Global Peace Index Ranks Countries By Peacefulness

The first study to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness and the drivers that create and sustain their peace was released on May 30th. The Global Peace Index studied 121 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe and its publication comes one week before the leaders of the world’s richest countries gather for the G8 summit in Germany to discuss issues of global concern.

According to this Global Peace Index, Norway is the most peaceful nation and Iraq is the least, just after Israel and Sudan. The survey places Israel at the bottom end of the scale at #119.

The United States is also among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran.

Tunisia comes in at #39 right after the United Arab Emirates and before Ghana.

The Index aims to provide a quantitative measure of peacefulness that
is comparable over time, and that will hopefully inspire and influence world
leaders and governments to further action.

The main findings of the Global Peace Index are:

– Peace is correlated to indicators such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
– Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
– Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs are most likely to get a higher ranking

Full list & more: First Global Peace Index Ranks 121 Countries
[Via: Sabbah]

Miss Japan Crowned Miss Universe 2007

Riyo MoriRiyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from a village near Mount Fuji in Japan, who hopes to someday open an international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007 last night.

Mori, the 56th winner of the title, was given her $250,000 diamond-and-pearl crown by last year’s winner, Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico, watched by a live audience of 10,000 and some 600 million television viewers worldwide.

Mori, the second Japanese woman to win the Miss Universe title will spend her year-long reign traveling the world to speak out on humanitarian issues like poverty and disease.
Under pageant rules, women crowned Miss Universe become advocates for AIDS/HIV research and education.

The only other time Japan had won the pageant was in 1959, when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.