Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia (since August 8, 2010)

Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (born 10 August 1951) is the former Minister of National Defense, and the current President of the Republic of Colombia after winning the 2010 Colombian presidential election on June 20, 2010.

Juan Manuel Santos spent most of his childhood in Bogotá and attended middle school and a part of his high school years at Colegio San Carlos. His last years of high school were spent as a Cadet in the Escuela Naval de Cartagena (Naval Academy of Cartagena), from which he graduated. He continued his studies in the University of Kansas obtaining a degree in Economics and Business Administration. While attending the University of Kansas he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He later acquired master’s degrees in Economics, Economic Development and Public Administration in the London School of Economics, in business and journalism from Harvard, and in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Juan Manuel Santos has been Chief Executive of the Colombian Coffee Delegation to the International Coffee Organization in London, Sub-Director of his family owned newspaper El Tiempo and a columnist for 14 different newspapers.[citation needed] He was Minister of Foreign Trade during the administration of president César Gaviria in 1991[citation needed]. In 1992 he was appointed President of the VII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for a period of four years.[citation needed] In 1999 he was appointed as President of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and served as Director of the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) for the period 2001–2002.

Since September of 1994 he was the head of Good Government Foundation organization which presented the proposal of a demilitarized zone and made it possible to have peace talks with the FARC guerrilla.

Santos also founded the Social National Unity Party (Party of the U) to support the presidency of Álvaro Uribe. He was named Minister of Defense on July 19, 2006. During his tenure as Defense Minister the administration dealt a series of blows against the FARC guerrilla group, including the rescue of Fernando Araújo Perdomo, the death of FARC Secretariat member Raul Reyes in a March 2, 2008 air strike against a guerrilla camp located within Ecuador’s borders, and the non-violent rescue of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held captive since 2002, along with fourteen other hostages, including three Americans.

Juan Manuel Santos announced his resignation from the Defense Ministry on May 18, 2009.[citation needed] Santos said that his resignation did not necessarily imply tossing his hat into the 2010 presidential race and that his participation in the electoral race depended on whether Uribe would pursue a third term, which he was willing to support. His resignation took effect on May 23, 2009, and shortly after, officially launched his campaigning session for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia.

On June 20th of 2010, after two rounds of elections, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón was officially elected as President-Elect of the Republic of Colombia.

During his time as Colombian Defense Minister, several controversial events took place.

1. A military raid inside of Ecuador’s territory to kill the FARC leader Raul Reyes. CNN news
2. Misuse of an International Committee of the Red Cross symbol during Operation Jaque. CNN News
3. On November 4, 2008, Santos admitted that the Colombian military had carried out extrajudicial executions and pledged to resolve the issue. Source El Espectador

These executions were labeled as ‘false positives’ referring to the fact that members of the military had purposely carried out these executions in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government.

In March 2010, Santos publicly stated that these executions had stopped since October 2008 and that this had been confirmed by the CINEP, one of Colombia’s foremost human right defense institutions. Semana, a well respected Colombian journal, reported that a few days later the CINEP responded to Santos’s declarations by issuing a press release which stated that, while the number of reported cases had been significantly reduced after the Defense Ministry’s measures were announced, the period between November 2008 and December 2009 still saw 7 such executions and 2 arbitrary detentions.

Santos is part of one of the most traditional families in Colombia. His grandfather’s brother Eduardo Santos was President of Colombia from 1938 to 1942 and owner and Director of the newspaper El Tiempo. His father Enrique Santos Castillo was editor of this newspaper for at least 50 years. His brother Enrique Santos Calderon was Director of the same newspaper for 10 years until it was sold to Grupo Planeta of Spain. His cousin Francisco Santos is President Álvaro Uribe’s Vice President.

Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, President of Somaliland (since Jul 26, 2010)

Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, President of Somaliland (since Jul 26, 2010)

Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud “Silanyo” (Somali: Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud “Siilaanyo”, Arabic: احمد محمد محمود سيلانيو‎) is a Somali politician. He is the current Chairman of the Peace, Unity and Development Party (Kulmiye) political party and President of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic internationally recognized as an autonomous region in Somalia. Standing as an opposition candidate, Silanyo was elected as President during the June 2010 presidential election.

