Around the world

Ex-official: Most train victims were migrants

NEW DELHI — Most of the casualties in a train disaster that killed dozens of people in northern India were migrant workers, a former state government official said Saturday.

R.C. Yadav, former chairman of Punjab state’s Workers Welfare Board, said that many of the 60 killed and dozens injured when a speeding train ran over a crowd celebrating the Hindu festival of Dussehra on Friday night had left their families in neighboring states to work in factories and shops in Punjab.

Most “of those killed are these poor workers,” Yadav said, adding that some earned as little as 7,000 rupees ($95) per month.

A local branch of the Indian National Congress party had organized the event at a clearing near the railway tracks on the outskirts of Amritsar.

Netherlands

Former Dutch PM

Wim Kok dies at 80

THE HAGUE — Former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, a trade unionist-turned-politician who inspired a new breed of pragmatic Social Democratic leaders who swept to power in Europe in the 1990s, has died at 80.

Current Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Kok, who died Saturday, “was a man to look up to — if only for his long service and great importance for our country.” Labor Party leader Lodewijk Asscher called Kok a “model of integrity.”

Kok hitched his Dutch Labor Party to the right-wing Liberal Party and to the centrist Democrats 66 to form two ruling coalitions that steered the Netherlands to unprecedented economic success from 1994 to 2002.

Ahead of Kok’s second election victory in 1998, British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised him as “one of the greatest people in politics today.”

Nigeria

55 dead after latest communal violence

Nigeria’s government says 55 people have been killed in the latest eruption of communal violence in north-central Kaduna state.

A spokesman said President Muhammadu Buhari condemns the fighting that led to Thursday’s killings in Kasuwan Magani and that “frequent resort to bloodshed by Nigerians over misunderstandings that can be resolved peacefully is worrisome.”

Kaduna’s governor cites the state police commissioner as saying that more than 20 people have been arrested. The governor urges “peace and harmony despite ethnic and religious diversity.”

Syria

IS frees six hostages

in exchange with gov’t

The Islamic State group early Saturday released two women and four children they had been holding since July in the first part of an exchange with the Syrian government that will set free dozens of women related to members of the extremist group, opposition activists said.

The women and children were among 30 people kidnapped by IS in the southern province of Sweida on July 25 when they carried out a raid that left at least 216 people dead. One woman died in IS custody, and another was shot dead. In August, a 19-year-old man was also killed while in detention.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the women and children were the first batch of the exchange, adding that more will follow. The Observatory said the government in return will release 60 women held by authorities and a $27 million ransom.

Mexico

Two tropical storms swirling off Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Two tropical storms are swirling in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico, and one is forecast to become a hurricane and approach the country’s west coast late next week.

Tropical Storm Willa is the 21st named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season. It was about 305 miles south-southwest of the port city of Manzanillo on Saturday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was likely to remain well off the coast through Wednesday, but after that it could turn toward land.

Tropical Storm Vicente formed Friday off the coast of the southern state of Chiapas. Its core was about 170 miles southeast of Salina Cruz.

Tanzania

Billionaire free nine days after abduction

DAR ES SALAAM — The man described as Africa’s youngest billionaire said Saturday he is free more than a week after his abduction from a luxury hotel in Tanzania’s commercial capital, and police suggested his captors came from South Africa.

“I thank Allah that I have returned home safely,” said a statement released by the 43-year-old Mohammed Dewji’s foundation. It did not give details about the Oct. 11 abduction or what led to his release but thanked police for working for his safe return.

Dewji, while arriving at the hotel for a workout, had been seized by two masked gunmen who fired into the air before driving away. Regional authorities have said two white men were seen on surveillance video, and they tightened controls at border posts and airports.

Italy

EU budget chief seeks to ease tensions

MILAN — The European Union’s budget chief sought to ease tensions with Rome on Friday over Italy’s rule-busting budget, after markets reacted by pushing up Italy’s borrowing costs to the highest levels in five years.

Pierre Moscovici told reporters in Rome that he did not see a risk of contagion in the market reaction to the European Commission’s stinging letter rebuking the proposed Italian budget.

“We don’t want to have any type of fight, we are not interested in an escalation … market operators will be reassured by constructive dialogue,” he said.

The Italian government has until midday Monday to respond to the EU letter, which expresses concern about Italy’s structural deficit and its high debt level, and seeks more information about Italy’s growth outlook from its new populist government.

Wire reports