Mangaluru: Gang of miscreants attacks four with lethal weapons; one critical

Apr 12: The board and management of troubled NMC Healthcare should be held accountable for the financial irregularities, said Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.

"Banks have dealt with the exposure professionally and they lent to a company which was listed on FTSE-100 index with world-class regulator and the world's largest audit firm doing their audit. Even if they present their balance sheet today, people will still lend to them. This is a world-class fraud and the management and board members should be held accountable. We should have a different track to handle this company. It is not a normal track that we can go," Al Ghurair said during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

It is estimated that the more than 80 local, regional and international banks have exposure to healthcare firm. The UAE bourses had asked all the listed companies in the UAE to announce their exposure. The UAE banks last week announced nearly Dh10 billion exposure to NMC Healthcare, which is owned by the billionaire BR Shetty.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has the highest exposure to NMC at Dh3 billion. Dubai Islamic Bank and its subsidiary Noor Bank announced Dh2 billion exposure while Emirates NBD and its Shariah-compliant unit Emirates Islamic Bank revealed Dh747.34 million exposure. Ajman Bank has Dh151.8 million while Al Salam Bank pegged its exposure at Dh161.5 million. All these lenders revealed their exposure for the first time on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank said it had extended Dh1.07 billion in financing to NMC Healthcare, and an additional Dh113.67 million exposure to Islamic bonds issued by NMC.National Bank of Fujairah pegged its exposure to NMC at Dh289.1 million, while Sharjah-based United Arab Bank said its exposure was Dh135.3 million.

NMC recently revised its debt position to $6.6 billion, well above earlier estimates.

London's High Court last week placed hospital operator NMC Health into administration, on the application of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

"I know leading bank in UAE have already legal guardian of the company so now management cannot hide anything. The new team will manage and discover what happened," said Al Ghurair.

Mangaluru: The first-of-its kind Beach Zumba event organized by Veekshitha Arasa on January 26th at Panambur Beach, Mangaluru attracted huge crowd and entertained the masses. Thousands of people who visited the beach last Sunday evening witnessed and danced along with the talented Zumba instructors from Bengaluru and Mangaluru. The show lasted for almost two hours.

The programme was organized by Veekshitha Arasa in association with Panambur Beach Tourism with the cooperation of Panambur Police and sponsorship of AJ Hospital & Research Centre, APD Foundation and SS Arrangers & Caterers.

Panambur Beach Tourism CEO Yatish Baikampady, APD Foundation Trustee Abdullah Rehman and Santhosh Kumar from SS Arrangers and others flagged off the event by releasing saffron, white and green balloons (the colours of Indian tricolor) to mark the nation’s Republic Day. Panambur beach police officials too participated in the inauguration. Veekshitha Arasa’s husband Rohan Lobo, Veekshitha’s parents Bhaskar Arasa and Geetha B Arasa too joined in.

This was done with the message ‘Let the love for health and fitness fly high among the citizens much like the soaring spirit of patriotism’. Speaking on the occasion, Veekshitha said that it was her dream to conduct a Zumba event in the city. “This is my small attempt at promoting fitness among the citizens of Mangaluru. There should be more such events,” she said.

Meenal Dubey, Ashwitha Shetty, Vishal Rai, Aishwarya, Namratha Shekar, Shruthi Keerthiraj, Vinayak Acharya, Kavitha Manish and Urmi were some of the enthusiastic Zumba instructors who performed with Veekshitha.

RJ Nayana and Saravanan Govindaswamy compered the event.

Bengaluru, Feb 22: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said an ideal trade-off needs to be reached between new media -- which is fast and popular -- and traditional media which has developed skills to authenticate a news report, which is a costly operation.

Addressing the fourth edition of ‘the Huddle’ – the annual thought conclave of the Hindu here, he asserted that the internet and social media had democratised journalism and revitalised democracy, but had also led to many anxieties.

While the new media was fast and popular and people could choose what they wanted to watch, hear or read, traditional media would have to introspect on its role in society and find ways to earn the reader’s full trust again as "the project of democracy was incomplete without informed citizens – which means, without unbiased journalism."

Debate and discussion were internalised in India’s social psyche to arrive at truth since time immemorial, he said.

"There is no doubt that perception of truth is conditioned by circumstances. The conditions that cloud the truth’s positions are effectively dispelled by a contestation of ideas through debate, discussion and scientific temper. Prejudices and violence vitiate the search for truth."

Expressing happiness to attend ‘The Huddle’ organised by The Hindu, he said the Hindu group of publications had been relentlessly aiming to capture the essence of this great country through its responsible and ethical journalism. He commended them for their insistence on sticking to the five basic principles of journalism – truth-telling, freedom and independence, justice, humaneness and contributing to the social good, an official release here said.

Mr Kovind said dogmas and personal prejudices distorted the truth. In the 150th year of Gandhiji’s birth, he asked all to ponder over this question: "will it not be proper to pursue truth itself as the ideology? Gandhiji has shown us the path by walking ceaselessly in search of truth which would ultimately encompass every positive attribute that enriches the universe."