Naypyidaw

Saturday, 15 December 2012

Birmanie: Naypyidaw, une capitale sortie de nulle part

Police stop protesters en route to Naypyidaw

Naypyidaw to Help Burmese Migrants in Thailand

WPG Hotel Group - (Myanmar - Naypyidaw Hotel)

Kris Kiattisak - Naypyidaw - Myanmar New Capital

Myanmar Naypyidaw International Airport country wingate sai! - YouTube.flv

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Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (Arabic: أبو ظبي‎ Abu Dhabi, Father of Deer) is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast. The city proper had an estimated population of 896,800 in 2009.
Abu Dhabi houses important offices of the federal government, and is the seat for the United Arab Emirates Government and the home for the Abu Dhabi Emiri Family and the President of the UAE from this family. Abu Dhabi has grown to be a cosmopolitan metropolis. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed Abu Dhabi to a larger and advanced metropolis. Today the city is the country's center of political, industrial activities, and a major cultural, and commercial centre due to its position as the capital. Abu Dhabi alone generated 56.7% of the GDP of the United Arab Emirates in 2008.

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Afghanistan
Afghanistan ⁱ/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km² (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.

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Amman
Amman (Arabic: عمان‎ /ɑːˈmɑːn/; ʿAmmān; Rabat Ammon) is the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost 6.5 million by 2025 due to constant and rapid immigration. The recent economic growth experienced in Amman is unmatched by any other Arab city except those located in the Gulf. Amman is also the administrative seat of the homonymous governorate. Amman is also ranked a Gamma global city on the World city index.
Amman was named one of the MENA's best cities according to economic, labour, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. Amman is among the most popular locations for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. Furthermore, it is expected that in the next 10 years these three cities will capture the largest share of multinational corporation activity in the region. It is a major tourist destination in the region and the capital is especially popular among Gulf tourists. Amman is considered one of the richest and most Western-oriented cities in the Middle East.

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Ankara
Ankara (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈan.ka.ɾa]; historically known as Angora) is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 938 metres (3,077 ft), and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million.
Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes.
The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m (492 ft) above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East (39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333Coordinates: 39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333), about 450 km (280 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m² per head.

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Armenia
Armenia ⁱ/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.

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Ashgabat
Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat, Persian: اشک آباد‎, Russian: Ашхабад, also Ashkhabad in transliteration from Russian formerly Poltoratsk between 1919–1927) is the capital and largest city of Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. It has a population of 695,300 (2001 census estimate), 2009 estimates around 1 million people in Ashgabat, and is situated between the Kara Kum desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range. Ashgabat has a primarily Turkmen population, with ethnic minorities of Russians, Armenians, and Azeris. It is 250 km from the second largest city in Iran, Mashhad.
Ashgabat is Aşgabat in Turkmen, Ашхабад (Ashkhabad) in Russian, and اشک آباد (UniPers: Ešq-âbâd) in Persian. From 1919 until 1927, the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkabad in English, a transliteration of the Russian form, which was itself from the original Persian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad.
Root of the name of the city goes back to Arshacid Empire era, and derived from the name of the founder of the Parthian Empire,Arsaces I of Parthia. So it seems the original form of the name was Ashk-Abad, and because of Turkish pronunciation of the name it became like it is today.

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Astana
Astana (Russian/Kazakh: Астана, formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Целиноград / Tselinograd until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.
The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.
The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital but the word itself originates from Persian Astane (Persian: آستانه‎ means "sublime threshold," "royal porte" implying a royal capital city or a holy shrine town, (from the Persian verb Istadan (آستان) 'to stand' (in respect)), and literally means "threshold" (royal or sacred, where people stand in respect or awe),^{[citation needed]} implying where the court is seated (the capital city) or the body of a sacred person is interred (a shrine town). The city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan that hosts the body of the saint Ahmad Yasavi is also called the "astana" as is the city of Mashhad in Iran that is the burial place of the 8th Shiite Imam Reza. In fact, long before becoming the new capital of Kazakhstan, the city was "an astana," a burial ground of a saint, hence the old name of the city, Ak Mola (Ақмола), "white mausoleum."

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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (ⁱ/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.

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Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد‎, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.

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Bahrain
Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: ‏البحرين‎, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: ‏بحرين‎, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين‎, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.

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Baku
Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı, IPA: [bɑˈcɯ]), sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City (21.5 ha). Baku's urban population at the beginning of 2009 was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in the metropolitan city area of Baku.
Baku is divided into eleven administrative districts (raions) and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on islands in the Baku Bay and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 km (37 mi) away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planet's ranking, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife.

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Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan (Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان ; Malay: [ˌbanda səˌri bəˈɡawan]) with an estimated population of 140,000 (as of 2010), is the capital and largest city of the Sultanate of Brunei. The urban area has a population of 296,500 people.
Habitation on the banks of the Brunei River can be traced back to the 8th century where there had been settlements similar to those in Kt, located on areas close to the present site of the Brunei Museum.
Seri Begawan was named after the Sultan's late father Omar Ali Saifuddien on 5 October 1970, its original name being Bandar Brunei or Brunei Town. Begawan is a name given to Bruneian monarchs who have abdicated, originally coming from the Sanskrit word for "god": भगवान bhagavān. Seri also comes from the honorific Sanskrit word Sri. Bandar, comes from Persian بندر via Indian languages and means "port" or "haven" (bandar means "town" in Malay).
On 1 August 2007, the sultan of Brunei gave consent for the extension of Bandar Seri Begawan from 12.87 km² (4.97 sq mi) to 100.36 km² (38.75 sq mi). For a list of the included villages and mukims see "Expansion of the City" below.

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Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital city of and largest urban area in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp máhǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] ( listen)) or simply Krung Thep ( listen), meaning "city of angels". Bangkok is by far the most densely populated city in Thailand with about 12 million people. Bangkok was a small trading post near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century. It eventually grew in size and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782.
Because of its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Siam (later Thailand) acted as a buffer-zone between the French and British colonial empires. Bangkok itself has gained a reputation as an independent, dynamic and influential city. Bangkok is the political, social and economic centre of Thailand, and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia.
Due to the 1980s and 1990s Asian investment boom, many multinational corporations make their regional headquarters in Bangkok and the city is a regional force in finance and business. Its increasing influence on global politics, culture, fashion and entertainment underlines its status as an Alpha global city. In 2009, it was the second most expensive city in South-East Asia behind Singapore. The city's many cultural landmarks and attractions in addition to its nightlife venues has made it synonymous with exoticism. Its rapid modernization, reflected in the cityscape and the urban society, has left untouched the historic Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Vimanmek Palace Complex and hundreds of Buddhist temples draw about 10 million international visitors each year, second only to London.

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Bangladesh
Coordinates: 23°N 90°E / 23°N 90°E / 23; 90
Bangladesh (ⁱ/ˈbɑːŋɡlədɛʃ/ or ⁱ/bæŋɡləˈdɛʃ/ (Anglicized pronunciation); Bengali: বাংলাদেশ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India and Burma and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka, located in central Bangladesh. The official state language is Bengali. The name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal" the in the Bengali language, from Bangla "Bengal" and desh holding a dual meaning of "land" and "country" as English "country," German land, French pays, etc.
The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal during the reign and demise of the British India. Its map was chartered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe during the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan, part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan. Due to political exclusion and economic exploitation by the politically dominant West Pakistan, popular agitation grew against West Pakistan and led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence on 26 March 1971. With the intervention of the Indian Army, the war came to an end on 16 December 1971 with the surrender of the Pakistan Army at Ramna Race Course.

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Beijing
Beijing ( /beɪˈdʒɪŋ/; Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng, [peɪ˨˩ t͡ɕiŋ˥]), formerly romanized as Peking ( /piːˈkɪŋ/ or /peɪˈkɪŋ/), is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government, with 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.
Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's largest state-owned companies. Beijing is a major transportation hub in the national highway, expressway, railway and high-speed rail network. Beijing's Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.

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Beirut
Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
Beirut (Arabic: بيروت‎ Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות‎ Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.
Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction, and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009, and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.

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Bhutan

Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435
Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, tr ʼbrug-yul, "Druk Yul"; Devanagari भूटान, Bhūṭān), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.

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Bishkek
Bishkek (in Kyrgyz and Russian: Бишкек), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis), the Kyrgyz national drink. Founded in 1825 as the Kyrgyz-Khokand fortress of "Bishkek", then, in 1862, named as the Russian fortress Pishpek (крепость Пишпек), in 1926 the city was renamed Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament restored the city's historical name.
Bishkek is situated at about 800 metres (2,600 ft) altitude just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range, which rises up to 4,855 metres (15,928 ft) and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur line.

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Brunei
Brunei ⁱ/bruːˈnaɪ/, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: نڬارا بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 401,890 in July 2011.
The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state of the Srivijayan empire under the name P'o-li. It later became a vassal state of Majapahit empire before converting to Islam in the 15th century. At the peak of its empire, the sultanate had control that extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The thalassocracy was visited by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and fought the Castille War in 1578 against Spain. Its empire began to decline with the forced ceding of Sarawak to James Brooke and the ceding of Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. After the loss of Limbang, Brunei finally became a British protectorate in 1888, receiving a resident in 1906. In the years after the Japanese wartime occupation during World War II, it formalised a constitution and fought an armed rebellion. Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.

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Burma
Burma ⁱ/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə, also known as Myanmar ⁱ/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ MYAHN--MAR, is a country in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km² (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is home to some of the early civilizations of Southeast Asia including the Pyu and the Mon. In the 9th century, the Burmans of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture slowly became dominant in the country. During this period, Theravada Buddhism gradually became the predominant religion of the country. The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam. The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).

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Cambodia
Cambodia (ⁱ/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.

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Capital of Burma
The current capital of Burma (Myanmar) is Naypyidaw. The following is a list of political capitals of notable states in Burmese history from the 9th century to the present. The list is generally organized in dynastic and chronological orders. National capitals are shown in bold.

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City of Singapore
Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.

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Cyprus
Cyprus ⁱ/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.

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Damascus
Damascus (Arabic: دِمَشق‎ / ALA-LC: Dimashq; commonly known in Syria as al-Sham (Arabic: الشام‎ / al-Shām), and as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين‎ / Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.

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Dhaka
Dhaka (Bengali: ঢাকা, pronounced IPA: [ˈɖʱaka]; formerly spelled Dacca, named Jahangirnagar during Mughal era) is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. It is located on the banks of the Buriganga River. Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 16 million in 2011, making it the largest city in Bangladesh. It is the 9th largest city in the world and also 28th among the most densely populated cities in the world. Dhaka is known as the City of Mosques and with 400,000 cycle rickshaws running on its streets every day, the city is also described as the Rickshaw Capital of the World.
Under Mughal rule in the 17th century, the city was known as Jahangir Nagar. It was a provincial capital and a centre of the worldwide muslin trade. The modern city, however, was developed chiefly under British rule in the 19th century, and became the second-largest city in Bengal after Calcutta (presently Kolkata). After the Partition of Bengal in 1905, Dhaka became the capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam but lost its status as a provincial capital again after the partition was annulled in 1911. After the partition of India in 1947, Dhaka became the administrative capital of East Pakistan, and later, in 1971, the capital of an independent Bangladesh. During the intervening period, the city witnessed widespread turmoil; this included many impositions of martial law, the declaration of Bangladesh's independence, military suppression, devastation during war, and natural calamities.

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Dili
Dili is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.
Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is the seat of the administration of the district of Dili, which is the administrative entity of the area and includes the island of Atauro and some cities close to Dili city. The city is divided into the subdistricts of Nain Feto, Vera Cruz, Dom Aleixo and Cristo Rei and is divided into several sucos, which are headed by an elected chefe de suco. 18 of the 26 sucos of the four subdistricts are categorized as urban.
There is no city administration beside the district administrator, who was appointed by state government. The Timorese government started to plan in 2009 to change the status of districts into municipalities. These will have an elected mayor and council.
The 2010 census recorded a population of 193,563 in the areas of Dili district classified as urban, with a population of 234,331 in the whole district including rural areas such as Atauro and Metinaro.

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Doha
Doha (Arabic: الدوحة‎, ad-Dawḥa or ad-Dōḥa, literally: "the big tree") is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar. Doha is Qatar's largest city, with over 60% of the nation's population residing in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and is also the economic centre of the country.
Doha also serves as the seat of government of Qatar, which is ruled by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Doha is home to the Education City, an area devoted to research and education. Doha was the site of the first ministerial-level meeting of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. The city of Doha held the 2006 Asian Games, which was the largest Asian Games ever held. Doha also hosted the 2011 Pan Arab Games and most of the games at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Doha will also host a large number of the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The World Petroleum Council held the 20th World Petroleum Conference in Doha in December 2011.

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Dushanbe
Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, Dushanbe, Dyushambe until 1929; Stalinabad, Tajik: Сталинабад until 1961), population 679,400 people (2008 est.), is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in Tajik, and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday marketplace.
Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. Although archaeological remnants dating to the 5th century BC have been discovered in the area, there is little to suggest that Dushanbe was more than a small village until the early 20th century. In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe (then called Dyushambe) after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. He fled to Afghanistan after the Red Army conquered the area the next year.
Dushanbe, which means "Monday" in Persian, (فارسی), developed on the site of a Monday marketplace village, Dyushambe-Bozor, and its former name Dyushambe was a Russified version of the word meaning "Monday" in Persian (du-shanbe from du two + shanbe Saturday, lit. "second day after Saturday"). Following the Red Army victory in Central Asia the village was upgraded to town in 1925 and made the capital of the newly created Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR). After the transformation of Tajik ASSR to Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) in 1929, Dyushambe was renamed Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin. As part of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization initiative, the city was renamed Dushanbe in 1961.

