Corruption Perceptions Index 2009

Corruption Perceptions Index 2009

• The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) table shows a country's ranking and score, the number of surveys used to determine the score, and the confidence range of the scoring.
• The rank shows how one country compares to others included in the index. The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public-sector corruption in a country/territory.
• The CPI is based on 13 independent surveys. However, not all surveys include all countries. The surveys used column indicates how many surveys were relied upon to determine the score for that country.
• The confidence range indicates the reliability of the CPI scores and tells us that allowing for a margin of error, we can be 90% confident that the true score for this country lies within this range.

Rank	Country/Territory	CPI 2009 Score	Surveys Used	Confidence Range
1	New Zealand	9.4	6	9.1 - 9.5
2	Denmark	9.3	6	9.1 - 9.5
3	Singapore	9.2	9	9.0 - 9.4
3	Sweden	9.2	6	9.0 - 9.3
5	Switzerland	9.0	6	8.9 - 9.1
6	Finland	8.9	6	8.4 - 9.4
6	Netherlands	8.9	6	8.7 - 9.0
8	Australia	8.7	8	8.3 - 9.0
8	Canada	8.7	6	8.5 - 9.0
8	Iceland	8.7	4	7.5 - 9.4
11	Norway	8.6	6	8.2 - 9.1
12	Hong Kong	8.2	8	7.9 - 8.5
12	Luxembourg	8.2	6	7.6 - 8.8
14	Germany	8.0	6	7.7 - 8.3
14	Ireland	8.0	6	7.8 - 8.4
16	Austria	7.9	6	7.4 - 8.3
17	Japan	7.7	8	7.4 - 8.0
17	United Kingdom	7.7	6	7.3 - 8.2
19	United States	7.5	8	6.9 - 8.0
20	Barbados	7.4	4	6.6 - 8.2
21	Belgium	7.1	6	6.9 - 7.3
22	Qatar	7.0	6	5.8 - 8.1
22	Saint Lucia	7.0	3	6.7 - 7.5
24	France	6.9	6	6.5 - 7.3
25	Chile	6.7	7	6.5 - 6.9
25	Uruguay	6.7	5	6.4 - 7.1
27	Cyprus	6.6	4	6.1 - 7.1
27	Estonia	6.6	8	6.1 - 6.9
27	Slovenia	6.6	8	6.3 - 6.9
30	United Arab Emirates	6.5	5	5.5 - 7.5
31	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	6.4	3	4.9 - 7.5
32	Israel	6.1	6	5.4 - 6.7
32	Spain	6.1	6	5.5 - 6.6
34	Dominica	5.9	3	4.9 - 6.7
35	Portugal	5.8	6	5.5 - 6.2
35	Puerto Rico	5.8	4	5.2 - 6.3
37	Botswana	5.6	6	5.1 - 6.3
37	Taiwan	5.6	9	5.4 - 5.9
39	Brunei Darussalam	5.5	4	4.7 - 6.4
39	Oman	5.5	5	4.4 - 6.5
39	Korea (South)	5.5	9	5.3 - 5.7
42	Mauritius	5.4	6	5.0 - 5.9
43	Costa Rica	5.3	5	4.7 - 5.9
43	Macau	5.3	3	3.3 - 6.9
45	Malta	5.2	4	4.0 - 6.2
46	Bahrain	5.1	5	4.2 - 5.8
46	Cape Verde	5.1	3	3.3 - 7.0
46	Hungary	5.1	8	4.6 - 5.7
49	Bhutan	5.0	4	4.3 - 5.6
49	Jordan	5.0	7	3.9 - 6.1
49	Poland	5.0	8	4.5 - 5.5
52	Czech Republic	4.9	8	4.3 - 5.6
52	Lithuania	4.9	8	4.4 - 5.4
54	Seychelles	4.8	3	3.0 - 6.7
55	South Africa	4.7	8	4.3 - 4.9
56	Latvia	4.5	6	4.1 - 4.9
56	Malaysia	4.5	9	4.0 - 5.1
56	Namibia	4.5	6	3.9 - 5.1
56	Samoa	4.5	3	3.3 - 5.3
56	Slovakia	4.5	8	4.1 - 4.9
61	Cuba	4.4	3	3.5 - 5.1
61	Turkey	4.4	7	3.9 - 4.9
63	Italy	4.3	6	3.8 - 4.9
63	Saudi Arabia	4.3	5	3.1 - 5.3
65	Tunisia	4.2	6	3.0 - 5.5
66	Croatia	4.1	8	3.7 - 4.5
66	Georgia	4.1	7	3.4 - 4.7
66	Kuwait	4.1	5	3.2 - 5.1
69	Ghana	3.9	7	3.2 - 4.6
69	Montenegro	3.9	5	3.5 - 4.4
71	Bulgaria	3.8	8	3.2 - 4.5
71	FYR Macedonia	3.8	6	3.4 - 4.2
71	Greece	3.8	6	3.2 - 4.3
71	Romania	3.8	8	3.2 - 4.3
75	Brazil	3.7	7	3.3 - 4.3
75	Colombia	3.7	7	3.1 - 4.3
75	Peru	3.7	7	3.4 - 4.1
75	Suriname	3.7	3	3.0 - 4.7
79	Burkina Faso	3.6	7	2.8 - 4.4
79	China	3.6	9	3.0 - 4.2
79	Swaziland	3.6	3	3.0 - 4.7
79	Trinidad and Tobago	3.6	4	3.0 - 4.3
83	Serbia	3.5	6	3.3 - 3.9
84	El Salvador	3.4	5	3.0 - 3.8
84	Guatemala	3.4	5	3.0 - 3.9
84	India	3.4	10	3.2 - 3.6
84	Panama	3.4	5	3.1 - 3.7
84	Thailand	3.4	9	3.0 - 3.8
89	Lesotho	3.3	6	2.8 - 3.8
89	Malawi	3.3	7	2.7 - 3.9
89	Mexico	3.3	7	3.2 - 3.5
