Pakistan Ranks 34th in Global Corruption Index
October 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
Pakistan Ranks 34th in Global Corruption Index, War-torn states are still seen as being the most corrupt in the world, according to a new report from Transparency International. Pakistan dropped to 34th from 42nd in the ranking of global corruption index.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore maintained their top position on the list with scores of 9.3. They were followed by Finland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands while Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia came last with scores as low as 1.1. The US ranked 22nd on the list, down from 19th last year, with a score of 7.1 out of 10, compared with 7.5 in 2009, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog group showed in its Corruption Perceptions Index published today. Meanwhile, emerging economic powerhouse China is in 78th place.
Countries that improved their rankings included Chile, Kuwait, Qatar, Ecuador, Jamaica and Haiti. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Madagascar and Niger also saw their scores decline on the index.
This years index, which measures the perception of corruption in the public sector, showed that 132 of the 180 nations reviewed scored below five on a 0-to-10 scale, with 10 indicating the least corrupt, Transparency said.
The index has become a benchmark gauge of perceptions of a countrys corruption, an assessment of risks for investors. Its an aggregate indicator that combines data from as many as 13 surveys and assessments from 10 independent institutions, including country experts and business leaders.
India bribed 72 nations to get Delhi CWG: Report
India is alleged to have bribed 72 Commonwealth countries $0.1million each to get the hosting rights for the scandal-hit 19th edition of the Games which will start in Delhi from October 3-14, a media report claimed.
A report in an Australian newspaper claimed that Delhi pipped Hamilton in the bid after offering huge sums of money to the 72 Commonwealth countries during the final presentation in Jamaica. The report also said that Australia received a kickback of USD 125,000 from India.
Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations one hundred thousand dollars each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders, the newspaper reported. The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India and the payment was not an exceptionally large one.
But for small nations who have minimal interest in the Games, it clinched their vote and India went on to beat Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in the final poll. Hamilton had offered the nations about USD 70,000 each, it said. The newspaper also claimed that some countries’ which had supported Hamilton’s bid cried foul after India won the bid. Hamilton’s bid organisers, and many of the nations who voted for them, fired off angry protests about India buying votes and the bad blood generated between several feuding nations still exists, it said.
The Commonwealth Games Association has decided to ban 11th-hour inducements as a consequence of the outrage over India’s tactics. Australian Commonwealth Games Association president Sam Coffa also accepted that India offered money to get the Games. We had a situation where Asia has had the Games only once (Malaysia in 1998) and it was worthwhile going again, he said. Even though the Delhi Games organisers are battling against time to prepare the city for the mega-event, Coffa was hopeful about a successful CWG. He, however, came hard on the Commonwealth Games Federation for not taking up the matter, in regard to the city’s preparedness, with the organisers earlier.
I still think they can pull it off. If I have any regrets it is that the Commonwealth Games Federation did not act sooner. They were behind schedule quite a few months ago and it would have helped if they had gone to India to get things moving, Coffa said. Chairman of Hamilton bid Jagoda Pike also pounced on the opportunity and said the scenario would have been different if the Canadian city was awarded the hosting rights. I think you can safely say the kinds of issues they are experiencing wouldn’t have happened if it were here, Pike said.
India bribed 72 Commonwealth countries $100,000 each
September 24, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MELBOURNE: India bribed 72 Commonwealth countries $100,000 each to get the hosting rights for the scandal-hit 19th edition of the Games which will start in Delhi from October 3-14, a media report claimed.
A report in the Daily Telegraph claimed that Delhi pipped Hamilton in the bid after offering huge sums of money to the 72 Commonwealth countries during the final presentation in Jamaica.
The report also said that Australia received a kickback of $125,000 from India.
“Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations $100,000 (then about $140,000) each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders,” the newspaper reported.
“The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India
arthur laffer
June 10, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Arthur Leffer writes at the Wall Street Journal: “Consider corporate profits as a share of GDP. Today, corporate profits as a share of GDP are way too high given the state of the U.S. economy. These high profits reflect the shift in income into 2010 from 2011. These profits will tumble in 2011, preceded most likely by the stock market . . .
