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Billionaire bash: India’s lavish Ambani nuptials

Billionaire bash: India’s lavish Ambani nuptials
People walk past the venue decorated with lights ahead of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani’s wedding to Radhika Merchant at Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on July 11, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 12 July 2024
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Billionaire bash: India’s lavish Ambani nuptials

Billionaire bash: India’s lavish Ambani nuptials
  • Ambani, 67, chairman of Reliance Industries, has a fortune of more than $123 billion, and is the 11th wealthiest person in the world
  • His younger son Anant and fiancee Radhika Merchant, both 29, are set to marry in three-day Hindu ceremony in Mumbai starting Friday
Updated 12 July 2024
AFP
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MUMBAI: Billionaire Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani celebrates the lavish finale of his son’s wedding this week, highlighting his staggering wealth, as well as India’s rapid economic growth and stark financial inequalities.
Ambani’s younger son Anant and fiancee Radhika Merchant, both 29, are set to marry in a three-day Hindu ceremony in India’s financial capital Mumbai starting Friday.
Asia’s richest man is no stranger to throwing a costly wedding.
He held the most expensive wedding in India to date for his daughter in 2018, which reportedly cost up to $100 million and saw US singer Beyonce perform.
This week’s opulent celebrations are set to raise the bar, with celebrities, politicians and business elite jetting into the monsoon-hit megacity of Mumbai.
Pre-wedding parties for his son included multi-day galas, a European cruise for 1,200 guests, a specially built Hindu temple and entertainment provided by pop stars ranging from Rihanna to Justin Bieber.
Ambani, 67, the chairman of Reliance Industries, has a fortune of more than $123 billion, and is the 11th wealthiest person in the world, according to the Forbes billionaires list.
He is a key ally of India’s right-wing Hindu nationalist leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ambani inherited a thriving industrial enterprise spanning oil, gas and petrochemicals.




Billionaire and Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani (R) with his wife Nita Ambani attends a mass wedding ceremony of underprivileged couples ahead of their son Anant Ambani’s wedding to Radhika Merchant, at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai on July 2, 2024. (AFP)

He grew it into a commercial behemoth with lucrative interests in retail, telecommunications and an Indian Premier League cricket team.
Ambani’s family home Antilia is one of Mumbai’s most prominent landmarks. The 27-floor building reportedly cost more than $1 billion to erect and has a permanent staff of 600 servants.
Merchant is the daughter of pharmaceutical moguls.
Wedding celebrations began in March with a three-day gala for 1,500-plus guests in Gujarat state.
Rihanna performed her first concert since last year’s Super Bowl for wedding guests including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and ex-US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
David Blaine did magic tricks.
Festivities also involved a trip to the Ambani’s “animal rescue center” housing exotic animals, and a specially built Hindu temple complex.
A second leg in June was a four-day Mediterranean cruise with 1,200 guests, Merchant told Vogue.
Singer Katy Perry performed at a masquerade ball at a French chateau in Cannes, while the Backstreet Boys and US rapper Pitbull also provided entertainment.
DJ David Guetta played at a toga party at sea.
The cruise ended in Italy’s Portofino, where tenor Andrea Bocelli serenaded the party in the town square.
The wedding invitation was an intricate chest incorporating a mini silver temple.
Merchant’s multiple dresses have been as elaborate.




Radhika Merchant (R) and her fiancé Anant Ambani, son of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, pose for a picture during their sangeet ceremony in Mumbai on July 5, 2024. (AFP)

They have included custom designs from Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and a vintage Yves Saint Laurent for Dior, she told Vogue.
Another was a sweeping chiffon dress printed with a love letter from her fiancee, the magazine reported.
“I want to be able to show it to my kids and grandkids, and say that ‘this is what our love was’,” Merchant said.
India is the fastest-growing major economy, and the world’s fifth largest.
But despite massive advances, the world’s most populous country has a jobs crisis to match.
National per capita income is just $1,174, according to government data.




Nita Ambani (L), wife of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, greets underprivileged couples during a mass wedding ceremony ahead of her son Anant Ambani’s wedding to Radhika Merchant, at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai on July 2, 2024. (AFP)

India was ranked 111 of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index report last year, a peer-reviewed measure calculated by European aid agencies.
One percent of India’s 1.4 billion people earn more than a fifth of its wealth, according to the World Inequality Lab, an income share “among the very highest” in the world — greater than South Africa, Brazil or the United States.
Perhaps to preempt criticism, Ambani provided a feast for 50,000 people in his hometown of Jamnagar in Gujarat during the first round of parties.
Ambani also organized a mass wedding for 52 “underprivileged” couples near Mumbai, promising to support “hundreds more such weddings” across India.