89	Moldova	3.3	6	2.7 - 4.0
89	Morocco	3.3	6	2.8 - 3.9
89	Rwanda	3.3	4	2.9 - 3.7
95	Albania	3.2	6	3.0 - 3.3
95	Vanuatu	3.2	3	2.3 - 4.7
97	Liberia	3.1	3	1.9 - 3.8
97	Sri Lanka	3.1	7	2.8 - 3.4
99	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3.0	7	2.6 - 3.4
99	Dominican Republic	3.0	5	2.9 - 3.2
99	Jamaica	3.0	5	2.8 - 3.3
99	Madagascar	3.0	7	2.8 - 3.2
99	Senegal	3.0	7	2.5 - 3.6
99	Tonga	3.0	3	2.6 - 3.3
99	Zambia	3.0	7	2.8 - 3.2
106	Argentina	2.9	7	2.6 - 3.1
106	Benin	2.9	6	2.3 - 3.4
106	Gabon	2.9	3	2.6 - 3.1
106	Gambia	2.9	5	1.6 - 4.0
106	Niger	2.9	5	2.7 - 3.0
111	Algeria	2.8	6	2.5 - 3.1
111	Djibouti	2.8	4	2.3 - 3.2
111	Egypt	2.8	6	2.6 - 3.1
111	Indonesia	2.8	9	2.4 - 3.2
111	Kiribati	2.8	3	2.3 - 3.3
111	Mali	2.8	6	2.4 - 3.2
111	Sao Tome and Principe	2.8	3	2.4 - 3.3
111	Solomon Islands	2.8	3	2.3 - 3.3
111	Togo	2.8	5	1.9 - 3.9
120	Armenia	2.7	7	2.6 - 2.8
120	Bolivia	2.7	6	2.4 - 3.1
120	Ethiopia	2.7	7	2.4 - 2.9
120	Kazakhstan	2.7	7	2.1 - 3.3
120	Mongolia	2.7	7	2.4 - 3.0
120	Vietnam	2.7	9	2.4 - 3.1
126	Eritrea	2.6	4	1.6 - 3.8
126	Guyana	2.6	4	2.5 - 2.7
126	Syria	2.6	5	2.2 - 2.9
126	Tanzania	2.6	7	2.4 - 2.9
130	Honduras	2.5	6	2.2 - 2.8
130	Lebanon	2.5	3	1.9 - 3.1
130	Libya	2.5	6	2.2 - 2.8
130	Maldives	2.5	4	1.8 - 3.2
130	Mauritania	2.5	7	2.0 - 3.3
130	Mozambique	2.5	7	2.3 - 2.8
130	Nicaragua	2.5	6	2.3 - 2.7
130	Nigeria	2.5	7	2.2 - 2.7
130	Uganda	2.5	7	2.1 - 2.8
139	Bangladesh	2.4	7	2.0 - 2.8
139	Belarus	2.4	4	2.0 - 2.8
139	Pakistan	2.4	7	2.1 - 2.7
139	Philippines	2.4	9	2.1 - 2.7
143	Azerbaijan	2.3	7	2.0 - 2.6
143	Comoros	2.3	3	1.6 - 3.3
143	Nepal	2.3	6	2.0 - 2.6
146	Cameroon	2.2	7	1.9 - 2.6
146	Ecuador	2.2	5	2.0 - 2.5
146	Kenya	2.2	7	1.9 - 2.5
146	Russia	2.2	8	1.9 - 2.4
146	Sierra Leone	2.2	5	1.9 - 2.4
146	Timor-Leste	2.2	5	1.8 - 2.6
146	Ukraine	2.2	8	2.0 - 2.6
146	Zimbabwe	2.2	7	1.7 - 2.8
154	Côte d´Ivoire	2.1	7	1.8 - 2.4
154	Papua New Guinea	2.1	5	1.7 - 2.5
154	Paraguay	2.1	5	1.7 - 2.5
154	Yemen	2.1	4	1.6 - 2.5
158	Cambodia	2.0	8	1.8 - 2.2
158	Central African Republic	2.0	4	1.9 - 2.2
158	Laos	2.0	4	1.6 - 2.6
158	Tajikistan	2.0	8	1.6 - 2.5
162	Angola	1.9	5	1.8 - 1.9
162	Congo Brazzaville	1.9	5	1.6 - 2.1
162	Democratic Republic of Congo	1.9	5	1.7 - 2.1
162	Guinea-Bissau	1.9	3	1.8 - 2.0
162	Kyrgyzstan	1.9	7	1.8 - 2.1
162	Venezuela	1.9	7	1.8 - 2.0
168	Burundi	1.8	6	1.6 - 2.0
168	Equatorial Guinea	1.8	3	1.6 - 1.9
168	Guinea	1.8	5	1.7 - 1.8
168	Haiti	1.8	3	1.4 - 2.3
168	Iran	1.8	3	1.7 - 1.9
168	Turkmenistan	1.8	4	1.7 - 1.9
174	Uzbekistan	1.7	6	1.5 - 1.8
175	Chad	1.6	6	1.5 - 1.7
176	Iraq	1.5	3	1.2 - 1.8
176	Sudan	1.5	5	1.4 - 1.7
178	Myanmar	1.4	3	0.9 - 1.8
179	Afghanistan	1.3	4	1.0 - 1.5
180	Somalia	1.1	3	0.9 - 1.4

Back to Canadian linked to Mumbai attacks, PM confirms

Canadian linked to Mumbai attacks, PM confirms

November 17, 2009

Rick Westhead

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen throw flower petals onto the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi during a ceremony in New Delhi, India.(November 17, 2009)

ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

New Delhi–Canadian authorities are co-operating with the U.S. and India to investigate a Canadian terrorism suspect who may have been in Mumbai days before last year's attacks, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday on the second day of his three-day visit to India, Harper confirmed he and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the case of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian, during their meetings here.

