News in Brief 2024-07-13

Billionaire bash: India's lavish Ambani nuptials
MUMBAI, July 12: 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. — AFP
Covid still kills 1,700 a week: WHO
GENEVA, July 12: Covid-19 is still killing around 1,700 people a week around the world, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as it urged at-risk populations to keep up with their vaccinations against the disease. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sounded a warning on declining vaccine coverage. Despite the continued death toll, "data show that vaccine coverage has declined among health workers and people over 60, which are two of the most at-risk groups," the UN health agency's chief told a press conference. — AFP