Udupi: Sri Krishna Mutt to host Zakir Hussain’s concert

Bengaluru, Jan 24: Middle East based prestigious LuLu Group has come forward to invest $300 million in Karnataka in the retail, logistics and hospitality sectors.

As part of this, the first LuLu mall will commence operations in Bengaluru’s Rajajinagar area by August.

LuLu’s first mall in India, in Cochin, is seen as a huge success. It’s not clear how that mall is doing financially, but it became so popular that it had an adverse effect on almost every other mall in the city.

Lulu’s investment plan for Karnataka was communicated during a discussion between chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Yusuff Ali MA, chairman and managing director of Lulu Group, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The company will also set up two five-star hotels in Bengaluru through Twenty14 Holdings, its hospitality arm, and a modern logistics centre in the Uttara Kannada region.

Lulu Group’s retail initiative Tablez brought Toys `R’ Us, one of the world’s largest toy store chains, to Bengaluru in 2017. Started in the Phoenix Mall in Whitefield, it competes with Reliance-owned Hamleys.

Tablez has also brought in other international brands such as American ice cream parlour chain Cold Stone Creamery, South Africa based flame-grilled chicken concept Galito’s, and Tablez’ own brand Bloomsbury’s, a boutique cafe and bakery. It has also launched Spanish fashion brands Springfield and Women ’secret.

In a shocking incident, a woman allegedly sold her five-day-old baby boy to two siblings in Karnataka’s Davanagere for Rs 5,000 on Tuesday (May 26) in connivance with a hospital employee, according to police.

Acting on a complaint by Honnali child development project officer Mahantesh Poojar, police booked a case against six persons in connection with the incident and arrested four of them by Tuesday night.

Police said the woman allegedly sold the baby, born on May 20 at Honnali taluk hospital, to Annesh Naik, 36, and his sister Lavanya, 39, in the early hours of Tuesday in front of the Honnali KSRTC bus stand.

The six accused have been identified as Kumar, 44, a staff nurse at Honnali hospital; Mahesh, a group ‘D’ employee at the hospital who facilitated the deal; Basavaraj, 36, a lab technician at Hirekerur hospital; Annesh; Lavanya; and the mother of the infant.

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Private unaided schools in the state that were demanding fees from parents in the name of online classes and taking online admissions will face action under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, the Karnataka government said.

The Department of Public Instructions has warned school management of action against such educational institutes if they violate the rules. Following complaints from several parents and also from private school management associations, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar discussed the issue with officials from the department during a recent meeting and directed them to initiate action against such academies.

In a guideline issued on Saturday, the department said, "Schools can conduct online classes. But are not permitted to collect the fee from parents until further orders from the department."