India has increased security measures at its 17 nuclear installations amid concerns that Rana, 48, and an alleged accomplice may have monitored them during visits to India.

"We worked very closely with our American friends in this matter and Prime Minister Singh and I certainly discussed the case and are resolved to co-operate closely in the future on these matters," Harper told reporters.

Singh declined to comment on the case specifically. "We had a very fruitful discussion in expanding areas of co-operation between our two countries in dealing with this scourge of international terrorism," he said.

Rana was charged in October with conspiring to murder a Danish newspaper cartoonist whose work depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a disrespectful manner.

Rana, who owns a Chicago immigration concern and a meat processing plant, was arrested after FBI agents found DVDs in his apartment that featured Osama bin Laden and promoted al-Qaida. He has not been charged in connection with the allegations of spying on India's nuclear installations.

U.S. prosecutors have said Rana and David Coleman Headley, an alleged co-conspirator also from Chicago, had also planned to target the National Defence College, a military school in New Delhi.

Rana has denied any wrongdoing.

Singh also assured Canadians that if Canada decides to allow its companies to sell uranium and nuclear technology to India, it will be used appropriately.

"We have entered into civil nuclear cooperation agreements with three counties: the U.S., Russia and France and we will do all that is within our power to ensure safety and security of our nuclear installations," Singh said. "There should be no doubt about that."

Canadian companies have been barred from selling nuclear materials or related services to India because it secretly used Canadian technology to develop its nuclear weapons program in 1974.

Harper insisted Canada has "great faith in our Indian friends and partners. We are not living in the 1970s. We are living in 2009."

The prime minister also met with a number of top India government officials Tuesday, including the foreign minister, the vice-president, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress Party.

In between, Harper and his wife Laureen visited the memorial site to Mahatma Ghandi, the father of modern India.

The prime minister inscribed the visitor's book calling Ghandi a "model for all humanity," then he and Laureen tossed rose petals on the spare, black marble monument.

With files from The Canadian Press

NHL's Oilers-Leafs almost swapped cities

Sun Oct. 11 2009 4:41:39 PM

New book about Peter Pocklington says NHL's Oilers-Leafs almost swapped cities

The Canadian Press

A new hockey book says the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs almost swapped cities in the early 1980s. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/files-Ballard-stf, Pocklington-str-Ray Giguere)

EDMONTON — A new hockey book says the NHL's Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs almost traded cities in the early 1980s.

The biography of one-time Oilers owner Peter Pocklington says the scheme called for the entire team to move to Toronto to play in Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Leafs, in turn, would have found a home in Edmonton's new arena, which at that time was called the Coliseum.

In the book "I'd Trade Him Again," Pocklington says Leafs owner Harold Ballard was having financial troubles and made the proposal in 1980.

Ballard also wanted Pocklington to pay him $50 million in cash.

Pocklington, who was vilified in Edmonton when he traded Wayne Gretzky in 1988, says he was all for the market swap, but Ballard backed out in the end.

"I was actually pretty excited," Pocklington says in the book, which hit store shelves last week. "I did the numbers. Christ, I would have made a fortune in Toronto."

The Oilers had joined the National Hockey League in the 1979-80 season and played their first game on Nov. 21 against the Maple Leafs in Toronto. The young Edmonton team would hoist its first Stanley Cup just five years later and win it five times by 1990.

But a young player named Gretzky and the other young rising stars on the Oilers were attracting attention long before that first Stanley Cup win.

Gretzky scored 55 goals and had a total of 164 points in his second NHL season.

The book points out that the Oilers were league leaders in attendance and were playing in a new building with more seats than Maple Leaf Gardens. As well, those were the heady days of Alberta's first big oil boom and there were plenty of people with cash in their pockets to expand the Oiler customer base.

The Leafs, on the other hand, didn't look so good. The book says the roster was being gutted by general manager Punch Imlach and the team was losing ground in the standings after he traded away fan favourites Lanny McDonald and Tiger Williams. The Leafs only won 28 games in the 1980-81 season and finished last in their division.

And Maple Leaf Gardens, which was 50 years old at the time, was crumbling.

But the blockbuster deal never happened.

Pocklington isn't sure where it went wrong.

"I don't know," he says in the book. "Ballard backed out. He was a crazy old bugger."

The book's authors, J'Lyn Nye and Terry McConnell, suggest Ballard probably found another source for the cash. They point out it was around the same time that he recruited Molson Brewery as a partner in the Leafs.

That deal, however, would lead to a decade of power struggles, lawsuits and familial strife that wasn't resolved until Ballard died in 1990.

Pocklington basked in his team's glory until Aug. 9, 1988, when Oilers fans were stunned by his announcement that he was trading Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. "I'd Trade Him Again" takes another look at what went on behind the scenes to negotiate a deal that left Gretzky crying in front of the microphones and fans burning effigies of Pocklington in the streets.

Gretzky, who wrote the foreward for the book, appears to hold no ill will against Pocklington.

"I have no hard feelings whatsoever," he writes. "I consider Peter a friend, and I hope he feels the same way."

By 1997, Pocklington was mired in his own money difficulties. His bank called in his loans and he eventually sold the team to a consortium of local buyers and moved to the United States.

He is currently facing a trial in California on charges of bankruptcy fraud.

HST and condo

Condo crowd ramps up for HST fight TheStar.com - Real Estate - Condo crowd ramps up for HST fight

August 29, 2009

Ellen Moorhouse
Special to The Star

Ontario MPP Yasir Naqvi will face some tough questions next month when he's expected to take part in a luncheon panel organized by the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario.

