INDIAN energy giant Adani today (13) cleared the last regulatory hurdle to commence the work on its controversial Carmichael coal mine project in Australia with the Queensland state authorities approving its groundwater management plan.
The final and last approval for the Adani Group's long-delayed billion dollars mega coal mine project came weeks after a surprise election win of Australia's pro-coal ruling coalition led by prime minister Scott Morrison.
On May 31, Adani won the first approval from the Queensland state government to protect the endangered black-throated finch bird population as part of its crucial environmental plan at the site of its mine project.
The mining company is now expected to start construction at the site within days.
The state department of environment and science said in a statement that it has approved the most recent version of the plan, which Adani submitted just a day ago.
"Adani submitted its most recent version of the plan, addressing the department's feedback, yesterday,” the department said.
"The (plan's) assessment has been rigorous and based on the best available science".
According to media reports, the company had earlier submitted almost dozens of groundwater management plans but failed to meet the key environmental requirements.
WAGAMAMA has opened its first restaurant in India, launching a flagship outlet in Mumbai’s Churchgate area. The restaurant is located in the restored Cambata Building, home to the Eros cinema.
Founded in London in 1992, Wagamama serves Asian-inspired dishes and operates in over 18 countries. The Mumbai outlet is operated in partnership with K Hospitality Corp.
“We don’t just serve food, we serve energy,” said Francisco Neves, Senior VP of Franchise and Partnerships. “Wagamama is a kitchen for the soul. Playful, purposeful, and powered by good food that uplifts. India has a rich appreciation for flavour, freshness, and culture, and Mumbai was the ideal city to begin this journey.”
The restaurant features Wagamama’s minimalist design with shared wooden benches and an open kitchen. The menu includes dishes such as chicken katsu curry, yasai yaki soba, firecracker chicken, bao buns, gyoza, and ramen bowls. More than half the menu is vegetarian or vegan, with Jain-friendly options clearly labelled.
Francisco Neves added, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with K Hospitality to bring Wagamama to India. Mumbai is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with a world-class food culture; an ideal first step for our journey in the region.”
The company plans to expand to Delhi NCR next, followed by other cities.
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Jamie Lee Curtis warns cosmetic surgery and filters are brainwashing young girls
Jamie Lee Curtis says cosmetic surgery has caused the “disfigurement of generations of women”.
Describes the cosmeceutical industry as “a genocide” against natural human appearance.
Blames AI filters for worsening beauty standards and driving cosmetic procedures.
Opens up about her regrets over getting surgery at 25 and how she now embraces ageing.
Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis has launched a sharp critique of the beauty industry, warning that cosmetic surgery and AI beauty filters have “wiped out” natural human appearance for entire generations of women. In a candid interview with The Guardian, the 66-year-old actress likened the cosmetic procedure boom to a form of “genocide”, a controversial term she insists is deliberate, given the scale and cultural impact of what she sees as industry-driven body modification.
Jamie Lee Curtis says tech-fuelled beauty lies are harming young women’s self-worthGetty Images
Why did Jamie Lee Curtis compare plastic surgery to 'genocide'?
Curtis, who stars in the upcoming Freakier Friday sequel, told The Guardian that the term “genocide” reflects what she views as a mass erasure of natural female beauty. She blames what she calls the “cosmeceutical industrial complex” for encouraging generations of women to pursue artificial enhancements, ranging from fillers to surgical alterations, at the cost of self-acceptance.
“I’ve used that word for a long time because it’s strong,” she said. “I believe we’ve wiped out one or two generations of natural human appearance.”
Although her word choice has raised eyebrows, Curtis stands by it, arguing that society’s obsession with youth and perfection has deformed, not enhanced, women’s lives and appearances.
Jamie Lee Curtis blasts beauty industry for teaching young women to hate themselvesGetty Images
How is AI making beauty standards worse?
Curtis also pointed fingers at AI tools, especially facial filters on social media, for making “fake” the new normal. “Better is fake,” she said, noting how even she finds it hard to ignore the allure of filters once they show a digitally ‘improved’ version of her face.
“The filter face is what people want now,” she added. “It’s impossible to see the before and after and not think, ‘Well, that looks better.’ But what’s better? The lie?”
Her comments highlight growing concern over how AI is shaping unrealistic standards, especially for young women, through apps and image-editing tools that promote an unattainable version of beauty.
Jamie Lee Curtis says young women are chasing a fake version of beauty built by AIGetty Images
What’s Curtis’ personal experience with cosmetic surgery?
Curtis revealed she had a procedure in her 20s after a cinematographer on set commented on her “baggy eyes.” She regretted it immediately and has since become an outspoken advocate against surgical tweaks.
“That’s just not what you want to do at 25,” she said in a previous interview. “And I’ve kind of regretted it ever since.”
Now embracing her natural ageing, grey hair, and wrinkles, Curtis said she’s spent the last 30 years gradually stepping back from the spotlight, unlike her parents, actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, who she says were discarded by Hollywood as they aged.
Jamie Lee Curtis says filtered beauty is damaging how young girls see themselvesGetty Images
Why is Jamie Lee Curtis speaking out now?
