
Since she was toppled, students have consistently demanded the party be banned ahead of elections for a new government, expected by June next year.
The interim government did ban the Awami League’s student wing last October, citing its involvement in violent attacks on last year’s protests, while leaving open the fate of its parent organization.
Hasnat Abdullah, one of the leading figures of a new student-backed political party, planning to contest the next polls, slammed the government’s decision.
“The Awami League has to be banned,” he wrote on Facebook.
Fellow student leader Nasir Uddin Patwary warned last month that failure to ban the party “will push Bangladesh toward civil war,” according to local newspaper Prothom Alo.
Shafiqul Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh’s main Islamist party Jamaat, likewise wrote on social media Friday that people would not accept the party’s “rehabilitation.”
Undocumented migrants 'forget problems' at Madrid Ramadan meal
- Since 2018 a group of Senegalese have distributed iftar meals in the square during Ramadan to anyone
- Last year a record 46,843 migrants illegally reached the archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa
Madrid: At a bustling square in Madrid’s multicultural Lavapies neighborhood, Baye Serigne, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Senegal, broke his Ramadan fast with a few friends on a recent evening.
“It fills your stomach,” he said as he ate a yassa sandwich, a speciality made with marinated beef and onions after spending more than an hour on public transport to reach the square from the migrant shelter where he lives.
“Here it is a bit like my Dakar, where you can find ways to get by,” said Serigne, a mechanic by training who arrived in the Spanish capital in October and is spending his first Ramadan alone in Spain, far from his family.
During the month of Ramadan, which this year runs through March, observant Muslims do not eat between sunrise and sundown, breaking their fast with a meal known as iftar.
Since 2018 a group of Senegalese have distributed iftar meals in the square during Ramadan to anyone, whether they are Muslim or not.
Fewer than 30 people turned up in the early days, but on some nights this year the group hands out more than 400 sandwiches, said Aliou Badara Wagnan, one of the organizers of the meal distribution.
This year between 50 and 200 people gather in the square every evening for an iftar meal under the watchful eye of the police, he added.
“For those who have just arrived in Spain, it’s very complicated,” the 33-year-old said.
“They are staying in shelters, they don’t have enough to buy what they need or to cook. We are simply trying to make sure that everyone can eat.”
'Talk and laugh'
For many west African migrants without papers, the gathering is about more than just free food — it is a chance to exchange survival tips or to talk about the disappointments of their lives as undocumented immigrants.
“I try to come every day. It feels good to have a good time and forget about the problems. We talk and laugh with each other,” said Assana, a 23-year-old former fisherman from Saint-Louis, a coastal city in northern Senegal.
Like Serigne, Assana, who did not want to give his surname, is spending his first Ramadan far from his homeland. He scrapes by on the little more than 1,000 euros ($1,080) a month he earns doing odd jobs.
“The biggest problem is not the work, but the lack of papers,” Assana said.
Without permission to work, many young migrants like Assana — who cannot stay in their shelters during the day — wander aimlessly around Lavapies, with its narrow streets filled with Bangladeshi fruit shops and African restaurants.
“We do nothing all day. If someone gave me money to leave, I think I would,” said one migrant who declined to be named.
Pro-immigration stance
Most still hope to become legal residents.
All of the undocumented migrants interviewed by AFP in Lavapies, aged 18 to 30, risked their lives to reach Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic from Africa in precarious boats.
Last year a record 46,843 migrants illegally reached the archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa, often the first port of call for people quitting the continent hoping for a better life in Europe.
Spain needs “more hands” to work, said Wagnan, who has lived in Spain for the past seven years where he says he has easily found work on building sites.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez seems to agree.
Unlike the bulk of his counterparts in Europe, the Socialist premier argues immigration is needed to fill workforce gaps and counteract an aging population that could imperil pensions and the welfare state.
Spain’s economy expanded by 3.2 percent in 2024, far outperforming its eurozone peers due to a booming tourism sector and a rising population as a result of immigration.
London’s Heathrow airport closed after fire causes major power cut
London: Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early Friday for 24 hours after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling facility west of London, officials said.
Airport authorities said they “expect significant disruption” over the coming days, with hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers affected.
“Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” the airport operator said in a statement on its website, adding it would be closed until just before midnight Friday (2359 GMT).
“Passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”
Online flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said Heathrow’s closure would affect at least 1,351 flights to and from the airport.
It said 120 flights to the airport were in the air when the closure was announced.
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What we know about London’s Heathrow airport
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London Fire Brigade said there had been a “significant” fire at a substation in Hayes, a nearby town in the London borough of Hillingdon, which caused the power outage.
It said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were on the scene, while around 150 people had been evacuated from nearby properties.
Images on social media — which could not immediately be verified by AFP — showed huge flames and smoke rising from the substation.
Other videos, apparently shot inside Heathrow’s terminals, showed shuttered shops and deserted corridors, lit only by emergency lighting.
“The fire has caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes and local businesses, and we are working closely with our partners to minimize disruption,” said London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Pat Goulbourne.
He said the blaze was first reported at 11:23 p.m. (2323 GMT).
“This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” a statement said.
British utility firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on its website that an “unplanned outage” had left more than 16,000 homes without power in the area.