Topics: Anant Ambani Mukesh Ambani

One dead in Poland as storm lashes eastern and central Europe

One dead in Poland as storm lashes eastern and central Europe
Updated 59 min 20 sec ago
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One dead in Poland as storm lashes eastern and central Europe

One dead in Poland as storm lashes eastern and central Europe
  • The storm has already caused the death of four people in Romania, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes across the continent
Updated 59 min 20 sec ago
AFP

Warsaw: One person has drowned in Poland and four people are missing in the Czech Republic, authorities said Sunday, as Storm Boris lashed central and eastern Europe with torrential rains and flooding.
Since Thursday, swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been hit by high winds and unusually fierce rains.
The storm has already caused the death of four people in Romania, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes across the continent.
“We have the first confirmed death by drowning, in the Klodzko region” on the Polish-Czech border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday morning.
Tusk was traveling through the southwest of the country, which has been hit hardest by the floods.
Around 1,600 people have been evacuated in Klodzko, and Polish authorities have called in the army to support firefighters on the scene.
On Saturday, Polish authorities shut the Golkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river flooded its banks, as well as closing several roads and halting trains on the line linking the towns of Prudnik and Nysa.
In the nearby village of Glucholazy, Zofia Owsiaka watched with fear as the fast-flowing waters of the swollen Biala river surged past.
“Water is the most powerful force of nature. Everyone is scared,” Owsiaka, 65, told AFP.
In the Czech Republic, police reported four people were missing Sunday.
Three were in a car that was swept into a river in the northeastern town of Lipova-Lazne, and another man was missing after being swept away by floods in the southeast.
A dam in the south of the country burst its banks, flooding towns and villages downstream.
On Saturday, four people died in floods in southeastern Romania, with the bodies found in the worst affected region, Galati in the southeast, where 5,000 homes were damaged.
“We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences,” Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis said.
Hundreds of people have been rescued across 19 parts of the country, emergency services said, releasing a video of flooded homes in a village by the Danube river.
“This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Galati, where he said 700 homes had been flooded.
Parts of northeast Austria have been declared a natural disaster area.
Some areas of the Tyrol were blanketed by up to a meter (three feet) of snow — an exceptional situation for mid-September, which saw temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) last week.
Rail services were suspended in the country’s east early Sunday and several metro lines were shut down in the capital Vienna, where the Wien river was threatening to overflow its banks, according to the APA news agency.
Emergency services had made nearly 5,000 interventions overnight in the state of Lower Austria, where flooding had trapped many residents in their homes.
Firefighters have intervened around 150 times in Vienna since Friday to clear roads blocked by storm debris and pump water from cellars, local media reported.
Neighbouring Slovakia has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bratislava.
Heavy rains are expected to continue until at least Monday in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Topics: Poland Europe

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‘Several migrants’ die trying to cross Channel: French authorities

‘Several migrants’ die trying to cross Channel: French authorities
Updated 15 September 2024
AFP
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‘Several migrants’ die trying to cross Channel: French authorities

‘Several migrants’ die trying to cross Channel: French authorities
Updated 15 September 2024
AFP

LILLE, France: Several migrants died overnight Saturday to Sunday while trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French regional authorities said, less than two weeks after the deadliest such disaster this year.
“Several migrants lost their lives,” the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said, without specifying the number of victims.
Regional prefect Jacques Billant is set to hold a news conference at 10:00 am (0800 GMT), his office said.
Maritime authorities said Saturday that numerous attempts by migrants to make the perilous crossing in small boats have been attempted in recent days, with 200 people rescued in 24 hours over Friday and Saturday alone.
At least 12 migrants died off the northern French coast when their boat carrying dozens of people capsized this month.
It was the deadliest such disaster this year, which had already seen 25 people die in migrant crossings, up from 12 in 2023.
The French and British governments have sought for years to stop the flow of migrants, who pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage to England from France aboard small boats.
More than 22,000 migrants have arrived in England by crossing the Channel since the beginning of this year, according to British officials.

‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade

‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade
Updated 15 September 2024
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‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade

‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade
  • Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018
  • Unemployment is about 18%, nearly double India’s average
Updated 15 September 2024
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Nasir Khuehami and his family have never participated in a mainstream election in Jammu and Kashmir, but he is currently campaigning to mobilize others to take part in next week’s vote — the first in a decade and taking place in a new political setting after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region of its autonomy in 2019.

Polling will be held in stages between Sept.18 and Oct. 1 to elect a local assembly — a truncated government with a chief minister, who will serve as the region’s top official, and a council of ministers — instead of remaining under the direct rule of New Delhi.

The result will be announced on Oct. 8.

“I don’t care which regional party wins, what matters is that the people of Kashmir should have someone who is their own,” Khuehami told Arab News.

The 26-year-old national convenor of the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association is visiting different districts of the valley to mobilize students ahead of the vote.

“For the last 10 years there have been no elections in Jammu and Kashmir. In the last five years, after the abrogation of special status, even democracy was suspended, and it is bureaucrats who run the region. There has been no accountability,” he said.

“When we compare these bureaucrats with our own elected leaders, we find that our representatives are accountable, they listen to us, and they understand us ... This accessibility we miss now.”

Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party brought down a coalition government, forcing the assembly to dissolve. A year later, Modi’s government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted the region its semi-autonomy, and downgraded it to a federally controlled territory.

Indian officials have repeatedly said that the move was aimed at tackling separatism and bringing economic development to the region, but Khuehami said people on the ground have yet to witness it.

“All the development agenda has fallen flat,” he said. “How many development activities took place, how many universities were created, how many exams were canceled? This is the reality.” He added that he was hopeful that, after the election, “things might improve.”

Ummar Jamal, a 23-year-old law student from the University of Kashmir was also looking forward to the vote, even though the powers of its elected administration will be limited, as the region is now a union territory.

“There was a sense of despondency after the abrogation of Article 370. I believe people are celebrating the election process (now). They are enjoying the celebration of democracy. I hope that after elections our representatives will be better placed to address our issues,” he said.

“Unemployment is very high. Why are the youth coming out in large numbers to campaign and vote? Somehow, they feel the public representatives may get these unemployment issues addressed.”

Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. Indian-controlled Kashmir has, for decades, witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.

The two main regional parties — the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party — are going to challenge Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress, India’s main opposition party, is in alliance with the NC.

“There is a strong sense of anti-BJP sentiment because people feel that the BJP is trying to alter the regional identity. Youngsters are supporting the regional parties like NC and PDP which are speaking the language of the people and expressing their aspirations,” said Tariq Mir, 33, a PR manager and writer based in Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city.

“The main issue is the question of the Kashmiri identity ... People want a peaceful life with dignity.”

But they also seek new prospects, as unemployment in the region stands at around 18 percent — nearly double India’s average.

Aqib Manzoor, a law student at Central University of Kashmir, said that while many hope for the restoration of the region’s statehood, the creation of jobs in the private sector, tackling corruption, and giving them more freedom of expression are also key issues.

“Though hopes remain very high, time will tell whether these issues and concerns of youngsters will be addressed, or just remain unaddressed like in the past, when the state assembly had enough powers to bring real changes on the ground,” he said.

“The center and all parties should prepare to seize the new opportunity for the future of a prosperous state that addresses the concerns and aspirations of (those who are) the future of the nation.”

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies
Updated 15 September 2024
AP
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China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies
  • The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs
  • The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work
Updated 15 September 2024
AP

BEIJING: Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world’s major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced.
The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work.
“We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China’s population and its ties to the economy.
The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950’s, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said.

Elderly people rest at a park in Fuyang in eastern China's Anhui province on September 13, 2024. (AFP)

The policy will be implemented starting in January, according to the announcement from China’s legislature. The change will take effect progressively based on people’s birthdates.
For example, a man born in January 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, according to a chart released along with the policy. A man born in May 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 8 months in January 2033.
Demographic pressures made the move long overdue, experts say. By the end of 2023, China counted nearly 300 million people over the age of 60. By 2035, that figure is projected to be 400 million, larger than the population of the US The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had previously projected that the public pension fund will run out of money by that year.
Pressure on social benefits such as pensions and social security is hardly a China-specific problem. The US also faces the issue as analysis shows that currently, the Social Security fund won’t be able to pay out full benefits to people by 2033.
“This is happening everywhere,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But in China with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger.”
That is on top of fewer births, as younger people opt out of having children, citing high costs. In 2022, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that for the first time the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of the year than the previous year , a turning point from population growth to decline. In 2023, the population shrank further, by 2 million people.

