Sidney, Montana not Sydney, Australia

Spelling mistake takes tourist 13,000km off-course

A typing mistake on an online booking form left a German tourist 13,000km off-course on a journey to meet his girlfriend. Tobi Gutt left Germany in high hopes on Saturday, dressed in T-shirt and shorts for the Australian summer, but instead of heading towards Sydney, Australia the 21 year-old ended up en-route to Sidney, Montana.

Initially Gutt reasoned that it was possible to fly to Australia via the United States and it was only as he boarded a commuter flight to Sidney, an oil town that's home to around 5,000 people, that the terrible truth dawned on him. Up to that point he'd flown to Portland, Oregon and on to Billings, Montana with mounting concern.

"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the German newspaper Bild. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States." He was left in the stuck middle of nowhere with only a thin jacket to keep out the cold. Fortunately after three days his family and friends were able to send him the €600 he needed to book a new ticket to Australia. "I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mum, Sabine, told Reuters.

Most Corrupt Countries, 2006

Most Corrupt Countries, 2006

Rank Country 1. Haiti 2. Myanmar 3. Iraq 4. Guinea 5. Sudan 6. Congo, Democratic Republic 7. Chad 8. Bangladesh 9. Uzbekistan 10. Equatorial Guinea 11. Côte d´Ivoire 12. Cambodia 13. Belarus

The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain, and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's public officials and politicians.

Source: Transparency International, 2006. Web: www.transparency.org. Rate Me on BlogHop.com! help?

The 2006 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index

According to the annual survey by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International, Finland, Iceland, and New Zealand are perceived to be the world's least corrupt countries, and Haiti is perceived to be the most corrupt. The index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, drawing on 12 polls and surveys from 9 independent institutions, which gathered the opinions of businesspeople and country analysts. Only 163 of the world's 193 countries are included in the survey, due to an absence of reliable data from the remaining countries. The scores range from ten (squeaky clean) to zero (highly corrupt). A score of 5.0 is the number Transparency International considers the borderline figure distinguishing countries that do and do not have a serious corruption problem. Countries that have significantly improved their rating since the 2005 index were Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uruguay. Some of the countries that have a significantly worse rating since 2005 include Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, and the United States. Because inclusion in the index requires at least three sources Afghanistan, Fiji, Liberia, Palestine, and Somalia, with only two sources in 2006, were not included.
#. Country CPI (Corruption Perception Index)
1. Finland 9.6
2. Iceland 9.6
3. New Zealand 9.6
4. Denmark 9.5
5. Singapore 9.4
6. Sweden 9.2
7. Switzerland 9.1
8. Norway 8.8
9. Australia 8.7
10.Netherlands 8.7

The full report is located here. Rate Me on BlogHop.com! help?

A New Year and A New Opportunity

This blog will be updated soon.




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