CIA World Factbook: provides a two- to three-page summary of the demographics, geography, communications, government, economy, and miltary of 266 US-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
Factiva: offers a collection of business intelligence and news sources, along with the content delivery and information management tools.
Google Scholar: Provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles.