Matchmaking

In the modern age of recyclables, try this one on: a matchmaking Internet site where the men come with a stamp of approval from -- get this -- an ex-wife or an ex-girlfriend, or on occasion from a sister, dear friend or even Mom. In fact, no man gets posted on GreatBoyfriends.com by the strength of his own charms: A woman in his life must refer him.

As a North Korean defector on the hunt for a husband in Seoul, Choi Young-hee was unlucky in love. Working days as a food vendor, she went on blind dates with a lot of frogs -- men more wily and Westernized than their conservative northern counterparts, perfectionists who often boorishly asked if she could set them up with her North Korean girlfriends.

Gujarati parents of 25-year-old Brahman boy, NRI (nonresident Indian) living in the United States, working in management, seek suitable match with Brahman girl.

Single people everywhere dream of a match made in heaven. Anne Majerik dreame only of a match made in Beverly Hills. But when her high-priced matchmaker disappointed her, she sued.

Love for sale. Svetlana Novikova knew it could be a lucrative business. In St. Petersburg, the foreign men who rented apartments through her real estate business relentlessly hounded her to introduce them to her girlfriends.

A good man is especially hard to find in this deeply religious country, where bars are nonexistent, unchaperoned conversation between single men and women is frowned upon, and immigration has frayed the neighborhood and family ties that have nurtured arranged marriages for centuries.