Silanyo hails from the Habar Jeclo sub-clan of the Isaaq major clan. From 1946 to 1957, he attended the secondary schools in the towns of Sheekh and Amud in northwestern Somalia. He passed the advanced level GCE examinations in London, England, from 1958 to 1960. He then attended college at the University of Manchester, and earned an Honors Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (1960-63). He completed his Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in 1966.

Silanyo served as a junior official at the Ministry of Planning and Coordination in Mogadishu from 1965 to 1969. He was also the Minister of Planning and Coordination (1969-1973), the Minister of Commerce (1973-1978 and 1980-1982), and the Chairman of the National Economic Board (1978-1980). He was the Chairman of the Somali National Movement’s UK branch from 1982 to 1990, and was that organization’s longest-serving chairperson. From 1993 to 1997, he was a member of the House of Representatives of Somaliland. He served as the Somaliland region’s Minister of Finance from 1997 to 1999, in which position he initiated a program of fiscal reform. Between 1999 and 2000, he also worked as Somaliland’s Minister of Planning and Coordination, a position from which he resigned in 2001.

Dahir Rayaleh Kahin, Former President of Somaliland

Dahir Rayaleh Kahin, President of Somaliland

Dahir Rayaleh Kahin (Somali: Daahir Riyaale Kaahin) (born 1952, Quljeed, British Somaliland) is the President of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. He became the third president of Somaliland on May 5, 2002, after the death of Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal. He won elections on April 14, 2003, representing the Ururka Dimuqraadiga Umada Bahawday (UDUB), or United Democratic People’s Party, and was sworn into office on May 16, 2003. Background

He was born at Quljeed, Awdal and was trained in Russia. He comes from the Dudub (Jibril Yonis) Sub-Clan of the Gadabursi Clan . His previous posts include a diplomat at the Somali Embassy in Djibouti; he was also in intelligence; governor of Awdal; a businessman; and vice president of Somaliland (1997 – 2002).

Service in the Barré government

In the last years of the Barré government, Kahin held the rank of Colonel in the National Security Service, and served as the NSS station chief in Berbera. During this time the NSS has been identified by many sources (U.S. Department of State, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Africa watch) as having been involved in torture and extrajudicial killings of civilians on a massive scale, particularly during the war in Northern Somalia from May 1988 through the end of 1989. Colonel Kahin was charged with suppression of the SNM guerilla movement, and was specifically named in a work published by the human rights organization Africa Watch (now a part of Human Rights Watch) as a prime suspect in extra-judicial killings that took place in Hargeisa (the current capital of Somaliland) during this time. The work was based on research and interviews with newly arrived refugees in Djibouti, England and Wales in the later half of 1989.
However, there are also some eye witnesses who clearly told that If Rayale was not there, they would not have survived. Others asserted that he saved the lives of so many civilians from the regime he belonged to.

Dési Bouterse, President of Suriname (since Aug 3, 2010)

Dési Bouterse, President of Suriname

Desiré Delano Bouterse (born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese politician. As an army officer, he was the de facto leader of Suriname through most of the 1980s, serving as Chairman of the National Military Council. He lead the National Democratic Party (Nationale Democratische Partij, NDP). On July 19, 2010, Bouterse was elected the new President of Suriname taking office on August 3.

Born in Paramaribo District, Bouterse grew up in Suriname. He attended the Middelbare Handelsschool and acquired the MULO diploma (roughly equivalent to junior secondary general education). He received his military education in the Netherlands.

Military and political career

Bouterse’s name is closely bound with the military regime that controlled Suriname from 1980 until the beginning of the 1990s. On 25 February 1980, the government of newly-independent Suriname underwent a military coup which declared the country to be a Socialist Republic and Bouterse became Chairman of the National Military Council. Though the Suriname Presidency was retained, Bouterse was the nation’s de facto ruler until his resignation in 1988. He served briefly as president himself for a period in 1982.

Bouterse was a leading figure in Suriname’s post-independence civil war, and is responsible for the infamous “December murders” of 1982 and events in the Maroon village of Moiwana in 1986. Since then he has been accused on various occasions of involvement in illegal drug trafficking. In July 1999, he was convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking. The Netherlands has an international warrant for his arrest, which makes it almost impossible for him to leave Suriname. Suriname cannot extradite him because he is a former head of state.