As parliamentary assistant to Ontario Revenue Minister John Wilkinson, he'll be there to sell the new harmonized sales tax to a sector that will be hard hit. And for sure, the 250 condo managers expected at the Sept. 18 event will be a tough audience.

"He's going to get roasted alive," predicts Armand Conant, president of the Canadian Condominium Institute, who is also on the panel.

Condo managers, owners and representatives dread the HST, which will blend the 5 per cent GST and 8 per cent provincial sales tax into a single 13 per cent tax on July 1, 2010.

"We figure it's going to be a 6.5 per cent (maintenance fee) increase strictly related to the HST for roughly 504,000 condominium units in Ontario," says ACMO president Chris Antipas.

Just last week, the Condo Owners Association-Trinity Spadina, representing more than 200 condominiums in central Toronto, held a press conference, publicizing the negative impact of the HST on condos and its effect on affordability.

Some maintenance fee expenses, such as insurance and water, are GST-exempt and won't attract HST. But services, including management, concierge, housekeeping and consultants' contracts, now subject only to 5 per cent GST, will have the 8 per cent provincial portion of the tax tacked on for the first time.

Conant emphasizes that reserve funds will also be affected and require topping up. "Everything we see seems to indicate somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of reserve fund items will be hit by the HST."

Early in June, Naqvi, MPP for Ottawa Centre, took part in a panel on the HST at a well-attended meeting at two Scarborough condominums, the Gates of Guildwood. His presentation was met with incredulity from residents with business experience, who disputed his view of the current PST and one of his key pro-HST argument.

Naqvi said that companies all down the manufacturing line pay PST, and consumers end up "paying tax on tax on tax." Combining provincial sales tax with GST, and establishing flow-through GST-style tax credits, he suggested, would lower prices and soften the HST hit.

"Mr. Naqvi does not know his facts or it is convenient for him to try and mislead," business owner and Gates of Guildwood condo director Wolfgang Kirchner commented by email after the meeting. "Anything that is bought by a business that is for resale is purchased with a PST exemption certificate; only the end user pays the tax, so no tax on tax."

In a recent telephone interview, Naqvi, a lawyer, reiterated his original argument for "modernizing" the PST: "The shoe manufacturer has paid 8 per cent on the leather, 8 per cent for the rubber in the soles, 8 per cent on the laces, and that all has become imbedded in the cost of making those shoes."

The March 2001 Ontario Retail Sales Tax Guide 400-Manufacturers, however, supports Kirchner's comments, explaining in clear language that PST does not apply to equipment and materials used to produce goods.

Condo industry representatives met with Naqvi and government officials last month and more meetings will be held in a bid to find some accommodation for the negative effect on condominium corporations.

"We had a very positive conversation and will continue to work with them to determine some solutions," Naqvi said. "We understand their position better and vice versa."

Conant, from his perspective, commented: "What he (Naqvi) did explain in greater detail was how you have to look at the HST as just one part of an overall proposal by the Ontario government that is both corporate tax, personal tax, the HST, a whole bunch of things."

It's in the context of these overall tax cuts and rebates, Conant says, that the government claims most Ontarians will see a tax reduction, but that won't diminish the HST tax grab at the point of purchase.

MPs with dual citizenships

Dion among a dozen MPs with dual citizenships

At least 11 members of Parliament, other than Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, hold dual citizenships, CBC.ca research has confirmed.

Dion was criticized this week because of his reluctance to give up his French citizenship. He was born in Canada but holds dual citizenship because his mother was born in France.

The Parliament of Canada website shows that 41 of the 308 MPs sitting in the House of Commons were born in 28 countries other than Canada, ranging from Uganda and Malta to China and the United Kingdom.

Many of these MPs qualify for dual citizenship. That puts them in the ranks of the 691,300 people living in Canada who hold dual citizenships, according to the 2001 census.

CBC.ca called their offices to check on their current status and found that the following MPs hold dual citizenships:

• Omar Alghabra (Ontario Liberal), with Syria.
• Raymond Chan (British Columbia Liberal), with the United Kingdom.
• Libby Davies (British Columbia NDP), with the United Kingdom.
• Jim Karygiannis (Ontario Liberal), with Greece.
• Wajid Khan (Ontario Liberal), with Pakistan.
• Maka Kotto (Quebec Bloc Québécois), with France.
• Pablo Rodriguez (Quebec Liberal), with Argentina.
• Michael Savage (Nova Scotia Liberal), with the United Kingdom.
• Mario Silva (Ontario Liberal), with Portugal.
• Lui Temelkovski (Ontario Liberal), with Macedonia.
• Myron Thompson (Alberta Conservative), with the United States.

Three of the foreign-born MPs' citizenship status remains unknown.

Health Minister Tony Clement's office had not returned repeated calls by Friday afternoon.

Keith Martin's spokeperson said the Liberal MP doesn't like to divulge personal information, and Conservative John Williams's spokesperson couldn't comment on his citizenship.

The remaining 27 MPs don't hold dual citizenships.

Other MPs may be eligible for dual citizenship through their parents or spouses, as is the case with Dion.

Many not interested in dual citizenship

Recent changes in laws allowing dual citizenship in other countries mean that some MPs born abroad are now eligible to renew the citizenship they had to relinquish when they moved to Canada.

However, many aren't interested in doing so, according to the CBC.ca survey.

Those include MPs born in Italy — such as Liberals Maurizio Bevilacqua, Albina Guarnieri, Maria Minna and Joe Volpe — and MPs born in India like Liberals Sukh Dhaliwal and Ujjal Dosanjh.

'At this point in time, I am a Canadian citizen.'-Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal

When Dhaliwal arrived in Canada, dual citizenship with India wasn't allowed. Now, though he could renew his Indian citizenship, he told CBC.ca, "At this point in time, I am a Canadian citizen."

