Japan - Land of the Rising Sun Yukio Hatoyama – new PM Kuril Islands – source of dispute with Russia World’s second and Asia’s largest economy Oldest still ruling Royal House in the world Monarch sits on Chrysanthemum Throne No standing army No manufacture, supply or storing of nuclear weapons

China - 3 rd Largest by Area Hu Jintao – President; Wen Jiabao – PM Is building GWADAR port in Pakistan, also Karakoram Highway to Pakistan World’s largest FOREX reserves - more than $1 trillion Built THREE GORGES DAM on Yangtze River, world’s largest hydro-electric dam Built world’s highest railway – linking Lhasa in Tibet with Golmund; nicknamed Qing-1 Manufacturing hub of world Third largest economy

Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej completes 60 years in power, world’s longest reigning monarch Thaksin Shinawatra deposed as PM in a military coup Abhisit Vejjajiva new PM Bangkok – capital, Baht - currency Never colonised

Myanmar - Stratocracy General Than Shwe – Leader No.1, visited India in 2006 Aung San Suu Kyi – pro-democracy leader under house arrest since 1990 Capital moved from Yangon to Pyinmana (aka Naypyidaw) 32.7% of BPL population Ruled by army since 1948

Sri Lanka / Bhutan Mahinda Rajapakse – Prez Peace talks between SL government and the LTTE were brokered by NORWAY Bhutan - world’s first no-smoking country King Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the Chief of State since Dec., 2006 First democratic elections held in Bhutan in March 2008 Prime minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan since April 2008

Pakistan - First Islamic Republic Asif Ali Zardari – Prez; Yusuf Raza Gilani – PM Balochistan leader, Akbar Khan Bugti, killed by Pak military Proposed Iran gas pipeline to India via Pakistan NWFP – stronghold of al-Qaeda & Taliban Sri Lankan cricket team attacked

Afghanistan Hamid Karzai – Prez elect NATO forces battling resurgent Taliban in the south Taliban headed by Mullah Omar Durand Line – boundary line with Pak is source of dispute

Iran Mahmoud Ahmedinejad – Prez Ayotallah Khameini – Spiritual Head Secret nuclear weapons program World’s 2 nd largest gas producer & 4 th largest oil exporter Has developed missiles like HOOT, a torpedo; Shahab, Fajr, and Shaegah series.

Iraq - Mesopotamia Jalal Talabani – Prez; Nuri al-Maliki – PM Saddam gets death penalty for Dujail Massacre (1982) Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Moqtada al-Sadr – head of Mahdi Army, Shiite militia group

Israel - World’s first Jewish State Tel Aviv – capital; Knesset – parliament Benjiman Netanyahu – PM Mossad – secret service Owns Barak missile system, supplied to India Is building a Barrier Wall to separate it from Palestinian areas

Lebanon Jordan Nicknamed Switzerland of the Middle East Emile Lahoud – Prez; Fuoad Siniora – PM Beirut – Capital; Nicknamed Paris of the Middle East Was a French Colony Hashemite Kingdom King Abdullah II – HoS Lost West Bank to Israel in 1967 War Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, slain al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, belonged to Jordan

Syria Turkey Bashar al-Assad – Prez Accused of interference in Lebanon & Iraq Indicted by UN in killing of former Lebanese PM, Rafiq Hariri Part of new “Axis of Evil” Recep T Erdogan – PM Nicknamed Sickman of Europe Controversy over Armenian Genocide Occupies part of Cyprus Kamal Ataturk made Turkey a fiercely secular country Sought membership of EU

Sudan - Largest African Nation Prez Omar al-Bashir Darfur Genocide – 4 lakh dead over 4 years Janjaweed, Govt-backed Arab Muslim militia against non-Arab Muslims Civil war in the south between Arab Muslims & Christians – Africa’s oldest still running civil war

South Africa - Rainbow Nation Jacob Zuma new President Second largest HIV infected population after India Desmond Tutu, recipient of Gandhi Peace Prize (’06) Launched centenary of Gandhiji’s launching of Satyagraha Movement in that country 3 capitals - Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative) Name of Pretoria changed to Tshwane South Africa is venue for World Cup Soccer 2010

Africa in a nutshell Africa Union – HQ at Addis Ababa, 53 members Uganda – Prez is Yoweri Museveni, accused of genocide against Acholi Tribe Operation Atlanta anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia 15 th NAM summit in Egypt in July 09 Libya Muammar Gadaffi’s marathon speech in UNO in September 2009.

