Can you name some countries which do not have the alphabet 'A' in them?

From a pack of 52 cards, I placed 4 cards on the table.

I will give you 4 clues about the cards:

Clue 1: Card on left cannot be greater than the card on the right.
Clue 2: Difference between the 1st card and 3rd card is 8.
Clue 3: There is no card of an ace.
Clue 4: There are no face cards (queen, king, jacks).
Clue 5: Difference between the 2nd card and 4th card is 7.

Identify four cards?

John went to meet his friend Jacob, but when he was about to reach the main gate, John notices that Jacob had a mighty dog who was fastened to the tree. The chain is long enough that it allows the dog to reach the main gate.

How can the John reach the main gate?

Can you find out the smallest number that can be conveyed as the sum of three squares in three unique ways?

You can win me and lose me but never buy me
You can not eat me and never want to part with me
I can make you cry or bring you joy
I am not a machine and definitely not a toy
You keep me but i am not forever just yours
You might find me in a case or on a shelf next to a vase
I am hard and i am tall if you bump me i am sure to fall
I am made of different materials and am at many events
If your lucky and fight hard I might be yours
What am I ?

John was piloting a plane behind a car but was never able to overtake it. Why?

What is the word or phrase?

Which word is least like the others? Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth?

I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

Two friends were stuck in a cottage. They had nothing to do and thus they started playing cards. Suddenly the power went off and Friend 1 inverted the position of 15 cards in the normal deck of 52 cards and shuffled it. Now he asked Friend 2 to divide the cards into two piles (need not be equal) with equal number of cards facing up. The room was quite dark and Friend 2 could not see the cards. He thinks for a while and then divides the cards in two piles.

On checking, the count of cards facing up is same in both the piles. How could Friend 2 have done it ?