Maria Mourani of the Bloc Québécois could be eligible for three citizenships. She is a Canadian citizen, but was born in Ivory Coast and held a passport from there. She also held a Lebanese passport, for which she was eligible through her parents.

Both passports have expired, but she is still eligible to claim citizenship with both countries.

Dual citizenship important to some

For some MPs, their second citizenship is important. Liberal Lui Temelkovski, a Macedonian-Canadian citizen, says he encourages his children to study abroad and learn other languages.

NDP Tony Martin was born in Ireland but does not hold dual citizenship. However, he understands why someone would want to hold two citizenships.

"There are a myriad of reasons for it … to participate as a citizen of the world," he said.

Many of the MPs told CBC.ca that the world is becoming smaller, and that their birth in another country reflects the many nations that make up Canada.

For others, like Libby Davies, the question came as a surprise.

"I don't know if I have dual citizenship," she said. "I guess I do. I've never renounced it, but I don't have a British passport. I consider myself truly Canadian."

5-Minute Meals That Slim

5-Minute Meals That Slim

20/05/2009 12:12:29 PM

---

Slim down for summer with these fast, easy, MUFA-rich recipes.

By Tracy Gensler, RD, Prevention

More Links: 25 Belly Flattening Meals How Many Servings Are You Really Eating? 100 Ways To Cut 100 Calories

Your Flat Belly Building Blocks

If you think you're too busy to lose weight, we have one word for you: MUFA (pronounced "moofah"). Also known as "monounsaturated fatty acids," these plant-based compounds are the basis of the Flat Belly Diet, which can help you drop pounds and reduce belly fat. The even better news? Delicious foods such as olives, nuts and seeds, avocado, oils, and dark chocolate are some of the best sources of these healthful fats.

Our dietitians have developed a week's worth of unique Flat Belly Diet-approved meals and snacks that are easy to prepare and ready in 5 minutes or less, so you can slim down without stress. Research shows that eating this way may put you on your way to weight loss success: A study commissioned by Prevention at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center found that overweight women who followed the diet for 28 days lost 8.4 pounds and nearly 2 inches around the waist. Choose four meals a day from this list (organized by MUFA so you can easily find a meal that suits your mood)--and you'll save time, flatten your belly, and boost your health.

MUFA Olives

HUMMUS, OLIVE, AND TOMATO
Spread 2 Tbsp hummus on each half of a toasted whole wheat English muffin. Top each half with 5 thinly sliced olives and a slice of tomato. Have 1 medium orange. Total calories: 362

MEDITERRANEAN SALAD
Toss ½ c chickpeas, rinsed and drained, with ½ c halved cherry tomatoes, 1 chopped cucumber, 10 large black olives, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Serve with 1 toasted large whole wheat pita. Total calories: 398

WAFFLES FLORENTINE
Prepare 2 whole grain waffles and spread with 2 Tbsp black olive tapenade. Top with ½ c egg whites, scrambled in cooking spray, and ¾ c spinach leaves. Have ½ c green or red grapes. Total calories: 393

ROAST BEEF SANDWICH
Toast 2 slices whole wheat bread and spread with 2 Tbsp green olive tapenade. Top with 3 oz organic deli roast beef. Have 1 medium pear. Total calories: 400

GRAB & GO CHEESE & CRACKERS
Mix ½ c fat-free cottage cheese with 1 c chopped red bell pepper and 10 sliced large black olives. Serve with 6 small whole wheat crackers. Have 1 medium apple. Total calories: 378

SPANISH-STYLE EGGS
Fry 1 whole egg with 1 egg white in 1 tsp olive oil. Place on top of ½ c salsa and 10 sliced large green olives. Eat with 6" whole wheat tortilla. Total calories: 383

MUFA Nuts & Seeds

ALMOND BUTTER WITH FRESH FRUIT
Spread 1 slice whole wheat bread with 2 Tbsp almond butter. Eat with ½ c each sliced strawberries and sliced kiwifruit. Total calories: 350

MANGO WALNUT SALAD
Top 3 c spinach with ½ c chopped mango, ¼ c sliced red bell pepper, 4 chopped baby carrots, 2 Tbsp walnuts, 2 Tbsp vinaigrette, and 1 Tbsp raisins. Eat with ½ large whole wheat pita. Total calories: 395

HAZELNUT PEAR CRACKERS
Spread 4 RyKrisp crackers with 2 Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb Wedges and top with 1 sliced medium pear and 2 Tbsp hazelnuts. Total calories: 383

CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS
Spread 6 Bibb lettuce leaves with 2 Tbsp hummus and top with 3 oz sliced grilled chicken and 2 Tbsp walnuts. Also have 1 c raspberries and 6 small whole wheat crackers. Total calories: 405

TAHINI TUNA PITA
Blend 3 oz can chunk light tuna, drained, with 2 Tbsp tahini, 2 Tbsp chopped parsley, and finely shredded ½ small carrot. Stuff into 4" whole wheat pita. Total calories: 364

SUMMER TOMATO SALAD
Layer 1 c arugula with 2 sliced tomatoes, 2 oz thinly sliced part-skim mozzarella, and 5 thin slices red onion. Dress with 2 Tbsp pine nuts; 1 tsp olive oil; and balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. Total calories: 391

MUFA Avocado

AVOCADO TOMATO HERBED WRAP
Spread 1 whole wheat wrap with 2 Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb Wedges and fill with 1 sliced small tomato, ¼ c sliced Hass avocado, whole basil leaves, and 1 tsp balsamic vinaigrette. Total calories: 367

AVOCADO MANGO SALAD
Mix 1 cubed mango with ¼ c diced Hass avocado and 2 Tbsp minced cilantro. Squeeze with juice of ½ lime and sprinkle with ground red pepper. Serve with wedges of 1 toasted large whole wheat tortilla. Total calories: 367

