Businessman GB Choithram Jethwani, known widely as a pillar of the Indian community in Dubai, has died at the age of 90.
The chairman of Gee Bee Group of Companies died at home on Sunday after a heart attack.
His death has been described as a sad loss to the Indian community and to Dubai.
Jethwani started up his company after arriving to the emirate in the 1950s, with a focus on manufacturing, trading, imports and exports, as well as distribution.
“He was a good soul who will be missed by the entire community,” said Surender Singh Kandhari, chairman of the Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh temple in Dubai.
“I remember meeting him on my second day in Dubai 44 years ago and we became close.
“He was a very religious man who was known for being considerate.”
Jethwani was also known as one of the founding trustees of Indian High School, Dubai, and was a former president of Dubai Indian Association and Indian Sports Club.
Dr Lalchand Pancholia, who works in Dubai as a radiologist, said Jethwani was a close friend of his late father, Maghanmal.
“They did great work together for the community, and GB had so much time for everyone. He was renowned for his philanthropic work,” said Dr Pancholia.
“I remember when I was starting my own career and he had great advice to give me.
“He was also a big lover of dal bati curry, and my father would often invite him over to have dinner with us.”
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
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Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
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Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
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Torque: 250Nm
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Tomorrow 2021
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
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Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
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CREW
Racecard
5.25pm: Etihad Museum – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,200m
6pm: Al Shindaga Museum – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
6.35pm: Poet Al Oqaili – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,400m
7.10pm: Majlis Ghurfat Al Sheif – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,600m
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8.20pm: Al Fahidi – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 2,200m
8.55pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m
9.30pm: Coins Museum – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
10.05pm: Al Quoz Creative – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Six large-scale objects on show
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May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
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UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
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Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 217hp at 5,750rpm
Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh130,000
On sale: now
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
SANCTIONED
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Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
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Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
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Cartlow: $13.4m
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imVentures: $100m
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Nybl – machine learning
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The%20specs
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Various artists, Sony Music Turkey

