Mumbai | Pakistan

Five children were among six killed when a building collapsed in Mumbai, officials said on Monday, as monsoon rains pounded India’s financial capital, flooding roads and leading to school closures. A dilapidated residential building collapsed on Sunday in the megacity’s east, trapping residents under the debris, Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde said in a statement. The deaths came as heavy rainfall paralysed parts of the city, with the India Meteorological Department recording more than 200 millimetres of rain within 24 hours. Hundreds of millions of people in India rely on the annual monsoon winds to bring vital rains that sustain agriculture and industry. However, climate change is shifting weather patterns and making the world’s most populous country hotter. This year’s El Niño weather phenomenon has prompted warnings of lower rainfall. The weather office has issued a red alert warning for Mumbai on Monday, forecasting continued heavy rain and gusty winds. With roads inundated, Mumbai authorities declared Monday a ...

MUMBAI: An Indian court acquitted on Monday 12 men previously convicted for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 that killed 187 people. The men were convicted in 2015 of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the country over the attacks during the evening rush hour of July 11, 2006 that also injured more than 800 people. Five were sentenced to death, while the other seven were given life imprisonment. But, 10 years later, the Bombay High Court set aside a lower court’s verdict and acquitted the 12 men. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said in their judgement, the prosecution had “utterly failed to establish the offence beyond the reasonable doubt against the accused on each count”. The men were ordered to be released from jail “if they are not required to be detained in any other case”. The prosecution can appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. A total of seven blasts ripped through the trains after the bombs, packed into pressure cookers, wer...

An Air India Airbus A320 flight veered off the runway as it landed during heavy rain at the Mumbai International Airport on Monday, briefly shutting the runway and damaging the underside of one of the plane’s engines. All passengers and crew members have since disembarked, Air India said, without saying whether anyone was injured. Air India flight AI2744 had flown from Kochi in southern Kerala state to Mumbai. The Mumbai airport said in a statement that there were “minor damages reported to the airport’s primary runway” due to what it described as a “runway excursion”, and a secondary runway had been activated to ensure operational continuity. The aircraft has been grounded for checks, Air India added. A Times of India report, citing sources, said three tyres had burst on the aircraft after the landing. TV footage from NDTV and India Today showed the outer casing of the engine damaged, with some apparent cracks. In a separate incident reported by Indian media, an Air India flight from Delhi to Kolkata was abo...

Tesla will open its first India showroom in Mumbai next week, having imported $1 million worth of cars and merchandise, marking its entry into the world’s third-largest car market despite CEO Elon Musk’s complaints about high import tariffs. In an invitation to the media on Thursday, the carmaker said the July 15 event was the “launch of Tesla in India through the opening of the Tesla experience centre at Bandra Kurla Complex,” located in the city’s leading commercial business district. Grappling with excess manufacturing capacity at its other factories and falling sales, Tesla has pivoted to selling imported cars in India, on which it will need to pay about 70 per cent import duty and other levies. Commercially available custom records from January to June showed Tesla imported vehicles, chargers and accessories into India worth close to $1m, mainly from China and the United States. The vehicles included six of Tesla’s best-selling Model Y at a shipment value of $32,500 each for five cars, and $46,000 for th...