most corrupt place to do business

World’s most corrupt place to do business is…

 Have you ever been shaken down for a red envelope in China or hit up for a deal "sweetener" in Russia?

Companies from these countries are most likely to engage in bribery, according to a survey released on Wednesday by corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The two countries received the lowest scores on the 2011 Bribe Payers Index, which ranked the top 28 largest economies according to the likelihood of companies headquartered in these countries practicing bribery.  The scores were based on a survey of the perceptions of 3,016 business executives across 30 countries who had business dealings in those top 28 economies.

China and Russia were the only companies that scored below 7 on a scale of 10, with scores of 6.5 and 6.1, respectively. Companies based in the Netherlands and Switzerland tied for first place with scores of 8.8, with Belgium, Germany, and Japan rounding out the top five.

Rank                Country                        Score

Top 5

1 (tie)               Netherlands                  8.8

1 (tie)               Switzerland                   8.8

3                      Belgium                        8.7

4 (tie)               Germany                      8.6

4 (tie)               Japan                           8.6

Bottom 5

23 (tie)             Argentina                      7.3

23 (tie)             UAE                            7.3

25                    Indonesia                      7.1

26                    Mexico                         7.0

27                    China                           6.5

28                    Russia                          6.1

The report said Russia’s poor score was “not of any surprise since Russia in general is still struggling to find the proper way to confront systemic corruption.  It would be strange to expect business to do better than public office does.”  At the same time, it expressed hope for the strict enforcement of national anti-corruption legislation passed in May that criminalized foreign bribery and introduced monetary sanctions for companies and individuals.

Similarly for China, the report said there were “tremendous challenges ahead and bottlenecks that need to be cleared,” but noted an amendment of the Chinese penal code in May that criminalized bribery of foreign government officials and authorized detention of implicated companies and individuals.

Corruption is the biggest threat to developing economies

The survey also ranked the business sectors in which bribery was perceived most likely to be used.  Public works and construction were reported to be the rifest with bribery, whereas agricultural and light manufacturing were the sectors perceived as the cleanest.

The report noted that “there is no country among the 28 major economics whose companies are perceived to be wholly clean and do not engage in bribery. ” As well, the scores on average have not significantly improved since the last Bribe Payers Index, which was compiled in 2008.  Of the 28 countries ranked this year, 22 were also ranked in the 2008 edition.  The average score of these 22 countries increased only 0.1 points to 7.9 in the latest edition

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Hong Kong today

Slums with penthouse views highlight Hong Kong's wealth divide

Rooftop slums clutter the roofscape of Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district -- settlements that are often tolerated by authorities.

Mushrooms are spread out to dry at this rooftop settlement in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong.

Children on a rooftop playground in Sham Shui Po.

Air-conditioning in her dwelling in summer is Liu's greatest living expense.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Hong Kong's network of sky slums are barnacled onto roofs of tenements built in 1950s, '60s
• Mostly found in old urban areas in Kowloon -- Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tung and Tai Kok Tsui
• Contrasts with luxury apartments that can often fetch up to US$12.85 million
• Slums stem from housing crises of 1950s, 60s when waves of Chinese refugees arrived

Hong Kong today -- If you can tolerate the junkies on the stairwells or the rats that sometimes scale the 12 floors of her building on the external electrical wiring, Liu's penthouse shack ticks all the boxes for a multi-million dollar property in Hong Kong.

It's light, it's well ventilated and it has sweeping views of Kowloon's Lion Rock Hill. Constructed from recycled materials, the design is customized to her lifestyle down to the last detail.

"This is my washing machine," says Liu, pointing proudly to a small stainless steel basin on the terrace side of her rooftop house in Sham Shui Po. "I do my tai chi exercises here in the morning, and on moonlit nights I like to sit out here and look out on the mountain."

Anywhere else in Hong Kong, luxury apartments can often fetch HK$100 million (US$12.85 million), and a house with these features could easily cost the average transaction price of HK$13.25 million (US$1.7 million), according to data released by agency Midland Realty earlier this year.

Anywhere else in Hong Kong, luxury apartments can often fetch HK$100 million (US$12.85 million), and a house with these features could easily cost the average transaction price of HK$13.25 million (US$1.7 million), according to data released by agency Midland Realty earlier this year.