After the return of democratic government, led in succession by Ronald Venetiaan, Jules Wijdenbosch, and Venetiaan again, Bouterse tried repeatedly to return to power through elections.

Although he was convicted in the Netherlands, he has remained free in Suriname. The Suriname government has said that it is preparing a case against the perpetrators of the December murders to be brought before a judge. The cases are ongoing as of April 2006. Bouterse has denied any involvement in the killings on 8 December 1982 at Fort Zeelandia, in which 15 prominent opponents of the military regime were shot dead. He has said that he wasn’t present and that the decision was made by the commander of the battalion, Paul Bhagwandas, who died in 1996. He did, however, accept political responsibility.

In 2010 Desi Bouterse and his coalition, the Mega Combination (De Mega Combinatie) were voted to become the biggest party in Suriname. The coalition failed to gain an absolute majority in parliament by three seats, requiring 51 seats. In order to secure the votes necessary to become President, Bouterse needed to cooperate with either Ronnie Brunswijk – his former enemy – or the Javanese leader Salam Somohardjo of the Peoples Alliance (Volks Alliantie), who had left the New Front party before the election. On 19 July 2010, Bouterse was elected as President of Suriname; he will be installed in his post on 3 August.

Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan, Former President of Suriname

Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan, Former President of Suriname

Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan (born June 18, 1936) is a mathematician and the current president of Suriname. His first term as president was from 1991 to 1996, but he lost presidential elections to Jules Wijdenbosch. In 2000 he won them again, on the New Front banner, receiving 37 out of 51 votes in the Parliament. In 2005 he was re-elected to serve a third term as president and sworn in on August 12.

Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland (since July 4, 2010)

Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland

After President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, was killed in a plane crush on April 10, 2010, the marshal of the Sejm (Polish Parliament), Bronislaw Komorowski, became Acting President.

Bronislaw Komorowski was born on June 4, 1952 in Oborniki Slaskie, near Wroclaw, a family with strong traditions of independence and landowners.

In Communist times he was involved in opposition activities. Even as a high school student he took part in the demonstrations, including during the March events in 1968. The first time he was arrested was in December 1971.

During many years of underground activity, he was repeatedly arrested and victimized. Since September 1982 he was editor of the independent, underground magazine “ABC” (Adriatic Sea – Baltic Sea – Black Sea). The letter dealt with the problems of Eastern and Central European countries.

In 1977 he married Anne Dembowska. Bronislaw Komorowski has five children: Sophia, Tadeusz, Maria, Peter and Elizabeth.

In 1980-1981 he worked at the Centre for Social Research Solidarity Mazowsze Region. In the period of martial law and later, until 1989, he was a teacher in a seminary in the lower Niepokalanow, where he taught history.

After 1989 he became a member of the national authorities Polish Community – the association supporting the Poles abroad. He was also president of the Foundation Aid Polish libraries, president of the Association of Euro-Atlantic League and president of Sea and River. Since 1989, he held positions in government service.

In 1989-1990 was director Alexander Hall’s Cabinet in the Office of the Council of Ministers.

In 1991, he was a member of parliament – has already served the sixth term. He started working in the Commission for Polish people outside the country and National Defense, then the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In 1990-1993 he was deputy minister of the function of civil defense for the educational and social rule of T. Mazowiecki, JK Bielecki and H. Suchocka.

From 1997 to 2000, chaired the Parliamentary Committee on National Defence.

In 2000-2001 he was the Minister of National Defense in the government of Jerzy Buzek.

Since 2001, he was Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Defense Committee and a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Belonged to the Freedom Union, where he was, inter alia, Secretary-General, then to the Conservative People’s Party, which was, inter alia, Vice-President. Since 2001, he is a member of the Civic Platform, where he is a chairman of the Mazowsze Region, and since June 2006 he was vice-chairman of the whole of the Civic Platform.

In October 2005 he was entrusted with the function of the Sejm Deputy Marshal V term.

He was elected from a list of the Civic Platform party in the ward No 20 Warszawa II. Obtained the largest number of votes in the history of the province – almost 140 thousand. 5 November 2007, Parliament chose him with 292 votes, the Speaker of the Sejm VI mandate.

