New low for Lebanon
Remember how after July 2006th war the terrorist Shiite organization, Iranian puppet in Lebanon - Hezbollah - boasted about the “divine victory” over Israel?
Here is another fruit of this divine victory
BEIRUT: The World Bank said Lebanon ranks 150th globally and 13th in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of government effectiveness. In its annual governance indicators, the World Bank said Lebanon has fallen in general terms of rankings on five of the six indicators in 2007. The indicators cover 212 countries and are rated on a scale of -2.5 to +2.5. The indicators measure the competence of the bureaucracy and the quality of public services delivery. Globally, Lebanon came ahead of Cuba and Pakistan and ranked behind Ukraine and Kenya. Regionally, the country ranked ahead of Iran and came behind Algeria. Also, Lebanon ranked 201st worldwide and 18th in the MENA region in terms of political stability. Globally, it came behind Nigeria and ahead of Cote d’Ivoire, while regionally, Lebanon came behind the West Bank and Gaza and ahead of Iraq.
Behind the West Bank and Gaza? Wow!! Ahead of Iraq? Ehmmm…congratulations.
Divine victory indeed.
Forbes: Israel best place for business in the Middle East
According to Forbes ranking for best countries for business, Israel does not only top the list of the Middle Eastern countries in overall business climate, but ranked 16th in the world, out of 120 countries
The Middle East countries’ ranking:
Israel - 16
Saudi Arabia - 47 (not the gap from Israel’s ranking)
Oman - 48
Kuwait - 58
Jordan - 61
UAE - 74
Syria - 119
Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain did not enter the list.
Another remarkable achievement for Israel - it is ranked 5th in the world for investor protection.
Conclusion - society that is built on the values of democracy, and science and technology development, beats oil-based economy.
The top 10 list:
1. Denmark
2. Ireland
3. Finland
4. United States
5. United Kingdom
6. Sweden
Go Israel!
Middle East and African telecom market revenues to reach $2Trillion
Looks like the Middle Eastern and African telecom market is to become the next best thing.
AME reports
The Middle East and Africa region has the highest growth rates within a consumer telecommunications market that is set to reach $2 trillion in global revenues by 2012, according to a new report from research firm In-Stat.
Read the rest here
Here is one example of how these perspectives are materializing into something practical: last week we published this post in Naama Chronicle, telling about a major $500 Million investment in mobile market in Tanzania.
Egypt reaches new record of brutality - troops murder Sudanese refugee child
Egyptian troops, patrolling the border with Israel, murder an African refugee and a 7-years-old Sudanese girl while they were trying to cross into Israel
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police shot and killed two African migrants, including a seven-year-old Sudanese girl, as they tried to cross the border into Israel on Saturday, security and hospital sources said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the security sources said an Egyptian patrol opened fire on the migrants to stop them getting across the border south of the Rafah crossing.
They added that seven other African migrants had been detained, including the dead child’s mother.
Their deaths bring to 16 the number of migrants killed at the border this year.
Hospital sources said the other victim was an unidentified African in his thirties, killed by a gunshot wound to his back.
Egypt has pursued a crackdown on African migrants that has seen up to 1,000 Eritrean asylum seekers deported since June 11, despite U.N. objections.
Reuters report is speaking about 16 deaths this year. However, the killing did not start in 2008.
World Divided posted this and this article where the cases from 2007 are listed as well.
We prepare to launch an online action/protest, hoping that someone will finally pay attention to these crimes against the REFUGEES, systematically committed by the troops of the country - Egypt - that was invited by the Sudanese Minister of Defense to increase its presence in peacekeeping force in Darfur.
British politics in a nutshell
This is what the future Labor voter in Britain thinks about who should be the Prime Minister.
If only she knew how right she was…
Comverse wins deal in Indonesia - why it is odd
On June 24, Comverse - the world’s leading provider of software and systems enabling network-based messaging and content value-added services - issued the following press release:
Comverse, the world’s leading supplier of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication and billing services, today announced that Indonesian wireless operator Excelcomindo, with more than 19 million subscribers, has selected Comverse for a major SMSC expansion to handle its rapidly growing personal and application-related text messaging needs and to be able to quickly implement new SMS services.
Dian Siswarini, Director of Network at Excelcomindo said, “After voice, SMS is the highest revenue-generating service in our market, accounting for nearly 30% of total revenue. We are currently experiencing a dramatic, rapid expansion of our user base and we are also working to increase our market share, so it is mission-critical for us that our SMSC provides superior performance. Comverse SMSC meets our demanding requirements in terms of its capacity and ability to handle extreme usage during peak hours, and in terms of ability to support our roadmap vision to improve the messaging experience by adding exciting SMS services. Comverse also met our requirement for fast time to market to enable us to handle heavy holiday messaging traffic.”
A market leader deployed by hundreds of operators all over the globe, Comverse SMSC’s highly flexible multi-layered environment supports IP-based networks and is ready for IMS.
Eitan Achlow, President of the Comverse Asia Pacific (APAC) Division said, “Comverse SMSC is ideally suited help this rapidly expanding operator achieve its goals of providing the best possible value and user experience for its current users and for the many millions of new subscribers it expects to gain in the coming years. Comverse looks forward to working closely with Excelcomindo to increase its success in its marketplace and to fulfill its vision of bringing to life innovative SMS services and applications that boost user satisfaction and sharpen its competitive edge.”
It is odd because Comverse is an Israeli-based company, and Indonesia have no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Indonesia - the largest Muslim country - opposes Israel’s policies and vows not to establish diplomatic relations with Israel before the issue of “Palestinians” is resolved.
However, it did not stop the Indonesians from expressing their interest in Israeli advanced agricultural and telecommunication technologies, exchanging the experts’ delegations (on a special entrance-visa permit), and cutting deals with the Israeli companies, including on the consulting level for agricultural and telecommunication sectors of Indonesia.
I guess one can say that politics is one thing, and business is another, but in light of increasing calls for boycotting the companies from Denmark and Netherlands in the Muslim world, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day the similar calls will reach Comverse reps in Indonesia.
Indonesian government has a bitter record of succumbing to the pressure from the local radical Muslim groups. The latest example: imposing a ban on a peaceful Muslim sect “Ahmadyya”, the members of which are viewed by the radical and moderate Muslims alike as apostates (apostasy is punishable by death in Islam.)
So…to Comverse - don’t get too comfy over there.
Fancy a diamond trip?
Angola is the place. Very original idea by the Angolan state-owned company
Luanda, 06/20 – Angola’s State-run diamond producing company (Endiama-Ep) will launch a tourist excursion programme into the exploration areas throughout the national territory next year, seeking to publicise the development of the industry in the country.
The information was released Thursday in Luanda by the director of Endiama’s planning and investment department, Alberto de Oliveira dos Reis Fancony.
The official was speaking on the fringes of the seminar on “Challenges of the mining industry in supporting sustainable development”, as part of the ongoing International Minerals Fair (FIMA). He delivered the topic “Objectives and Stage of preparation of the world summit on Diamond-Angola/2009.
In his presentation, the official said it is fundamental to equip the participants with the most useful knowledge on Angola’s diamonds and its tourist riches.
According to him, his institution will run a world diamond summit from November 4-6, 2009, to discuss such matters as prospecting and production, technologies, trade and all sorts of activity in the world.
The summit will be attended by 500 foreign participants and 250 locals.
