This comprises all of the above plus South Korea, Indonesia, Australia and the EU, but not Egypt.

BBC: James Landale's G8 diary

Late last year America quietly started informal meetings with a group made up of the G7 club of rich economies plus Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

ECONOMIST: Sanctions on Iran

Analysts also said gold is underpinned by ongoing European debt issues, a continuation of central-bank buying after Bank of Korea purchases, plus still-soft U.S. economic data that means continued loose monetary policy and perhaps even more stimulus.

FORBES: Gold Underpinned By Downgrade Worries, Economy, European Debt Issues, Central-Bank Buying

Analysts believe that by upgrading relations with India, Asean Delhi will provide a strategic balance to North Asia's influence, now that there is a regular summit with China, Japan and South Korea, known as Asean plus three.

BBC: Indian PM looks east for business

Every year, we have the ASEAN Summit plus the three East Asian giants -- China, Japan and Korea.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek

The U.S. provides a nuclear umbrella for 30-plus countries, including several -- Japan, Germany and South Korea, for example -- capable of developing their own nuclear weapons.

WSJ: Disarming Ourselves

The United States also committed to join partner nations next year for the third ARF Disaster Relief Exercise co-hosted by Thailand and South Korea and the inaugural ASEAN-led, ADMM-Plus HADR and Military-Medicine Exercise hosted by Brunei.

WHITEHOUSE: Fact Sheet: East Asia Summit Outcomes

The festival peaks on Whitsunday (19 May) with a street parade, which features colourful dance groups from Korea and Japan, trucks blaring music from Brazil and Angola, plus Irish folk, Jamaican dancehall, Caribbean soca and more.

BBC: Berlin��s Carnival of Cultures