Letter from a listener in Salin, Sagaing.
Q: What is the history of the Olympics?
The modern Olympic games started in 1896 in Athens, Greece. A French Baron named Pierre de Coubertin initiated to organize the very first Olympic games. A total of 245 athletes from 14 nations competed in the first games in Athens. Since then, Olympic games have been held every four years in selected cities. The forth-coming event will be held in Athens in 2004. Beijing, the capital city of China, was selected to host the 2008 Olympic games.
A listener in Magwe wants to know the list of United Nations Secretary Generals.
(1)Trygve Lie (Norway) 1946-1952; (2)Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden) 1953-1961; (3)U Thant (Burma) 1961-1971; (4)Kurt Waldheim (Austria) 1972-1981; (5)Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru) 1982-1991; (6)Boutros Boutris-Ghali (Egypt) 1992-1996; (7)Kofi Annan (Ghana) 1997-present.
Another listener asked about least developed countries (LDC) and most developed countries.
There are 49 countries considered to be the poorest in the world, according to the United Nations’ Report on Human Development, 2001. Burma is included in this list of LDCs. However, Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world, which stood at number 173. Burma ranked as number 127 on the UN Human Development Report's index. The most developed country is Norway and the United States stood at number 6 among developed nations.