Lech Kaczyński, Former President of the Republic of Poland

(died in a plane crush in Western Russia on April 10,2010)

Lech Kaczyński , President of the Republic of Poland

Born in Warsaw in 1949. Studied law at Warsaw University. In 1971, he moved to Sopot to work as a scholar at the University of Gdańsk. In 1980 he took a doctor’s degree in labor law, and in 1990 he was awarded a post-doctoral degree. In 1977, he began to work for the Interventions Office of the Worker Defense Committee. A year later be became involved in the activity of Independent Trade Unions. In August 1980 he was nominated as an adviser of the Gdańsk Inter-plant Strike Committee. He was also a delegate to the First National Congress of the „Solidarność” Trade Union. Interned during the martial law. When released from internment, he returned to trade union activities. He was a member of the underground Solidarity authorities

In December 1988, became a member of the Civic Committee with Lech Wałęsa. He took part in the Round Table Talks in the team focused on trade union pluralism. In 1990, he was nominated as the Union’s first deputy chairman involved in the running of the Solidarity Trade Union. He was elected senator in the June 1989 election, and two years later a parliamentary deputy representing the Center Civic Alliance Party. In 1991, he was appointed as the head of the National Security Office at the President’s Chancellery. A year later, in1992, he was nominated as the president of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) and he continued to hold that office until 1995.

In June 2000, Lech Kaczyński was nominated as the Minister of Justice by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. He soon became the most popular member of the cabinet.

In April 2001, he was elected as the head the National Committee of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to be elected the party’s president in spring 2001. After the September 2001 parliamentary election he returned to the parliament as the party’s deputy. In autumn 2002 he was elected Warsaw’s mayor with a big advantage over his opponents. He started his term in office by declaring a war against corruption – the so-called „Warsaw connections” – and by restoring law and order. In March 2005 he officially declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate.

Elected President of the Republic of Poland on October 23, he assumed the office on December 23, 2005 by taking an oath before the National Assembly.

Lech Kaczyński’s wife, Maria, is an economist. His daughter Marta graduated from the Department of Law at Gdańsk University. She is married to Piotr, and in 2003 she gave birth to her daughter, Ewa.

Mr. and Mrs. Kaczyński are fond of animals. They have two dogs and two cats.

Benigno S. Aquino III, President of Philippines (since June 30, 2010)

Benigno S. Aquino III, President of Philippines

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (born February 8, 1960) also known as Noynoy Aquino is the fifteenth President of the Philippines and is concurrently the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Aquino is a fourth-generation politician: his great-grandfather, Servillano “Mianong” Aquino, served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress; his grandfather, Benigno Aquino, Sr., held several legislative positions from 1919–44; and his parents were former President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. Aquino is a member of the Liberal Party.

Born in Manila, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was subsequently re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004. In 2007, having been barred from running for re-election to the House due to the term limit, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Following the death of his mother on August 1, 2009, many people began calling on Aquino to run for president. On September 9, 2009, Aquino officially announced he would be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election, held on May 10, 2010.

On June 9, 2010, the Congress of the Philippines proclaimed Aquino the winner of the 2010 presidential election.
On June 30, 2010, at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Aquino was sworn into office as the fifteenth President of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, by Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.

Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino III was born on February 8, 1960 in Manila. Aquino is the third of the five children of Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was then the Vice Governor of Tarlac province, and Corazon Aquino. He has four sisters, Maria Elena (Ballsy) Aquino-Cruz, Aurora Corazon (Pinky) Aquino-Abellada, Victoria Eliza (Viel) Aquino-Dee, and Kristina Bernadette (Kris) Aquino-Yap. He is also the first bachelor Philippine President.
From 1965 to 1981, Aquino attended Ateneo de Manila University from elementary to college.

Eleven months after Aquino’s father, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., was arrested and detained for “advocating the overthrow of the government by force or violence”, Ninoy was brought before a military tribunal in Moran Hall, Fort Bonifacio in August 1973. On August 25, 1973, Ninoy wrote a letter to his son, Noynoy from Fort Bonifacio at 11:10 p.m., giving advice to his son;

“The only advice I can give you: Live with honor and follow your conscience.

