Hina Rabbani Khar

Hina Rabbani Khar (Urdu: حنا ربانی کھر; born 19 November 1977) is a Pakistani politician and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Appointed in July 2011, she is the first female and the youngest person to ever head Pakistani's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She was elected to the National Assembly in both 2002 and 2008 and was Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs between 2008 and 2011.

Early Life and Education

Hina Rabbani Khar was born on 19 November 1977 in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan in a Seraiki family. She is the daughter of politician and landowner Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar and the niece of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former governor of Punjab. The Khar family has roots in the village of Khar Gharbi located in Kot Adu, a tehsil in Muzaffargarh District in Punjab; and has many land holdings: an estate that includes fisheries, mango orchards, and sugarcane fields. She graduated with a B.Sc. in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1999 and received her M Sc (Hon) in Business Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2001.

Personal life

She is married to Firoze Gulzar, with whom she has two daughters, Annaya and Dina. She is the co-owner of the Polo Lounge restaurant on the Lahore Polo Grounds.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Sepp Blatter

Joseph S. Blatter (born 10 March 1936), commonly known as Sepp ("Giuseppe") Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007 and 2011.

Despite winning four terms as President, Blatter has often been dogged by controversy and allegations of corruption. In November 2011, he attracted criticism for stating that on-field racism could be satisfied by an end-of-match handshake, a claim for which he later offered a fulsome apology. Prior to his election as FIFA President, Blatter was a senior FIFA official for 23 years. In his earlier professional life, Blatter held a variety of senior management positions in several Swiss organizations.

Early Life and Career

Blatter was born in Visp, Canton Valais, Switzerland. He studied in Sion, Switzerland, before he received a degree in business and economics from the University of Lausanne in 1959.

Blatter has had a long and varied career, including posts such as Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board in his native Switzerland, as well as General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. He was Director of Sports Timing and Relations of Longines S.A., and was involved in the organization of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Abdul Qadeer Khan

Abdul Qadeer Khan (Urdu: ڈاکٹر عبد القدیر خان ; born: April 1, 1936), also respectively known in Pakistan as Mohsin-e-Pakistan (in Urdu: محسن پاکِستان; lit: Savior of Pakistan), FPAS, DEng, ScD, HI, NI (twice); more widely known as Dr. A. Q. Khan, is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and a metallurgical engineer, colloquially regarded as the founder of HEU based Gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment programme for Pakistan's integrated atomic bomb project. Founded and established the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976, he was both its senior scientist and the Director-General until his retirement in 2001, and was an early and vital figure in other science projects. Apart from participating in atomic bomb project, he made major contributions in morphology, physical martensite, and its integrated applications in condensed and material physics.

Abdul Qadeer Khan was one of Pakistan's top scientists, and was involved in the country's various scientific programmes until his debriefing. On January 2004, Khan was officially summoned for a debriefing on his suspicious activities in other countries after the United States provided evidences to the Pakistan Government, and confessed it a month later. However, these activities turned out to be ordered and supervised by government and the allegedly the military, although both have denied the accusations sharply. After years of debriefing, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 6 February 2009 declared Abdul Qadeer Khan to be a free citizen of Pakistan, allowing him free movement inside the country. The verdict was rendered by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam. In September 2009, expressing concerns over the Islamabad High Court’s decision to end all security restrictions on Khan, the United States warned that Khan still remains a "serious proliferation risk".

Early Life

Khan was born in 1936 in the Bhopal State of India (then part of the British Indian Empire). His father Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Khan was an academic who served in the Education Ministry of the British Indian Government and after retirement in 1935, settled permanently in Bhopal State. In 1947, after the partition, the family migrated from India to Pakistan, and settled in West-Pakistan. Khan studied in Saint Anthony's High School of Lahore, and then enrolled at the D.J. Science College of Karachi. There, he took B.Sc. in Physics and B.A. in Mathematics under the supervision of Suparco physicist Dr. Bashir Syed. In 1956, he attended Karachi University and obtained a B.S. degree in Metallurgy in 1960. To support the fees of his education, Khan was employed at Siemens Engineering where he worked as a practical trainee (junior engineer).

After graduation, he was employed by the Karachi Metropolitan Government and worked as an Inspector of weight and measures in Karachi, Pakistan. In 1961, he went to West Berlin to study Metallurgical engineering at the Technical University of Berlin. In 1967, Khan obtained an engineer's degree (in Technology), an equivalent of Master of Science, from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and a Doctor of Engineering degree in Metallurgical engineering under the supervision of Martin Brabers from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1972. Khan's doctoral dissertations were written in fluent German. His doctoral thesis dealt and contained the fundamental work in Martensite, and its extended industrial applications to the field of Morphology, a field that studies the shape, size, texture and phase distribution of physical objects.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Ahmad Shuja Pasha

Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha (Urdu: احمد شجاع پاشا), HI(M) (born 18 March 1952) is the current Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence service since October 2008. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2010, but has received two extensions. His tenure was extended by a year and then again by another two years, until 18 March 2013. He was recently named as one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

Army Career

Pasha was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the famed Frontier Force Regiment in the 49th PMA Long Course in 1974. He has commanded an infantry battalion, a mechanized infantry brigade and has served as the Chief Instructor of the Command and Staff College of the Pakistani Army. From 2001 to 2002, General Pasha served as a Contingent and Sector Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.