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East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ), commonly known as East Timor ⁱ/ˌiːst ˈtiːmɔr/ (Tetum: Timór Lorosa'e, Portuguese: Timor-Leste), is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of Darwin, Australia.
East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until Portugal's decolonization of the country. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence, but later that year was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002. East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines.

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Georgia (country)
Georgia ⁱ/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.

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Hanoi
Hanoi (Hà Nội; listen), is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế during the Nguyen dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam.
The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at 1,760 km (1,090 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City.
October 2010 officially marked 1000 years since the establishment of the city.
Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, in central Hanoi
Emperor Lý Thái Tổ made Thăng Long (Hanoi) his capital in the 11th century
Colonial Hanoi
Modern Hanoi
Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. One of the first known permanent settlements is the Co Loa citadel (Cổ Loa) founded around 200 BC.
Hanoi has had many names throughout history, all of them of Sino-Vietnamese origin. During the Chinese domination of Vietnam, it was known first as Long Biên, then Tống Bình (Chinese: 宋平, Sòngpíng, "Song Peace") and Long Đỗ (Chinese: 龍肚, Lóngdù, "Dragonbelly"). In 866, it was turned into a citadel and named Đại La (Chinese: 大羅, Dàluó, "Big Net").

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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km² (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.

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India
India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

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Indonesia
Indonesia (ⁱ/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.

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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران‎ [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎ Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km² (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.

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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.

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Islamabad
Islamabad (Urdu: اسلام آباد Islām ābād, lit. Abode of Islam) is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.152 million in 2011. The greater Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metropolitan Area is the third largest conurbation in Pakistan with a population of over 4.5 million inhabitants.
Islamabad is located in the Pothohar Plateau in the northern part of the country, within the Islamabad Capital Territory. The region has historically been a part of the crossroads of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Margalla pass acting as the gateway between the two regions. The city was built during the 1960s to replace Karachi as Pakistan's capital. Islamabad is a well-organized city divided into different sectors and zones. It is regarded as the most developed city in Pakistan. Islamabad is ranked as a Gamma world city. The city is home to Faisal Mosque, the largest mosque in South Asia and the sixth largest mosque in the world.

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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.^{[neutrality is disputed]} Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.

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Jakarta
Jakarta ( /dʒəˈkɑrtə/), officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre, and with a population of 10,187,595 as of November 2011, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabekjur, is the second largest in the world, yet the city's suburbs still continue beyond it. Jakarta is listed as a global city in the 2008 Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) research. and has an area of 661 square kilometres (255 sq mi)
Based on Brooking Institute survey about growth, in 2011 Jakarta ranked 17th among the world's 200 largest cities, a significant jumps from 2007 when Jakarta ranked 171st. Jakarta has seen more rapid growth than Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Bangkok.

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Japan
Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

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Jerusalem
Jerusalem ( /dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎‎ Yerushaláyim ; Arabic: القُدس‎ al-Quds and/or أورشليم Ûrshalîm) is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such, and one of the oldest cities in the world. It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. If the area and population of East Jerusalem is included, it is Israel's largest city in both population and area, with a population of 801,000 residents over an area of 125.1 km² (48.3 sq mi). Jerusalem is also a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond its boundaries.

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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.

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Kabul
Kabul ( /ˈkɑːbəl/, /ˈkɑːbuːl/; Pashto: کابل Kābəl, IPA: [kɑˈbəl]; Persian: کابل Kābol‎, IPA: [kɒːˈbol]), also spelled Cabool, Caubul or Cabul, mostly in historical contexts, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Kabul is the 5th fastest growing city in the world [2] and the world's 64th largest city [3]. It is also the capital of Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan. According to latest estimates, the population of the Kabul metropolitan area is over 4 million.
The city serves as the nation's cultural and learning centre, situated 1,791 metres (5,876 ft) above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. It is linked with Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif via the circular Highway 1 that stretches across Afghanistan. It is also the start of the main road to Jalalabad and further to Peshawar, Pakistan. The Kabul International Airport is located about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the center of the city, next to the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. Bagram Airfield is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Kabul.

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Kathmandu
Kathmandu (Nepali: काठमांडौ [kɑːʈʰmɑːɳɖuː]; Nepal Bhasa: येँ देय्‌) is the capital and, with more than one million inhabitants, the largest metropolitan city of Nepal. The city is the urban core of the Kathmandu Valley in the Himalayas, which contains two sister cities: Lalitpur (Patan), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to its south and Bhaktapur or Bhadgaon, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to its east, and a number of smaller towns. It is also acronymed as 'KTM' and named 'tri-city'. In the last census (2001), the city of Kathmandu had 671,846 inhabitants. Population estimates for 2005 were 790,612 and for 2010 they stood at 989,273. The municipal area is (50.67 square kilometres (19.56 sq mi)) and the population density is 19,500 per km².
The city stands at an elevation of approximately 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) in the bowl-shaped valley in central Nepal surrounded by four major hills: Shivapuri, Phulchowki, Nagarjun and Chandragiri. Kathmandu valley is part of three districts, Kathmandu District, Lalitpur District and Bhaktapur District, with the highest population density in the country and accounting for about 1/15 of its population. These three disticts contain 2.5 million people, as of the 2011 census.

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Kayah State
Kayah State (Burmese: ကယားပြည်နယ်, pronounced: [kəjá pjìnɛ̀] formerly, Karenni State) is a state of Myanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by Shan State, on the east by Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, and on the south and west by Kayin State. It lies approximately between 18° 30' and 19° 55' north latitude and between 94°40' and 97° 93' east longitude. The area is 11,670 km² (4,510 sq mi). Its capital is Loikaw (also spelt Loi-kaw). The estimated population in 1998 was approximately 207,357, according to UNICEF. It is inhabited primarily by the Karenni ethnic group, also known as Red Karen or Kayah, a Sino-Tibetan people.
Kayah State is located in the eastern part of Myanmar. The relief of Kayah State is mountainous with the Dawna Range and the Karen Hills also known as "Kayah-Karen" mountains separated by the Salween River as it flows through Kayah State.Balu Chaung, called Nam Pilu in local language, flows from Inle Lake and converges with the Salween in southern Kayah State.

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Kayin State
Kayin State (Burmese: ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, pronounced: [kəjɪ̀ɴ pjìnɛ̀] also Karen State) is a state of Burma (Myanmar). The capital city is Hpa-an.
The relief of Kayin State is mountainous with the Dawna Range running along the state in a NNW - SSE direction and the southern end of the Karen Hills in the northwest.
The region that forms today's Kayin State was part of successive Burmese kingdoms since the formation of the Pagan Empire in mid-11th century. During the 13th to 16th centuries, much of the region belonged to the Hanthawaddy Kingdom while the northern part of the region belonged to Taungoo, which was a vassal state of Ava Kingdom. The region then became part of Taungoo Dynasty and Konbaung Dynasty from 16th to 19th centuries. The British seized the southern third of today's Kayin State (below the Salween River) after the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826), and the rest after the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852.
Towards the end of the British colonial era (1945-1948), the Karen leadership insisted on a separate state covering today's Kayin State and much of Mon State and Taninthayi Region, within the British Empire. They refused to sign the Panglong Agreement of February 1947, which was the basis for the 1947 Constitution of Burma, and boycotted the pre-independence elections of April 1947. Nonetheless, the constitution granted the Karen a state, though with an area less than what the Karen leadership had asked for from the British. The constitution also guaranteed states with the right to secede from the Union after a period of 10 years. (The Panglong Agreement gave only the Shan and the Kachin a state each; the Chin who actually signed the agreement did not receive a state.) The Karen National Union, which dominated the Karen leadership, was not satisfied, and wanted outright independence. In 1949, the KNU raised a rebellion that continues up to today. The KNU celebrates January 31 as 'revolution day', marking the day they went underground at the battle of Insein

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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (ⁱ/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.

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Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The city covers an area of 243 km² (94 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 1.6 million as of 2012.Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million. It is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, in terms of population and economy.
Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia. The city was once home to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, but they were moved to Putrajaya in early 1999. Some sections of the judiciary still remains in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana Negara, is also situated in Kuala Lumpur. Rated as an alpha world city, Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia due to its position as the capital as well as being a key city. Kuala Lumpur was ranked 48th among global cities by Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index and was ranked 67th among global cities for economic and social innovation by the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index in 2010.

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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait ⁱ/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت‎, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.

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Kuwait City
Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت, transliteration: Madīnat al-Kuwayt), is the capital of Kuwait. It has a population of 2.38 million in the metropolitan area. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's parliament (Majlis Al-Umma), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate.
Kuwait City’s trade and transportation needs are served by Kuwait International Airport, Mina Al-Shuwaik (Shuwaik Port) and Mina Al Ahmadi (Ahmadi Port) 50 kilometers to the south, on the Persian Gulf coast.
Kuwait City was first settled in the early 18th century by the Al-Sabāh clan, later the ruling family of Kuwait and a branch of the Al-Utūb tribe (that also included the Al-Khalīfah clan, the ruling family of Bahrain), and their leader, Sheikh Sabāh I. Its name may have derived from an earlier abandoned fort located there, called "Kūt" (كوت) – Arabic for a fortress by the sea.

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Kyaukpadaung
Kyaukpadaung (Burmese: ကျောက်ပန်းတောင်း မြို့ [tɕaʊʔ bə dáʊɴ mjo̰]) is a town in Mandalay Region in Central Myanmar. It lies just southwest of Mount Popa. It is the administrative seat for Kyaukpadaung Township.
The name of Kyaukpadaung is derived from Kyauk (ကျောက်; Rock) + Pann (ပန်း; Flower) + Taung (တောင်း; Basket).
Kyaukpadaung is also known as the city of Jaggery (ထန်းညက်)
Since the name of this town is related to rock. There are some rocky-hills nearby and in town. The extinct Vocalno Mount Popa is about 10 miles from town.
Rail transport has been established since World War II, on the Pyinmana-Kyini Link. Buses and cars operate to and fro nearby townships. Kyaukpadaung is situated on the link road of Yangon-Myingyan-Mandalay road and Yangon-Meiktila-Mandalay.
In 1994, telephone system was upgraded, from Manual Switching Exchange to Auto Telephone System. Local Area Code is 061, it was same as Chauk.
Kyaukpadaung is located in Hot & Dry zone, and rain measure getting about 40 inch and below. Temperature during Summer: High=36~39'C, Low= 25~28'C, and Winter: High=30~31'C, Low=19~23'C. Popa region is an oasis in central Myanmar.

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Laos
Laos ((ⁱ/ˈlaʊs/, /ˈlɑː.ɒs/, /ˈlɑː.oʊs/, or /ˈleɪ.ɒs/) Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, pronounced [sǎː.tʰáː.laʔ.naʔ.lat páʔ.sáː.tʰiʔ.páʔ.tàj páʔ.sáː.són.láːw] Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be 6.5 million in 2012.
Laos traces its history to the Kingdom which existed from the 14th to the 18th century when it split into three separate kingdoms. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three kingdoms, Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak, uniting to form what is now known as Laos. It briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a long civil war ended the monarchy, when the Communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975.

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Lebanon
Lebanon (ⁱ/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان‎ Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.

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Lewe
Lewe is a town in the Mandalay Division of central Myanmar.

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Lewe Township
Shwepyi Aye Township, formerly Lewe Township (Burmese: လယ်ဝေးမြို့နယ်), is one of eight townships of Naypyitaw Capital Region in Mandalay Division, Burma. The township was renamed on September 5, 2011.

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Malaysia
Malaysia (ⁱ/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or ⁱ/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.

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Maldives
Maldives (ⁱ/ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, Dhivehi Raa'je), officially Republic of Maldives (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya), also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep Islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India. During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as "Maldivische Eilanden" in their documentation, while "Maldive Islands" is the anglicised version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written "Maldives".
The archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregion together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. The atolls of Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands. Maldives' capital and largest city Malé had a population of 103,693 in 2006. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, in the Kaafu Atoll. It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties were enthroned.

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Manama
Manama (Arabic: المنامة‎ Al Manāma) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 155,000 people. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population. After periods of Portuguese and Persian control and invasions from the Al Sauds and Oman, Bahrain established itself as an independent nation during the 19th century period of British hegemony. In the 20th century, Bahrain's oil wealth helped spur fast growth and in the 1990s a concerted diversification effort led to expansion in other industries and helped transform Manama into an important financial hub in the Middle East.
Manama was mentioned in Islamic chronicles at least as far back as 1345. It was conquered by Portugal in 1521 and then by the Persians in 1602. Since 1783 it has been under the control of the Al-Khalifa dynasty. Manama was declared a free port in 1958, and in 1971 it became the capital of independent Bahrain.