There is no greater nation on earth than our Motherland. No greater people than our own. Serve them with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength.

Son, the ball is now in your hands.”

In 1981, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Shortly after graduation, Aquino joined his family in Newton, Massachusetts, in exile.

In 1983, after two years in exile in the United States, Aquino returned to the Philippines with his family, shortly after the assassination of his father on August 21, 1983. Aquino had a short tenure as a member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, working as an assistant of the executive director of PBSP. Aquino later joined Mondragon Industries Philippines, Inc. as an assistant Retail Sales Supervisor and assistant promotions manager for Nike Philippines, Inc.

From 1986 to 1992, during the presidency of his mother, Aquino joined the Intra-Strata Assurance Corporation, a company owned by his uncle Antolin Oreta Jr., as vice president.

On August 28, 1987, eighteen months into the presidency of Aquino’s mother, rebel soldiers led by Gregorio Honasan staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, attempting to siege Malacañang Palace. Aquino was two blocks from the palace when he came under fire. Three of Aquino’s four security escorts were killed, and the last was wounded protecting him. Aquino himself was hit by five bullets, one of which is still embedded in his neck.

From 1993 to 1998, Aquino worked for Central Azucarera de Tarlac, the sugar refinery in charge of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita, as the executive assistant for administration from 1993 to 1996, then Aquino worked as manager for field services from 1996 to 1998

Pál Schmitt, President of Hungary (since JUne 29, 2010)

Pál Schmitt, President of Hungary

Pál Schmitt (born 13 May 1942 in Budapest) is a Hungarian politician, former Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary from 14 May 2010. He was elected as President of Hungary in a 263 to 59 vote in the Parliament of Hungary on June 29, 2010 and takes office on August 5, 2010.

Schmitt was elected in the 2009 elections as a Member of the European Parliament with the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, to the Bureau of the European People’s Party and was vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education. Schmitt was also elected as the Vice President of the European Parliament , a post where he was succeeded by László Tőkés.

Schmitt chairs the Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee. On July 14, 2009 he was elected one of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament.

He is also a sportsman, won team épée gold medal at the Games of the XIX. Olympiad in Mexico (1968) and the XX. Olympiad in Munich (1972). He is the Chief of Protocol of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and presided the World Olympians Association between 1999 and 2007.

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia (since June 24, 2010)

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

Julia was born in Wales, migrating to Australia with her family in 1966. She studied arts and law at university in Adelaide before being elected as national education vice president of the Australian Union of Students in 1983. In 1983, Julia was national president of the AUS.

She began work as a solicitor with the law firm Slater and Gordon and became a partner in 1990. In May 1996, Julia was appointed chief of staff of the then Victorian Opposition leader, John Brumby. Julia worked with Mr Brumby until her election to Federal Parliament in 1998.

Following her election, she was a member of a number of parliamentary committees including the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations prior to entering Labor’s Shadow Ministry in 2001.

She subsequently served in a number of Shadow Ministerial portfolios including Population and Immigration, Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs, Health, Employment and Industrial Relations, and Social Inclusion.
Julia was Labor’s Manager of Opposition Business for three years prior to being elected as Labor’s Deputy Leader in December 2006.

Following the Federal Election on the 24th of November 2007, Julia was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Social Inclusion.

Julia Gillard was sworn is as Prime Minister of Australia on 24th June 2010.

Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland (since June 22, 2010)

Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland

Mari Johanna Kiviniemi (born September 27, 1968 in Seinäjoki, Finland) is a Finnish politician and the Prime Minister of Finland. She was elected as the Prime Minister in 22nd of June 2010. Kiviniemi has previously been the Minister of Public Administration and Local Government in the Council of State of Finland 2007-2010. Previously she was the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development (2005–2006).

Her political party is the Centre Party. In June 2010, she was elected chairwoman of the Centre Party.

Kiviniemi grew up in rural Southern Ostrobothnia, the daughter of a chicken farmer, and went to school in Jalasjärvi. As a teenager during high school, she spent a year as an exchange student in Germany. She enrolled in the University of Helsinki in 1988 to study economics and married Juha Mikael Louhivuori, a businessman, in 1996. They have two children, Hanna and Antti. In addition to her native Finnish, she speaks Swedish and English.