Her outspoken stance comes at a time when Curtis is experiencing a powerful late-career resurgence. After winning an Oscar in 2023 for Everything Everywhere All at Once and delivering a critically acclaimed role in The Bear, she’s using her voice to challenge harmful industry standards from within.
“I’ve become a really public advocate to say to women: you’re gorgeous and perfect the way you are,” she said. While she insists she won’t judge others for choosing cosmetic surgery, she calls it a “never-ending cycle” once it begins.
Curtis also warns that young women, often under pressure to fit a filtered ideal, are being sold an illusion of perfection. “Once you start, you can’t stop. But it’s not my job to judge. It’s none of my business.”
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Trump did not give details of the penalty he referred to for India’s trade with Russia. (Photo: Getty Images)
Trump links India’s high tariffs and trade barriers to new punitive measures.
He warned of an unspecified “penalty” over India’s defence and energy ties with Russia.
Trade talks between the US and India have stalled over market access disagreements.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that imports from India will face a 25 per cent tariff. He also mentioned an unspecified "penalty" for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian weapons and energy.
The new tariffs will take effect on Friday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
"Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country," Trump said.
Trump cites trade deficit
In another post, Trump wrote in all caps that the United States has a "massive" trade deficit with India.
He said India has "always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE."
Trump did not give details of the penalty he referred to for India’s trade with Russia.
Measures linked to Russia-Ukraine conflict
The announcement comes as the 79-year-old Republican has indicated plans to increase US pressure on Moscow to stop the fighting in Ukraine and negotiate a peace deal.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was giving Russian president Vladimir Putin 10 days to change course in Ukraine or face unspecified punishment.
"We're going to put on tariffs and stuff," he said, but added, "I don't know if it's going to effect Russia because obviously he wants to keep the war going."
India, the world’s most populous country, was among the first major economies to start broader trade talks with Washington.
However, after six months, Trump’s wide-ranging demands and India’s reluctance to fully open its agricultural and dairy sectors have prevented a deal that would protect it from punitive tariffs.
On Tuesday, Trump had said India could face a 20–25 per cent rate since no trade deal had been finalised. The announced tariffs will significantly increase from the current 10 per cent baseline tariff on Indian shipments to the US.
Wider global tariff threats
Trump has aimed to reshape the global economy by using US economic power to pressure trading partners with tariffs and push foreign companies to move operations to the United States.
Talks are ongoing with the European Union, China, Canada and other major partners.
He has also warned that dozens of other countries could face higher tariffs from Friday unless they strike trade deals. Among them is Brazil, which Trump has threatened with 50 per cent import tariffs, partly to pressure the country to halt the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro on coup charges.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Media reports said Gambhir appeared to raise his finger at Fortis and told him not to tell him what to do after being asked to keep a distance from the wicket.
INDIA head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a heated exchange with Surrey's head of ground staff, Lee Fortis, during a pitch inspection at the Oval, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred as India prepared for the fifth and final test of the five-match series against England, starting Thursday at Surrey County Cricket Club's stadium. England lead the series 2-1.
Media reports said Gambhir appeared to raise his finger at Fortis and told him not to tell him what to do after being asked to keep a distance from the wicket.
VIDEO | Indian team's head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen having verbal spat with chief curator Lee Fortis at The Oval Cricket Ground in London ahead of the last Test match of the series starting Thursday.
Kotak described the situation at a press conference, saying, "When we went to see the wicket ... they sent someone to tell us to stay 2.5 metres away from the pitch, which was a little surprising. It's a cricket wicket, there's a five-day test starting the day after, and we were wearing joggers. So it was a bit awkward. We all know that curators are a little over-protective ... but at the end of the day it's a cricket pitch, not an antique that you can't touch."
Fortis played down the incident when speaking to journalists. "There's nothing more to add ... we have nothing to hide here," he said. Surrey declined to comment further.
Kotak added that India players and staff had ensured no damage was caused to the playing surface during their practice session earlier on Tuesday.
The heated exchange has added to the tension in what has been a competitive series. India, who drew the fourth test, need a win at the Oval to level the series.
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Reeta Chakrabarti with her ACTA trophy for Best Presenter
REETA CHAKRABARTI is wonderfully eloquent when talking to Eastern Eye about her debut novel, Finding Belle, which she says has been “inspired” by Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre “rather than a retelling of the classic published in 1847”.
To most people in Britain – and indeed across the world – Reeta is the calm, authoritative, reassuring presence on the BBC, which she joined in 1994. Indeed, in March this year she was named “Best Presenter” in Eastern Eye’s Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards (ACTA). After speaking to Eastern Eye last Tuesday (15), she headed back to Broadcasting House to front the BBC’s flagship News at Ten as chief presenter.
A different picture of Reeta emerges as she talks about Finding Belle, which is quite a dark novel that tells of the effect of schizophrenia on Belle, an Indian woman who has met and married a handsome Englishman, Fairfax, in Mombasa, before uprooting to suburban England. The tale is told by their daughter Mivvi, who witnesses the collapse of her parents’ marriage and her mother’s descent into almost a kind of madness. Belle also miscarries. What makes everything worse is Fairfax’s infidelity and cruel refusal to give his wife medical treatment.