The only difference is that as an unprepossessing corrugated iron shack that forms part of Hong Kong's extensive network of sky slums -- technically illegal rooftop structures barnacled onto the roofs of tenements built in the 1950s and 60s -- the market is sluggish.

Nevertheless, a grey market in these slum dwellings does exist.

"Of course the agent never explicitly says it's a rooftop dwelling. The listing will say something like small apartment with a unique view or interesting features," says Dr. Ernest Chiu of Hong Kong University who has studied informal housing.

World's most expensive luxury city is...

She contends prices could even exceed this, making Liu's hand-built shanty one of the most expensive slum dwellings in the world.

According to the latest Hong Kong census from 2006, there are 3,962 rooftop dwellers in 1,556 households in Hong Kong. Mostly found in old urban areas in Kowloon -- Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tung and Tai Kok Tsui -- the houses are crammed together so tightly that they form their own above-ground streetscapes, complete with gardens, playgrounds and places of worship.

The slums are a hangover from the housing crises of the 1950s and 1960s when successive waves of refugees from mainland China set up squatter cities in Hong Kong. Many of the residents have lived in the slums for more than 30 years, and new arrivals tend to be underprivileged migrants from either mainland China, Pakistan, Nepal or other parts of the Asia.

Since 2001, when 16,359 people live on Hong Kong's rooftops, the number of illegal dwellings has reduced dramatically. While government policy has played a part, more often the tenements -- under constant pressure due to the shortage of land in Hong Kong -- are torn down to make way for new shopping and residential developments.

For the government, which supplies these rooftop communities with a postal service, water and electricity; collects rates; and even levies stamp duty on their sale and purchase, the sky slums operate under an established practice of "tolerance versus demolition," says Chiu. Their existence, while not ideal, keeps almost 4,000 people off a crowded public housing queue, he adds.

Israeli 1/11/2011

Israeli press:
 "Jants" proposed to launch a major war on Gaza, Netanyahu opposed .. And the "Knesset" opens last session in theNetanyahu government today in the presence Perez .. And Germany recognize the existence of a severe crisis in its relationswith Israel


Israeli public radio ..Last Knesset opens its sessions in the Netanyahu government's proposal to withhold confidence by
Opens Israeli Knesset last session today, Monday, in the government of Israeli Prime Minister, "Benjamin Netanyahu" of the whole, and will be through discussion of five proposals are on the agenda for vote of no confidence from the government under the title "the failure of social, economic and political government,"and it will block the work of parliamentary agenda a bill to dissolve the legislature.

According to Israeli public radio, it is expected that oppositionproposals five Knesset by a large majority of the votes, cast byIsraeli President "Shimon Peres' speech to the House of Representatives, will speak during the meeting Chairman of the Knesset," Reuven Rivlin, "and Israeli Prime Minister and President of the opposition," Tzipi Livni, "as head of governmentbloc MP "Eitan Cabel," Netanyahu tried to bury the social protest movement vowing to work on the mass that this session is thelast of the current government.
Newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
Yediot: Jants proposed to launch a major war on Gaza, Netanyahu opposed

Newspaper, "Yedioth Ahronoth,
" Israel, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, "Benny Jants" proposed during the session to estimate the final position in the Gaza Strip hit the infrastructure of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli Prime Minister, "Benjamin Netanyahu" announced his rejection of this proposal.

The newspaper quoted military sources in the Israeli army as saying: "the leaders of the Israeli army, led by Chief of Staff,proposed to launch a broad offensive against rocket launchersfrom the Gaza Strip, and hit the infrastructure of the Islamic Jihad movement, but the political leadership headed by Netanyahuopposed it."

The sources told the newspaper: "The Israeli army seeks tomaintain the strength to deter the Israeli army, and put an end to the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, but the political sidelook at it from a strategic point, and based their policy on restraint to respond to rocket launchers."

According to military sources the continuing escalation between the Israeli side, and the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip for a period of time.

