India report: Royal Challengers Bengaluru clinch maiden IPL Title
'Operation Sindoor' takes centre stage as Opposition demands special Parliament session
'Op Sindoor' delegation returns, briefs Foreign Minister Jaishankar on international feedback
Opposition Congress party calls India's G7 exclusion a 'diplomatic setback'
Northeast flood emergency worsens; Prime Minister vows comprehensive relief efforts
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West Australian
4 hours ago
- West Australian
Trump has 'no plans' to speak to Musk as feud persists
Donald Trump says he has no plans to speak with Elon Musk, signalling the US president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut bill any time soon. Addressing reporters on Friday aboard Air Force One, Trump said he wasn't "thinking about" the Tesla CEO. "I hope he does well with Tesla," Trump said. However, Trump said a review of Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. "We'll take look at everything," the president said. "It's a lot of money." Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Musk's electric cars on the White House lawn, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Musk, for his part, did not directly address Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending bill that contains much of Trump's domestic agenda. On his social-media platform X, Musk amplified remarks made by others that Trump's "big beautiful bill" would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation's $US36.2 trillion ($A55.8 trillion) debt. He replied "exactly" to a post by another X user that said Musk had criticised Congress and Trump had responded by criticising Musk personally. Musk also declared it was time for a new political party in the United States "to represent the 80 per cent in the middle!" People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Trump, according to one person who has spoken to Musk's entourage. The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance. Tesla stock rose on Friday, clawing back some losses from Thursday's session, when it dropped 14 per cent and lost $US150 billion ($A231 billion) in value, the largest single-day decline in the company's history. Musk, the world's richest person, bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Trump feted Musk at the White House a week ago as he wrapped up his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk cut only about half of one per cent of total spending, far short of his brash plans to axe $US2 trillion ($A3.1 trillion) from the federal budget. Since then, Musk has denounced Trump's tax-cut and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination". His opposition is complicating efforts to pass the bill in Congress where Republicans hold a slim majority. Trump had initially stayed quiet while Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, but broke his silence on Thursday, telling reporters he was "very disappointed" in Musk. Musk, who spent nearly $US300 million ($A462 million) in the 2024 elections, said Trump would have lost without his support and suggested he should be impeached. Trump suggested he would terminate government contracts with Musk's businesses, which include rocket company SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink. The billionaire then threatened to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the only US spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Musk later backed off that threat. A prolonged feud could make it harder for Republicans to keep control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections if Musk withholds financial support or other major Silicon Valley business leaders distance themselves from Trump. Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending, and on Tuesday called for "all politicians who betrayed the American people" to be fired in 2026. His involvement with the Trump administration has provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites, driving down sales while investors fretted that Musk's attention was too divided.
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
Trump has 'no plans' to speak to Musk as feud persists
Donald Trump says he has no plans to speak with Elon Musk, signalling the US president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut bill any time soon. Addressing reporters on Friday aboard Air Force One, Trump said he wasn't "thinking about" the Tesla CEO. "I hope he does well with Tesla," Trump said. However, Trump said a review of Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. "We'll take look at everything," the president said. "It's a lot of money." Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Musk's electric cars on the White House lawn, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Musk, for his part, did not directly address Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending bill that contains much of Trump's domestic agenda. On his social-media platform X, Musk amplified remarks made by others that Trump's "big beautiful bill" would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation's $US36.2 trillion ($A55.8 trillion) debt. He replied "exactly" to a post by another X user that said Musk had criticised Congress and Trump had responded by criticising Musk personally. Musk also declared it was time for a new political party in the United States "to represent the 80 per cent in the middle!" People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Trump, according to one person who has spoken to Musk's entourage. The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance. Tesla stock rose on Friday, clawing back some losses from Thursday's session, when it dropped 14 per cent and lost $US150 billion ($A231 billion) in value, the largest single-day decline in the company's history. Musk, the world's richest person, bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Trump feted Musk at the White House a week ago as he wrapped up his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk cut only about half of one per cent of total spending, far short of his brash plans to axe $US2 trillion ($A3.1 trillion) from the federal budget. Since then, Musk has denounced Trump's tax-cut and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination". His opposition is complicating efforts to pass the bill in Congress where Republicans hold a slim majority. Trump had initially stayed quiet while Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, but broke his silence on Thursday, telling reporters he was "very disappointed" in Musk. Musk, who spent nearly $US300 million ($A462 million) in the 2024 elections, said Trump would have lost without his support and suggested he should be impeached. Trump suggested he would terminate government contracts with Musk's businesses, which include rocket company SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink. The billionaire then threatened to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the only US spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Musk later backed off that threat. A prolonged feud could make it harder for Republicans to keep control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections if Musk withholds financial support or other major Silicon Valley business leaders distance themselves from Trump. Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending, and on Tuesday called for "all politicians who betrayed the American people" to be fired in 2026. His involvement with the Trump administration has provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites, driving down sales while investors fretted that Musk's attention was too divided.
