Nirupama Rao bids farewell to her diplomatic career

Washington: Nirupama Rao, Indian envoy to the US, bid farewell to her career of diplomacy, as members of the American diplomatic core and her counterparts from countries like China and Brazil gathered at a reception hosted in her honour by the State Department here.

"It is difficult to imagine that so much time has passed," Rao told a select audience gathered at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the US State Department, which hosted a rare farewell reception for the Indian diplomat on the last day of her assignment last night.

Rao, 62, in the four-decade of being a diplomat served as India's Foreign Secretary, External Affairs Ministry's spokesperson and envoy to important countries like China and Sri Lanka.

"I leave with a great sense of optimism and hope and satisfaction that I have been able not only to learn so much but also to help build partnerships and forge relationship between India and a number of countries around the world," said Rao.

US Secretary of State John Kerry sent a special message to Rao which was read on the occasion.

He appreciated Rao's role in strengthening the important partnership between India and the US. "I wish you all the best in the day, months and years to come," Kerry said in the message.

"An honour to be hosted to farewell @StateDept today. Touched by Secretary Kerry's message and presence of so many friends and colleagues," Rao tweeted after the reception. Rao is one of the few diplomats who has over 190,000 followers on the microblogging site.

At the reception, she was described as "tireless champion" of Indo-US Strategic Partnership and that during her two-year tenure, the bilateral relationship has reached new heights.

She was accompanied by her husband and former Chief Secretary of Karnataka Sudhakar Rao.

Last week, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns hosted a luncheon for her at the State Department.

The Indian-American community and the US India Business Council also hosted receptions for her last week.

Rao also hosted a farewell reception at her residence last week, which was attended by top American diplomats and members of the Indian-American community.

Among those attended the reception were US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal and her predecessor Robert Blake; and US the Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy.

Rao will be succeeded by S Jaishankar, currently India's Ambassador to China.

Three Indians jailed in Dubai for bribery

Dubai: A Dubai court has jailed three Indian barbers for a year each for offering 1500 dirhams (around $400) to a Dubai Municipality health inspector to get a health card illegally.

The Indian trio, identified by their initials as IM, AK and MS, were said to have offered a municipality inspector the bribe in June to get a health card for AK, who was suffering from hepatitis B, the Gulf News reported.

The Dubai Court of First Instance Sunday found them guilty of offering a bribe despite the defendants pleading not guilty.

The prosecutors told the court that IM tried to convince the inspector at Dubai Municipality’s clinic that AK was healthy.

The court also fined the defendants 600 dirhams each.

The three Indians were charged after they were caught in a sting operation while giving the bribe.

“IM asked me over the phone if I could help him issue a health card to a person who suffers from hepatitis B. I refused and told him that it was unlawful to process a health card for a barber who suffers from a contagious disease,” the health inspector said.

 “The next day he came to my workplace and asked why I was hesitant to help him. The supervisor said earlier health cards had been issued to individuals with contagious diseases,” he said.

“I promised I would reconsider… then I told my boss. She suggested that I pretend to have agreed in order to expose the staff members who processed the health cards to unhealthy individuals,” the inspector added.

The Indian nationals will be deported after they complete their sentences.

Two farmers commit suicide due to rain damaging their crops

    Two farmers ended their lives in Karimnagar district on Monday, the police said here today.

    Unable to bear the damage due to recent rains, to his paddy crop which he had cultivated after borrowing money from private financiers, Sudhakar Reddy (47) consumed insecticide in his farm on Sunday.

    He was immediately shifted to the hospital at Manthani division headquarters, where he died while undergoing treatment, today.

    In a similar case, a cotton farmer, Bandari Odelu (20) of Uppal village in Kamalapur mandal, ended his life by consuming insecticide on Monday.

    The police has registered cases and investigation is on, the police said.

Indian dupes some 500 Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia

Jeddah, Nov 4 (PTI) An Indian national in Saudi Arabia has allegedly duped some 500 pilgrims of nearly USD 400,000 through a fake Hajj campaign here, prompting authorities to launch a manhunt for him.

    The victims of the fake scheme are all expatriates.They were informed by the Indian in mid-September that they will have tents in Mina and receive free food and transportation. However, after collecting over 1.5 million Saudi Riyal, the man disappeared and switched his mobile off.Victims were assured by the Saudi authorities that the man who cheated them is still in the Kingdom and cannot flee the country, Saudi Gazette reported.

    Jeddah police said the man cannot leave Saudi Arabia because he has a documented case
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    The police said they have contacted the Indian Embassy to inform them about the man. They said the man was hiding somewhere between Makkah and Jeddah."We are expatriates and are not aware of the legal procedures here," said Mohammed Shariff, one of the victims.

Lata Mangeshkar wants Narendra Modi to become Prime Minister

Noted singer Lata Mangeshkar on Friday backed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate saying she wished to see the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in the top office.

The remark was made by the legendary singer at the inauguration ceremony of a hospital in Pune. The hospital has been named after Deenanath Mangeshkar, father of Lata Mangeshkar.

Following the statement by Lata, the BJP PM candidate addressed the gathering saying he was honoured to be invited for the event by the Mangeshkar family.

Lata's sister Asha Bhosle was also on the stage.

I am being projected as dracula, Asaram Bapu claims in court

New Delhi:  Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, currently lodged in a jail in Gujarat, has once again lost a petition seeking to restrain the media from reporting on sexual assault allegations against him.

The 75-year-old had moved the court to stop two TV channels from airing allegedly slanderous reports about him saying they were projecting him as a "dracula who drank children's blood."

Rejecting his plea, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said it cannot ask the media not to report the information they get from police or other sources.

"If some inmate says something or an investigation officer talks to the media, how can we stop them? Media is reporting what they say. We can't stop media.  You have other remedies," Justice Sathasivam told Asaram's counsel.

Asaram moved the court against the two channels after the Supreme Court on October 21 declined to restrain both print and visual media from carrying news reports about his case.

The spiritual guru was arrested in August this year on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his ashram in Jodhpur in Rajasthan.  Later, two sisters who stayed at his ashrams in Gujarat accused him and his son, Narayan Sai, of rape. Asaram has denied all charges against him.

Ghosal's dream run ends in World Squash Championship

Manchester: Saurav Ghosal's dream run in the World Squash Championship came to an end when he suffered a straight-game defeat against defending champion and world number one Ramy Ashour from Egypt in the quarter-finals, here.

Ghosal, who made history by becoming the first Indian ever to reach the world championship last-eight stage, put up a brave fight before running out of steam against the top seed from Cairo, losing 9-11 5-11 9-11 in a 48-minute contest at Manchester Central late on Thursday night.

It was Ashour's fourth successive quarter-final berth in the championship, which he won last year and in 2008. Ghosal, who went into the match without a win against the Egyptian in the last four meetings, made an impressive start as he led 8-4 and 9-6 in the first game.

But the 26-year-old, later described by Ghosal as "the most original squash player I have ever seen", came up with a series of scintillating shots to recover from the deficit and take the game.