Pasha was promoted to Major General in January 2003, and posted as GOC 8th Infantry Division in Sialkot. From there in April 2005, he was sent as Commandant Command and Staff College in Quetta. From April 2006 to October 2008, Pasha served as the Director General of Military Operations at the Army headquarters overseeing all military engagements in Waziristan, Swat and other tribal areas.

In October 2007, Pasha was selected as Military Adviser to Secretary-General of United Nations however due to his commitments as DGMO he never joined the UN.

ISI appointment

The newly elected civilian government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani tried for two months to gain control of the appointment for the director of the ISI as well as place the agency under the administrative, financial, and operational control of the Interior Ministry. However, the attempt failed when Chief of Army Staff, General Kayani appointed Pasha on 29 September 2008. Pasha’s prior post was responsible for planning operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan, signaling a reorientation from the ISI's traditional Kashmir/India focus. Pasha was appointed director of the ISI at Washington's behest; Pasha is closely allied to General Kayani, the CIA, and holds anti-Taliban views. The United States Government had pressured Pakistan to replace Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj, the prior chief of the ISI, whom they claimed as "double dealing" with militants with a more acceptable candidate like Pasha. Additionally, Pasha’s appointment was part of a wider Chief of Army Staff reappointment shake-up that solidified General Kayani’s loyalty among the military as all prior appointees were done by former President and Chief of the Army Pervez Musharraf.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI(M), HI (Urdu: اشفاق پرویز کیانی , born April 1952) is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007. General Kayani is the former Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Director General of Military Operations (MO). On 24 July 2010, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani extended Kayani’s term as Chief of the Army Staff by three years, making him the first four-star general to receive a term extension from any democratic government. In 2008, Newsweek named him the 20th most powerful person in the world.

Corps Commander Rawalpindi

Kayani was promoted as Lieutenant General in September 2003, and was given the command of the X Corps in Rawalpindi. The promotion indicated Musharraf's significant trust in Kayani, since an army chief cannot build an army coup without the help of the X Corps commander. Kayani led the corps until October 2004, when he was transferred to the ISI as its chief.

During Kayani's tenure at the X Corps, he led the successful investigation of the two back-to-back suicide attacks against Musharraf in December 2003. It is believed that Kayani won the trust of Musharraf after the investigation, and a prelude to Kayani's promotion to the sensitive position of ISI chief. He was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the civilian medal, for his achievement.

Inter-Services Intelligence

In October 2004, Ashfaq Kayani was made the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in place of General Ehsan ul Haq, who was promoted as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Kayani led the ISI during a bleak period, with insurgencies in North-West Pakistan and Balochistan, Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear proliferation scandal, and waves of suicide attacks throughout Pakistan emanating from the northwestern tribal belt. In his final days at the ISI, he also led the talks with Benazir Bhutto for a possible power sharing deal with Musharraf. In October 2007, after three years, he was replaced at the ISI by Lt Gen Nadeem Taj.

Kayani was also present at the March 2007 meeting that took place between Musharraf and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when the former military ruler informed the top judge that he was suspended. Accounts of that meeting narrated that Kayani was the only one among Musharraf’s aides who did not speak a word.

Chief of Army Staff

In October 2007, Kayani was promoted as a full general, and made the Vice Chief of Army Staff. At the time of promotion, Kayani superseded one officer, Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai who was on an extension for a year. He took over as the new army chief of Pakistan Army after Musharraf's retirement on November 28, 2007. The ceremony was held at the sports stadium near General Headquarters, Rawalpindi. Kayani is the first officer in the history of Pakistan who held the position of DG ISI and then went on to become the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The last time a Director General of the ISI was to be made army chief in 1999, the Army staged a bloodless coup to reinstate the proposed outgoing Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf.

Forbes Magazine

Ashfaq Pervez Kayani was named the 34th most powerful person in 2011 by Forbes Magazine. He was given this title as he is the chief of army staff of Pakistan.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi

Field Marshal Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi (Arabic: عبد ربه منصور الهادي‎; born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni politician who is the President of Yemen since 25 February 2012. He was previously the Vice President from 1994 to 2012. Between 4 June and 23 September 2011, he was the Acting President of Yemen while Ali Abdullah Saleh was undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia following an attack on the presidential palace during the 2011 Yemeni uprising. Then, on 23 November, Al-Hadi became Acting President again, after Saleh moved into a non-active role pending the presidential election "in return for immunity from prosecution." Al-Hadi was "expected to form a national unity government and also call for early presidential elections within 90 days" while Saleh continued to serve as President in name only.