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
The Indian ecological disaster that inspired new Australian play, The Wrong Gods
Travel deep into the dense forest and rolling hills of central India and you will find the ancient town of Amarkantak — the birthplace of the great Narmada river. The river runs west, all the way to the Arabian Sea. By the water's edge, eagles and hornbills flit across the immense jungle canopy comprising countless tree species that are found nowhere else on the subcontinent. The river's vast banks are a refuge for wildlife as grand and diverse as tigers, bears and wolves. It's also a home for humans, and a holy place. Mentioned in classic texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, it's not hard to imagine Hindu gods taking a stroll along its rapids. But, after centuries of being home to not just intricate ecosystems but countless villages and farmers, the Narmada River now represents human-made ecological disaster and powerful protest. The iconic grassroots movement that sprung up around the river has rippled far and wide — including here to Australia, where a new work by award-winning playwright S. Shakthidharan uses it as inspiration. Called The Wrong Gods, the play's central question is: what stops us from acting in the best interest of nature? The Narmada Valley Project, or the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) is one of the world's biggest hydropower infrastructure projects — including 30 major, 135 medium and 3,000 small dams. Proposed in the 60s, the national building goal was noble: capture the river's huge flow to irrigate farmland and provide drinking water and power for three Indian states. Instead, it has been described as India's "greatest planned environmental disaster". While no environmental impact research was done prior to its construction, the dam has led to widespread deforestation, loss of habitat and loss of wildlife, both aquatic and mammal. Almost immediately, Indigenous Indian villagers (Adivasis) were displaced by the rising river banks or, as famed writer Arundhati Roy put it, "chased off their ancestral lands as though they were intruders". The total count of the farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk who would be made homeless is somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 and encompasses hundreds of villages. Most of these people have been forced to move to slums surrounding major cities. Ten years ago, Australian playwright S. Shakthidharan visited one such farming family, who were part of the resistance to the dam project, and it was there the seed for his new play was planted. "I'll never forget those few nights," he tells ABC Arts. "It takes a long time to get there, it's very remote, and so we hadn't eaten much for a very long time. And when we got there, they killed a chicken for us. "I was vegetarian at the time, which I didn't tell them, and I helped them clean and prepare the chicken. We spent the whole night doing that, cooking and eating it. And then I slept next to the farmer on a rattan bed, over the chickens." According to Nadini K Oza, a former activist and current archivist of the movement, it was a true grassroots operation. "For more than half a century, the people of the Narmada Valley who were affected by the project have been conducting small and big struggles against the SSP," she says. "In the mid-1980s and late 1980s, many of these groups, organisations and struggles came together and ultimately evolved into the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)." The NBA was hugely successful with its protests. It forced the World Bank to withdraw its $US450 million loan from the dam project and later was able to halt construction for several years through the Supreme Court. The movement fought for and won "better rehabilitation and resettlement of the people" displaced from their villages too. Despite these successes, dam construction has continued and is due for completion in 2025 — making the conservation and Indigenous-rights debates a continuing part of India's political landscape. It may seem half a world away but, for S. Shakthidharan, the story of the Narmada River has much to offer us in Australia today. "I was really grappling with the reasons that we aren't acting on climate change," he says. "I think our biggest issue is actually a cultural one, which is that we are locked into systems of consumption that we don't know how to get out of, and we're locked to it, to a way of relating to the natural worlds that we don't know how to get out of. "How do we acknowledge the incredible things progress has given us, and still find a way forward to cultural change, to bend the power of progress in a different way?" That's when he came up with the idea for The Wrong Gods — reflecting that perhaps the most successful religion of all time was that of progress. "We pray to it and believe in it regardless of political beliefs about it. It's a religion that, even if you're against it, you're still a part of." Finally, the playwright realised he had already visited the perfect setting for all this — the Narmada Valley. "I tried to write a plan which kind of took inspiration from that setting and that struggle, but could turn it into a parable for all of us." Shakthidharan has also intentionally incorporated one of the most striking aspects of the anti-dam movement — the prominent role of women. Women have led many direct actions, including long fasts and have faced the brunt of state retaliation including police beatings and jail. The Wrong Gods centres on Nirmala, a very traditional village woman, and her daughter Isha, who has dreams of leaving their remote valley to study and become a scientist. "The characters ended up becoming all women in the play, and the relationship between individual liberation and collective liberation felt so potent in that context," Shakthidharan says. He soon realised the benefits of co-directing with a woman — Hannah Goodwin, the resident director of Belvoir. "I realised that it would be great to use this opportunity to build a team where as many women are at the forefront as possible: so the set was built by women, we have women costume designers, stage managers and actors. "The room and the process has been different for that and I'm so proud of that." The Wrong Gods is currently showing at Arts Centre Melbourne until June 12.