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Mandalay
Mandalay (Burmese: မန္တလေး; MLCTS: manta.le: [máɴdəlé]; English: /ˌmændəˈleɪ/ or /ˈmændəleɪ/) is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma (Myanmar). Located 445 miles (716 km) north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region.
Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan Province, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health centre.
The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is likely a derivative of a Pali word although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated as: "Mandala" (meaning, circular plains), "Mandare" (believed to mean "auspicious land"), or "Mandara" (a mountain from Hindu mythology).

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Mongolia
Mongolia ⁱ/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian: Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.

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Muscat, Oman
Muscat (Arabic: مسقط, Masqaṭ) is the capital of Oman. It is also the seat of government and largest city in the Governorate of Muscat. As of 2010 census, the population of the Muscat metropolitan area was 734,697. The metropolitan area spans approximately 1,500 km² (580 sq mi) and includes six provinces called wilayats. Known since the early 1st century CE as an important trading port between the west and the east, Muscat was ruled by various indigenous tribes as well as foreign powers such as the Persians and the Portuguese Empire at various points in its history. A regional military power in the 18th century, Muscat's influence extended as far as East Africa and Zanzibar. As an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman, Muscat attracted foreign tradesmen and settlers such as the Persians, the Balochs and Gujaratis. Since the ascension of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid infrastructural development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy and a multi-ethnic society.

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Naypyidaw
Naypyidaw (Burmese: နေပြည်တော်; MLCTS: Nepranytau, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw and Naypyitaw; pronounced: [nèpjìdɔ̀]) is the capital city of Burma, also known as Myanmar. It is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution. On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km (2.0 mi) west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of Yangon (Rangoon), the previous capital. The capital's official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Myanmar Armed Forces Day. Much of this planned city is still under construction, which is set to be completed by around 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Myanmar's third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay. The city is one of the world's 10 fastest-growing cities.
Nay Pyi Daw is generally translated as "royal capital", "seat of the king" or "abode of kings". Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော် (Yadanabon Naypyidaw). The name literally means "royal city of the sun" in Burmese.

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Naypyitaw
Naypyidaw (Burmese: နေပြည်တော်; MLCTS: Nepranytau, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw and Naypyitaw; pronounced: [nèpjìdɔ̀]) is the capital city of Burma, also known as Myanmar. It is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution. On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km (2.0 mi) west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of Yangon (Rangoon), the previous capital. The capital's official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Myanmar Armed Forces Day. Much of this planned city is still under construction, which is set to be completed by around 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Myanmar's third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay. The city is one of the world's 10 fastest-growing cities.
Nay Pyi Daw is generally translated as "royal capital", "seat of the king" or "abode of kings". Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော် (Yadanabon Naypyidaw). The name literally means "royal city of the sun" in Burmese.

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New Delhi
New Delhi ⁱ/ˈnjuː dɛli/ is the capital city of India. As the national capital, New Delhi is the seat of executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the Government of India. It also serves as the centre of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi and is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory.
The definition of New Delhi is unclear and the differentiation between Delhi and New Delhi is blurry. Even administratively, the demarcation between Delhi and New Delhi is not clear. Government of India and Government of Delhi have not clearly defined the area and boundaries of New Delhi. The boundaries of areas of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and New Delhi district of Delhi do not completely overlap. In 1920s, when British constructed New Delhi, there were only two Delhis' – the old walled city called Old Delhi and the new city designed by Edwin Lutyens to serve as capital of British India, which was called 'New Delhi'. The rest of Delhi was rural. But after independence as more and more areas around New Delhi urbanized they also became a part of New Delhi as they were also a part of Delhi which was 'new'. Now, almost all of National Capital Territory of Delhi, with exceptions of the old city called Old Delhi, Civil Lines area, Trans-Yamuna region, some rural areas and some underdeveloped parts of Delhi (e.g. Ashok Vihar, Timarpur, Nangloi, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Badarpur etc.), is designated as 'New Delhi' in postal addresses. Especially, almost all the places in South, South-west, Central and West districts of Delhi are designated as New Delhi. Most of the time, the terms Delhi and New Delhi are used interchangeably.

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Nicosia
Nicosia (/ˌnɪkəˈsiːə/ NIK-ə-SEE-ə), known locally as Lefkosia (Greek: Λευκωσία, Turkish: Lefkoşa), is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Nicosia remained the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line. It is located near the center of the island, on the banks of the Pedieos River.
Nicosia is the capital and seat of government of the Republic of Cyprus. The northern part of the city functions as the capital of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a disputed breakaway region whose independence is recognized only by Turkey, and which the rest of the international community considers as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus since the Turkish Invasion in 1974.
Despite the division Nicosia has managed to become a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city, rich in history and culture that combines its historic past with the amenities of a modern city.

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North Korea
Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40°N 127°E / 40; 127 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), commonly referred to as "North Korea" ( listen), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok, or Yalu, and the Tumen rivers form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the far northeast is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1910. It was divided into Soviet- and American-occupied zones in 1945, after the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. North and South Korea each claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula, which led to the Korean War of 1950. The Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting; but the two countries are officially still at war against each other, for a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.

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Oman
Oman (ⁱ/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان‎ ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان‎ Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.

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Pakistan
Pakistan (ⁱ/ˈpækɨstæn/ or ⁱ/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.

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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.

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Pegu Range
The Pegu Range (Burmese: ပဲခူးရိုးမ, Pegu Yoma or Bago Yoma) is a range of low mountains or hills and uplands between the Irrawaddy and the Sittaung River in central Burma (Myanmar). The range runs from Mount Popa in the north to Singguttara Hill (Theingottara Hill) in the south. Both the Pegu River and the Sittaung River arise in the Pegu Range.
Among the notable peaks or hilltops are 1,518 metres (4,980 ft) high Mount Popa, a stratovolcano, Binhontaung 2,003 feet (611 m), Kodittaung 1,885 feet (575 m), Phoe-Oo Taung and Singguttara Hill (Theingottara Hill).
The Pegu Range consists of folded and faulted Paleogene marine sediments combined with more recent volcanics.
The Shwedagon Pagoda was built sometime before 1000 A.D. on Singguttara Hill.
The Pegu Range was the original site of the 1930-1931 Saya San uprising against the British. Saya San raised the flag of independence on Alantaung Hill near Tharrawaddy.
Later the Pegu Range became a center for the Communist Party of Burma.
The northern end of the Pegu merges into the Burmese Dry Belt, while in the south there is over 80 inches of rainfall a year. The hills of the Pegu Range were originally heavily forested with teak and other commercially exploitable hardwoods. The southern forests were "ironwood forests", while the central and northern forests were teak. Extensive logging has caused the present deforestation and increased erosion in the area.

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Philippines
The Philippines ⁱ/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.

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Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh (/pəˈnɒm ˈpɛn/ or /ˈnɒm ˈpɛn/; Khmer: ភ្នំពេញ, Khmer pronunciation: [pnum pɨɲ]) is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security, politics, economics, cultural heritage, and diplomacy of Cambodia.
Once known as the “Pearl of Asia”, it was considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, are significant global and domestic tourist destinations for Cambodia. Founded in 1434, the city is noted for its beautiful and historical architecture and attractions. There are a number of surviving French colonial buildings scattered along the grand boulevards.
Situated on the banks of the Tonlé Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers, the Phnom Penh metropolitan area is home to more than 2 million of Cambodia’s population of over 14 million. The city is the wealthiest and most populous city in Cambodia and is home to the country’s political hub.

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Port Moresby
Port Moresby ( /ˌpɔərt ˈmɔərzbi/), or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 in World War II, as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. In 2000 it had a population of 254,158. As of 2009 it has a population of 307,643, giving it an annual growth rate of 2.1% over a nine year period.
The place where the city was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries. The first European to see it was Captain John Moresby in 1873. It was named in honour of his father, Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby.
According to a survey of world cities by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, Port Moresby is one of the world's least livable cities (ranked 137 of 140 cities rated).
Although Port Moresby is surrounded by Central Province, of which it is also the capital, it is not part of that province, but forms the National Capital District.

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Putrajaya
Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas. Nevertheless, Kuala Lumpur remains Malaysia's national capital, being the seat of the King and Parliament, as well as the country's commercial and financial centre. Putrajaya was the brainchild of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad. In 2001, Putrajaya became Malaysia's third Federal Territory after Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.
Named after the first Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, the city is situated within the Multimedia Super Corridor, beside the also newly developed Cyberjaya. In Malay/Sanskrit, the words "putra" or "putera" means "prince", and "jaya" means "success" or "victory". The development of Putrajaya started in early 1990s, and today major landmarks are completed and the population is expected to grow bigger.

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Pyinmana
Pyinmana (Burmese: ပျဉ်းမနားမြို့; MLCTS: pyanymana: mrui., IPA: [pjɪ̀ɴməná mjo̰]; population: 100,000 (2006 estimate)) is a logging town and sugarcane refinery center in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a militarized greenfield site (which the leader, Than Shwe, dubbed Naypyidaw, or Royal City) two miles (3.2 km) west of Pyinmana on November 6, 2005. Pyinmana is approximately 200 miles (320 km) north of Yangon. The village of Yezin, a few miles north and east of Pyinmana, has been the site of national scientific research institutions since the late 1970s.
During World War II, Pyinmana was the base of the Burma Independence Army (later renamed and reorganized into the Burma Defence Army by the Japanese). It was in Pyinmana that the army and its officers were trained. Later the Burma National Army changed sides, aiding the Allies with guerrilla warfare, and the operations were seen as a victory by the Burmese. Pyinmana became an icon in the Burmese Army where it was seen as the place where 'superior invaders' were defeated by the Burmese. This may be one of the reasons why the current junta chose to locate Naypyidaw in such close proximity to Pyinmana.

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Pyinmana Township
Pyinmana Township (Burmese: ပျဉ်းမနားမြို့နယ်) is one of eight townships of Naypyitaw Capital Region in Mandalay Division, Burma.
Pyinmana Township has the following dams.
Pyinmana has

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Pyongyang
Pyongyang (평양, Korean pronunciation: [pʰjɔŋjaŋ], literally: "Flat Land") is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946. It is administered as a directly governed city (chikhalsi), on the same level as provincial governments, not a special city (teukbyeolsi) as Seoul is in South Korea.

One of Pyongyang's many historic names is Ryugyong (류경; 柳京), or "capital of willows", as willow trees have always been numerous throughout the city's history, and many poems have been written about these willows. Even today, the city has numerous willow trees, with many buildings and places having "Ryugyŏng" in their names. The most notable of these is the uncompleted Ryugyong Hotel. The city's other historic names include Kisong, Hwangsong, Rakrang, Sŏgyong, Sodo, Hogyong, and Changan.^{[citation needed]} During the colonial period (1910–1945), Pyongyang was named Puto ".

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Qatar
Qatar (ⁱ/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or ⁱ/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر‎ [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.

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Ramallah
Ramallah (Arabic: رام الله‎ (help·info) Rāmallāh) (literally "Height of God") is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. With a population of nearly 25,500, Ramallah was historically a Christian town, but today Muslims form the majority of the population, with a strong Christian minority.
Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-16th century by the Haddadins, a Jordanian tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. The Haddadins, led by Rashid Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River near the Jordanian town of Shoubak. The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area. According to modern living descendents of original Haddadin family members, Rashid's brother Sabra Haddadin was hosting Emir Ibn Kaysoom, head of a powerful Muslim clan in the region, when Sabra's wife gave birth to a baby girl. According to custom, the Emir proposed a betrothal to his own young son when they came of age. Sabra believed the proposal was in jest, as Muslim-Christian marriages were not customary, and gave his word. When the Emir later came to the Haddadins and demanded that they fulfill their promise, they refused. This set off bloody conflict between the two families. The Haddadins fled west and settled on the hilltops of Ramallah, where only a few Muslim families lived at the time. Today, a large community of people descended directly from the Haddadins live in the United States. The town is now predominately Muslim.

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Riyadh
Riyadh (/rɨˈjɑːd/; Arabic: الرياض‎ transliterated Ar Riyāḍ pronounced [ʔɑrːiˈjɑːdˤ], English: The Gardens) is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a region with a population of close to 7 million people. The city is divided into 15 municipal districts, managed by Riyadh Municipality headed by the mayor of Riyadh, and the Riyadh Development Authority, chaired by the Governor of Riyadh Province, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz. The current mayor of Riyadh is Abdul Aziz ibn Ayyaf Al-Miqrin, appointed in 1998. Riyadh has the largest female university in the world, the Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University.. It has been designated as Beta World City.
During the Pre-Islamic era, the settlement at the site was called Hajr (Arabic: حجر‎), and was reportedly founded by the tribe of Banu Hanifa. Hajr served as the capital of the province of Al Yamamah, whose governors were responsible for most of central and eastern Arabia during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. Al-Yamamah broke away from the Abbasid Empire in 866 and the area fell under the rule of the Ukhaydhirites, who moved the capital from Hajr to nearby Al Kharj. The city then went into a long period of decline. In the 14th century North African traveller Ibn Battuta wrote of his visit to Hajr, describing it as "the main city of Al-Yamamah, and its name is Hajr". Ibn Battuta goes on to describe it as a city of canals and trees with most of its inhabitants belonging to Bani Hanifa, and reports that he continued on with their leader to Mecca to perform the Hajj.

