CPI - Corruption Perceptions Index 2009

According to a new report by Transparency International, it was found that the top 12 least corrupt nations are: New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Hong Kong, Luxembourg.

The 12 most corrupt countries are: Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan, Iraq, Chad, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Haiti, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea.

What quite interesting - at least for me - is that Egypt holds position number 111 out of 180 surveyed countries.
Whole list can be found here
Ironically, Algeria shares the same position with Egypt with a score of 2.8 out of 10.
Algeria and Egypt are having a very tough game today, where one of them will be qualified to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Relations between both nations has deteriorated dramatically during the past few days because of this fact. To the extent that Algerians horrified Egyptians living in Algeria, burned some of the shops and Egyptian investments there.
Lets hope things pass peacefully, and then they can work on the corruption issue!!!

Muslims are all over the world, not only in the Middle East!

"Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim -- and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to a new study that aims to map the global Muslim population" CNN

"India, a majority-Hindu country, has more Muslims than any country except for Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than twice as many as Egypt.

China has more Muslims than Syria.

Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon.

And Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya put together.

Nearly two out of three of the world's Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.

The Middle East and north Africa, which together are home to about one in five of the world's Muslims, trail a very distant second.

There are about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, according to the report, "Mapping the Global Muslim Population," by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. That represents about 23 percent of the total global population of 6.8 billion."

Continue reading here

Facebook and the Internet Business

Having 8.2% of all display ads on the internet in the U.S. with more than 250M users, Facebook makes a brilliant move to drive traffic from one place on Facebook to another place, still on Facebook.

"Now that we have “Become a Fan” cost-per-click ads, it’s easier than ever to expand your fan base to a much greater size. With over 250MM users, we can target by various parameters to reach the right people that would want to fan the TechCrunch Page. Having 9,000 fans is a great start, but with the potential for 50,000 or even 500,000 fans, you can make your updates that much more effective." Techcrunch

Good Luck Egypt against Rwanda

"Officials have announced that the African champions could give the mandatory Muslim Ramadan fast a miss on match day in Kigali on September 5" Goal.com

As far as I remember, we fought in October 1973 fasting in Ramadan, never heard that soldiers wanted to miss fasting to free Sinai, but here you go. The officials are afraid that if the players are fasting they might not be able to play against Rwanda.
That's ironic and stupid.
May Allah help the guys.

Don't mess with Kuwaiti women

"A fire that swept through a tent at a wedding party in Kuwait, killing at least 43 women and children, was started deliberately by the groom's ex-wife as an act of revenge, reports claimed today.

The yet to be named woman confessed to using petrol to set the packed tent alight, Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper reported, adding that she had done so because of the way her former husband treated her." Guardian

This is said to be the worst accident that happens in Kuwait in 4 decades.