Author: AshutoshBaluni

A new BBC documentary releasing soon will uncover the many facets of Coco Chanel, the legendary fashion designer, including her Nazi connections. Cross-dresser, feminist hero…..Nazi collaborator? Broadcasting on 15th September on the BBC2 channel, “Coco Chanel Unbuttoned” will depict the French design mogul as the ultimate opportunist and a gifted influencer, shaped by her journey from a tough upbringing to amassing great wealth and fame as a designer and businesswoman. Other than revealing the craft and brainstorming that went into drumming up iconic fashion innovations like the tan, the diet, the no 5 perfume worn by celebrities like Monroe and…

Inflation across food items in India has led to a greater price hike in vegetarian thalis than non-vegetarian thalis, affecting vegetarian families more, according to a new study. What the report says The nation has been reeling through a wave of record-high inflation, most reflective in the wild fluctuation of tomato prices, alongside other food items. According to a recent study, these price hikes might be affecting vegetarian households more than their non-vegetarian counterparts by observing the prices of a single “thali” meal. The price of a vegetarian thali has risen by 24.26% to 33.8 rupees while the price of…

Over 4 lakh Indians would die waiting for a Green Card in the US as a result of a massive backlog of pending applications, according to a new study. Long red-light for the Green Card It is no secret that many Indians hold aspirations to settle overseas for a better life amidst great socio-economic turmoil, reflected in the sheer volume of US visa applications submitted by Indians, with the USA preparing to approve nearly a million of them this year. However, the wait for a green card, which grants non-Americans a permanent residence in the States, has been purported to…

Displaced citizens and activists have questioned whether demolition of Delhi slums in recent months was a part of “beautification” in the run-up to the G20 summit. Removing poverty, or the poor? India has claimed the presidency for the G20 summit this year, taking place on the 9th and 10th of September in the capital city of Delhi. Widespread preparations have been taking place in full swing as Public Works Department (PWD) workers attempt to give Delhi a makeover in time, from installation of lamp posts, fountains, statues and CCTVs, to maintenance of pumps across the city to prevent waterlogging. However,…

Some of the biggest banks in the world have been directing trillions of dollars into fossil fuel expansion in the global south, according to a new report. “Fossil fuelling” the climate crisis Often the very first ones to feel the wrath of climate change, developing countries also lack the material resources and the necessary amount of funds to bring in crucial changes in their climate policies, according to an UN-backed report published in November last year. The same report urged developed countries and their banks to invest and channel at least $1 trillion annually into the global-south if the world…

24 members of the Kuki-Zo tribe were allegedly forced out of their homes in central Imphal by security forces on Saturday. Government cites “safety concerns” According to government sources, Kuki residents of the New Lambulane area at the core of Manipur’s capital were provided “safe passage” to an Assam Rifles camp in the hilly region of Motbung, Senapati district, after having received inputs of “immediate danger” on the tribal people. An area which once housed nearly 300 Kuki families had seen that number trickle down in the wake of ethnic violence beginning on May 3 between the Kuki and Meitei…

Mining and oil giant Vedanta has come under fire for allegedly successfully lobbying the government to loosen environmental regulations, according to a new report. Vedanta’s “covert” operation The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), who in a different report lobbed serious allegations against another affluent Indian conglomerate in the Adani Group nearly 24 hours ago, have shifted their aim towards Vedanta. According to the new report, “thousands” of documents such as internal memos, minutes of “closed-door meetings”, letters, amongst others, had been procured via RTI petitions. These documents, allegedly, have led them to believe that the heavy industry giant…

The Adani Group has been accused of secretly investing in shares of their own companies, according to an OCCRP report on Wednesday. Hindenburg 2.0? Fresh documents released by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), made available to Financial Times and the Guardian, take aim at discrete functioning of “opaque offshore structures” connected with associates of the group who have been allegedly investing hundreds of millions of dollar into shares of the companies under the conglomerate since 2013. The report drew parallels between this activity and Gautam Adani’s rapid rise, accumulating a worth of around $120 billion in 2022,…

A recent attack on a LGBTQ+ bar in Lebanon has led to activists question whether the hateful rhetoric serves as a distraction from the nation’s “real problems”. Lebanon not a LGBTQ+ safe haven anymore? Compared to several Middle Eastern and northern African nations, Lebanon has been viewed relatively positively in terms of the safety provided to it’s queer citizens, with a landmark 2018 verdict ruling homosexuality as not an “unnatural offence”. While conservatism has been deeply embedded in Lebanon’s social fabric, bars, clubs, and civil society organisations have been tending to queer people in certain regions of the capital, Beirut.…

A video of a woman lying dead on the floor of a Libyan migrant detention centre has revealed new evidence of the horrific state of refugees in the North-African nation. 30 seconds of horror The Guardian has claimed to have obtained footage from a group making their way into Tunisia from Libya, where they were detained two weeks ago in the Abu Salim detention centre in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. In the graphic video, a Nigerian woman walked around a room in the facility with female asylum seekers on mattresses littered across the floor, crying out for help and comparing…