New Delhi

IANS/New Delhi

India has been ranked as low as 84 among 180 countries on the integrity score, continuing to be perceived as a highly corrupt nation in the world, by global corruption watchdog Transparency International in its latest survey.

The ranking means that 83 other countries are less corrupt than India.

“India’s integrity score stands at 3.4 on a scale of 0 (perceived as highly corrupt) to 10 (least corrupt),” according to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009 prepared by the Berlin-based Transparency International, an independent organisation tracking prevalence of corruption worldwide.

India’s integrity score last year was the same. In 2007, its score was a notch better at 3.5, says the survey.

Why're Bollywood actresses marrying married men?
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New Delhi, Nov 9: When Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty walks down the aisle to marry London-based businessman Raj Kundra this month, she will be following in the footsteps of Hema Malini, Sridevi and Raveena Tandon - actresses who famously entered into wedlock with men who had been married earlier.

Shilpa met millionaire Kundra, 34, shortly after she found fame in Britain by winning the international reality series "Celebrity Big Brother" two years ago. Now she is marrying him Nov 22 at a private ceremony to be attended by close friends and family.

More than the petition I’m amazed by the name of the lawyer handling this case.

Ram Jethmalani is one of the most expensive and renowned lawyers in India..

An Indian man is suing the makers of Lynx deodorant after he failed to get a girlfriend despite using their products for seven years.

Vaibhav Bedi, 26, is demanding Unilever pay him $91,000 as compensation for the "depression and psychological damage" caused by a lack of any "Lynx effect", the Daily Record reports.

Scantily-clad women throwing themselves at men wearing Lynx has long been a key feature of advertisements for the deodorant, which is marketed as Axe in India.

New Delhi: When India’s central bank admitted discovering 400,000 fake notes in its currency reserves, many here woke up to the scale of the country’s counterfeit money problems.

“We have had some success in tracking the routes and will continue to counter it, but behind this racket is an organised effort in Pakistan and PoK (Pakistan-administered Kashmir),” Home Minister P Chidamabaram said recently.

source:
http://www.gulf-time...

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Strange what brides as for :)

From CNN:

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- Most Indian mothers want their daughters to marry decent men who make a good living. Now, in parts of rural India, women have a new -- and rather unusual -- demand for matrimony: a toilet.

"No toilet, no bride," has become a rallying cry for women raising a stink about the lack of a basic amenity.

They see it as a human rights issue, especially in villages where plumbing can be nonexistent.

It was that way in Sunariyan Kalan in the northern state of Haryana. Sumitra Rathi said village women had no choice but to relieve themselves without privacy.

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KABUL: A strong earthquake centered in the towering Hindu Kush mountains shook a wide area of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Friday, swaying buildings in Kabul and Islamabad.

There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake.

The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered in the mountains about 167 miles (268 kilometers) northeast of Kabul and 140 miles (230 kilometers) west of Mingaora, Pakistan, according to the US Geological Survey.

Buildings shook in Peshawar and Islamabad, and the quake was felt as far east as Lahore near the Indian border, Pakistani television stations reported.

NEW DELHI – A passenger train crashed into another train's rear carriage reserved for women and disabled passengers, killing 21 people and injuring 17 who remained trapped for hours Wednesday near the Taj Mahal in northern India, police said.

Rescuers used gas cutters to open the wrecked compartment to free trapped passengers following the collision near Agra, the site of the famed white-marble monument about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of New Delhi, said Rajesh Bajpai, a railway spokesman.

Rescuers recovered 19 bodies during a rescue operation that lasted nearly seven hours, said Rajesh Dikshit, a police spokesman. Two of the 19 injured people died in hospital, Dikshit told The Associated Press.

No foreigners were among the victims, he said.