She lists her hobbies as listening to classical music (she plays the piano and flute), exercising through running, skiing and in-line roller blading. The family has a summer cottage on Lake Vanajavesi.

Kiviniemi is a career politician, and first ran as a candidate for Member of Parliament in 1991, garnering nearly 5,000 votes, while serving as the Secretary General of the Centre Party Student Union. The year after completing the work for her Master’s degree in Social Sciences, she ran again in the 1995 general elections, this time winning a seat from the Southern Ostrobothnia district with 9,350 votes.

Kiviniemi is also a member of the Helsinki city council, in addition to her work in national politics. She has been on the city council since 2005.

In 2003, Kiviniemi was elected to a leadership position within the Center Party, serving as vice-chairman (one of three) until June 2008, when she was voted-off at that summer’s party convention. She became a special advisor to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen in 2004, and was twice appointed by him to serve as a Cabinet minister: first in September 2005 on a temporary basis when the incumbent went on maternity leave for six months; and then on a full-time basis in April 2007.

On 22 January 2010, one month after Prime Minister Vanhanen announced he would be stepping down as leader (chair) of the Center Party at its June 2010 convention, Kiviniemi announced her candidacy for the vacancy. Her campaign was formally launched in April.

Delegates to the Center Party Convention met in Lahti, Finland to elect a new leader on 12 June 2010. Kiviniemi won the second-round run-off, defeating Mauri Pekkarinen by a vote of 1,357 to 1,035. Prime Minister Vanhanen met with President Tarja Halonen on Friday 18 June and asked her for permission to resign as Prime Minister. Thus, Kiviniemi will become the Center Party chairman, and will most likely be the next Prime Minister of Finland if the Eduskunta votes for her, and will serve at least until Parliamentary elections are held on Sunday 17 April 2011.

Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan (since Jun 8, 2010)

Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan

Born on October 10, 1946 in Ube, Yamaguchi. Okayama domicile. Metropolitan Koyamadai high school. Graduated from Faculty of Applied Physics and Technology. House of Representatives. Attorney. Living in Musashino, Tokyo.

1965 in Metropolitan Koyamadai high school.

1970 Graduated from Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology.

In 1971 a patent attorney exam.

1974 Upper House election, Mr.担Gi出Shi Itikawa Husae, served as campaign chairman, to win.

In 1976 he ran unsuccessfully as an independent in the House of Representatives election. Thereafter,in 1977House of Councillors election,1979election and continued lost.

1980 elected House of Representatives. Since then, belong to the Social Democratic Federation, aims to create a force that can compete with the LDP.

1993 elected for five-term election, participate in the governing coalition. He became chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs.

In 1994 joined the New Party Sakigake, became chairman of the party’s policy research. The government seeks to build自社Sa ruling policy.

1996 January, with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto became Minister of Health. Uncover the HIV problem, apologized to the victim as the Minister of Health. September, they formed the Democratic Party with Yukio Hatoyama said, he became party leader.

In April 1998, the Democratic Justice Party (President: Tsutomu Hata), New Fraternity Party (DSP old) and joined, such as The Chairman of the Democratic Party again. July, the ruling party put on過半数割Re election.

In September 1999, he became chairman of the Democratic Party Policy Research.

September 2000, he became secretary general of the Democratic Party.

In December 2002, the top Democrat comeback (~ May 2004).

In September 2003, Liberal Party (leader: Ichiro Ozawa) and merged.November, greatly extending臨Nda seats in the election as a representative to the verge of regime change.

In September 2005, the nine-term election victory of the Democrats to defeat in front of Koizumi’s whirlwind.

In April 2006, he became the Democratic Party acting leader. Ozawa, Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and support the party.

In July 2007, the Democratic victory in upper house election, the ruling party put on過半数割Re.

2008 was 12Mon, House of Representatives Budget Committee chief director (~09years7month), became president with the Democratic Party in Tokyo.

2009 was 08Monat election10election of the first, historic victory for the Democratic Party finally realize a regime change.09Extraordinary Minister at the Cabinet Office vice minister in charge of the national strategy Hatoyama Cabinet Moon (Science and Technology Policy Economic and Fiscal Policy) officer.