DIJON EGG SANDWICH
Scramble ½ c egg whites in cooking spray. Place on toasted whole wheat English muffin spread with 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard and top with 1oz reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese and ¼ c cubed Hass avocado. Total calories: 386

AVOCADO BRUSCHETTA
Spread 2 slices toasted whole wheat bread with ¼ c sliced Hass avocado, mashed, and top with 2 sliced small tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Have 1 medium apple. Total calories: 374

SOUTHWEST VEGGIE BURGER
Fill 1 whole wheat bun with 1 black-bean veggie burger, 1 c mixed baby greens, ¼ c canned corn, ¼ c sliced Hass avocado, and 2 Tbsp salsa. Total calories: 383

MUFA Oils

CHEESY BEAN DIP
Mix ¾ c rinsed and drained kidney beans, mashed, with ¼ c diced onion, 1 Tbsp walnut oil, and 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with ¼ c shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese and microwave on medium until cheese is melted. Serve with 1 c sliced red bell pepper for dipping. Total calories: 389

SIMPLE SALMON SANDWICH
Mix 3 oz canned boneless, skinless wild salmon, drained, with ¼ c chopped red bell pepper, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Top with romaine lettuce leaves and serve on whole wheat roll. Total calories: 413

ITALIAN TUNA
Blend 3 oz can chunk light tuna, drained, with ¼ c chopped red onion, 2 Tbsp capers, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Serve with 4 RyKrisp crackers. Total calories: 346

SESAME SLAW
Mix 2 c broccoli slaw with ¼ c red bell pepper slices, ¼ c chopped canned water chestnuts, 1 segmented medium orange, 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar, and 1 Tbsp sesame oil. Total calories: 348

GREEK LENTIL SALAD
Mix ½ c canned lentils, rinsed and drained, with ¼ c each chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, and chopped red onion; 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar; and 1 Tbsp canola oil. Sprinkle with ¼ c crumbled feta cheese and 2 tsp dried oregano. Total calories: 383

MUFA Dark Chocolate

CHERRY CHOCOLATE SMOOTHIE
In a blender, combine 1 c fat-free milk, 1 c frozen cherries, 3 oz fat-free vanilla yogurt, and ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips. Mix until smooth. Total calories: 402

GRAB & GO CHOCOLATE CHERRY TRAIL MIX
Toss together ½ c whole grain O's cereal, ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips, and 1 oz dried cherries. Drink ½ c fat-free milk. Total calories: 429

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE COTTAGE CHEESE
Sprinkle 1 c fat-free cottage cheese with ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips and ¼ c sliced strawberries. Sprinkle with chopped mint leaves. Total calories: 379

CHOCOLATE BANANA BLAST
Mix sliced ½ small banana and ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips with 6 oz container unsweetened fat-free Greek-style yogurt. Total calories: 352

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY OATMEAL
Mix ½ c dry oats (cooked with water to desired consistency) with ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips and 1 c raspberries. Total calories: 419

BLUEBERRY WAFFLE
Top 1 frozen whole grain waffle, toasted, with ¼ c semisweet chocolate chips and place in toaster oven or oven set to 350°F to slightly melt chips. Top with ¼ c blueberries and 2 oz fat-free vanilla yogurt. Total calories: 350

More slimming meals! Visit prevention.com/5minutemeals for 15 extra superfast belly-flattening recipes. If that doesn't satisfy your craving, check out the new Flat Belly Diet Pocket Guide, which packs 90 more delicious MUFA-packed meals. Available at flatbellydiet.com/pocketguide or wherever books are sold.

CBC's Stanley Cup final ratings among best ever recorded by the network

CBC's Stanley Cup final ratings among best ever recorded by the network

Jun 8, 2004
Source : Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP-AP)--The Stanley Cup final was a bonanza for the CBC and a bust south of the border.

Tampa Bay's 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 7 drew an average of 4.862 million viewers Monday night, making it the second-highest rated NHL game ever for CBC. Only coverage of Game 7 of the 1994 final between Vancouver and the New York Rangers drew more, with 4.957 million tuning in for the Rangers' 3-2 win.

But those numbers include pre-game and post-game coverage. The game itself Monday drew 5.560 million Canadians, which was up from 5.404 million in 1994.

The entire final averaged 3.735 million viewers--the highest-rated final round since the ratings were introduced in 1989. Last year's final between Anaheim and New Jersey averaged 1.507 million.

All four rounds of the 2004 playoffs averaged 2.154 million viewers, up 35 per cent from last season's 1.593 million.

The record audience for a sporting event in Canada, with more than 10 million English and French-language CBC viewers, was the Canadian men's gold medal hockey win over the U.S. at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

In the U.S., the average rating for the five Stanley Cup final games on ABC were the lowest since the network began broadcasting the final again in 2000.

Monday's game got a 4.2 rating with a 7 share. That's down nine per cent from the 4.6 with an 8 for New Jersey's 3-0 win over Anaheim in Game 7 last year--the highest-rated NHL game since broadcast networks began carrying the final in 1998.

Still, the rating for Monday's game was well above the five-game average of 2.6 with a 5 share.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. Share is the percentage of homes with TVs in use. Each rating point represents about 1.08 million households.

The U.S. ratings were anemic throughout the series. The first two games were on ESPN, with Game 1 tying for the lowest-rated Stanley Cup final game on the cable network since 1990.

© Canadian Press

Pakistan’s British-Drawn Borders

May 5, 2009

Pakistan’s British-Drawn Borders

By Robert Mackey

Library of Congress A map of the border between Afghanistan (in yellow) and British India (in pink) from 1893, the year the Durand Line was drawn. The Swat Valley was then considered a part of Afghanistan.