Elderly people chat outside a restaurant along a street in Beijing on March 16, 2023. (AFP)

What that means is that the burden of funding elderly people’s pensions will be divided among a smaller group of younger workers, as pension payments are largely funded by deductions from people who are currently working.
Researchers measure that pressure by looking at a number called the dependency ratio, which counts the number of people over the age of 65 compared to the number of workers under 65. That number was 21.8 percent in 2022, according to government statistics, meaning that roughly five workers would support one retiree. The percentage is expected to rise, meaning fewer workers will be shouldering the burden of one retiree.
The necessary course correction will cause short-term pain, experts say, coming at a time of already high youth unemployment and a soft economy.
A 52-year-old Beijing resident, who gave his family name as Lu and will now retire at age 61 instead of 60, was positive about the change. “I view this as a good thing, because our society’s getting older, and in developed countries, the retirement age is higher,” he said.
Li Bin, 35, who works in the event planning industry, said she was a bit sad.
“It’s three years less of play time. I had originally planned to travel around after retirement,” she said. But she said it was better than expected because the retirement age was only raised three years for women in white-collar jobs.
Some of the comments on social media when the policy review was announced earlier in the week reflected anxiety.
But of the 13,000 comments on the Xinhua news post announcing the news, only a few dozen were visible, suggesting that many others had been censored.
 

Topics: China retirement age population

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NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia

NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia
Updated 15 September 2024
AP
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NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia

NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia
  • “Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself," Admiral Rob Bauer said during a meeting of the committee
  • The comment came as some of Ukraine’s major donors continue to put waver on the issue
Updated 15 September 2024
AP

PRAGUE: The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage — reflecting the beliefs of a number of US allies — even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons.
“Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Admiral Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by US Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bauer, of Netherlands, also added that nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine. But, standing next to him at a press briefing, Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, made it clear his nation places no such weapons restrictions on Kyiv.
“We believe that the Ukrainians should decide themselves how to use it,” Řehka said.
Their comments came as US President Joe Biden is weighing whether to allow Ukraine to use American-provided long-range weapons to hit deep into Russia. And they hint at the divisions over the issue.
Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, after this week’s visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats, who came under fresh pressure to loosen weapons restrictions. US officials familiar with discussions said they believed Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO's military committee, in Kyiv on March 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS)

Biden’s approval may be needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the US The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable, but there has been no decision announced yet.
Providing additional support and training for Ukraine was a key topic at the NATO chiefs’ meeting, but it wasn’t clear Saturday if the debate over the US restrictions was discussed.
Many of the European nations have been vigorously supportive of Ukraine in part because they worry about being the next victim of an empowered Russia.
At the opening of the meeting, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel broadly urged the military chiefs gathered in the room to be ”bold and open in articulating your assessments and recommendations. The rounder and the softer they are, the less they will be understood by the political level.”
The allies, he said, must “take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our countries and our way of life.”
The military leaders routinely develop plans and recommendations that are then sent to the civilian NATO defense secretaries for discussion and then on to the nations’ leaders in the alliance.
The US allows Ukraine to use American-provided weapons in cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces. But it doesn’t allow Kyiv to fire long-range missiles, such as the ATACMS, deep into Russia. The US has argued that Ukraine has drones that can strike far and should use ATACMS judiciously because they only have a limited number.
Ukraine has increased its pleas with Washington to lift the restrictions, particularly as winter looms and Kyiv worries about Russian gains during the colder months.
“You want to weaken the enemy that attacks you in order to not only fight the arrows that come your way, but also attack the archer that is, as we see, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine,” said Bauer. “So militarily, there’s a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible.”
Brown, for his part, told reporters traveling with him to the meeting that the US policy on long-range weapons remains in place.
But, he added, “by the same token, what we want to do is — regardless of that policy — we want to continue to make Ukraine successful with the capabilities that have been provided” by the US and other nations in the coalition, as well as the weapons Kyiv has been able to build itself.
“They’ve proven themselves fairly effective in building out uncrewed aerial vehicles, in building out drones,” Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made similar points, arguing that one weapons system won’t determine success in the war.
“There are a number of things that go into the overall equation as to whether or not you know you want to provide one capability or another,” Austin said Friday. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to things like this.”
He also noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

Topics: Russian-Ukraine conflict NATO Admiral Rod Bauer

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