2010 1Mon, Extraordinary Minister of Finance Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Office (Economic and Fiscal Policy) officer.

Roza Otunbayeva, President of Kyrgyzstan (since May 19, 2010)

Roza Otunbayeva, President of Kyrgyzstan

Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva (Kyrgyz: Роза Исаковна Отунбаева, Russian: Роза Исаковна Отунбаева; born August 23, 1950) is the President of Kyrgyzstan, following the 2010 revolution which led to the ousting of then President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. She is a former foreign minister and head of the parliamentary caucus for the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan. Otunbayeva is the first female President of a CIS/SCO member state.

Otunbayeva was born in Osh, Kyrgyz SSR, USSR in a family of Isaac Otunbayev, a member of the Supreme Court of Kirgiz SSR. She graduated from the Philosophy Faculty of Moscow State University in 1972 and went on to teach as senior professor and head of the philosophy department at Kyrgyz State National University for six years. In 1975 she became Candidate of Sciences after defending dissertation named “Critique of falsification of Marxist-Leninist dialectic by the philosophers of Frankfurt school”. Otunbayeva is married and has two children. She is fluent in English and Russian in addition to Kyrgyz.

In 1981, she began her political career as the Communist Party’s second secretary of the Lenin raion council (raikom) of Frunze (current Bishkek). In late 1980s, she served as head of the USSR Delegation to UNESCO in Paris, and later as the Soviet Ambassador to Malaysia. By 1992, the now independent Kyrgyzstan was led by Askar Akayev, who chose her to be both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, positions she held until later that year when she became her country’s first ambassador to the USA and Canada. She returned to her original post in 1994, remaining there for 3 years. In 1998-2001, she served as the first Kyrgyz ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 2002-2004, she was the deputy head of the United Nations special mission to Georgia.

Upon her return to Kyrgyzstan in late 2004, Otunbayeva became politically active. In December 2004, she and three other opposition parliamentarians founded the Ata-Jurt (Fatherland) party in preparation for the February 2005 parliamentary elections.

She was barred from becoming a candidate for the 2005 legislative election due to a previously enacted law requiring prospective MPs to have resided in the country for 5 years prior to the elections. Her time as ambassador to the United Kingdom prevented her from meeting this criterion. She met this requirement in 2010, so she is eligible to run for the post.

Otunbayeva was one of the key leaders of the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan which led to the overthrow of President Akayev. Subsequently she served for a few months as Acting Foreign Minister in the interim government of then prime minister (and acting president) Kurmanbek Bakiev. After Bakiev was elected President and Feliks Kulov became Prime Minister, Otunbayeva failed to receive the required parliamentary support to become Foreign Minister. She then ran unsuccessfully in a parliamentary by-election a few months later. Otunbayeva played a key role in November 2006 protests that pressed successfully for a new democratic constitution.

She was the co-chairwoman of the country’s Asaba (Flag) National Revival Party for a short term.

In December 2007, Otunbayeva was elected to Jogorku Kenesh – the parliament of Kyrgyzstan – on the candidate list of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan. She served as the head of the parliamentary group of the opposition SDP beginning in October 2009.

On April 7, 2010, Otunbayeva was selected as head of a Kyrgyz interim government, following widespread rioting in Bishkek and the ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Bakiyev fled the Jalalabad area as the riots became more violent. Unable to rally support, he signed a resignation as president and on April 10, 2010 and left the country for Kazakhstan. Nine days later he went to Minsk, Belarus, where he was given protected-exile status. On April 21 he recanted his resignation and declared that he was still president of Kyrgyzstan. Otunbayeva vowed to bring him to trial.

As interim president Otunbayeva has four male deputies. Otunbayeva is considered to be unusual as there are few women in politics in Kyrgyzstan. Her first conversation after she came to power was with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Otunbayeva has declared that new elections will be called in six months and that she will act as president until then.

With violent protests in support of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev continuing in Jalalabad, the home city of the former President, it was announced on May 19, 2010, by the interim government that elections will be delayed until 2011 and that Otunbayeva was named as President. However, Otunbayeva would be prohibited from running in the presidential election and her term will end on December 31, 2011.