Source : RT / 26 May 2014

The CIA has been bombing Pakistan’s domestic buildings more than any other targets over the past decade of the drone war launched by the US, says the latest research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Source : Tradearabia / 24 May 2014

Saudi Arabia has been ranked seventh globally for its high public spending on education in the latest 'Learning Curve Index' published by Pearson, a leading learning company, which rates the educational performance of 39 countries.  

Source : Al Arabiya / 21 May 2014

Newspapers in the Arab world are to become ‘extinct’ earlier than forecast due to the rapid rise of social media in the region, according to a key researcher.

Author Ross Dawson, who in 2010 published a ‘newspaper extinction timeline’, says he is revising his predictions of when printed papers will no longer be significant in the Arab world.

Source : UN Multimedia / 19 May 2014

More than 30 million people globally were internally displaced at the end of 2013 due to conflict, according to a new report launched at the United Nations in Geneva on Wednesday.

The report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), which is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, covers 58 countries.

Source : Voice of Russia / 14 May 2014

Ukrainian citizens are mostly opposed to the country joining NATO, the Razumkov Center sociological service said, citing its April poll.

According to the survey, when asked if a referendum on joining NATO was held next Sunday, how one would vote, 36.7 percent of respondents said they would vote for it, 41.6 percent against, 6.4 percent would not vote, and 15.4 percent failed to respond.

Source : RIA Novosti / 08 May 2014

NATO’s permanent presence in Eastern Europe will not restore stability and security to the continent, rather it will threaten peace in the region, Martin Sieff, an Irish-American veteran journalist and author, told RIA Novosti.

Source : Voice of Russia / 08 May 2014

Russian citizens characterize Russian President Vladimir Putin as competent and focused, the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) sociologists said.

According to the poll results released on Wednesday, 21% of respondents consider Putin to be competent, decisive and focused (20%), while last year such responses were given by 10% and 14% respectively.

Source : Ear-Halal / 06 May 2014

New Zealand has the potential to tap into a rapidly growing Muslim tourism market, says a tourism expert. Also known as “halal tourism”, Kiwi operators and hospitality providers are being encouraged to supply services that comply with Islamic beliefs and practices. Around 50,000 Muslim tourists from Indonesia and Malaysia travel to New Zealand each year, but experts say there’s still room for growth.

Source : Voice of Russia / 03 May 2014

Almost half of Americans want Washington to reduce its role on the global stage, in a marked change from past decades, a Wall Street Journal poll finds, according to RIA Novosti. "Nearly half of those surveyed want the US to be less active on the global stage, with less than one-fifth calling for more active engagement - an anti-interventionist current that sweeps across party lines," the poll says.

Source : Voice of Russia / 02 May 2014

Nearly six in every 10 Russians think that their country is heading in the right direction, the highest number in more than two decades, a recent poll has shown. A total of 58 percent of respondents were pleased with the nation's present course, up from 43 percent in January and 51 percent in early March, an online report released Wednesday by independent pollster Levada Center.