Heathrow handles more than than 80 million passengers a year and the operator says there are around 1,300 takeoffs or landings a day.
Seven United Airlines flights returned to their airport of origin or to other airports and all Friday flights to London Heathrow are being canceled, a spokesperson said.
In Sydney, Qantas said two flights en route to Heathrow — a non-stop flight from Perth and another via Singapore — had both diverted to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport.
It said two other flights scheduled to fly out of London on Friday were likely to be impacted.
In January, the government gave permission for Heathrow to build a third runway — which could be ready by 2035 — after years of legal wrangling brought on by complaints from local residents.
Five major airports serve the capital and towns nearby.
But capacity is stretched, especially at Heathrow whose two runways each measure almost four kilometers in length, while the airport covers a total area 12.3 square kilometers.
It opened in 1946 as London Airport before being renamed Heath Row, a hamlet demolished two years earlier to make way for the construction.
Situated 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of central London, the present Heathrow serves 200 destinations in more than 80 countries, with passengers having access to four terminals.
Among its main flight destinations last year were Dublin, Los Angeles, Madrid and New York.
67,000 white South Africans express interest in Trump’s plan to give them refugee status
- Trump has offered refugee status to some white South Africans who claimed they are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government
CAPE TOWN, South Africa: The United States Embassy in South Africa said Thursday it received a list of more than 67,000 people interested in refugee status in the US under President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate members of a white minority group he claims are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government.
The list was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US, which said it became a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trump administration last month. The chamber said the list does not constitute official applications.
Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 cutting US funding to South Africa and citing “government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
Trump’s executive order specifically referred to Afrikaners, a white minority group who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. The order directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to prioritize humanitarian relief to Afrikaners who are victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and resettle them in the US under the refugee program.
There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa, which has a population of 62 million. Trump’s decision to offer some white South Africans refugee status went against his larger policy to halt the US refugee resettlement program.
The South African government has said that Trump’s allegations that it is targeting Afrikaners through a land expropriation law are inaccurate and largely driven by misinformation. Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that Afrikaners were having their farmland seized, when no land has been taken under the new law.
The executive order also criticized South Africa’s foreign policy, specifically its decision to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the United Nations’ top court. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran and taking an anti-American stance. The US has also expelled the South African ambassador, accusing him of being anti-America and anti-Trump.
An official at the US Embassy in the South African capital, Pretoria, confirmed receipt of the list of names from the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US but gave no more detail.
Neil Diamond, the president of the chamber, said the list contains 67,042 names. Most were people between 25 and 45 years old and have children.
He told the Newzroom Afrika television channel that his organization had been inundated with requests for more information since Trump’s order and had contacted the State Department and the embassy in Pretoria “to indicate that we would like them to make a channel available for South Africans that would like to get more information and register for refugee status.”
“That cannot be the responsibility of the chamber,” he said.
Diamond said only US authorities could officially register applications for resettlement in the United States. The US Embassy in South Africa said it is awaiting further instructions on the implementation of Trump’s order.
In latest blow to Tesla, regulators recall nearly all Cybertrucks
- NHTSA warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard
- The recall of 46,096 Cybertrucks covers all 2024 and 2025 model years, manufactured from November 13, 2023, to February 27, 2025
US safety regulators on Thursday recalled virtually all Cybertrucks on the road, the eighth recall of the Tesla-made vehicles since deliveries to customers began just over a year ago.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall, which covers more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.
The stainless steel strip, called a cant rail assembly, between the windshield and the roof on both sides, is bound to the truck’s assembly with a structural adhesive, the NHTSA report said. The remedy uses an adhesive that’s not been found to be vulnerable to “environmental embrittlement,” the NHTSA said, and includes additional reinforcements.
Tesla will replace the panel free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 19, 2025.
The recall of 46,096 Cybertrucks covers all 2024 and 2025 model years, manufactured from November 13, 2023, to February 27, 2025. The NHTSA order says that Tesla became aware of the problem early this year.
Videos posted on social media showing people ripping the panels off of Cybertrucks with their hands have gone viral in recent days.
The Cybertruck, which Tesla began delivering to buyers in late 2023, has been recalled eight times in the past 15 months for safety problems, including once in November because a fault in an electric inverter can cause the drive wheels to lose power. Last April, the futuristic-looking trucks were recalled to fix acceleration pedals that can get stuck in the interior trim. Other recalls were related to windshield wipers and the display screen.
It’s the latest setback for the Elon Musk-owned electric automaker, which has come under attack since President Donald Trump took office and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency that’s slashing government spending.
While no injuries have been reported, Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and privately owned cars have been targeted.
Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in connection with attacks on Tesla dealerships, including Molotov cocktails thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray-painted on a building.
And federal agents in South Carolina last week arrested a man they say set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit that authorities found writings critical of the government and DOGE in his bedroom and wallet.
Even before the attacks ramped up in recent weeks, Tesla has been struggling, facing increased competition from rival electric vehicles, particularly out of China.
Though largely unaffected by Thursday’s recall announcement, Tesla shares have plummeted 42 percent in 2025, reflecting newfound pessimism as sales crater around the globe.
With regard to Thursday’s recall, Cybertruck owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752 and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236, or go to nhtsa.gov.
