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Japan - Land of the Rising Sun
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Yukio Hatoyama – new PM
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Kuril Islands – source of dispute with Russia
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World’s second and Asia’s largest economy
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Oldest still ruling Royal House in the world
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Monarch sits on Chrysanthemum Throne
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No standing army
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No manufacture, supply or storing of nuclear weapons
China - 3rd Largest by Area
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Hu Jintao – President; Wen Jiabao – PM
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Is building GWADAR port in Pakistan, also Karakoram
Highway to Pakistan
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World’s largest FOREX reserves - more than $1 trillion
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Built THREE GORGES DAM on Yangtze River, world’s
largest hydro-electric dam
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Built world’s highest railway – linking Lhasa in Tibet
with Golmund; nicknamed Qing-1
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Manufacturing hub of world
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Third largest economy
Thailand
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King Bhumibol Adulyadej completes 60 years in
power, world’s longest reigning monarch
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Thaksin Shinawatra deposed as PM in a military coup
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Abhisit Vejjajiva new PM
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Bangkok – capital, Baht - currency
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Never colonised
Myanmar - Stratocracy
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General Than Shwe – Leader No.1, visited India in 2006
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Aung San Suu Kyi – pro-democracy leader under house
arrest since 1990
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Capital moved from Yangon to Pyinmana (aka
Naypyidaw)
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32.7% of BPL population
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Ruled by army since 1948
Sri Lanka / Bhutan
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Mahinda Rajapakse – Prez
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Peace talks between SL government and the LTTE were
brokered by NORWAY
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Bhutan - world’s first no-smoking country
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King Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the Chief of State
since Dec., 2006
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First democratic elections held in Bhutan in March 2008
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Prime minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan since April 2008
Pakistan - First Islamic Republic
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Asif Ali Zardari – Prez; Yusuf Raza Gilani – PM
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Balochistan leader, Akbar Khan Bugti, killed by Pak
military
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Proposed Iran gas pipeline to India via Pakistan
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NWFP – stronghold of al-Qaeda & Taliban
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Sri Lankan cricket team attacked
Afghanistan
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Hamid Karzai – Prez elect
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NATO forces battling resurgent Taliban in the south
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Taliban headed by Mullah Omar
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Durand Line – boundary line with Pak is source of dispute
Iran
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Mahmoud Ahmedinejad – Prez
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Ayotallah Khameini – Spiritual Head
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Secret nuclear weapons program
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World’s 2nd largest gas producer & 4th largest oil exporter
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Has developed missiles like HOOT, a torpedo; Shahab,
Fajr, and Shaegah series.
Iraq - Mesopotamia
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Jalal Talabani – Prez; Nuri al-Maliki – PM
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Saddam gets death penalty for Dujail Massacre (1982)
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Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, successor
to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
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Moqtada al-Sadr – head of Mahdi Army, Shiite militia
group
Israel - World’s first Jewish State
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Tel Aviv – capital; Knesset – parliament
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Benjiman Netanyahu – PM
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Mossad – secret service
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Owns Barak missile system, supplied to India

Is building a Barrier Wall to separate it from Palestinian
areas
Lebanon
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Nicknamed Switzerland of
the Middle East
Jordan
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Hashemite Kingdom
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King Abdullah II – HoS
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Emile Lahoud – Prez;
Fuoad Siniora – PM

Lost West Bank to Israel
in 1967 War
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Beirut – Capital; Nicknamed
Paris of the Middle East

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Was a French Colony
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
slain al-Qaeda leader in
Iraq, belonged to Jordan
Syria
Turkey
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Bashar al-Assad – Prez
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Recep T Erdogan – PM
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Accused of interference
in Lebanon & Iraq
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Nicknamed Sickman of
Europe
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Indicted by UN in killing of
former Lebanese PM,
Rafiq Hariri
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Controversy over
Armenian Genocide
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Occupies part of Cyprus
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Kamal
Ataturk
made
Turkey a fiercely secular
country

Sought membership of EU

Part of new “Axis of
Evil”
Sudan - Largest African Nation
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Prez Omar al-Bashir
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Darfur Genocide – 4 lakh dead over 4 years
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Janjaweed, Govt-backed Arab Muslim militia against
non-Arab Muslims
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Civil war in the south between Arab Muslims &
Christians – Africa’s oldest still running civil war
South Africa - Rainbow Nation
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Jacob Zuma new President
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Second largest HIV infected population after India
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Desmond Tutu, recipient of Gandhi Peace Prize (’06)
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Launched centenary of Gandhiji’s launching of
Satyagraha Movement in that country
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3 capitals - Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein
(judicial), and Cape Town (legislative)
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Name of Pretoria changed to Tshwane
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South Africa is venue for World Cup Soccer 2010
Africa in a nutshell
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Africa Union – HQ at Addis Ababa, 53 members
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Uganda – Prez is Yoweri Museveni, accused of
genocide against Acholi Tribe
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Operation Atlanta anti-piracy operation off the coast of
Somalia
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15th NAM summit in Egypt in July 09
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Libya Muammar Gadaffi’s marathon speech in UNO in
September 2009.
Brazil - 5th largest country by area
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Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva is Brazil prez again
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Largest ETHANOL producer
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Member of BRIC & IBSA
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Brasilia – Capital (named after a wood type)
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Rio Di Janeiro to host 2016 Olympics
South America in a nutshell
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Venezuela reelected Hugo Chavez as prez
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Eva Morales is elected Bolivia prez
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Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) – Marxist militant
group in Peru
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Peru’s prez is Alan Garcia
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Michelle Bachelet is president of Chile
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Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru, sentenced
to jail term on charges of corruption
USA - 300 million pop
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Democrats win control of H of R & Senate
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Barack Obama first Afro-American to be President
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Robert Gates is new defence secretary
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Hillary Clinton new Secretary of State
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Largest exporter & importer – overall; biggest seller of
military equipment
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Ben Bernanke – new Federal Reserve chief
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Refuses to sign Kyoto Protocol & shuns International
Criminal Court
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Sarbanes-Oxley Act – for corporate governance
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Fence built on U.S. border with Mexico to curb illegal
immigration & drugs trade
Central America in a nutshell
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Panama agrees to a new wider Panama Canal
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Felipe Calderon is prez of Mexico
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Daniel Ortega, former Marxist leader, prez of Nicaragua