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Sana'a
Sana'a (Arabic: صنعاء‎ Ṣanʿāʾ pronounced [sˤɑnʕaːʔ], Yemeni Arabic: [ˈsˤɑnʕɑ]), also spelled "Sana", is the capital of Yemen and the centre of San‘a’ Governorate; however the city itself is not part of the Governorate, but forms the separate administrative district of "Amanat Al-Asemah".
Sana'a is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At an altitude of 2,300 metres (7,500 ft), it is also one of the highest capital cities in the world. Sana'a has a population of approximately 1,748,000 (2010) making it Yemen's largest city. The old city of Sana'a, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a distinctive visual character due its unique architectural characteristics, most notably expressed in its multi-story buildings decorated with geometric patterns.
Sana'a is one of the oldest populated places in the world. According to popular legend it was founded by Shem, the son of Noah. It was known as "Azal" in ancient times, referring to Uzal, a son of Qahtan who was a great-grandson of Shem. Its current name likely derived from the South Arabian word for "well-fortified". Arab historian al-Hamdani wrote that Sana'a was walled by the Sabeans under their ruler Sha'r Awtar who also built the Ghumdan Palace in the city. Because of its location, Sana'a has served as an urban center for the surrounding tribes of the region and as a nucleus of regional trade in southern Arabia. It was positioned at the crossroad of two major ancient trade routes linking Marib in the east to the Red Sea in the west.

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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (ⁱ/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or ⁱ/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية‎ as-Su‘ūdīyah^{[citation needed]} or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية‎ al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km² (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.

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Seoul
Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul] ( listen), English /soʊl/), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul National Capital Area is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents.
Located in the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

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Shan Hills
The Shan Hills (Burmese: ရှမ်းရိုးမ, Thai: ฉานโยมา; Shan Yoma), also known as Shan Highland, are part of the range of hills that extends through Yunnan to Burma and Thailand, linking to the Himalayas, of which they may be considered foothills. The highest point is Loi Leng Other peaks are 2,565 m high Mong Ling Shan, 2,565 m high Doi Inthanon and 2,563 m high Loi Pangnao. All are ultra prominent peaks of Southeast Asia.
The name of the range is derived from the Shan State and its peoples, said in its turn to be derived from the word "Siam", that occupies most of the Shan Highland area.
The area of the Shan Highland is a combination of hill ranges, steep river valleys and a high plateau, the Shan Plateau. The Shan Hills straddle central eastern Burma and northwestern Thailand.
They rise steeply from Burma's central plain and stretch for hundreds of kilometres eastwards into Thailand's northwest. The average elevation is around 1,000 m. Its surface is cut across by steep river gorges, part of the drainage basins of the Chao Phraya, the Irrawaddy, the Sittaung and the Salween or Thanlwin River. Geographically the Karen Hills are the southwestern projection of the Shan Hills.

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Shan State
Shan State (Burmese: ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, pronounced: [ʃáɴ pjìnɛ̀]; Shan: မိုင်းတႆး [mœ́ŋ tɑ́ɪ]) is a state of Burma (Myanmar). Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan State is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi.
Shan State, with many ethnic groups, is home to several armed ethnic armies. While the military government has signed ceasefire agreements with most groups, vast areas of the state, especially those east of Thanlwin river, remain outside the central government's control, and in recent years have come under heavy ethnic-Chinese economic and political influence, whereas other areas are under the control of military groups such as the Shan State Army.

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Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (Burmese: ရွှေတိဂုံ ဘုရား; MLCTS: hrwe ti. gum. bhu. ra:, IPA: [ʃwèdəɡòʊɴ pʰəjá]); Mon: ကျာ် လ္ဂုၚ်, [tɕaɪʔ təkɜ̀ŋ]; officially titled Shwedagon Zedi Daw ([ʃwèdəɡòʊɴ zèdìdɔ̀]), also known in English as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda, is a 99 metres (325 ft)^{[citation needed]} gilded pagoda and stupa located in Yangon, Burma. The pagoda lies to the west of Kandawgyi Lake, on Singuttara Hill, thus dominating the skyline of the city. It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within, namely the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa and eight strands of hair of Gautama, the historical Buddha. Uppatasanti Pagoda is a same-sized replica of Shwedagon Pagoda in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma.
According to tradition, the Shwedagon Pagoda has existed for more than 2,500 years, making it the oldest historical pagoda in Burma and the world. According to tradition, two merchant brothers, Taphussa and Bhallika, from the land of Ramanya, met the Lord Gautama Buddha during his lifetime and received eight of the Buddha's hairs. The brothers traveled back to their homeland in Burma and, with the help of the local king, King Okkalapa of Burma, found Singuttara Hill, where relics of other Buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha had been enshrined. When the king opened the golden casket in which the brothers had carried the hairs, incredible things happened:

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Singapore
Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.

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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.

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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ⁱ/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.

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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية‎ Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).

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Taipei
Taipei City (/ˌtaɪˈpeɪ/; [tʰǎipèi]; Chinese: 臺北市 or 台北市; pinyin: Táiběi Shì) is the capital of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Situated at the northern tip of the island of Taiwan, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River; it is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, a port city on the Pacific Ocean. It lies in the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung (基隆河) and Xindian (新店溪) rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border. The city proper (Taipei City) is home to an estimated 2,618,772 people. Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung together form the Taipei metropolitan area with a population of 6,900,273. However, they are administered under different local governing bodies. "Taipei" sometimes refers to the whole metropolitan area, while "Taipei City" refers to the city proper. Taipei City proper is surrounded on all sides by New Taipei.
Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan. The National Palace Museum which has one of the largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks in the world is located in Taipei. Considered to be a global city, Taipei is part of a major industrial area. Railways, high speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan.

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Taiwan
Taiwan (ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.

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Tajikistan
Tajikistan (ⁱ/tɑːˈdʒiːkɨstɑːn/, /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/, or /tæˈdʒiːkiːstæn/; Тоҷикистон [ˈtɔjikɪsˈtɔn]), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Cumhuriyi Tocikiston; Persian: جمهوری تاجیکستان‎ Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan; Russian: Республика Таджикистан, Respublika Tadzhikistan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan are separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan in the south.
Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.

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Tashkent
Tashkent (/ˌtæʃˈkɛnt/; Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент; Russian: Ташкент, [tɐʂˈkʲent]; literally "Stone City") is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.
During its long history, Tashkent has had various changes in names and political and religious affiliations.
Tashkent started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the West Tian Shan Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the Kangju confederacy.
In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times the town and the province were known as "Chach". The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi also refers to the city as Chach. Later the town came to be known as Chachkand/Chashkand, meaning "Chach City".^{[citation needed]} The principality of Chach, whose main town had a square citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the Syr Darya River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had over 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the Sogdians and Turkic nomads. The Buddhist monk Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602/603? – 664 CE), who travelled from China to India through Central Asia, mentioned the name of the city as Zhěshí 赭時. The Chinese chronicles Suí shū 隋書 (Book of Suí), Běi shǐ 北史 (History of Northern Dynasties) and Táng shū 唐書 (Book of Táng) mention a possession called Shí 石 or Zhěshí 赭時 with a capital of the same name since the fifth century AD [Bichurin, 1950. v. II]. The region came under the sway of Islam in the early parts of the 8th century.

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Tatkon Township
Tat Kon Township (Burmese: တပ်ကုန်းမြို့နယ်) is one of eight townships of Naypyitaw Capital Region in Mandalay Division, Burma.

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Tbilisi
Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰb̥ilisi] ( listen)) is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi (ტფილისი) and it was officially known as Tpilisi (in Georgian) or Tiflis (in Russian) until 1936. The city covers an area of 726 km² (280 sq mi) and has 1,480,000 inhabitants.
Founded in the 5th century by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the monarch of Georgia's precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has served, with various intervals, as Georgia's capital for nearly 1500 years and represents a significant industrial, social, and cultural center of the country. Located near the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.

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Tehran
Tehran ( pronunciation (help·info)) (Persian: تهران‎ Tehrān; pronounced [tehˈɾɒːn]), sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, the largest city in Western Asia, one of the largest in Southern Asia, and the 19th-largest city globally.
In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to mass-migration of people from all around Iran. The city is home to many historic mosques, churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian fire temples. Contemporary Tehran is a modern city featuring many structures, of which the Azadi (Freedom) Tower and the Milad Tower have come to be symbols of Tehran itself. In 2008 Tehran was the least expensive capital in the world and the second-least expensive city globally based on the cost-of-living index presenting the best value for money in the world. Globally it stands 19th by city population, 56th by the size of its GDP and 29th by the population of its metropolitan area. Throughout Iran's history, the capital city has been relocated many times, with Tehran being the 32nd national capital of Iran. Persian is the city's native tongue, with roughly 98% of the population able to speak and understand it. The majority of people in Tehran identify themselves as Persians. In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Tehran was called Ray (which in the Avesta occurs in the form of Ragha)^{[citation needed]}.

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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.

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Thimphu
Thimphu (Tibetan alphabet: ཐིམ་ཕུག་, Dzongkha: ཐིམ་ཕུ་) also spelt Thimpu, is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's dzongkhags, the Thimphu District. The city became the capital of Bhutan in 1961. As of 2005 it had a population of 79,185, with 98,676 people living in the entire Thimphu district.
The city is spread out longitudinally in a north-south direction on the west bank of the valley formed by the Wang Chuu, also known as the Thimphu Chuu River. Thimphu is located at 27°28′00″N 89°38′30″E / 27.4666667°N 89.64167°E / 27.4666667; 89.64167Coordinates: 27°28′00″N 89°38′30″E / 27.4666667°N 89.64167°E / 27.4666667; 89.64167 and is spread over an altitudinal range between 2,248 metres (7,375 ft) and 2,648 metres (8,688 ft). Unusually for a capital city, Thimphu is not served by an airport, but relies on the airport at Paro, connected by road some 54 kilometres (34 mi) away.
Thimphu, as the political and economic centre of Bhutan, has a dominant agricultural and livestock base, which contributes to 45% of the country's GNP. Tourism, though a contributor to the economy, is strictly regulated, maintaining a balance between the traditional and development and modernization. Thimphu contains most of the important political buildings in Bhutan, including the National Assembly of the newly formed parliamentary democracy and Dechencholing Palace, the official residence of the King, located to the north of the city. As a metropolis and capital city, Thimphu is coordinated by the "Thimphu Structure Plan", an Urban Development Plan which evolved in 1998 with the objective of protecting the fragile ecology of the valley. This development is ongoing with financial assistance from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

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Tokyo
Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō^?, "Eastern Capital") [toːkʲoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/; officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to^?), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of the world. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?).
The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the 23 special wards of Tokyo (each governed as a city), which cover the area that was the city of Tokyo, as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity in 2008, ahead of New York City metropolitan area, which ranks second on the list. The city hosts 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest amount of any city.

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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan (ⁱ/tɜrkˈmɛnɨstæn/ or ⁱ/tɜrkmɛnɨˈstɑːn/; Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010^[update] ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.

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Ulan Bator
Ulan Bator /ˌuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtər/ or Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian: Улаанбаатар, [ʊɮɑːŋ.bɑːtʰɑ̆r], ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ, Ulaγanbaγatur, literally "Red Hero") is the capital and by far the largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million.
Located in north central Mongolia, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is the center of Mongolia's road network, and is connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.
The city was founded in 1639 as a movable (nomadic) Buddhist monastic centre. In 1778 it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. In the twentieth century, Ulan Bator grew into a major manufacturing centre.

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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates ⁱ/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة‎, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.

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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan ⁱ/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).

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Vientiane
Vientiane ( /vjɛnˈtjɑːn/ French pronunciation: [vjɛ̃'tjan]; Lao: ວຽງຈັນ Wiang-jun; Thai: เวียงจันทน์ Wiang-chan, IPA: [wíəŋ tɕàn]) is the capital and largest city of Laos, situated in the Mekong river. Vientiane became the capital in 1563 due to fears of a Burmese invasion. During French rule, Vientiane was the administrative capital and due to economic growth in recent times, it has become the economic centre of Laos.
The estimated population of the city is 754,000 (2009). The city hosted the 25th Southeast Asian Games in December 2009 celebrating the 50 years of SEA Games.

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Vietnam
Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam; listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

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Xinhua News
The Xinhua News Agency (simplified Chinese: 新华通讯社; traditional Chinese: 新華通訊社; pinyin: Xīnhuá tōngxùnshè, IPA: [ɕínxwǎ]; /ˈʃiːnhwɑː/; literally "New China News Agency") is the official press agency of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in China. It is the largest news agency in China, ahead of the China News Service. Xinhua is subordinate to the State Council and reports to the Communist Party of China's Publicity and Public Information Departments. Xinhua's headquarters complex, the "pencil building", is at No. 57 Xuanwumenxi Street, Beijing. Its website Xinhua.org or Xinhuanet.com is headquartered on the twentieth floor of the Dacheng Plaza (大成大厦 Dàchéng Dàshà) in Xicheng District, Beijing.
Xinhua employs more than 10,000 people, operates 107 foreign bureaus worldwide, and maintains 31 bureaus in China—one for each province, plus a military bureau. As most of the newspapers in China cannot afford to station correspondents abroad, or even in every Chinese province, they rely on Xinhua feeds to fill their pages. People's Daily, for example, uses Xinhua material for approximately 25 percent of its stories. Xinhua is a publisher as well as a news agency—it owns more than 20 newspapers and a dozen magazines, and it prints in eight languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic and Japanese.