In their fascinating account of a series of interviews with a Taliban tactician in Tuesday’s New York Times, Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah point to “one distinct Taliban advantage: the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan barely exists for the Taliban.”

In previous posts on The Lede, we’ve mentioned that Pakistan and the rest of the world believes that Afghanistan ends (and Pakistan begins) more or less where a 1,600-mile line was drawn on the world map in 1893, at the direction of a British colonial officer named Henry Mortimer Durand, who sought to define the outer edge of what was then British India. At the time, the Afghans grudgingly accepted this map, despite the fact that what became known as the Durand Line cut right through Pashtun tribal areas and even villages that they considered part of Afghanistan.

Sir Henry, whose portrait can be seen in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery in London, drew his line with the memory of Britain’s two failed wars against the Afghans fresh in his mind. Not long before, in 1879, during what the British call the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Sir Henry had completed and published an account of “The First Afghan War and Its Causes” begun by his father, Sir Henry Marion Durand. As Sir Henry noted in his introduction to the book (which has been scanned and posted online in its entirety by Google), his father, who died before he could complete the history, “had some special qualifications for the task,” having participated in that first, disastrous attempt to subdue Afghanistan, four decades earlier.

So, as the entry on Pakistan in the Encarta encyclopedia explains, splitting the Pashtun tribes was in some sense the whole point of what is still known today as the Durand Line:

As the British sought to expand their empire into the northwest frontier, they clashed with the Pashtun tribes that held lands extending from the western boundary of the Punjab plains into the kingdom of Afghanistan. The Pashtuns strongly resisted British invasions into their territories. After suffering many casualties, the British finally admitted they could not conquer the Pashtuns. In 1893 Sir Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the colonial government of India, negotiated an agreement with the king of Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, to delineate a border. The so-called Durand Line cut through Pashtun territories, dividing them between British and Afghan areas of influence. However, the Pashtuns refused to be subjugated under British colonial rule. The British compromised by creating a new province in 1901, named the North-West Frontier Province, as a loosely administered territory where the Pashtuns would not be subject to colonial laws.

In November, 2001, as the United States confronted the Taliban in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Cener and the Pentagon, Vartan Gregorian explained on The Times’s Op-Ed page how the arbitrary line the British colonial administration in India drew through “Pashtunistan” in the 19th century, which still forms much of the modern border, created problems that have still not been resolved in this volatile border region.

As the scholar Barnett Rubin noted in an article in Foreign Affairs in 2007, when the British left India in 1947 and the northwest part of the territory was carved into the new state of Pakistan, the Afghans stopped recognizing the Durand Line as a border:

Afghanistan claimed that Pakistan was a new state, not a successor to British India, and that all past border treaties had lapsed. A loya jirga in Kabul denied that the Durand Line was an international border and called for self-determination of the tribal territories as Pashtunistan. Skirmishes across the Durand Line began with the covert support of both governments.

While the two governments today are not actually fighting a war over the location of the border, the fact that the Durand Line runs right through the traditional Pashtun lands means that Taliban fighters from Afghanistan blend easily into the local population on the Pakistani side of the frontier. Suggestions from Pakistan to stop illegal border crossings by either putting down land mines or erecting a fence have been rejected by Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, who is himself Pashtun.

In January, Pierre Sprey, a former Pentagon official, told Bill Moyers in a discussion of American strategy for fighting militants along the Afghan-Pakistan border, calling the Pashtuns who live along both sides of the Durand Line “a tribe,” can be misleading. In an interview, Mr. Sprey said:

It’s not a tribe. It’s a nation. This is 40 million people spread across Afghanistan and Pakistan, you know, who don’t even recognize that border. It’s their land. … There’s 40 million of them. That’s a nation, not a tribe. Within it are tribal groupings and so on. But they all speak the common language. And they all have a very similar, very rigid, in lots of ways very admirable code of honor much stronger than their adherence to Islam.

Pakistan’s other borders were created in 1947 by another British colonial officer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who was made chairman of the boundary commission and given six weeks to carve a Muslim-majority state from British India. As the historian Karl Meyer wrote in his book “The Dust of Empire,” Sir Cyril “was a curious choice,” since he had never previously visited India. In a chapter called “Pakistan: Sins of Partition,” Mr. Meyer explained:

As Radcliffe’s former private secretary, Christopher Beaumont, later remarked in an interview, the chairman had never traveled east and “was a bit flummoxed by the whole thing. It was a rather impossible assignment, really. To partition that subcontinent in six weeks was absurd.”

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the ethnic cleansing that followed the imposition of the new border Sir Cyril drew between India and Pakistan. W.H. Auden made the absurdity of the way the border was created the subject of the poem “Partition,” published in 1966:

Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission,
Having never set eyes on the land he was called to partition
Between two peoples fanatically at odds,
With their different diets and incompatible gods.
“Time,” they had briefed him in London, “is short. It’s too late
For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:
The only solution now lies in separation.
The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter,
That the less you are seen in his company the better,
So we’ve arranged to provide you with other accommodation.
We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu,
To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you.”

Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day
Patrolling the gardens to keep the assassins away,
He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate
Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date
And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect,
But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect
Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot,
And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot,
But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided,
A continent for better or worse divided.

The next day he sailed for England, where he could quickly forget
The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not,
Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot.

TV ON THE WEB

TV ON THE WEB

TheStar.com | Television | Denied the right to watch TV online? You've been geo-blocked

Denied the right to watch TV online? You've been geo-blocked

There are fixes for Canadians frustrated at barriers keeping them out of sites like Hulu and TV.com

Feb 08, 2009 04:30 AM

Bill Brioux
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Say you want to watch that Saturday Night Live sketch you missed last week. You know – the funny one.