Early Life

He was born on 1 September 1945 in Thakeen village , Al Wade'a District of Abyan. He joined the Army of South Yemen 1970 and became a Major General in early 1990.

Political Career

He became Vice President of Yemen after Ali Salim Al-Beidh resigned and lost the civil war. Al-Hadi was appointed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh as Vice President on 3 October 1994. Before his appointment as Vice President, he was briefly the Minister of Defense.

2012 election

Hadi was the sole candidate in the presidential election that was held on 21 February 2012. His candidacy was backed by the ruling party as well as the parliamentary opposition. The Election Commission reported that 65 percent of registered voters in Yemen voted during the election. Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi took the oath of office in Yemen's parliament on 25 February 2012. He was formally elected as the president of Yemen on 27 February 2012, when Saleh resigns from presidency and formally ceded power to Hadi.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Roberto Mancini

Roberto Mancini (born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager, formerly an international player and current manager of Premier League club Manchester City. As a player Mancini was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped them win the Serie A league title, four Coppa Italias and the Cup Winners Cup, whilst being capped 36 times by Italy.

As a player, he gained a penchant for becoming a future manager and would often give team talks at half-time and ultimately became an assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson at Lazio in the twilight of his playing career. After his retirement, Mancini embarked on a successful managerial career. A cup specialist, Mancini had never failed to reach a semi-final of a major national cup competition, from 2002 to 2011, but on 2012 his club Manchester City made an early exit after being defeated by rivals Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup. He also guided the Italian clubs he managed to a record 5 consecutive Coppa Italia finals from 2004 to 2008, with Lazio once in 2004 and with Inter in the following four seasons.

Mancini's first managerial role was at a cash stricken Fiorentina at only 35 years old and managed to win a Coppa Italia, but left with Fiorentina facing bankruptcy. Months later, he took over as manager at Lazio, where again he inherited financial constraints and was forced to lose a number of key players. With limited resources during his two season tenure, he still managed to win another Coppa Italia, reach a UEFA Cup semi-final, and secure a lucrative Champions League place.

In 2004, Mancini was given the chance to manage a major club, being offered the manager's job at Internazionale. During his tenure at Inter, the club won three consecutive Serie A titles (an Inter club record) and a European record 17 consecutive league game victories stretching nearly half a season. and became Inter's most successful manager in 30 years. Despite his domestic success, many pundits saw the repeated failure to win the coveted Champions League as the main reason for his sacking in 2008.

After being out of football for over a year, Mancini was appointed Manchester City manager in December 2009 and his team-building achievements at Lazio and Inter were a factor in his appointment. In the 2010-11 season, his first full season at City, Mancini guided the club to Champions League football and the FA Cup, and has moulded City into a sound defensive unit. He maintains a tradition of wearing a scarf of his club's colours, something which has been continued at Manchester City.

Early Life

Mancini was born in the small town of Iesi, Marche, in 1964, but then moved onto the mountain town of Rocadaspida and was raised by Aldo and Marianna Mancini along with his younger sister Stephanie. Raised a Roman Catholic, his young life in Iesi revolved around religion and football. He was an altar boy and played for the local Aurora Calcio football team in his youth. On one occasion, a fixture clashed with his first Holy Communion. Halfway through the ceremony, the eight-year-old Mancini was nowhere to be seen. His local priest who was administering his first communion frequently coached football, he heard they were losing 2–0 at half-time and so he asked a young Mancini quietly after receiving his communion if he had his football kit and boots with him. Roberto said they were in the changing rooms and so he told him to sneak out of the side door and put them on because his team needed him, unbeknownst to his father.

Personal Life

Mancini has been married for nearly 20 years to his wife, Federica. They have a daughter and two sons, Filippo and Andrea, who have both played in the Internazionale youth ranks, where Filippo has played 10 minutes in a Coppa Italia match. Both of his sons have at one point been a part of Manchester City's 'Under-21' youth team. Filippo trained with the club's youth/reserve team for several months during the 2007–08 season before Roberto was appointed as City's manager, while Andrea was signed by his father for the current Elite Development Squad in November 2010 after being released from Bologna. Andrea still plays for the EDS although he's currently out on loan at Oldham Athletic. Mancini was estimated to have a personal wealth of £19m in 2011.

Mancini has stated he watches the soap opera Coronation Street to help improve his English.

From : www.wikipedia.org