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Yamethin District
Yamethin District is a district of the Mandalay Division in central Burma.
The district contains the following townships:
Coordinates: 20°15′N 96°15′E / 20.25°N 96.25°E / 20.25; 96.25

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Yangon
Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်; MLCTS: rankun mrui, pronounced: [jàɴɡòʊɴ mjo̰]; also known as Rangoon, literally: "End of Strife") is a former capital of Burma (Myanmar) and the capital of Yangon Region. Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial centre.
Yangon's infrastructure is undeveloped compared to those of other major cities in Southeast Asia. Yangon has the largest number of colonial buildings in Southeast Asia today. While many high-rise residential and commercial buildings have been constructed or renovated throughout downtown and Greater Yangon in the past two decades, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be deeply impoverished.
Yangon (ရန်ကုန်) is a combination of the two words yan (ရန်) and koun (ကုန်), which mean "enemies" and "run out of" respectively. It is also translated as "End of Strife". "Rangoon" most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of "Yangon" in the Rakhine dialect (Arakanese) of Burmese, which is [rɔ̀ɴɡʊ́ɴ].

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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemen ⁱ/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن‎ al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.

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Yerevan
Coordinates: 40°11′00″N 44°31′00″E / 40.183333°N 44.516667°E / 40.183333; 44.516667
Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան, Armenian pronunciation: [jɛɾɛˈvɑn]) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia.
The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became one of the fifteen republics in the Soviet Union. In fifty years, Yerevan was transformed from a town of a few thousand residents within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.

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Alaungpaya
Alaungpaya (Burmese: အလောင်းဘုရား, pronounced: [ʔəláʊɴ pʰəjá]; also spelled Alaunghpaya; 24 September 1714 – 11 May 1760) was king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1752 to 1760, and the founder of the Konbaung Dynasty. By his death in 1760, the former chief of a small village in Upper Burma had reunified all of Burma, subdued Manipur, recovered Lan Na, and driven out the French and the English who had given help to the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. He also founded Yangon in 1755. He died from illness during his campaign in Siam.
He is considered one of the three greatest kings of Burma, alongside Anawrahta and Bayinnaung, for unifying the country for the third time in Burmese history.
The future king was born Aung Zeya (အောင်ဇေယျ, lit. Victorious Victory) at Moksobo, a village of a few hundred households in the Mu river valley located about 60 miles northwest of Ava, on 24 September 1714 to Min Nyo San (မင်းညိုစံ) and his wife Saw Nyein Oo (စောငြိမ်းဦး). He was the second son, and part of gentry families that had administered the Mu valley for generations. His father Min Nyo San was a hereditary chief of Moksobo, and his uncle, Kyawswa Htin (ကျော်စွာထင်), better known as Sitha Mingyi (စည်သာမင်းကြီး), was the lord of the Mu valley district. He claimed descent from a 15th century cavalry commander, brother of King Mohnyin Thado and ultimately the Pagan royal line. He came from a large family, and was related by blood and by marriage to many other gentry families throughout the valley. In 1730, he married Yun San (ယွန်းစံ), daughter of chief of a neighboring village, Siboktara (စည်ပုတ္တရာ). They went on to have six sons and three daughters. (The fourth daughter died young.)

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Anawrahta
Anawrahta Minsaw (Burmese: အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, pronounced: [ʔənɔ̀jətʰà mɪ́ɴ sɔ́]; 1014 – 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone of Upper Burma into the first Burmese Empire that formed the basis of modern-day Burma (Myanmar). Historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his ascension to the Pagan throne in 1044.
Anawrahta unified the entire Irrawaddy valley for the first time in history, and placed peripheral regions such as Shan States and Arakan (Northern Rakhine) under Pagan's suzerainty. He successfully stopped the advance of Khmer Empire into Tenasserim coastline and into Upper Menam valley, making Pagan one of two main kingdoms in mainland Southeast Asia.
A strict disciplinarian, Anawrahta implemented a series of key social, religious and economic reforms that would have a lasting impact in Burmese history. His social and religious reforms later developed into the modern-day Burmese culture. By building a series of weirs, he turned parched, arid regions around Pagan into the main rice granaries of Upper Burma, giving Upper Burma an enduring economic base from which to dominate the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery in the following centuries. He bequeathed a strong administrative system that all later Pagan kings followed until the dynasty's fall in 1287. The success and longevity of Pagan's dominance over the Irrawaddy valley laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, the spread of Burman ethnicity in Upper Burma.

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Bayinnaung
Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta (Burmese: ဘုရင့်နောင် ကျော်ထင်နော်ရထာ [bəjɪ̰ɴ nàʊɴ tɕɔ̀ tʰɪ̀ɴ nɔ̀jətʰà]; Thai: พระเจ้าบุเรงนอง; 16 January 1516 – 9 November 1581) was the third king of the Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). During his 30-year reign, which has been called the "greatest explosion of human energy ever seen in Burma", Bayinnaung assembled the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, which included much of modern day Burma, Manipur, Chinese Shan States (southern Yunnan), Lan Na (northern Thailand), Siam (central and southern Thailand) and Lan Xang (Laos and northeastern Thailand).
Although he is best remembered for his empire building, Bayinnaung's greatest legacy was his integration of Shan States into the Irrawaddy-valley-based Burmese kingdoms, which eliminated the threat of Shan raids into Upper Burma, an overhanging concern to Upper Burma since the late 13th century. After the conquest of Shan States in 1557, the king put in an administrative system that reduced the power of hereditary Shan saophas (chiefs), and brought Shan customs in line with low-land norms. His Shan policy was followed by Burmese kings right up to the final fall of the kingdom to the British in 1885.

wn.com/Bayinnaung
Beijing
Beijing ( /beɪˈdʒɪŋ/; Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng, [peɪ˨˩ t͡ɕiŋ˥]), formerly romanized as Peking ( /piːˈkɪŋ/ or /peɪˈkɪŋ/), is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government, with 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.
Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's largest state-owned companies. Beijing is a major transportation hub in the national highway, expressway, railway and high-speed rail network. Beijing's Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.

wn.com/Beijing
Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km² (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.

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Hong Kong Airlines
Hong Kong Airlines Ltd (Chinese: 香港航空有限公司; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Hángkōng Yǒuxiàngōngsī; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 hong4 hung1 jau5 haan6 gung1 si1), formerly CR Airways Limited (Chinese: 中富航空有限公司; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhōngfù Hángkōng Yǒuxiàngōngsī; Jyutping: zung1 fu3 hong4 hung1 jau5 haan6 gung1 si1, IATA: N8), is a Hong Kong-based airline, with its main hub and corporate head office at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline operates scheduled regional passenger and cargo services to 10 destinations within the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, including codeshares with its sister airline, Hong Kong Express Airways.
The airline was founded as CR Airways by Robert Yip on 28 March 2001 and began helicopter passenger charter operations with a Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopter. It was Hong Kong's first helicopter operator to receive an Air Operator's Certificate since the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was established. Mainland Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines and Mr Mung Kin Keung took over the airline in 2006 by acquiring a 45 percent and 55 percent holdings in the airline, respectively. The airline officially changed its name to Hong Kong Airlines Limited on 28 November 2006 and introduced a new logo representing a bauhinia flower, a Hong Kong native flower.

wn.com/Hong_Kong_Airlines
Taiwan
Taiwan (ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.

wn.com/Taiwan
Thein Nyunt
Colonel Thein Nyunt (Burmese: သိန်းညွန့်) is a currently one of three ministers of the President's Office, in the Cabinet of Burma (Myanmar), as well as the Chairman of the Naypyidaw Council, which governs the national capital. He served for State Peace and Development Council as the Minister of Progress of Border Areas, National Races and Development Affairs. Thein Nyunt was appointed interim mayor of Naypyidaw, the national capital of Myanmar on 1 March 2006 and subsequently became the Chairman of the Naypyidaw Council.

wn.com/Thein_Nyunt
Thein Sein
Thein Sein (Burmese: သိန်းစိန် [θéɪɴ zèɪɴ]; born 20 April 1945) is a Burmese politician and former military figure who has been president of Burma (Myanmar) since March 2011. Previously, he was Prime Minister from 2007 until 2011. He is generally considered to be a moderate and reformist in the new government.
Thein Sein was born in Kyonku, British Burma (now Myanmar), a small village in what is now Ngapudaw Township in the Irrawaddy delta to parents Maung Phyo (father) and Khin Nyunt (mother). He was the youngest of three children. His parents were landless, and his father made a living carrying cargo at the river jetty and weaving bamboo mats.
Thein Sein graduated from the 9th intake of the Defense Services Academy in 1968.
Throughout Thein Sein's four-decade-long military career, he was considered a bureaucrat, not a combat soldier. In 1988, he served as a major for Sagaing Division's 55th Light Infantry Division and later served as a commander for Sagaing Division's 89th Infantry Battalion in Kalay Township. The following year, he studied at the Command and General Staff College in Kalaw, Shan State.

wn.com/Thein_Sein
Xinhua News
The Xinhua News Agency (simplified Chinese: 新华通讯社; traditional Chinese: 新華通訊社; pinyin: Xīnhuá tōngxùnshè, IPA: [ɕínxwǎ]; /ˈʃiːnhwɑː/; literally "New China News Agency") is the official press agency of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in China. It is the largest news agency in China, ahead of the China News Service. Xinhua is subordinate to the State Council and reports to the Communist Party of China's Publicity and Public Information Departments. Xinhua's headquarters complex, the "pencil building", is at No. 57 Xuanwumenxi Street, Beijing. Its website Xinhua.org or Xinhuanet.com is headquartered on the twentieth floor of the Dacheng Plaza (大成大厦 Dàchéng Dàshà) in Xicheng District, Beijing.
Xinhua employs more than 10,000 people, operates 107 foreign bureaus worldwide, and maintains 31 bureaus in China—one for each province, plus a military bureau. As most of the newspapers in China cannot afford to station correspondents abroad, or even in every Chinese province, they rely on Xinhua feeds to fill their pages. People's Daily, for example, uses Xinhua material for approximately 25 percent of its stories. Xinhua is a publisher as well as a news agency—it owns more than 20 newspapers and a dozen magazines, and it prints in eight languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic and Japanese.

wn.com/Xinhua_News

Naypyidaw - Capital of Myanmar [Burma]

Naypyidaw, capital of Myanmar [ Burma ] 2011 Credits - Wall Street Journal...

published: 18 Nov 2011

author: iChannel11

Birmanie: Naypyidaw, une capitale sortie de nulle part

Une capitale s'ouvre au monde. En Birmanie, la junte au pouvoir avait transféré son gouver...

published: 15 Mar 2012

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Naypyidaw - Wiki Article

Naypyidaw (Burmese: ; MLCTS: Nepranytau, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw and Naypyitaw; pro...

published: 26 Oct 2012

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Police stop protesters en route to Naypyidaw

Police stop protesters en route to Naypyidaw....

published: 21 Sep 2012

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NLD in Naypyidaw 2.5.2012

NLD in Naypyidaw 2.5.2012...

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Naypyidaw to Help Burmese Migrants in Thailand

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Thingaha Hotel in Naypyidaw

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Parliaments in Naypyidaw

Parliaments in Naypyidaw....

published: 22 Oct 2012

author: irrawaddynews

WPG Hotel Group - (Myanmar - Naypyidaw Hotel)

wpghotelgroup.com...

published: 31 Aug 2012

author: wpggroup

Kris Kiattisak - Naypyidaw - Myanmar New Capital

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published: 06 Mar 2012

author: Kris Kiattisak

Gold miners march to Naypyidaw

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published: 15 Nov 2012

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Myanmar Naypyidaw International Airport country wingate sai! - YouTube.flv

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published: 04 Apr 2012

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U Thein Sein Holds First Press Conference in Naypyidaw

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published: 22 Oct 2012

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Goldmine Workers Long March To Naypyidaw

ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕မွာ ဆႏၵျပေနၾကတဲ့ မိုးထိမိုးမိ ေရႊလုပ္သားေတြဟာ မေန႔က ညေနက စတင္ၿပီး ေနျပည္ေတာ္ကိ...

published: 09 Nov 2012

author: RFABurmeseVideo

Plateau Naypyidaw, Birmanie

published: 22 Jan 2012

author: Dalibor Samac

Meeting With Gen. YeMyint(Part-One)

Meeting With Gen. YeMyint 18Feb,2009 Naypyidaw...

published: 30 Sep 2011

author: KyatPhaGyi

World Population Day 2011

Myanmar's Immigration and Population Minister Khin Yi delivers his speech at a ceremony ma...

published: 30 Jul 2011

author: Thura Myat

Happy World : Burma, the dictatorship of the absurd

Tristan Mendes France and Gaël Bordier went to Burma, where they clandestinely shot their ...

published: 14 Jan 2012

author: Pierre Cattan

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photo: AP / Nick Ut

File - Demonstrators are arrested by police after protesting outside a Walmart store Friday Nov. 23, 2012, in Paramount, Calif.

