Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a fixture in the headlines for over a month, narrowly edged some attention-grabbing election results as the top story last week. The legislative effort to regulate Wall Street drove economic coverage and two international stories rounded out the roster of top subjects.
News that scientists had created the first-ever living cell controlled by synthetic DNA fascinated the blogosphere last week as the discussion focused on the ethics and implications of the achievement. On Twitter, a marketing campaign gone awry received the most attention. And on YouTube, a forceful political ad drew almost a million views.
Views of the Islamic extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah are, with few exceptions, largely negative. In fact, a majority in only one country – Jordan – holds a favorable opinion of both the militant Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas and Shia Islamic group Hezbollah based in Lebanon. Certainly, many Palestinians and Egyptians also embrace Hamas and […]
Across predominantly Muslim nations, there is little enthusiasm for the extremist Islamic organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, although there are pockets of support for both groups, especially in the Middle East.
The travel delays and cancelled flights caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano dominated the conversation among bloggers last week. But an Iranian cleric’s claim that immodest women were to blame for earthquakes generated its fair share of attention. On Twitter, stories about Apple’s iPhone and iPad received the most links.
With its wintry TV tableaus, last week’s massive snowstorms topped a news agenda tilted toward the nation’s Capitol. Not only did Washington D.C. bear the brunt of the snow’s wallop, but Beltway-based battles over the jobs and health care came next in the roster of leading stories.
Recent events such as the Fort Hood shootings and the arrest of five Muslim American students in Pakistan have raised questions about the threat of homegrown terrorism in the United States. However, the Pew Research Center’s comprehensive portrait of the Muslim American population suggests it is less likely to be a fertile breeding ground for […]