Brazil - 5 th largest country by area Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva is Brazil prez again Largest ETHANOL producer Member of BRIC & IBSA Brasilia – Capital (named after a wood type) Rio Di Janeiro to host 2016 Olympics

South America in a nutshell Venezuela reelected Hugo Chavez as prez Eva Morales is elected Bolivia prez Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) – Marxist militant group in Peru Peru’s prez is Alan Garcia Michelle Bachelet is president of Chile Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru, sentenced to jail term on charges of corruption

USA million pop Democrats win control of H of R & Senate Barack Obama first Afro-American to be President Robert Gates is new defence secretary Hillary Clinton new Secretary of State Largest exporter & importer – overall; biggest seller of military equipment Ben Bernanke – new Federal Reserve chief Refuses to sign Kyoto Protocol & shuns International Criminal Court Sarbanes-Oxley Act – for corporate governance Fence built on U.S. border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration & drugs trade

Central America in a nutshell Panama agrees to a new wider Panama Canal Felipe Calderon is prez of Mexico Daniel Ortega, former Marxist leader, prez of Nicaragua Cuban prez Fidel Castro handed over power to Raul Castro (his brother) Sugar Bowl of the World

Europe in a nutshell Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is ranked World’s Most Powerful Woman by Forbes Hungary PM Gordon Bajnai Romania & Bulgaria join EU (EU membership - 27) Silvio Berlusconi is the PM of Italy Italy hosted G-8 summit in July 09 NATO’s 60 years observed

World Trade Organisation  Successor to the GATT  Established on Jan 1, 1995  WTO HQ – Geneva, Switzerland  DG – Pascal Lamy (France)  WTO has 153 members  Vietnam is 150 th member

International - Who’s Who Ban Ki Moon (S. Korea’s foreign minister) succeeds Kofi Annan (Ghana) as new Secretary General of the UN Margaret Chan (China) is new DG of WHO Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize Science fiction writer Arthur Clarke passes away Deep Joshi wins Magsaysay Award

Indra Nooyi – PepsiCo CEO, also ranked world’s most powerful business woman Shashi Tharoor – former UN Under Secretary General for Communications & Public Information and now Union Minister of State for External Affairs Tharoor – author of The Great Indian Novel, Riot – A Novel, India: From Midnight to the Millennium, Bookless in Baghdad, & Show Business International - Who’s Who

World Bank – HO at Washington, Prez - Robert Zoellick (US) IMF – HO at Washington, MD – Dominique Strauss Kahn (Germany) ADB – HO at Manila, Prez – Haruhiko Kuroda (Japan) European Commission – HO at Brussels WEF - Founder Chairman Klaus Schwabb (Germany) International - Who’s Who

Business - Facts & Figures IOC – India’s largest company by revenue RIL – India’s largest company by market capitalisation Toyota – largest auto company Intel – largest chip-maker Diageo – largest spirits company (owns Smirnoff, JW) McDonald’s – largest fast food chain Vodafone – largest mobile company by revenue Bharti Airtel – crosses 11 crore subscribers in India

Economy / Business HCL acquires Axon 1.6 million employed in IT in India (2007) Mobile number portability to be introduced Provident fund companies can invest 15% of their corpus in shares New Pension Scheme (NPS) launched in April 2009 Natco and strides Arcolab are permitted to manufacture generic version of Tamiflu Roche holds patent on Tamiflu G-20 accounts for 90% of global output NCDEX largest agricultural commodity exchange by volume International Finance Reporting Standards to be implemented by companies by April 2011 IMF projects GDP growth of 5.4% for India

Agriculture India second largest producer of pepper No.1 in milk production Among the world top producer of Tea Largest coconut producer in world is India Second largest producer of fish Green Revolution a success in rice and wheat India lags behind in production of pulses, oil seeds 11th plan aims at 4% GDP growth rate in agriculture

Personalities Nandan Nilekani Chairman of Unique Identification Authority (UIA) C. Rangarajan Chairman of Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council Angela Markel re-elected Chancellor of Germany Mohan Bhagwat new chief of RSS Iran’s President Md. Ahmedinejad denies truth of Holocaust Col. Gadaffi’s marathon speech in UNO President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela wins referendum Ramesh Pokhariyal new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand R. K. Pachauri head of TERI and IGPCC

Awards Nobel Prize - Chemistry for Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Indian American) Nobel Literature - Herta Muller (Romania) Deep Joshi - Magsaysay Award, Man Booker Prize - Hilary Mantel, (UK) 2009 Man Booker International Prize - Alice Munro (Canada)

Sports Castrol 2009 Cricket of Year - Gautam Gambhir 2016 Olympics - Rio De Janiero 2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2014 FIFA World Cup - Brazil 2012 Olympics - London 2011 World Cup Cricket - India / Sri Lanka / Bangladesh 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi World Cup Hockey

Important Government Programmes National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), largest Highway Development Programme ever in India National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) target group the rural poor Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) proposed by former President Abdul Kalam Swarna Jayanti Gramin Swarojgar Yojana (SJSY) replaces Integrated Rural Development Programme Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) 1985 covers Diphteria, Pertusis, Tetanus, Polio,& Tuberculosis Integrated Child Development Programme (ICDP) Bharat Nirman - Rural infrastructure Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) - Urban infrastructure Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) big boost to power production