Cuban prez Fidel Castro handed over power to Raul
Castro (his brother)
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Sugar Bowl of the World
Europe in a nutshell
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Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is ranked
World’s Most Powerful Woman by Forbes
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Hungary PM Gordon Bajnai
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Romania & Bulgaria join EU (EU membership - 27)
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Silvio Berlusconi is the PM of Italy
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Italy hosted G-8 summit in July 09
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NATO’s 60 years observed
World Trade Organisation

Successor to the GATT
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Established on Jan 1, 1995
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WTO HQ – Geneva, Switzerland
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DG – Pascal Lamy (France)
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WTO has 153 members
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Vietnam is 150th member
International - Who’s Who
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Ban Ki Moon (S. Korea’s foreign minister) succeeds
Kofi Annan (Ghana) as new Secretary General of the UN
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Margaret Chan (China) is new DG of WHO
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Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
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Science fiction writer Arthur Clarke passes away
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Deep Joshi wins Magsaysay Award
International - Who’s Who
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Indra Nooyi – PepsiCo CEO, also ranked world’s most
powerful business woman
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Shashi Tharoor – former UN Under Secretary General
for Communications & Public Information and now
Union Minister of State for External Affairs
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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
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World Bank – HO at Washington, Prez - Robert
Zoellick (US)
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IMF – HO at Washington, MD – Dominique Strauss
Kahn (Germany)
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ADB – HO at Manila, Prez – Haruhiko Kuroda (Japan)
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European Commission – HO at Brussels
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WEF - Founder Chairman Klaus Schwabb (Germany)
Business - Facts & Figures
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IOC – India’s largest company by revenue
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RIL – India’s largest company by market capitalisation
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Toyota – largest auto company
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Intel – largest chip-maker
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Diageo – largest spirits company (owns Smirnoff, JW)
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McDonald’s – largest fast food chain
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Vodafone – largest mobile company by revenue
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Bharti Airtel – crosses 11 crore subscribers in India
Economy / Business
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HCL acquires Axon
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1.6 million employed in IT in India (2007)
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Mobile number portability to be introduced
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Provident fund companies can invest 15% of their corpus in shares
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New Pension Scheme (NPS) launched in April 2009
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Natco and strides Arcolab are permitted to manufacture generic
version of Tamiflu
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Roche holds patent on Tamiflu
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G-20 accounts for 90% of global output
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NCDEX largest agricultural commodity exchange by volume
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International Finance Reporting Standards to be implemented by
companies by April 2011
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IMF projects GDP growth of 5.4% for India
Agriculture
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India second largest producer of pepper
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No.1 in milk production
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Among the world top producer of Tea
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Largest coconut producer in world is India
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Second largest producer of fish
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Green Revolution a success in rice and wheat
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India lags behind in production of pulses, oil seeds
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11th plan aims at 4% GDP growth rate in agriculture
Personalities
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Nandan Nilekani Chairman of Unique Identification Authority
(UIA)
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C. Rangarajan Chairman of Prime Ministers Economic
Advisory Council
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Angela Markel re-elected Chancellor of Germany
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Mohan Bhagwat new chief of RSS
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Iran’s President Md. Ahmedinejad denies truth of Holocaust
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Col. Gadaffi’s marathon speech in UNO
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President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela wins referendum
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Ramesh Pokhariyal new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
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R. K. Pachauri head of TERI and IGPCC
Awards
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Nobel Prize - Chemistry for Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan (Indian American)
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Nobel Literature - Herta Muller (Romania)
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Deep Joshi - Magsaysay Award, 2009
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2009 Man Booker Prize - Hilary Mantel, (UK)
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2009 Man Booker International Prize - Alice Munro
(Canada)
Sports
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Castrol 2009 Cricket of Year - Gautam Gambhir
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2016 Olympics - Rio De Janiero
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2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa
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2014 FIFA World Cup - Brazil
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2012 Olympics - London
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2011 World Cup Cricket - India / Sri Lanka / Bangladesh
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2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games
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2010 Delhi World Cup Hockey
Important Government Programmes
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National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), largest Highway
Development Programme ever in India
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National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) target
group the rural poor
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Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) proposed by former
President Abdul Kalam
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Swarna Jayanti Gramin Swarojgar Yojana (SJSY) replaces Integrated
Rural Development Programme
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Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) 1985 covers Diphteria,
Pertusis, Tetanus, Polio,& Tuberculosis
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Integrated Child Development Programme (ICDP)
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Bharat Nirman - Rural infrastructure
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Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) - Urban
infrastructure
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Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) big boost to power production