Maariv newspaper ..
Israeli official: Gaza rockets last we were the most destructive"The Benny Vaknon," the mayor "Ashkelon", in southern Israel, a day after rockets Palestinian resistance to his city, which killed one person, that people are trying to live under the constant threat of Palestinian rocket, which also led to a general strike in the educational institutions.
He Vaknon said: "This sad today because the victim is the son of an ancient family in Ashkelon," adding that the Iron Dome system mounted in the city but has not functioned normally since the beginning of the recent rocket launch.
When asked why the system did not fall this time rockets? Israeli official said: "Ask the army spokesman did these missiles are made by the Palestinians themselves."
The President of the municipality that the missiles were fired at Ashkelon, caused the destruction of a large and dangerous in an unprecedented way, adding: "It's a missile accurate and capable of causing mass destruction, and apparently, these rockets standard and reached them from the military factories, not from the manufacture of their hands."
Israel tops the highest proportion of sexual harassment in universities and schoolsAccording to Israeli media, the Israeli State Comptroller "Mikhalind Strauss was" investigating the days in the form of addressing the issue of sexual harassment within the institutions of higher education and universities, having topped the highest proportion of Israel in incidents of sexual harassment within the universities.
The newspaper "Maariv" Israeli, it is expected that Strauss published a strongly worded report on this subject, confirmed the parties informed on the issue that the report is expected to be hazardous and contains harsh criticism.
The observer had two months ago went to universities and colleges of education and received a request for data intensive on the levels of the phenomenon of sexual harassment in all institutions, and will talk extensively to investigate the relations between managers and workers, as well as relationships between lecturers and students.
Maariv pointed to several events that took place in recent years led to broach the subject of public opinion, in the wake of these events had some higher education institutions to develop procedures to address this phenomenon.
Among these institutions, the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University and the Institute "Technion" Engineering and the Open University, has worked to cut off any relationship between managers and staff, lecturers and applications unequivocally, while not required other universities, including the "Bar-Ilan, Ben-Gurion and Weizmann Institute," did not prevent relations fromlike that.
The report will examine all the stages that are supposed to go through the affected students will talk about the report to explain the concept of sexual harassment, and what is the law that addresses this issue and to whom should the student orientation.
As a result of an investigation by the student union by the Institute "Manamar her Mochot", in the light of the new school year, it was found that part of the educational institutions do not address the complaints of the public, as it should according to the law, and that part of the institutions do not include the committee discussed the subject, and in institutions which was found by the Commission where there is no representative of the students and the value of the Student Union that the phenomenon of sexual harassment on campus is very broad, and that thousands of students and workers in higher education institutions are subjected to harassment, but the little part of them come forward a complaint and a fraction of the complaints dealt with as they should.

Haaretz newspaper ..
Germany recognizes the existence of a severe crisis in its relations with Israel
Approved the German government, and formally, the existence ofa crisis in the relations that link with Israel, and came on theimpact of the threat of German recently to stop supplying IsraelBguasat type "dolphin" nuclear protest at the Israeli policy ofJudge continuity of construction in the settlements, the latestdecision of the Israeli government construction of 1,100 housing units in east Jerusalem.

In doing so, There is a state of deep concern in Israel as a resultof the German move to threaten the German Chancellor "AngelaMerkel" not to extend Israel's sixth submarine.

The newspaper "Haaretz" Israeli submarine that this is an important element within the Israeli military strategy, along withthree submarines in the fleet in Israel.

It should be noted that it had previously approved the German government to provide 135 million euros to support the expenses of the establishment of the sixth submarine of Israel.

Israel, Egypt notified to suspend operations against Gaza for 24 hours

Israeli military operations - file photo

Aware of the seventh day of the Egyptian source of a decision-making, that Israel informed Egypt that it has decided to suspendits military operations against the Gaza Strip for 24 hours frommidnight on Tuesday, in response to the Egyptian efforts to stabilize the truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The source said, the Israeli side informed the Egyptian Ambassador in Tel Aviv this decision earlier in the night.

The source explained that the contacts made by the Egyptian Ambassador in Ramallah with the Palestinian factions indicate aresponse from the Palestinian side with the desire for calm, with the continued existence of certain escapes calculated on small organizations.

The source for the seventh day, the Egyptian ambassadors in TelAviv and Ramallah, will continue their efforts to stabilize the truceto spare the blood of innocent civilians.