The name Hamas is an acronym of an Arabic name which translates as Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas is also an Arabic word which means 'enthusiasm' or 'religious zeal'. Hamas was first established in 1987 and its origins are in the much older Egyptian... (read more)

That question will get a very different answer depending on who you ask. It is based on the tenets of Islamic fundamentalism, which denies equal rights to many people, and clear human rights abuses have been documented. When it was founded it had the... (read more)

Chocolate in some form has been used since as far back as 2000 BC - it was used in both food and drinks, based on the cacoa bean, by ancient South American cultures, and there are plenty of records of chocolate use in Mayan and Aztec history from at... (read more)

The name of her current chef is not publicly known - the names of royal servants often aren't well known until they leave their jobs - but until recently Queen Elizabeth's chef was Darren... (read more)

The Voyager spacecrafts use rocket fuel. This can be either liquid or solid. The substance made from rocket fuel is known as propellant because the force generated by firing the treated... (read more)

It's very difficult no matter how you look at it, but the simplest explanation I can find is something like this: The idea goes back to the 1960s when Professor Higgs and his colleagues were trying to work out why some particles have mass and others don't,... (read more)

Most of her dogs are Welsh corgis. There are two types of this dog: The Pembroke Welsh and the Cardigan Welsh corgi, and the Queen has four Pembroke corgis. She also has three dorgis, which are a mixture of corgi and dachshund. You can find out more about... (read more)

In such a huge continent and with so much talent to choose from, you can never give a complete answer to that question. However, there have been a number of 'top 10' and other lists. Most of these are lists of personal favourites, and nobody is saying... (read more)

If you and the person you want to send money to have the same bank account, or an affiliated one, you may be able to transfer money without a fee, so check out the other person's banking arrangements. In fact, if it's a lot of money or regular payments,... (read more)

Queen Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, have four children (Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward) and eight grandchildren, as each of... (read more)

If the player had already conceded, that would have been the end, no matter what happened afterwards. Once you have conceded a putt you can't withdraw it (unless your withdrawal was based on wrong information that your opponent gave you), and it doesn't... (read more)

According to the Ultimate Metal Forum, the highest number of notes per second is 18, played by Shawn Lane, a musician who died in 1963 - you can see the full list here.... (read more)

For a full list of all 130 countries and their current ranklings, please click here. The ranking and seeding system is complicated, but at present Spain has No. 1 ranking with the... (read more)

In most cases it can be kept under control with careful monitoring of your diet and regular exercise. It is also very likely that once the pregnancy is over you have no further problems with diabetes, though you would need to continue to be careful with... (read more)

Apple only started doing these maps in 2011, when it got the technology from a Swedish company that it bought (C3 Technologies). And it has only very recently (since Oct 2012) produced the new enhanced visuals for its maps. So this is all very much still... (read more)

There are online courses now for Spanish as there are for many languages. If you are a beginner, a good place to start is the BBC Spanish learning website. This is free, and gives you the basics in... (read more)

Many people feel the same way about driving as you do, and luckily there is lots of help available. If you have only just started driving or don't drive yet, your fear may well become less over time and with practice. However, if you are an experienced... (read more)

Most parts of Thailand are quite safe, but of course there are dangerous areas, and for the last 8 years there has also been... (read more)

No, the whole idea of this wandering planet is just a fantasy. The name comes from the ancient Akkadian language and the meaning is something like 'crossing'... (read more)

In 2009 Megan Fox did publicly mention this in an interview with Esquire magazine, and provoked plenty of comment about it in the media. She mentioned having dated a woman in her teenage years - a stripper, according to her account. However, she has been... (read more)