Nigeria

The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.

All of us who are originally from here or have made Qatar our second home get very little information related to it's political dynamics. I, for one, have been trying to find a few good sources of information specially related to the issues of foreign intrests. Found this one informed.

The Qataris have made the generation leap under their new Emir, Shaikh Hamad, with the political situation having stabilised. As a result, Qatar is one of the most attractive countries for foreign investors in the Middle East, with the state's decision making mechanism having improved.

However, Qatar embraces many contradictions. The emirate hoists several different flags, which together describe the bizarre combination of its policies:

Hi,

I am an Australian/American who will be leaving for Doha on Tuesday to teach at Al Arqam Academy. I'll be teaching History and Geography and I am really looking forward to experiencing life in Qatar.

This will be my first independent experience as an expat and something I have been working towards for a number of years. In addition to living in Australia and the US I spent a great deal of my childhood in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan.

I've spent the last year an a bit living in a very remote part of the Australian outback teaching in Aboriginal communities so I am looking forward to being in an urban setting again.

Does anyone have any recommendations for health clubs for single women? Also approximate costs?

Cheers,

Rebecca

The South Pacific island of Samoa will be the first nation in decades to switch traffic flow from one side of the road to another, though drivers predict chaos next week when they make the move.

The prime minister said Monday a special Cabinet meeting had decided the switch to the left side will go ahead as planned, despite earlier protests where 30,000 marched through the streets. Around 500 people protested again Monday in the capital, Apia, saying drivers have not been properly prepared.

The government wants to bring Samoa in line with driving customs in Australia and New Zealand, where steering wheels are on the right side of vehicles, to encourage some of the 170,000 expatriate Samoans living there to ship used cars back to relatives.

Charities have set up Iftar tents for low-income people at scores of places in Qatar.

The state-run Zakat Fund has collected QR6mn through donations and set up 11 Iftar locations that will feed 300,000 people throughout the holy month, according to project manager Mohamed al-Jadii.

“This is half the number of locations we had last year, since we are restricted by the large-scale construction going on in so many parts of the country,” said al-Jadii.

Locations were selected in consultation with other charities to ensure that they did not choose the same place and cause overcrowding, as the Fund’s tents alone would be hosting as many as 1,200 people each.

It appears the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi is very close to being released. The US is pressuring the UK to prevent it, but the UK has business interests in Libya that may hinge on his release. Mergrahi is serving life with a minimum of 27 years after being convicted in 2001 of the 1988 bombing on board a Pan Am flight 103 which killed 270 people (the overwhelming majority being Americans). I don't really think the US has the right to interfere in a legal matter outside our borders, but I'm surprised that the Scottish courts and UK government are considering letting him go.

To fill you in on the horror of his crime consider: