German-based NGO Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index on Tuesday. The index, which ranks corruption of countries on a 0 to 100 scale, with the lowest scores indicating the most corruption, based on perceptions of experts and analysts, found 8 Arab countries were among the 10 most corrupt nations.

Those surveyed in compiling the results include experts from bodies such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit and others.

Israel scored a 61 on the index and ranked 36th least corrupt out of a total of 177 nations. The score is up from 60 in 2012, when Israel was 39th least corrupt.

Of the 10 most corrupt nations, all of which scored under 20 on the index, 8 (Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan in alphabetical order) have a Muslim majority. Five are Arab.

Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan were ranked the most corrupt states in the world, each scoring a mere 8 on the index.

Afghanistan has been the subject of NATO and US intervention for several years, leading Finn Heinrich, Research Director for Transparency International, to call the nation "a sobering story," adding "we have not seen tangible improvements." (continue reading...)

France is one of the OECD countries where educational inequalities are the most marked. The 10% of pupils with the lowest performance have seen their results fall between 2003

Millions of secular Turks voted for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Everyone was keeping an eye on Turkey, hopeful that this country would show the way that liberal democracy and

The mystery surrounding the death of seven French monks, murdered and decapitated in Algeria in 1996, may be closer to being solved thanks to the efforts of a French

French soldiers began arriving in the Central African Republic on Monday to help stem a worsening religious war that threatens to become a genocide, the latest in a series of

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A new wave of Europeans is heading to Syria, their ranks soaring in the past six months as tales of easy living and glorious martyrdom draw them to the

Shhhh: "Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained

The Somali accused of raping a dying woman and then proceeded to have intercourse with her ??dead body will remain in Sweden. It is clear then prosecutor Daniel Jonsson chosen

DATE: Tuesday 10 December 2013 TIME: 5:00-6:30pm AT: Universities UK, Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HQ (Closest Underground Stations: Euston or Russell

Osama Bin Laden used to send money to his operatives through Tadamon Islamic Bank, a sharia-compliant financial institution based in Yemen. Hassan al-Turabi, the man largely

Rome - A well-known Italian right-wing politician was fined Monday for staging a protest against the wearing of burqas and other Islamic veils for women. Daniela

A prison in France has been ordered to make halal meals available to its Muslim inmates in a landmark legal ruling. The administrative tribunal in Grenoble in southeastern

The Threat of Islam in Austria from Gates of Vienna I previously reported on a survey of Flemish voters that showed how many people in Flanders consider Islam a threat,

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday he recently received an envoy from Qatar, the first contact between the two sides since divisions

This time it’s the cemetery (where they bury Muslims without a casket and at least one has been buried already…seemingly illegally). The mosque was Built on a Foundation of