You're in Toronto, sitting in front of your powerful new computer screen. You go to Hulu.com, the digital streaming site owned by U.S. media giants NBC and Fox. It's like a big video jukebox filled with all your favourite shows, everything from 30 Rock and American Idol to Heroes and Fringe, available on demand 24 hours a day.

You click on a clip and up pops a stark black-and-white warning: "We're sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within the United States." There's more, including a line about Hulu being committed to making its content available worldwide. But for now, step back, Johnny Canuck – you've been geo-blocked.

Geo-blocking – or geo-gating, as the networks prefer to call it – is how content providers like Hulu, and even Canadian networks like CTV and Global, restrict access to their online videos outside the territories where they hold the rights.

Except (shh!) there's an easy way around it. You don't have to buy a grey- or black-market satellite dish as you did in the old days to see HBO or ESPN. You don't need to send cheques to a cousin in Albany to cover your dodgy satellite bill.

Just download one program to your computer and before you can say "cross-border cloaking," Hulu can't tell who-loo they're dealing with, or what country you're from, letting you sneak into their store.

As many as a half-million Canadians, among 5.5 million Web surfers worldwide each month, are already using AnchorFree.com to do just that, according to David Gorodyansky, founder and CEO of the northern California company. AnchorFree offers an ad-supported virtual private network called Hotspot Shield that, in addition to boosting PC security, allows Canadians to view geo-blocked content. Once installed (a process that takes about a minute), the shield prevents content providers from knowing what country you are in.

"Our job is not to promote Hulu or offer them in regions where they're not available," says Gorodyansky. "We're just enabling people to be private and secure online. What people choose to do once they're private and secure is kind of their business."

AnchorFree makes money from ads posted at its site, including a banner that adds itself to your browser while the service is in use. Up to now, Gorodyansky says he has not received a cease-and-desist complaint from Hulu or anyone else.

There are other sites designed to guide Canadians and others around geo-blocked content, including SurfTheChannel.com. It acts like a search engine for video content, pointing users to the show they want to see via links to YouTube, Tudou (YouTube's Chinese equivalent), The WB, ABC Family and even Canadian sources like CTV.ca.

So then why not go straight to CTV.ca, asks Stephan Argent, CTV's vice-president of digital media. Argent says 337 million videos were streamed on the network's website in 2008, including CTV's popular TV hits Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men and So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

While it's hard to compare online and TV audience numbers, Argent says some of the younger-skewed shows CTV has licensed for Canada, like The CW's Gossip Girl, are more popular online than on TV.

Globaltv.com also offers Canadians 24-hour on-demand access to its TV hits, including 24, Family Guy and, yes, Saturday Night Live. Global started by streaming Survivor in 2006, and now offers 75 shows online (if you include its specialty-channel offerings such as Holmes on Homes and Trailer Park Boys).

As with CTV.ca, Global's clips or "webisodes" have a 15- or 30-second commercial attached, but that's still better than the ad-to-show ratio on broadcast TV.

So Argent argues Canadians have no reason to use reach-around products like AnchorFree to access geo-blocked U.S. sites. "Given the choice between doing something illegal that takes effort and a legitimate, high-quality product ... that's easy to use, I think the majority of people are going to choose the latter."

One current advantage of hopping the border and surfing content at Hulu or CBS-owned TV.com rather than, say, CTV or Global is choice. TV.com (geo-blocked in Canada) has the largest TV-show library on the Web, with 38,000 videos available at the click of a mouse. Besides current hits, it offers many classic shows from as far back as 1941. The top three oldies are currently The Three Stooges Show, The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy. Worth using a geo-block "shield" to access? As Curly would say, "Soitenly!"

Canadian network sites, to date, have no such archived content. "The Americans have had a bit of a head start," concedes Pary Bell, Global's vice-president of content. "They can start looking at their Starsky & Hutches and CHiPs. We also have that opportunity to ... look at the back catalogue but, first and foremost, our largest demand is for what's hot right now."

But is using easy-to-access services such as AnchorFree illegal? Relax, says Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor and media law expert (also a Toronto Star columnist). While he acknowledges that peeking across the border at content from a restricted zone "is effectively breach of contract," he feels that doing so is "unlikely to create any kind of liability on the part of the user."

Geist says networks and various rights holders are more likely to try to come up with technical ways to stop surfers from looking past their border zones. "One way to do that is to try to identify AnchorFree users specifically, or whatever the proxy service happens to be, and block anyone using the proxy."

The problem is that there are so many ways to access content nowadays – including the illegal ones. "Many of the content owners recognize that you're better off embracing the opportunity to monetize that traffic and that interest, rather than trying to set up barriers," says Geist.

Even the "gatekeepers" – the network executives trying to play by the rules and honour rights restrictions – acknowledge that the biggest gate may be the public's belief that the World Wide Web should be free, and barrier-free.

"It's a generational thing," says Michael Goldsmith, director of original content at Teletoon, which gets hundreds of emails from American kids frustrated at being geo-blocked from Canadian shows like Total Drama Action.

"Young people feel somewhat entitled to view content that's been made," says Goldsmith. "They know that it's been made and it exists. They have a really hard time grasping why they shouldn't be able to go online and just view it when they want to view it."

The dilemma, says Goldsmith, is that Canadian producers make money selling online rights to their shows in other regions. "We don't want the Americans to see it," says Goldsmith, "not because we don't want them to see it, but because it could jeopardize a business deal that's important to the health of a good producer."

Not every Canadian cares about such considerations, and programmers know it. Global's Pary Bell, a self-described "child of the Internet," understands that "it can be very frustrating to everyone who doesn't like the notion of territories in the online world." Maintaining territorial rights is not as easy online as it is with the "walled garden" of television.

So far, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission – which may soon have to change its name to the Canadian Media Commission – has not weighed in on geo-blocking. That will change with new media hearings set to begin in a few weeks.