MUMBAI: Nearly 80,000 people in India’s financial capital Mumbai attended the Global Citizen Festival headlined by British rock band Coldplay Saturday as part of an anti-poverty campaign.
Top global megastars including rap megastar Jay Z, pop singer Demi Lovato and British band The Vamps performed at the event, alongside Bollywood names including superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
The Global Citizen Festival is an annual music concert established in 2012 which is part of a broader campaign to end extreme poverty by 2030. Coldplay’s Chris Martin is the concert’s creative director.
Concertgoers formed long queues early in the day outside the venue, causing major traffic congestion in Mumbai’s already-congested business district. Martin ended the concert by singing India’s national anthem ‘Vande Mataram’ (Mother, I salute thee) with help from India’s Oscar-winning music director A.R Rahman.
Nearly 80 percent of tickets to the event were given away to people who support organizer Global Poverty Project’s campaigns, including improving sanitation, gender equality, and education in India.
The event was attended by Hindi screen legend Amitabh Bachchan and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Kweku Mandela.
In a televised address, India’s Prime minister Narendra Modi, who had appeared at the festival in 2014, quoted lines from Bob Dylan’s famous songs to refer to changing political climate in the South Asian country. But he kept his comments brief, saying “I know that I stand between you and Coldplay,” but heaped praise on India’s young population, saying they “bring an energy and idealism that is unparalleled.”
Coldplay charms India in anti-poverty concert
Coldplay charms India in anti-poverty concert
Christmas Eve winner in Arkansas lands a $1.817 billion Powerball lottery jackpot
- The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19
- The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was in 2011, Powerball said
ARKANSAS, USA: A Powerball ticket purchased at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas, won a $1.817 billion jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner.
The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19. The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA in Cabot, lottery officials in Arkansas said Thursday. No one answered the phone Thursday at the location, which was closed for Christmas. The community of roughly 27,000 people is 26 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock.
Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previous expected, making it the second-largest in US history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9 million.
“Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize,” Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO, was quoted as saying by the website. “We also want to thank all the players who joined in this jackpot streak — every ticket purchased helps support public programs and services across the country.”
The prize followed 46 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers.
The last drawing with a jackpot winner was Sept. 6, when players in Missouri and Texas won $1.787 billion.
Organizers said it is the second time the Powerball jackpot has been won by a ticket sold in Arkansas. It first happened in 2010.
The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was in 2011, Powerball said. The company added that the sweepstakes also has been won on Christmas Day four times, most recently in 2013.
Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes.
“With the prize so high, I just bought one kind of impulsively. Why not?” Indianapolis glass artist Chris Winters said Wednesday.
Tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