The result will be a crash in tax receipts once the surge is past. If you thought deficits and unemployment have been bad lately, you ain’t seen nothing yet . .
The pending tax hikes are scary and the unwanted cap and trade legislation overtures are potentially putting our economy in a long lasting depression. Oil & gas are the villains of Obama’s ideology and he does not understand we do not have $150 trillion plus to spare to substitute green power for existing oil & gas reserves, many not yet explored. We are in the age of hydrocarbon energy and will – with wise government planning and true economic guidance – eventually enter the full fledged nuclear power age with all the desired environmental benefits. 
But it will take time and control of the present budget deficits with significant tax cuts to get our industry on their feet and move in the direction of progress and positive growth of our GDP.
carcharodon megalodon
June 10, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
The great white shark fills many humans with fear. However, a few million years ago, there were far bigger sharks. The biggest shark know to man is megalodon. Scientists have been able to calculate an approximate length from the dimensions of the teeth, and have come up with a massive 52 feet, which is roughly 3 times bigger than a great white.
Megalodon means “big tooth” in Greek and it possessed some of the biggest teeth in the world’s history. Fossilized teeth have been found to measure approximately 7 inches. 
Fossil remains of megalodon are widespread throughout the world, finds occurring in the Americas, Jamaica, Japan, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The fossils have been dated back as far as the late Oligocene, about 25 million years ago.
Sharks of all sizes and from all ages are rather opportunistic hunters, and will eat what they can, when they can. Megalodon was highly equipped for its predatory status. Its metabolism was highly efficient, it swam at great speeds and its large size allowed it to prey upon almost all the animal life in the prehistoric seas. Suggested prey items consisted of whales, sea turtles, pinnipeds, porpoises, dolphins and of course, fish.
Megalodon stuck mostly to warmer regions of the sea, where potential threats were at a minimum and there was plenty of food to be found.
anamika veeramani
June 5, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Anamika Veeramani – Scripps National Spelling Bee 2010 Champion
2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee Winner
Anamika Veeramani, a 14-year-old girl from Ohio, won the 83rd Scripps National Spelling Bee last night at Washington’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.
The competition began with 273 spellers and ended with just one: Veeramani, who correctly spelled “stromuhr,” defined by Merriam-Webster as “a rheometer designed to measure the amount and speed of blood flow through an artery.”
Anamika winning word was Stromuhr, which a medical term not in daily used. There were 274 contestants all over America and from Canada and Jamaica too. National Spelling Bee 201o was held from June 2nd to June 4th.
Most of the people don’t know the word Stromuhr means but Anamika knew that it’s the instrument that measure the blood flow in the vessels. Anamika want to be graduated from the Howard and want to be cardiovascular surgeon and like to write the books on her future profession.
Anamika won the prize money of $40,000 in cash long with tilt of the championship. Last year she participated in the competition but came fifth. But she this year did and full fills the dreams of her parents and herself too. National Spelling Bee has became the tradition since last few years even this is championship is so get famous that a movie Spell Bee has been nominated for the Academy Award. Well, congratulation to Indian American Anamika on fulfilling her dream.
In the largest field in the history of the competition, the spellers ranged in age from 8 to 15 years old, but 80% were between 12 and 14.
This year has already held one shocker. The 2009 second place finisher, Tim Ruiter, was eliminated in round four. He had been considered the favorite to win the 2010 competition.
At the beginning of the Friday night championship finals, the following ten spellers remained:
top kill
May 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Aw man, we were looking forward to keeping a close eye on BP shares as the the “top kill” procedure to try to stem the gush of oil into the Gulf of Mexico got underway Wednesday.
Originally, we were under the impression that “top kill” would be caught on live the video feeds offering a relentlessly depressing view of the source of the pollution. According to a press release from Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) — in which the congressman channels the great spoken-word Jazz performer Gil Scott Heron – this isn’t the case:
BP informed Rep. Markey’s office that the live feed would be terminated some time early Wednesday morning, and would continue to be offline until after the attempt at the so-called “top kill” is completed.
