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!!!

Shame on Us

According to Masrawy, the British Council in Egypt decided to close their library because of the lack of visitors. Their library is located in one of the nicest places in Cairo, overlooks the Nile. In a very busy and easy-to-access area.
Although they have 27,000 learners a year, only 200 are members in the library!!!
The decision comes after it was found out that the utilization of the library that costs EGP3'000'000 a year. As per the spokesman, it was found out that Egyptians are not into reading books. Boooooo
Masrawy

Gimmy: "Will Obama's methodology work?"

It was announced earlier this week that Gamal Mubarak will contribute in an open discussion on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 7pm with the young Egyptians (mostly teaching assistants and professor assistants. So far this sounds like a normal activity in the continuous series of activities of the son to get closer to the people. He has been doing this since earlier this year, it started with poor people in upper Egypt, now its approaching the younger educated generation.
The more interesting part this time, is the use of technology, actually the Obama's methodology to getting the younger and more educated part of the nation, whom actually took Obama at the end to the white house.
Gamal will be reachable at same time via this new website www.sharek.eg (its the first time for me to see this top level domain - .eg, was definitely kept for something important like this). People shall be able to interact with Gimmy via Facebook group/page too called Sharek, at the time of writing this post there are 2908 "Supporters".
That's quite a shift and new phase in Gamal's life, will Obama's methodology work, that's the question?

Here You Go

According to Masrawy, Rana Abu Bakr, the girl who got the highest rank in the Egyptian General Secondary Education (Thannewya Amma), attacked the government, blaming it for the deterioration of the quality of education in Egypt.
More interestingly, Rana announced that she'll immigrate with her family to the US, where she will start studying Medicine, a scholarship provided by the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Rana, the daughter of a surgeon, announced this during a ceremony organized by a governmental educational organization for students whom scored the highest grades. For me that's the most interesting thing, the embarassment of the system, she shocked the officals sitting there to honor her. That's a slam on the face.
According to a government official, that's the first time a students ranked as the first runner to continue studying elsewhere.
For me its just sad, if this country has to invest in anything, its just education, that's the only asset we have, the people.

UPDATE:
July 26th, 2009: In a phone conversation with one of the popular talk shows in Egypt called "90 Minutes", Rana denied rumors that she has blamed the government for the deterioration of quality of education in Egypt, she also denied that she'll be immigrating to the USA. She said that if she goes there to get a degree, she'll return back to Egypt in order to help the country. Masrawy

Editor: I don't understand why did she do so, she was about to be a hero...

Egypt and its Media

While everyone is reporting about the catastrophe of Air France's A330 flight that has vanished earlier today, reporting that it has 228 people.
"Passenger jet carrying 228 people disappears off coast of Brazil, airline says" CNN
Egyptian Media as usual astonishes me, here is what Masrawy reported:
باريس (ا ف ب) - اكدت شركة الخطوط الجوية الفرنسية (اير فرانس) الاثنين فقدان طائرة قادمة من ريود دي جانيرو الى باريس وعلى متنها 216 راكبا.
Masrawy

Someone may notice the difference in numbers 228 (CNN) and the 216(Masrawy). This is not a mistake, its true that the flight carried only 216 passengers (that is what egypt would care about), but the crew of the flight is 12 (Apparently, those are not important enough to the Egyptian media).

This is not the first time I notice something like this.

Spotlight on Egypt's marriage crisis

"People who go for a picnic need to know each other a little longer than that - let alone make a lifelong commitment." Ghada Abdelaal, BBC

A Critical Situation in Egypt

CNN

Egypt's Economy and Privatization

This is a must-read article about Privatization in Egypt.
It is in Arabic!

Will we ever be back?

"An artificial big toe found on the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy could be the world's earliest functional fake body part, UK experts believe." BBC.

Every time I read anything about how ancient Egyptians were prominent, I feel sad! I believe they cursed the generations after.
Every single Egyptian is really proud about what they did, whether it was architecture (Pyramids, etc..), Physics, Maths, Medicine, etc... The problem is we are proud yes, but have no motivation, we're living in our past.
One of the worst quotes I hear frequently when arguing with an Egyptian, is "We built the Pyramids, we can do whatever...".
We need to look around us and see what is happening in the rest of the world. We are ages behind, we have to work our asses out.

Poverty in Egypt

"A recent survey showed that 55% of the Egyptian population are poor, raising an alert about the armed poverty" Masrawy.
Where is my Egypt going?

Egypt's Ad

Isn't it our right?

"German museum says object too fragile to ever travel" MSNBC

Always thought about our ancient masterpieces scattered around Europe's museums but never allowed back to Egypt.

Records of Smokers in Egypt

"It was found out that Egyptians smoke 19 billion cigarettes a year. With a total number of smokers of 12 million smokers (I don't buy it, guess they are more). With an increase rate of 9% (triple the population growth rate which is 3%).
Inrease rate of "Shisha" smokers was more than impressive, it grew up from 9% to 30%." Masrawy
What a business:)