The United States Minor Outlying Islands, a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code, consists of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island; and one in the Caribbean Sea: Navassa Island. The Caribbean territories of Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank are also sometimes included by the U.S. government, but its claims are disputed by other countries.

Among them, Palmyra Atoll is the only incorporated territory. As of 2008, none of the islands have any permanent residents. The only human population consists of temporarily stationed scientific and military personnel. The 2000 census counted 315 people on Johnston Atoll and 1 person on Wake Island. There has been no modern indigenous population, except at the 1940 census. In 1936 a colonization scheme began to settle Americans on Baker, Howland, and Jarvis, but all three islands were evacuated in 1942 as a result of World War II.

The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

In Hong Kong, the Outlying Islands (Chinese: 離島) are the groups of islands that surround Hong Kong Island as well as Kowloon and the New Territories on the mainland. There are 236 islands in Hong Kong, the majority of which are part of Islands District in the south and southwest, Sai Kung District in the southeast and Tai Po District and North District in the northeast. The term outlying is not strictly defined and in some cases islands very close to Hong Kong Island and the mainland are not included.

Inconvenient transportation meant that development came relatively late compared to other parts of Hong Kong, and many islands are still little affected. Many of the outlying islands are sparsely inhabited and remain largely rural, although significant traditional villages and towns exist on the islands of Lantau, Peng Chau, Lamma and Cheung Chau.

However development has occurred. The island of Tsing Yi became part of Tsuen Wan New Town in the late 1970s, and is now linked to the mainland by several road and rail bridges. In the 1980s, Discovery Bay was privately developed as an upmarket residential area on Lantau, served by a fast ferry service to the business district at Central. In the 1990s, the development of the new Hong Kong Airport, off the north shore of Lantau, led to the creation of a road and rail link to that island and the development of Tung Chung, previously a small settlement, into a new town adjacent to the airport. As a result of this improved access, further developments on Lantau followed, including a road link to Discovery Bay, and the development of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist. With his backing group The Shadows, Richard, originally positioned as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard and Elvis Presley, dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His 1958 hit single "Move It" is often described as Britain's first authentic rock and roll song, and John Lennon once claimed that "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music." A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music later led to a more middle of the road pop image, sometimes venturing into gospel music.

Over a 53-year career, Richard has become a fixture of the British entertainment world, amassing many gold and platinum discs and awards, including three Brit awards and two Ivor Novello awards. He has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the UK Top 20, more than any other artist and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles (or 18, depending on the counting methodology) and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in six consecutive decades: the 1950s through to the 2000s (discounting digital downloads and counting only CDs, he had a UK No. 1 single in the 2000s). Richard is the biggest selling singles artist of all time in the UK, with total sales of over 21 million and has reportedly sold an estimated 250 million records worldwide.

Jean Knight (born Jean Caliste, June 26, 1943, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an African-American soul/R&B/funk singer, best known for her 1971 Stax Records hit single, "Mr. Big Stuff".

After graduating from high school, Caliste began singing at her cousin's bar 'Laura's Place' and caught the attention of many different bands who were willing to accompany her. In 1965, she recorded a demo of a cover version of Jackie Wilson's song "Stop Doggin' Me Around."^{[citation needed]} Her demo attracted record producer Huey Meaux, who signed her to a recording contract at the Jet Star/Tribe record labels. Shortly thereafter, Caliste adopted the professional name of "Jean Knight," because she felt that her surname was too hard to pronounce. She recorded four singles, making a name for herself locally, but was not able to attract any national attention. By the late 1960s, it was obvious that her career was not living up to her high expectations, so she went to work as a baker in the cafeteria of Loyola University in New Orleans.