“It is outrageous that BP would kill the video feed for the top kill. This BP blackout will obscure a vital moment in this disaster,” said Rep. Markey, who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the Energy and Commerce Committee. “After more than a month of spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP is essentially saying to the American people the solution will not be televised.”
Of course, it makes some sense that BP would want to prevent any needless observation, and uninformed speculating, on the progress of its top-kill maneuver from investors — and observers like us — who have difficultly unclogging kitchen sinks, let alone stopping a highly pressurized stream of petroleum shooting out of the sea floor. One could imagine the shares getting a real bump if the the flow of oil appeared to stop. But that might be the wrong conclusion. In a note on its video page, BP says:
ncis season finale
May 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Tuesday, May 25, sees CBS bring the season seven finale of the number one drama on television–’NCIS’, at 8:00 pm EST. A lot of things have happened, beginning with the team’s rescue of Ziva David from terrorists, and ending in the third of a three-part arc that draws back to Gibbs’ assassination of a Mexican drug lord nearly 20 years ago.Having shaped his character over seven seasons, Mark Harmon has a truly innate and uncanny ability for viewers to understand what he’s thinking without tons of dialogue.
Gibbs is the show’s protagonist and a heroic one. Few question him or his personal code. But last night, with his 51st rule – “Sometimes, you’re wrong” – he questioned himself.
His inner torment was amazing to watch. Clearly he wasn’t going to be turned, no matter what he was blackmailed with, but threats against his loved ones hit close to home.
It would have made sense that Paloma Reynosa wanted Gibbs killed as revenge for his taking Pedro Hernandez’s life, but also would’ve been too easy. She’s more calculating.
french open 2010
May 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Roger Federer recovered from a first-set wobble to cruise into the third round of the French Open with after a rain-hit victory over Alejandro Falla.
Defending champion Federer made an error-strewn start to his second outing of this year’s tournament, giving his opponent a chance to serve for the first set.
But he survived the scare before shrugging off two rain disruptions to win 7-6 6-2 6-4 on Philippe Chatrier Court and set up a clash with Olivier Rochus or Julian Reister
Robin Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoyed horribly one-sided second-round wins to beat the rain on Suzanne Lenglen Court.
Last year’s runner-up Soderling was in action for just one hour 11 minutes in his 6-0 6-1 6-1 victory over the hapless Taylor Dent.
Seemingly determined to match the feat on the same court, Tsonga’s 6-0 6-1 6-4
success against fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna lasted only eight minutes
longer.
Easy win: Robin Soderling cruised into the third round
Easy win: Robin Soderling cruised into the third round
Soderling, who also dropped just five games in his first-round win against French wildcard Laurent Recouderc, admitted he could not recall playing a three-set match that finished so quickly.
‘Maybe I did, but I don’t remember,’ said the fifth seed, who will play Albert Montanes in round three after the 29th seed waltzed past Tobias Kamke 6-3 6-2 6-1.
‘Of course, second round of a grand slam, you’re not expecting to win that fast. But I played well and I got off to a great start.’
Soderling hopes the manner of his victories bodes well for another run deep into the tournament.
‘What matters is that I won two matches and I’m in the third round,’ said the Swede, who reached his maiden grand slam final last year after becoming the first man ever to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros.
‘And I will always get a new chance to play better and better for every match.
‘Of course, I’m feeling good. I won two matches pretty easily in straight sets, and I didn’t have to run for many hours on court so far, so I feel fresh and prepared for the next round.’
kingston jamaica
May 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Police have officially put the death toll at 27, but Mr Golding warned the figures would rise, and police said there had also been “several murders” in Greater Kingston area. Hospital sources said they had received “about 50″ dead bodies and witnesses told of a truck with another 12 corpses on board.Hundreds of troops and police have been deployed to hunt down Christopher “Dudus” Coke, wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, amid a week-long standoff with his loyal supporters.
Mr Golding vowed the security forces would restore law and order – three days after his government declared a state of emergency amid the worst violence to hit the Caribbean nation in decades.
