It covers eight regions: the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Britain and Ireland.

FORBES: Turn right at the robot

Barely-explored, PNG is set in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia and north of Australia.

FORBES: Crash The Wildest Parties In The World In Papua New Guinea

It forms the backdrop to the annual East Asia Summit, held this year in Thailand from April 10th, grouping the ten South-East Asian countries with not just their partners in China, Japan and South Korea but India, Australia and New Zealand as well.

ECONOMIST: It��s time for a column about half the world��s people

Before Asia's economic slump in 1997, Indonesia had become Australia's second-biggest export market in South-East Asia.

ECONOMIST: Australia and Indonesia

Prime Minister John Howard has backed away from his posturing during the East Timor crisis last year of Australia being America's deputy in the South Pacific.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: Rough Weather Ahead?

Nick Klingaman from Reading University says that, as it moves east, the MJO influences monsoon rainfall in Australia, India, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.

BBC: Met Office three-month forecast was 'not helpful'

Ruben Canlas, Web Information Systems Consultant at the Asian Development Bank, Belina Capul, President of the South East Asia Pacific Audio Visual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) and Ray Edmonson, Director of Archive Associates, Australia and a UNESCO Memory of the World Committee Member.

UNESCO: Education

Some nations the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands assumed a military role, fighting the Taliban in the south and east of the country.

NPR: U.S. Wants NATO to Step Up in Afghanistan