A Dubai resident, who petitioned India's supreme court to fly out his pregnant wife, has died in his sleep.
Nithin Chandran, a 29-year-old mechanical engineer, is believed to have died due to heart complications, a month after he sent his wife home, said his close friends and relatives.
Known as a “champion of the people,” Chandran had filed for early repatriation from the UAE amid the coronavirus pandemic.
His wife, Athira Geetha Sreedharan, 27, was among the passengers on the first Vande Bharat Mission flight from Dubai to Kozhikode in the state of Kerala, after her husband had petitioned on her behalf.
Chandran had the opportunity to be on the same flight but decided to stay and help fellow Indians who were struggling to get flights home during the coronavirus crisis.
His close friend, Bibin Jacob told The National that he was known in the Indian community in Dubai for helping others.
“He was a champion of the people and always there for anyone who needed his help,” said Mr Jacob.
“He could have flown back to India but decided to stay here and help others organise their flights home.
“He also said there were people who needed a seat on the flight more urgently than he did. He never put himself first and was always thinking of others.”
Chandran was involved in food and blood donation programmes.
“He lobbied the central government of India on behalf of many people here in Dubai who wanted to get home to their families,” said Mr Jacob.
“He never had a problem helping those who needed it and will be remembered for the good work he did on behalf of others.”
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures: Monday, first 50-over match; Wednesday, second 50-over match; Thursday, third 50-over match