Walmart's horrific treatment of workers is too big to ignore

Al Jazeera

14 Dec 2012

Former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, meet 55-year-old Martha Sellers. For the past nine years, Sellers has worked as a Walmart cashier in Paramount, California ... More than 10,000 community members joined more than 30 striking employees who walked off the job to demand better working conditions. . "It was wonderful ... That's not too much to ask for." ... 1698 ... ....(size: 23.6Kb)

photo: AP / Jessica Hill

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

27 People Dead, Mostly Children, at Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

ABC News

14 Dec 2012

More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News. The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today. State Police confirm that one shooter is dead ... at ABCNews.com ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)

photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks

In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, a police officer leads two women and a child from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

20 Schoolchildren, 8 Others Dead in Connecticut Massacre

Jakarta Globe

15 Dec 2012

Newtown, Conn. Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, ultimately killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in US history ... Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital ... Reuters ....(size: 7.5Kb)

photo: AP / Manu Brabo

In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter poses as he carries his weapon in the northern province of Aleppo, Syria. Syria's civil war has killed more than 40,000 people.

Russia says Syrian rebels might win

CNTV

14 Dec 2012

One of Syria's key allies has admitted for the first time the Assad regime is losing the 20-month ground war. Russia’s deputy foreign minister’s comments are significant because Russia has blocked action to stem the violence, supplied weapons to the Assad regime, and vetoed three UN resolutions -- even as other countries called for Assad to step down. The comments are expected to put new pressure on the Syrian leader ... Reporter ...   ... ....(size: 6.6Kb)

photo: AP / Jessica Hill

Law enforcement canvass an area following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. where authorities say a gunman opened fire, leaving 27 people dead, including 20 children, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

'Why? Why?': 26 dead in elementary school massacre

CNN

15 Dec 2012

December 15, 2012 -- Updated 0947 GMT (1747 HKT). Newtown, Connecticut (CNN) -- The bodies of children and educators lay where they fell in a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school -- in classrooms and hallways -- as investigators worked to identity the dead early Saturday while piecing together the path of the gunman ... J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. Timeline. School violence in U.S ... J ... HIDE CAPTION. << ... 1....(size: 24.9Kb)

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17 Things I learned From Reading Every Last Word of The Economist’s “The World in ...

The New York Times

12 Dec 2012

I’ve been telling people I read The Economist since college. Sometimes I actually even do read it, but not as often as I say I do — and not as often as I quote stuff from “London’s influential Economist,” as they call it on NPR. (Which I also listen to, by the way — I am very well-informed!) ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... d) Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s new capital, will be home to the 27th Southeast Asian Games – the first time in 44 years that Myanmar has been host....(size: 14.4Kb)

Euphemisms of Obama’s Wars

CounterPunch

07 Dec 2012

As the UN put it, if the US standard is “invoked by other states in pursuits of those they deem to be terrorists or to have attacked them, it would cause chaos.” So does the US standard then only work for itself? What if Russia decided to use its drones if invited in by the Assad regime in Syria, to kill those whom Assad calls terrorists? What if China sends it drones into Burma to tackle those whom Naypyidaw considers terrorists? ... ....(size: 7.8Kb)

Progress stops at the Myanmar elite's door

Al Jazeera

04 Dec 2012

The protesters were given five minutes to leave ... What came next however struck fear into the heart of Myanmar's nascent environmental movement ... For Myanmar, the developing ties had been of economic and political necessity, with Naypyidaw reliant on China's bottomless pit of investment capital, its UN Security Council seat and willingness to sell heavy artillery to the Myanmar military ... That has continued ... 1580. Source .. Al Jazeera. Share ... ....(size: 23.5Kb)

Raid on Burmese mine protesters

Irish Times

30 Nov 2012

Security forces in Burma mounted a violent raid yesterday against Buddhist monks and villagers who have been protesting the expansion of a copper mine. The crackdown was the largest since the civilian government of President Thein Sein came to power 20 months ago ... Yesterday's raid came before dawn ... Land rights were the focus of a conference last weekend in the capital, Naypyidaw, that was attended by high-ranking government officials ... ....(size: 5.6Kb)

Myanmar Security Forces Use Incendiary Devices in Raid on Protest Camp

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

29 Nov 2012

BANGKOK -- Security forces in Myanmar mounted a violent raid on Thursday against Buddhist monks and villagers who have been protesting the expansion of a copper mine. The crackdown was the largest since the civilian government of President Thein Sein came to power 20 months ago ... Than Shwe ... Land rights were the focus of a conference last weekend in the capital, Naypyidaw, that was attended by high-ranking government officials ... ....(size: 5.8Kb)

The Dicey Democrat

Foreign Policy

28 Nov 2012

Last week, U.S ... COMMENTS (0) SHARE.. Twitter  . Reddit . More... Less well-noticed was Obama's meeting with another politician ... The U.S ... As the man who essentially runs the national parliament in Burma's remote jungle capital of Naypyidaw, Shwe Mann has pushed through several dramatic legislative reforms and has even been known to criticize Thein Sein for his allegedly "sluggish" approach to liberalization ... ....(size: 5.5Kb)

photo: UN / Rick Bajornas

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairperson and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, Myanmar holds special discussion with Burmese Staff Association

The Lady and the General

Foreign Policy

26 Nov 2012

The most unlikely of political partners are driving the astonishing democratic transition in Burma. One of them is no surprise. Aung San Suu Kyi, the inspirational global icon who for recent generations has defined nonviolent struggle against oppression ... COMMENTS (0) SHARE .. Twitter  . Reddit . More... I met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, the remote new capital where the generals had abruptly sequestered themselves a few years earlier....(size: 4.4Kb)

Regular Press Briefing by MOFA’s Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi on November 22, 2012 (Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam)

noodls

26 Nov 2012

Regular Press Briefing by MOFA's Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi on November 22, 2012. PRESS CONFERENCE. (Ha Noi, November 22th 2012). ANNOUNCEMENT. PRESIDENT TRUONG TAN SANG TO VISIT BRUNEI (Nov. 27 - 29) ... PRESIDENT TRUONG TAN SANG TO VISIT MYANMAR (Nov.29 - Dec.1) ... President Truong Tan Sang will visit some cultural and economic sites in the capital city of Naypyidaw and Rangoon and meet with Myanmar's businesses ... 26-30) ... 1 - 4) ... 1. Question ... 2 ... 3 ... 4....(size: 8.1Kb)

Hong Kong University Delivers Awards to Aung San Suu Kyi

The New York Times

25 Nov 2012

Connect With Us on Twitter. Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List. Reporters and Editors. Representatives from the University of Hong Kong visited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader in Myanmar at her home in Naypyidaw, to present her with an honorary degree and two honorary posts. Ms ... At the time, she was campaigning for parliamentary elections. In June, Ms ...  . U.S.C ... Box7....(size: 7.7Kb)

Suu Kyi disappointed over governments calling her nation 'Myanmar' not 'Burma'

DNA India

23 Nov 2012

"I shall always refer to this country as Burma, until the Burmese people decide what they want it to be called,"the opposition leader said after meeting the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in the capital Naypyidaw ......(size: 1.3Kb)

Suu Kyi disappointed over Myanmar being called Burma

Zeenews

23 Nov 2012

Sydney ... “I shall always refer to this country as Burma, until the Burmese people decide what they want it to be called,” the opposition leader said after meeting the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in the capital Naypyidaw ... ANI ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)

Suu Kyi: it's Burma, not Myanmar

Sydney Morning Herald

22 Nov 2012

NAYPYIDAW ... decide what they want it to be called," the opposition leader said after meeting the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday....(size: 0.9Kb)

Suu Kyi disappointed by naming

Sydney Morning Herald

22 Nov 2012

... people decide what they want it to be called," the opposition leader said after meeting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday....(size: 0.9Kb)

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Nay Pyi Taw
— Capital City —
Uppatasanti Pagoda, Naypyidaw
Nay Pyi Taw Location of Naypyidaw, Burma
Coordinates: 19°45′N 96°6′E / 19.75°N 96.1°E / 19.75; 96.1Coordinates: 19°45′N 96°6′E / 19.75°N 96.1°E / 19.75; 96.1
Country	Burma
Division	Naypyidaw Union Territory ^[1]
Subdivisions	8 townships
Settled	2005
Incorporated	2008
Government^[2]
• Chairman	Colonel Thein Nyunt
Area^[3]
• Total	2,723.71 sq mi (7,054.37 km²)
Population (2009)^[4]^{[dead link]}
• Total	925,000
• Density	340/sq mi (130/km²)
	^[5]
Time zone	MST (UTC+06:30)
Area code(s)	067

This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

Naypyidaw (Burmese: နေပြည်တော်; MLCTS: Nepranytau, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw and Naypyitaw; pronounced: [nèpjìdɔ̀]) is the capital city of Burma, also known as Myanmar. It is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution.^[1] On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km (2.0 mi) west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of Yangon (Rangoon), the previous capital.^[6] The capital's official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Myanmar Armed Forces Day. Much of this planned city is still under construction, which is set to be completed by around 2012.^[7] As of 2009, the population was 925,000,^[5] which makes it Myanmar's third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay. The city is one of the world's 10 fastest-growing cities.^[8]

Etymology [link]

Nay Pyi Daw is generally translated as "royal capital",^[9] "seat of the king" or "abode of kings".^[3] Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော် (Yadanabon Naypyidaw). The name literally means "royal city of the sun" in Burmese.

History [link]

File:Hluttaw-Naypyidaw.jpg

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw complex

Naypyidaw has a short history, having been founded on a greenfield site in the shrubland some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Yangon, with construction starting in 2002.^[3] At least 25 construction companies were hired by the military government to build the city, including Asia World and Htoo Ltd.^[10] The military government began moving government ministries from Yangon to Naypyidaw on 6 November 2005 at the astrologically auspicious time of 6:37 a.m.^[11] Five days later, on 11 November at 11 a.m., a second convoy of 1,100 military trucks carrying 11 military battalions and 11 government ministries left Yangon. The ministries were expected to be mostly in place by the end of February 2006; however, the hasty move led to a lack of schools and other amenities which separated the government employees from their families for the time being. The government originally prohibited families of government workers from moving to the new capital.^[12] Military headquarters were located in a separate compound from the government ministries, and civilians have been banned from entering either. Vendors are restricted to a commercial zone near the government offices.

On 27 March 2006, more than 12,000 troops marched in the new capital in its first public event: a massive military parade to mark Armed Forces Day—which is the anniversary of then Burma's 1945 uprising against the Japanese occupation of Burma. Filming was restricted to the concrete parade ground which contains three enormous sculptures—depictions of the Myanmar kings Anawrahta, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya, who are considered the three most important kings in Myanmar history. The city was officially named Naypyidaw during these ceremonies.^[13]

Rationale for moving the capital [link]

Naypyidaw is more centrally and strategically located than the old capital, Yangon. It is also a transportation hub located adjacent to the Shan, Kayah and Kayin states. It was felt that a stronger military and governmental presence nearby might provide stability to those chronically turbulent regions.^[14] The official explanation for moving the capital was that Yangon had become too congested and crowded with little room for future expansion of government offices.^[3]

Some Western diplomats speculated that the government were concerned with the possibility of foreign attack, as Yangon is on the coast and therefore vulnerable to an amphibious invasion.^[15]^[16] The popular belief among the Burmese is that a warning about foreign attack was delivered to the military chief by an astrologer.^[17] Indian journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, who visited Naypyidaw in January 2007, described the vastness of the new capital as "the ultimate insurance against regime change, a masterpiece of urban planning designed to defeat any putative "colour revolution" – not by tanks and water cannons, but by geometry and cartography".^[18]

Geography [link]

Naypyidaw is located between the Bago Yoma and Shan Yoma mountain ranges. The city covers an area of 7,054.37 km² (2,723.71 sq mi) and has a population of 924,608, according to official figures.^[5]

Chaungmagyi Dam is located a few kilometers to the north of Naypyidaw, while Ngalaik Dam is a few kilometers to the south. The Yezin Dam is farther away in the northeast.

Cityscape [link]

Apartment building in Naypyidaw

Naypyidaw is organized into a number of zones. As of 2011, the city is still lacking many of the facilities one would expect in a capital city.

Residential zones [link]

The residential areas are carefully organized, and apartments are allotted according to rank and marital status.^[19] The city currently has 1,200 four-story apartment blocks.^[20] The roofs of apartment buildings are color-coded by the jobs of their residents; Ministry of Health employees live in buildings with blue roofs and Ministry of Agriculture employees live in those with green roofs.^[19] High-ranking government officials live in mansions,^[21] of which there are about 50. Many of the city's residents, however, live in slums.^[22]

Military zones [link]

High-ranking military officers and other key officials live 11 km (6.8 mi) away from regular government employees in a complex said to consist of tunnels and bunkers; this area is restricted to the public.^[19] The city also hosts a military base, which is inaccessible to citizens or other personnel without written permission.^[7] Inside the military zone, the roads have eight lanes to allow small aircraft to land.

Ministry zone [link]

The city's Ministry zone contains the headquarters of Burma's government ministries. All the ministry buildings are identical in appearance.^[23] A parliamentary complex consisting of 31 buildings^[24] and a 100-room presidential palace are also located there.^[19] The zone also contains the city hall building, which has many characteristics of Stalinist architecture, but with a Burmese-style roof.

Hotel zone [link]

The Hotel zone has a handful of villa-style hotels on the hilly outskirts of the city. There are currently twelve hotels located in or near Naypyidaw. Eight of these are located within the Naypyidaw Hotel Zone, and two are located in Laeway (Lewe) on the Yangon-Mandalay Road.^[25]

Shopping [link]

Myoma Market

Junction Centre Shopping Mall

Naypyitaw Myoma Market is currently the commercial centre of Naypyidaw.

Other shopping areas include Thapye Chaung Market and Junction Centre Naypyidaw. Built by the Shwe Taung Development company and completed in August 2009, Junction Centre is the capital's first privately operated shopping centre.^[5] There are also local markets and a restaurant area.

Recreation [link]

Entrance to the National Herbal Park

File:Naypyitaw Gems Museum-01.JPG

Naypyidaw Gems Museum

Ngalaik Lake Gardens is a small water park situated along the Ngalaik Dam, near Kyweshin Village on Ngalaik Lake (approximately seven miles from Naypyidaw). Opened in 2008, facilities at the Ngalaik Lake Gardens include water slides, natural resorts, lodging and a beach. The gardens are open to the public during Thingyan holidays.^[26]

Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden

Also opened in 2008, the 200-acre (0.81 km²) National Herbal Park has exhibits of plants having medicinal applications from all of the major regions of Burma. There are thousands of plants at the park, representing hundreds of different species.^[27]

Behind the city hall, there is a park with a playground and water fountain complex, which hosts a musical light show every night.^[19]

The Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens opened in 2008 with some 420 animals and a climate-controlled penguin house. It is the largest zoo in Burma.^[28]^[29] The Naypyidaw Safari Park officially opened on 12 February 2011.^[30]^[31]

Naypyidaw also boasts two golf courses (Nay Pyi Taw City Golf Course and Yaypyar Golf Course) and a gem museum.^[25]

Uppatasanti Pagoda [link]

Main article: Uppatasanti Pagoda

Uppatasanti Pagoda

Similar in size and shape to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Uppatasanti Pagoda was completed in 2009.^[32] This new pagoda is named the Uppatasanti or "Peace Pagoda". The stake-driving ceremony for the pagoda was held on 12 November 2006.^[33] The invitation card for the ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw (the royal capital where the king resides)".^[34] The pagoda is just 30 cm (12 in) shorter than the Shwedagon Pagoda.^[35] Uppatasanti translates roughly to "Protection against Calamity". It is the name of a sūtra prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in time of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion.^[36]

International zone [link]

The government has set aside 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of land each for foreign embassies and headquarters of United Nations missions.^[12]

Culture [link]

Entertainment [link]

The Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards are held annually in Naypyidaw given to the highest achievers in Myanmar cinema.^[37] There is a movie theater in the Junction Centre Mall in Naypyidaw. There are two others in nearby Pyinmana, and one in Tatkon Township.^[25]

Administration [link]

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Complex (Parliament)

Lobby of Zeyathiri Beikman, the government guesthouse for high level delegations.

Naypyidaw is a Union Territory under the direct administration of the President. Day-to-day functions are carried out on the President's behalf by the Naypyidaw Council led by a Chairperson. The Chairperson and members of the Naypyidaw Council are appointed by the President and include both civilians and Armed Forces representatives.^[38]

On 30 March 2011, President Thein Sein appointed Thein Nyunt as chairman of the Naypyidaw Council, along with 9 chair members: Than Htay, Colonel Myint Aung Than, Kan Chun, Paing Soe, Saw Hla, Myint Swe, Myint Shwe and Myo Nyunt.^[39]

The Naypyidaw Union Territory consists of the city proper (downtown) and eight surrounding townships.^[5] Downtown is further divided into four wards. Pyinmana, Lewe, and Tatkon townships were all formerly part of Yamethin District. Oathara Thiri, Dekkina Thiri, Poppha Thiri, Zapu Thiri, and Zeyar Thiri are all new townships currently under construction. As of December 2009, most government ministry offices have been relocated to the administrative capital. Only the offices of ministries' directorates remain in Yangon.^[5]

City proper (Wards)
- Zeyatheiddhi (ဇေယျသိဒ္ဓိ ရပ်ကွက်, from Pali jeyyasiddi)
- Pyinnyatheddhi (ပညာသိဒ္ဓိ ရပ်ကွက်, from Pali pañasiddi)
- Bawgatheiddhi (ဘောဂသိဒ္ဓိ ရပ်ကွက်, from Pali bhogasiddi)
- Mingalatheiddhi (မင်္ဂလာသိဒ္ဓိ ရပ်ကွက်, from Pali mangalasiddi)
Pre-existing townships
- Pyinmana
- Lewe
- Tatkon
New Townships
- Ottarathiri Township (ဥတ္တရသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali uttarasiri)
- Dekkhinathiri Township (ဒက္ခိဏသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali dakkhinasiri)
- Pobbathiri Township (ပုဗ္ဗသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali pubbasiri)
- Zabuthiri Township (ဇမ္ဗူသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali jambusiri)
- Zeyathiri Township (ဇေယျာသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali jeyyasiri)

Education [link]

Naypyidaw

No. 1 Basic Education High School

Yezin (a few kilometers northeast of Naypyidaw and Pyinmana)

Transportation [link]

Public transport services are limited between neighborhoods.^[19] The eight-lane, 323.2 km (200.8 mi) Yangon-Naypyidaw highway links Naypyidaw with Yangon directly, and is part of the 563 km (350 mi)-long overall Yangon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay highway. There is also a 20-lane boulevard, but like most roads in the city, it is largely empty.^[40]

Metro system [link]

In August 2011, Russian news media announced that a Russian-based firm would be constructing a 50 kilometres (31 mi) metro line, which would be the country's first underground rail system, underneath Naypyidaw.^[41]^[42] However, the Rail Transportation Ministry then announced that the plan had been cancelled due to lack of demand and budgetary limits.^[43]

Buses and cars [link]

Naypyidaw has four-lane roads and multilevel, flower-covered roundabouts (US term: traffic circles,^[44] ) although there is only light traffic throughout the city. Government ministries run shuttle buses in the morning and evening to their respective buildings.^[45]

The city has a central bus station,^[3] and only one taxi company, which is operated by the military.^[19]

Motorbikes are banned from some roads within Naypyidaw city limits, including sections of Taw Win Yadana Road, resulting from hundreds of traffic accident-related deaths in 2009.^[46]

Rail [link]

Further information: Myanmar Railways

Naypyidaw railway station (published as Nay Pyi Taw railway station) was opened at milepost No. (233/0), between Ywataw station and Kyihtaunggan station on the Yangon-Mandalay railroad with a station area of 9,000 × 4,000 ft (2,700 × 1,200 m) and a covered area of 826.5 acres (3.345 km²). Construction began on 8 December 2006 and Naypyidaw railway station was opened on 5 July 2009, even though the overpass, locomotive shed, concrete road leading up to the station, parking lot, passenger lounge and platform were not yet completed.^[47]

Myanmar Railways has announced that passengers traveling on all trains except mail and local ones are to get off only at Nay Pyi Taw Station as they will not stop at Pyinmana Station after the inauguration of Nay Pyi Taw Station.^[48]

Prior to the opening of Naypyidaw railway station, Naypyidaw was served by Pyinmana and Lewe stations, though only Pyinmana station is on the main rail line (which extends from Yangon-Bago-Naypyidaw-Thazi-Mandalay). Lewe station is located on the way from Pyinmana to Kyaukpadaung. It takes nine hours by train to get from Yangon to Pyinmana; trains leave at 12:00 and arrive at 21:30 local time.^[49]

Air [link]

Naypyidaw Airport, also known as Ayelar Airport, is located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the city, between the towns of Ela and Lewe. It is served by all domestic airlines--Air Bagan, Air Mandalay, Myanma Airways and Yangon Airways--with regular flights to Yangon and other cities across the country.^[50] Since April 2009, the airport is undergoing major expansion to handle up to 3.5 million passengers per year.^[51]

Hong Kong Airlines on 29 June 2011 operated 4 round-trip charter services between Hong Kong and Naypyidaw with Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Healthcare [link]

Naypyidaw General Hospital

Nay Pyi Taw Hospital opened in 2006.^[7] There is also the Defence Services Obstetric, Gynaecological and Children's Hospital, 300-bed facility which is among the teaching hospitals of the Burmese Defence Services Medical Academy. The nearby towns of Lewe, Pyinmana, and Tatkon each have one hospital.^[25]

Communications [link]

Beginning in 2009, Naypyidaw has CDMA mobile phone coverage. Private telephone lines to employees living in government apartments are not allowed, so public telephones must be used.^[12] Naypyidaw is the only city in Burma where electricity is available 24 hours a day.^[19]^[52]

References [link]

^ ^a ^b "တိုင်းခုနစ်တိုင်းကို တိုင်းဒေသကြီးများအဖြစ် လည်းကောင်း၊ ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ တိုင်းနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ ဒေသများ ရုံးစိုက်ရာ မြို့များကို လည်းကောင်း ပြည်ထောင်စုနယ်မြေတွင် ခရိုင်နှင့်မြို့နယ်များကို လည်းကောင်း သတ်မှတ်ကြေညာ" (in Burmese). Weekly Eleven News. 2010-08-20. http://www.news-eleven.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4375:2010-08-20-12-39-51&catid=42:2009-11-10-07-36-59&Itemid=112. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
^ "News Briefs". The Myanmar Times. Myanmar Consolidated Media. 20 March 2006. http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes16-309/news_brief.htm. Retrieved 1 April 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Pedrosa, Veronica (20 November 2006). "Burma's 'seat of the kings'". Al Jazeera. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/80733C47-7F1C-45EB-BB8E-805DB15BFE67.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
^ "World Urbanization Prospects 2007". 2008. http://esa.un.org/unup/p2k0data.asp. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Construction of Myanmar new capital continues". People's Daily Online (Xinhua News). 24 December 2009. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6851523.html.
^ "Naypyidaw: Burma". Geographical Names. http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=9355719&fid=713&c=burma#MAP. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
^ ^a ^b ^c Marshall Cavendish Corporation (2007). World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia. Marshall Cavendish. p. 650.
^ "Six of world's 10 fastest-growing cities in China". October 31, 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/10/31/population.fastest.growing.cities/index.html.
^ "An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma (October 2007) - Annex A" p. 8, The Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (PCGN), United Kingdom
^ http://www.irwaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9735
^ "Moving Target". The Irrawaddy. 9 November 2005. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5147. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ntay, Hla Hla (February 23, 2007). Myanmar's new capital offers little in the way of luxuries. Agence France-Presse.
^ "Burma's new capital stages parade". BBC News (BBC). 27 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4848408.stm. Retrieved 6 April 2006.
^ McGeown, Kate (November 8, 2005). Burma's confusing capital move. BBC News.
^ McGeown, Kate (June 17, 2006). Burma's confusion over capital. BBC News.
^ Zaw, Aung (November 9, 2005). Moving Target. The Irrawaddy.
^ "Myanmar's Ghost Capital Rises From The Jungle". 2011-11-18. http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=142506821. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
^ "Naypyitaw - Dictatorship by Cartography". Himal Southasian. February 2007. http://svaradarajan.blogspot.com/2007/02/dictatorship-by-cartography-geometry.html. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Living in a ghost town. Bangkok Post. October 18, 2009.
^ Peck, Grant (5 October 2007). "Myanmar's Remote Capital Is Still a Work in Progress". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05Naypyitaw.html?fta=y. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/securitywatch/238965374
^ http://willthedutch.blogspot.com/2007/06/inside-naypyidaw.html
^ The Australian. "A monument to junta's fear". October 16, 2007
^ "As poll looms, Myanmar still building parliament". Reuters. 17 January 2010. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G08C20100117.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Myanmar Yellow Pages: Nay Pyi Taw Listings
^ Briefing on construction of Nay Pyi Taw Ngalaik Lake Gardens
^ Myanmar sets up herbal park to promote traditional medicines
^ "Myanmar unveils zoo in remote new capital". AFP. 27 March 2008. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080326075910.p8eo5136&show_article=1.
^ "Built to Order: Myanmar’s New Capital Isolates and Insulates Junta". The New York Times. 24 June 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/world/asia/24myanmar-sub.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin.
^ "Safari Park (Nay Pyi Taw) to open on 12 February". Bi-Weekly Eleven (Yangon). 2011-01-26. http://eversion.news-eleven.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1075:safari-park-nay-pyi-taw-to-open-on-12-february&catid=43:biweekly-eleven-eversion&Itemid=110.
^ http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20741
^ Than Shwe offers golden lotus to Uppatasanti
^ Uppatasanti Pagoda, replica of Shwedagon Pagoda in Nay Pyi Daw
^ Steinberg, David (2009). Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-19-539068-1.
^ Naypyidaw’s Version of Shwedagon Pagoda Nears Completion
^ Weekly Eleven News Journal, Vol. 1, No. 44 (16 August 2006), p. 9.
^ "Naypyidaw’s Oscar Event". The Irrawaddy (IPG). 12 February 2008. http://www.irrawaddy.org/multimedia.php?art_id=10277.
^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Constitution_of_Myanmar_of_2008.pdf
^ Thein Sein (31 March 2011). "Notification No. 7/2011: Formation of Nay Pyi Taw Council". New Light of Myanmar: pp. 15. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-03-31.pdf. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ Tun, Aung Hla (16 January 2010). "As poll looms, Myanmar still building parliament". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G08C20100117.
^ Nikishenkov, Oleg (5 August 2011). "Moscow exports the metro – to Myanmar". Moscow Times (Russia & India Report). http://indrus.in/articles/2011/08/05/moscow_exports_the_metro_to_myanmar_12839.html. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
^ Wade, Francis (2 August 2011). "Russia to build metro in Naypyidaw: reports". Democratic Voice of Burma. http://www.dvb.no/news/russia-to-build-metro-in-naypyidaw/16837. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
^ Sann Oo (5 September 2011). "Subway plan for Nay Pyi Taw too expensive, says minister". Myanmar Times. http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/591/news59122.html. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
^ "Built to Order: Myanmar's New Capital Isolates and Insulates Junta". The New York Times. 24 June 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/world/asia/24myanmar-sub.html.
^ Varadarajan, Siddharth (January 21, 2007). In phantom capital, a city slowly takes shape. The Hindu.
^ Win Ko Ko Latt (21 March 2011). "Motorbike ban to be expanded in NPT". Myanmar Times. http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/567/news56707.html. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
^ "New railway station reflects dignity of Nay Pyi Taw". The New Light of Myanmar. Ministry of Information. 24 November 2009. http://myanmargeneva.org/NLM2009/eng/11Nov/n091124.pdf. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
^ "Railway schedules of Pyinmana Station to be shifted to Nay Pyi Taw Station". The New Light of Myanmar. Ministry of Information. 27 June 2009. http://myanmargeneva.org/NLM2009/eng/6Jun/n090627.pdf. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
^ "Import, export licensing moving to Naypyidaw". The Myanmar Times. Myanmar Consolidated Media. 29 May 2006. http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes16-318/b001.htm. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
^ "News Briefs (New air destinations)". The Myanmar Times. Myanmar Consolidated Media. 12 June 2006. http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes16-320/news_brief.htm. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
^ "Myanmar building new airport for capital". Asia One. http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20090425-137499.html. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
^ Beaton, Helen (September 18, 2008). Penguins and golf in Burma's hidden capital. The Independent.

