India monsoons: Collapse of four-storey building leaves more than 40 trapped in Mumbai

Monsoon rains have displaced millions of people in recent weeks and killed scores across India, Nepal and Bangladesh

A four-story building has collapsed in a densely populated neighbourhood of Mumbai amid monsoon rains in India, trapping more than 40 people in the rubble.

Fire service officials said the residential building came down in the Dongri area of the city, India’s financial and entertainment capital, and that a search and rescue operation was under way.

Mumbai has been hit by several fatal wall collapses this year during the monsoon rains that come annually between June and September, as the city’s poorly-designed infrastructure struggles to cope with the downpour.

Croatian police use violence to push back migrants, president admits

Human Rights Watch calls on Croatia to end illegal practice of forcing people back over Bosnian border

Shaun Walker Central and eastern Europe correspondent

After months of official denials, Croatia’s president has admitted that the country’s police are involved in the violent pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers apprehended inside the country.

The best chance for thousands of refugees stuck in Bosnia is to cross its border with Croatia to make it to the European Union. For the past year there has been repeated evidence of police using force against those who have made it across the border and then dumping them back in Bosnia.

In an interview with Swiss television, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović appeared to admit the pushbacks were taking place. She denied they were illegal and also admitted that police used force when doing so.

Thousands call for Puerto Rico governor to resign after chat leak

Thousands of people demonstrated Monday demanding the resignation of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello following the leak of a group text chat in which he and other officials made obscene, sexist and homophobic remarks about political opponents and others including pop star Ricky Martin, local media reports said.

At nightfall police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the capital San Juan who shouted: “Ricky corrupto!” in a third day of protests which also questioned Rossello’s handling of the Hurricane Maria emergency and the island’s financial crisis.

“We want him arrested, him and his wife jailed for stealing money from the people of Puerto Rico,” protestor Tatiana Gomez told the local newspaper Primera Hora.

Exclusive: Security reports reveal how Assange turned an embassy into a command post for election meddling

By Marshall Cohen, Kay Guerrero and Arturo Torres, CNN

New documents obtained exclusively by CNN reveal that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange received in-person deliveries, potentially of hacked materials related to the 2016 US election, during a series of suspicious meetings at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

The documents build on the possibility, raised by special counsel Robert Mueller in his report on Russian meddling, that couriers brought hacked files to Assange at the embassy.

The surveillance reports also describe how Assange turned the embassy into a command center and orchestrated a series of damaging disclosures that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States.

Erdogan says Turkey aims to produce S-400s jointly with Russia

President says S-400s will be ready in April 2020, making Turkey the first NATO nation with Russian missile system.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a controversial Russian missile defence system will be fully deployed in April 2020 despite the threat of US sanctions, adding the next step would be to jointly produce S-400s with Moscow.

The first batch of the Russian S-400 equipment was delivered to Turkey in recent days even after repeated US calls to cancel the deal or face punishment.

“We have begun to receive our S-400s. Some said ‘they cannot buy them’… God willing they will have been installed in their sites by April 2020,” Erdogan told a crowd of thousands on Monday in Ankara, as Turkey marked the third anniversary of a bloody coup attempt.

Congresswomen hit back after Trump’s tweets branded racist

The four US congresswomen attacked by US President Donald Trump in tweets widely called racist have dismissed his remarks as a distraction.

Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib urged the US people “not to take the bait” at a Monday news conference.

Mr Trump had suggested the four women – all US citizens – “can leave”.

He has defended his comments and denied allegations of racism.

The president did not explicitly name the women in his initial Twitter tirade on Sunday, but the context made a clear link to the four Democrat women, who are known as The Squad.

Six In The Morning Tuesday 16 July 2019