Chakrabarti as a seven-year-old in Kolkata
At school, Mivvi is humiliated by a couple of blonde twins, who chant, “Mivvi! Superstar! How many boys have you kissed so far? 24? Maybe more? Ten on the bed and the rest on the floor!”, adding, “Paki! Paki! Blackie, Mivvi, Paki!”
She was “determined to be Daddy’s daughter, not Mama’s,” but, alas, all the soap in the world cannot make her complexion fair and lovely.
Reeta said she has always been a bookworm and read Jane Eyre at the age of eight. Five novels she would take to a desert island would include Jane Eyre, along with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro; Tender Is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald; and George Eliot’s Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life. She considered herself to be “an author in search of a novel”. During Covid, she realised it was “now and never”.
She said Jane Eyre “is the book I have read most”. When she was growing up, she was “consumed by the romance between Jane and Rochester”.
“But then as I got older, I started to think Rochester is quite a bastard because he locks up his wife in a cellar. She’s ill, very ill, but instead of finding a treatment, he locks her up. Then he leads Jane a merry dance. The themes within Jane Eyre are of secrecy, a marriage where the wife becomes very mentally ill and is hidden away. She’s a shameful secret, and our attitudes to mental illness these days are entirely different. So that’s where my novel comes from. Schizophrenia is a particular form of psychosis whereby somebody, who may lead their lives fairly normally, can have delusions so they hear voices or imagine scenarios that are not real. This is the condition that I decided to give my fictional character, based on the classical reference to Bertha from Jane Eyre.”
Finding Belle “is not ultimately a bleak novel”, she said.
Mivvi, a bright girl at school, goes off to Bristol to study French (Reeta herself read English and French at Exeter College, Oxford) and finds friendship and marriage with an Indian boy, Ashish. After they have a baby, there is a brief sojourn through Kolkata, a city Reeta knows well.
Reeta’s father, Bidhan Kumar Chakrabarti, a junior doctor, and mother, Ruma, a civil servant, arrived in Britain in 1960. Now 90, her father worked for the NHS, ending up as a surgeon. Her mother passed away in 2016. Reeta’s younger sister, Lolita Chakrabarti, is the wellknown actress and writer (she adapted Life of Pi for the West End).
“My father particularly was very ambitious for me,” said Reeta. “He wanted me to be a doctor and continue the tradition because his father was a doctor and his father was a doctor and his father was a doctor. His older brother was a doctor. I was quite happy to continue the line. Then one day, he took me to theatre to see an operation. I was 13, and he was operating, and I remember being very overcome by the environment, and I fainted to his mortification.” However, he was “over the moon” when Reeta got into Oxford.
In Finding Belle, she initially set Mivvi’s childhood in the 1990s but pushed it back into the 1970s at her editor’s suggestion to reflect her own schooldays.
Although born in London, Reeta moved when she was five to Birmingham, where she attended various state schools before joining King Edward VI High School for Girls.
“1970s Britain was a harsher, cruder place when it came to race,” she said. “I was brought up in Birmingham and although I did not experience very harsh racism there was a lot of teasing at school. This was a few years after Enoch Powell’s (1968 ‘Rivers of blood’) speech, the National Front was quite strong there. Football hooliganism was quite tainted by racism. This is the atmosphere I was trying to recreate from my memory of being a child in the 1970s.”
Chakrabarti holding her book Finding Belle
Her parents did consider returning to Kolkata.
“We made two attempts to live there,” she remembered, “once just for a few months, then for 18 months. When I was 15, we went back to Kolkata. Until I was 16 and a half, I went to the international school there. I did my O levels there. So, I know Kolkata quite well. I still go back quite regularly now. My uncles, aunties, and cousins are all there. And the descriptions that I have of Kolkata towards the end of the novel are very much my accumulated feelings about the city.” In Kolkata she is happy not to be treated as the big BBC star from London but instead, “I am somebody’s niece, the eldest in our group of cousins. These are important relationships for me. My uncles range from their late seventies to mid-nineties. I feel close to them. I feel my Bengali identity increasingly strongly.”In the 1970s, she, like other Asians or Afro-Caribbeans, felt “a strong need to assimilate and be British. I see younger colleagues who don’t feel the need to assimilate in quite the same way. They can have mixed dual heritage much more openly. I can, too, now. Is that a function of changing society or is that because I am older and more confident? I am at the stage where my Indian heritage is very important to me, and so I go back frequently. My three children are British. I use the word British (rather than English) because my husband is Scottish. My children were born here. They are mixed race. They are part of the new Britain.
Chakrabarti at Exeter College, Oxford
“When I was a child, I used to be teased for having Chakrabarti as a surname. It’s now part of the national fabric. People know how to spell it as well.”
She would encourage young people, especially Asians, to go into journalism: “It’s a fantastic career. Some people say it’s an uncertain career, but I’m a great optimist. Each generation remakes an industry for themselves, don’t they? We’re some way from being as integrated and as equal as we should be, but we are so much better than we used to be. I’m, by and large, very proud of the way in which the country has developed.”
n Finding Belle is published by HarperCollins. £16.9