External links [link]

Burma portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Naypyidaw

Nay Pyi Daw - A photo album
Inside Napyidaw, The Flying Dutchman blog, 15 June 2007 (one of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, includes lots of photos)
Abode of Kings in a Derelict Kingdom, Disposable Words blog, 15 June 2007 (second of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, more photos)

Naypyidaw
Preceded by Yangon	Capital of Burma 6 January 2005 – present	Succeeded by

Articles related to Naypyidaw

v t e Naypyidaw Union Territory

Capital: Naypyitaw

Townships	Dekkhinathiri Township Lewe Township Ottarathiri Township Pobbathiri Township Pyinmana Township Tatkon Township Zabuthiri Township Zeyathiri Township

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Thein Sein သိန်းစိန်

President of Burma
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 March 2011
Vice President	Sai Mauk Kham
Preceded by	Than Shwe (Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council)
Prime Minister of Burma
In office 24 October 2007 – 30 March 2011 Acting: April 2007 – 24 October 2007
Leader	Than Shwe
Preceded by	Soe Win
Succeeded by	Position abolished
First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council
In office 2004 – 24 October 2007
Preceded by	Khin Nyunt
Succeeded by	Tin Aung Myint Oo
Member of the Pyithu Hluttaw
In office 7 November 2010 – 30 March 2011
Succeeded by	Sanda Min
Constituency	Zabuthiri Township
Majority	65,620 (91.2%)
Personal details
Born	(1945-04-20) 20 April 1945 (age 67)^[1] Kyounku, British Burma
Political party	Union Solidarity and Development Party (2010–present)
Other political affiliations	State Peace and Development Council (Before 2010)
Spouse(s)	Khin Khin Win
Alma mater	Defence Services Academy
Religion	Theravada Buddhism
Website	http://www.president-office.gov.mm
Military service
Service/branch	Myanmar Army
Years of service	1968–2010
Rank	General

This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

Thein Sein (Burmese: သိန်းစိန် [θéɪɴ zèɪɴ]; born 20 April 1945) is a Burmese politician and former military figure who has been president of Burma (Myanmar) since March 2011. Previously, he was Prime Minister from 2007 until 2011. He is generally considered to be a moderate and reformist in the new government.^[2]

1 Early life
2 Political career
- 2.1 Prime Minister
- 2.2 Presidency
3 References

Early life [link]

Thein Sein was born in Kyonku, British Burma (now Myanmar), a small village in what is now Ngapudaw Township in the Irrawaddy delta to parents Maung Phyo (father) and Khin Nyunt (mother). He was the youngest of three children. His parents were landless, and his father made a living carrying cargo at the river jetty and weaving bamboo mats.^[3]

Political career [link]

Thein Sein graduated from the 9th intake of the Defense Services Academy in 1968.^[4]

Throughout Thein Sein's four-decade-long military career, he was considered a bureaucrat, not a combat soldier. In 1988, he served as a major for Sagaing Division's 55th Light Infantry Division and later served as a commander for Sagaing Division's 89th Infantry Battalion in Kalay Township. The following year, he studied at the Command and General Staff College in Kalaw, Shan State.

By 1991, he had returned to Yangon, after being promoted to the rank of colonel and 1st Grade General Staff Officer in the War Office. He was then promoted to Brigadier General, but remained at his position in the War Office, which marked the first time a Brigadier General was promoted to General Staff Officer.

In 1995, he was recruited as the commander of Yangon Division's Military Operations Command 4 in Hmawbi. A year later, in 1996, he was appointed to lead the new Triangle Regional Military Command in Kyaingtong, Shan State, serving this role for four years (1997–2001). While serving as Commander, he was known to be close to drug lords in the United Wa State Army and Lahu militia officials.^[5]^[6]

In 1997, he became a member of the State Peace and Development Council and was appointed as Secretary-2 in 2003.^[7]^[8] He was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General that year.^[9]

After Khin Nyunt was deposed in 2004, Thein Sein was promoted to Secretary-1.^[7]

Prime Minister [link]

Thein Sein was appointed in April 2007 by the nation's ruling military junta^[10] as interim prime minister, replacing Soe Win, who was undergoing medical treatment for leukemia.^[11]^[12] Thein Sein was formally appointed as Soe Win's permanent successor on 24 October 2007 after Soe Win's death on 12 October 2007.^[13]

Sein held the position of first secretary in the ruling State Peace and Development Council junta. He was the country's fourth-highest ranking general,^[14] and also served as the chairman of the government-sponsored National Convention Convening Commission.^[15] Thein Sein carried out high-level negotiations with Bangladesh and Cambodia.^[11]^[12]

In 2007, sometime after his official appointment as prime minister, he was promoted to the rank of General from Lieutenant General.^[16] On his first official visit outside Myanmar as prime minister, Thein Sein carried out high-level negotiations with Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.^[17]^[18]^[19]

In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, he led the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee as chairman and was criticized for the government's systematic blocking of relief efforts.^[8]

Presidency [link]

Main article: Burmese general election, 2010

On 29 April 2010, he retired from the military, along with 22 other military officials, to lead the Union Solidarity and Development Party as a civilian.^[20] During the 2010 general election, he was head of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which contested in a controversial elections and won the overwhelming majority of seats in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Thein Sein ran against National Unity Party candidate Kyaw Aye during the election, contesting a Pyithu Hluttaw seat to represent the constituents of Naypyidaw Union Territory's Zabuthiri Township. He purportedly won 91.2% of the votes (65,620).^[21]

On 4 February 2011, Sein was elected by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw's Presidential Electoral College as the next president of Myanmar, becoming the country's first non-interim civilian president in 49 years. Tin Aung Myint Oo and Sai Mauk Kham were named as the new vice-presidents.^[22]

Sein was sworn in on 30 March 2011 alongside the two vice presidents and the newly elected parliament.^[23] In the first month of his presidency, he sought the support of ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan to support Burma's bid to chair the ASEAN Summit in 2014.^[24] As of July 2011, the government has formed a planning committee led by foreign affairs minister Wunna Maung Lwin.^[25]

Thein Sein is considered a moderate willing to engage with Aung San Suu Kyi; he had a high-profile meeting with her in Naypyidaw on 19 August 2011.^[26]

On 17 August 2011, he was quoted by the state newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar as saying:^[27]

“

We will make reviews to make sure that Myanmar [Burmese] citizens living abroad for some reasons can return home if they have not committed any crimes. And if a Myanmar citizen in a foreign country who committed crimes applies for returning home to serve terms, we will show our benevolent attitude in dealing with his case.

”

Various news sources intrepreted his suggestion as an invitation for overseas Burmese citizens to return to their country of origin and help rebuild the Burmese economy.^[28]

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Burma's President Thein Sein in Naypyitaw, 1 December 2011.

He suffers from heart disease and uses a pacemaker.^[29]^[30]

References [link]

^ List of Designated Persons
^ Ba Kaung (15 August 2011). "Will Naypyidaw's Olive Branch Bear Fruit?". The Irrawaddy. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21899. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ Fuller, Thomas (14 March 2012). "A Most Unlikely Liberator in Myanmar". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/a-most-unlikely-liberator-in-myanmar.html. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
^ "President Thein Sein". Alternative Asean Network on Burma. http://www.altsean.org/Research/Regime%20Watch/Executive/President.php. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
^ "President Thein Sein". Alternative Asean Network on Burma. http://www.altsean.org/Research/Regime%20Watch/Executive/President.php. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
^ Thornton, Phil (12 February 2012). "Myanmar's rising drug trade". Bangkok Post. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/279434/myanmar-reforms-mask-meteoric-rise-in-drug-trade. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Lt-Gen Thein Sein is new PM". Myanmar Times. 29 October 2007. http://www.mmtimes.com/no390/n003.htm. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ ^a ^b "THEIN SEIN". Alternative Asean Network on Burma. http://www.altsean.org/Research/SPDC%20Whos%20Who/SPDC/TheinSein.htm. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ Tun Tun (3 February 2011). "Profiles of vice president nominees". Mizzma News. http://www.mizzima.com/news/election-2010-/4837-profiles-of-vice-president-nominees.html. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ "Countries Me-My". Rulers.org. http://rulers.org/rulm2.html#myanmar. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b Burmese junta choose stand-in PM, BBC. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
^ ^a ^b Burmese Junta Tips New Prime Minister. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
^ Myanmar appoints new PM, Xinhua. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
^ Myanmar paramount leader not nominated for president: MPs, Reuters. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
^ Work coordination meeting of National Convention Convening Commission, Work Committee and Management Committee held, The New Light of Myanmar. Retrieved 20 April 2004.
^ Myanmar PM to visit Laos, Vietnam, Xinhua. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
^ Burma's PM visits Vietnam, Associated Press via The Age. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
^ Laos, Myanmar set to enhance relations, Xinhua. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
^ Myanmar's prime minister visits Cambodia to garner support against sanctions
^ Wai Moe (5 May 2010). "Tight Censorship on Reporting USDP". The Irrawaddy. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18388. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ "People's parliament candidates in Zabuthiri constituency (Naypyitaw Union Territory)". http://www.burma2010election.com/election/peoples/constituency/673. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ Burma ex-Prime Minister Thein Sein named new president, BBC, 4 February 2011.
^ http://www.dvb.no/news/president-sworn-in-spdc-dissolved/15033
^ "Burma as Asean Chair in 2014? Think Again.". The Irrawaddy. 3 May 2011. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21225. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ Nyi Thit (25 July 2011). "Burma organizes committee to host Asean Summit". http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/5665-burma-organizes-committee-to-host-asean-summit.html. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ "Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma's president Thein Sein". The Guardian. 19 August 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/19/aung-san-suu-kyi-meeting. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ Ko Htwe (18 August 2011). "'Welcome Home' Greeted with Skepticism". The Irrawaddy. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21919. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ "Burmese President Invites Return of Citizens Abroad". Voice of America. 17 August 2011. http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/08/17/burmese-president-invites-return-of-citizens-abroad/. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
^ "Profile: Burmese leader Thein Sein". BBC News. 4 February 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12358204. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
^ McCoy, Clifford (4 May 2011). "Man in the mirror in Myanmar". Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/ME04Ae01.html. Retrieved 22 August 2011.

Political offices
Preceded by Soe Win	Prime Minister of Myanmar 2007–2011	Position abolished
Preceded by Than Shwe as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar	President of Myanmar 2011–present	Incumbent

v t e Heads of state of Burma (Myanmar)

Sao Shwe Thaik Ba U Win Maung Ne Win¹ San Yu¹ Sein Lwin¹ Aye Ko² Maung Maung² Saw Maung¹ Than Shwe¹ Thein Sein

^1 military officeholders ^2 acting officeholders

v t e Prime Ministers of Burma (Myanmar)

U Nu Ba Swe U Nu Ne Win U Nu Ne Win^[m] Sein Win^[m] Maung Maung Kha^[m] Tun Tin Saw Maung^[m] Than Shwe^[m] Khin Nyunt^[m] Soe Win^[m] Thein Sein^[m]

^[m] military officeholders

v t e EAS leaders

Gillard Bolkiah Wen Hun Singh Yudhoyono Noda Thongsing Najib Thein Key Aquino Putin Lee H. Lee M. Shinawatra Obama Dung

Persondata
Name	Thein Sein
Alternative names
Short description	President of Burma
Date of birth	20 April 1945
Place of birth	Pyu, Bago Division
Date of death
Place of death

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