Middle East & North Africa

There are only about 6 million Jews living in Israel, but there are major religious, social and political chasms that divide them.

Gender equality is among the most widely accepted democratic principles around the world.

Key takeaways from Pew Research Center's comprehensive study of religion in Israel, where there are major divisions not only between Jews and Arabs, but also within the major subgroups of Israeli Jews.

There are deep divisions in Israeli society over political values and religion's role in public life -- not only between Jews and the Arab minority, but also among the religious subgroups that make up Israeli Jewry.

People in emerging and developing nations are quickly catching up to those in advanced nations in terms of access to technology.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, both economically and socially, technology adoption remains one of the defining factors in human progress. To that end, there has been a noticeable rise over the past two years in the percentage of people in the emerging and developing nations surveyed by Pew Research Center who say that they use the internet and own a smartphone.

A historic event within global Christianity is set to take place Friday as Pope Francis meets Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Cuba – the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches since the Orthodox tradition broke away from Catholicism nearly 1,000 years ago.

The view that torture may be justified is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, where a median of 55% hold this view; it is least common in Latin America (a median of 25%). In the U.S., 58% say torture can be justified as part of efforts to prevent terrorist attacks.

The tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are often characterized as sectarian, and public attitudes toward the two countries in five Middle Eastern nations surveyed bear this out.

Americans place less importance on religion in their lives than do people in a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia -- but more than residents of many other Western and European countries.