Park Geun-hye

Park Geunhye (Hangul: 박근혜; Hanja: 朴槿惠; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician. She was the chairwoman of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) between 2004 and 2006 and between 2011 and 2012 (the GNP changed its name to "Saenuri Party" in February 2012). Park is a member of the Korean National Assembly who had served four consecutive parliamentary terms as a constituency representative between 1998 and 2012, and started her fifth term as a proportional representative from June 2012. Her father was Park Chung-hee, president of South Korea from 1963 to 1979. She is considered the most influential politician in Korea since the "three Kims" (Kim Young Sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Jong-pil).  She won the election on December 19, 2012, and is now the first woman president of Korea.
 

Family and education

Park was born on 2 February 1952, in Samdeok-dong of Jung-gu, Daegu, as the first child of Park Chung-hee, president and dictator of South Korea between 1963 and 1979 and Yuk Young-soo. She has a younger brother, Park Ji-man, and a younger sister, Park Seoyeong. Park has never been married. Park Graduated from Seoul's Seongsim High School in 1970, going on to receive a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Sogang University in 1974. She received honorary doctoral degrees from Chinese Culture University in Taiwan in 1987, Pukyong National University and KAIST in 2008, and Sogang University in 2010. 

 

First Lady - as the President's daughter after her mother's murder

Park lost her mother to Mun Se-gwang, a Japanese-born Korean assassin, a member of General Association of Korean Residents in Japan under the command of the North Korean government in the National Theater of Korea, Seoul on 15 August 1974. Since then, she was regarded as first lady until 1979 when her father was also assassinated by his own intelligence chief, Gim Jaegyu, on 26 October 1979. During this time, activists who were political opponents of her father were claimed to be subject to arbitrary detention, and human rights were considered subordinate to economic development. In 2007 Park Geunhye has expressed regret at the treatment of activists during this period.

 

From: www.wikipedia.org

Marissa Mayer

Marissa Ann Mayer (born May 30, 1975) is an American business executive. She is the current president and CEO of Yahoo!. Previously, she was a long-time executive and key spokesperson for Google. She is the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and has been ranked number 14 on the list of America's most powerful businesswomen of 2012 by Fortune magazine.

Early Life and Education

Mayer was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, the daughter of Margaret Mayer, an art teacher of Finnish descent, and Michael Mayer, an engineer. After graduating from Wausau West High School in 1993, Mayer was selected by Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson as one of the state's two delegates to attend the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia.

Mayer graduated with honors from Stanford University with a B.S. in symbolic systems and an M.S. in computer science. For both degrees, she specialized in artificial intelligence. In 2009, the Illinois Institute of Technology granted Mayer an honoris causa doctorate degree in recognition of her work in the field of search.

Personal Life

Mayer married lawyer and investor Zachary Bogue on December 12, 2009.

On the same day Yahoo! announced her hiring, Mayer revealed that she was pregnant. Mayer gave birth to a baby boy on September 30, 2012. Although she asked for suggestions via social media, the name Macallister was eventually chosen for her baby's name from a preexisting list.

Her priorities now are "God, family and Yahoo--in that order.

From: www.wikipedia.org

Mo Farah

Mohamed "Mo" Farah (born 23 March 1983) is a Somali-born British international track and field athlete. He is the current 10,000 metres Olympic champion and 5000 metres Olympic, World and European champion. On the track, he generally competes over 5000 m and 10,000 m, but also runs the 3000 metres and occasionally the 1500 metres. He has expressed a desire to move up to the marathon after the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

Farah holds the European track record for 10,000 m, the British road record for 10,000 m, the British indoor record in the 3000 m, the British track record for 5000 m, the British half-marathon record, and the European indoor record for 5000 m. In July 2010, Farah won Britain's first-ever men's European gold medal at 10,000 m. He followed this with a gold in the 5000 m, becoming the 5th male athlete to complete the long-distance double at the championships and the first British man to do so. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, he won silver the 10,000 m and gold in the 5000 m. He became double Olympic champion at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, taking gold in both the 5000 and 10,000 metres.

In addition, Farah competes in cross-country running, where in December 2006 he became European champion in Italy. He also took gold in the 3000 m in both the 2009 and 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, in Turin and Paris respectively.

Farah was originally based in London and ran for Newham and Essex Beagles athletics club, training at St Mary's University College, Twickenham's sports facilities in Strawberry Hill from 2001 to 2011. In 2011 he relocated to Oregon, United States, in order to further his training with coach Alberto Salazar. Farah was also voted 2011 European Athlete of the Year from twelve nominees, with Christophe Lemaitre in second place. He won the same prize in 2012. He is an ambassador for Bupa, Lucozade Sport, Virgin Media and Nike.

Early Life and Education

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia. On 23 March 1983, Farah spent the early years of his childhood in Djibouti with his twin brother. He later moved to Britain at the age of 8 years old to join his father, speaking barely a word of English. Farah's father was born in England and grew up in Hounslow, London; his parents met after his father went on holiday to Somalia.

 

Farah attended Feltham Community College in London. His athletic talent was first identified by physical education teacher Alan Watkinson, who later said of Farah: "When I first met him, he was struggling academically and suffering from the language barrier. He needed focus and I sort of took him under my wing. His passion was football but it was his turn of speed on the pitch that showed his real talent." His ambition was to play as a right winger for Arsenal football club.

 

From: www.wikipedia.org

Tim Cook

Timothy D. "Tim" Cook (born November 1, 1960) is the CEO of Apple Inc. Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as SVP of Worldwide Operations and also served as EVP of Worldwide Sales and Operations and was COO until he was named the CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011, succeeding Steve Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011, from pancreatic cancer. Cook had previously served as acting CEO of Apple after Jobs began a medical leave in January 2011.

 

In early 2012, he was awarded compensation of 1 million shares, vesting in 2016 and 2021, by Apple's Board of Directors. As of 2012, Cook's total compensation package of $378 million makes him the highest paid CEO in the world.

Early Years

Cook grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, near Mobile. His father was a shipyard worker, while his mother was a homemaker. Cook graduated from high school at Robertsdale High School, earned a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University in 1982, and his M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1988.

 

From: www.wikipedia.org

Felix Baumgartner

Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver, daredevil and BASE jumper. He set the world record for skydiving an estimated 39 kilometres (24 mi), reaching an estimated speed of 1,342 kilometres per hour (834 mph), or Mach 1.24, on 14 October 2012, and became the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power on his descent. He is also renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practised parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.

Baumgartner's most recent project was Red Bull Stratos, in which he jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012. As part of this project, he set the altitude record for a manned balloon flight, parachute jump from the highest altitude, and greatest free fall velocity.

Biogrpahy

Felix Baumgartner was born, on 20 April 1969, in Salzburg, Austria.[8] When he was a little boy, he dreamed about flying and skydiving. In 1999 he claimed the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On 25 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made carbon fiber wing. Alban Geissler, who developed the SKYRAY carbon fiber wing with Christoph Aarns, suggested after Baumgartner's jump that the wing he used was a copy of two prototype SKYRAY wings sold to Red Bull (Baumgartner's sponsor) two years earlier.

 

Baumgartner also set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, when he jumped 29 metres (95 ft) from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. This jump also stirred controversy among BASE jumpers who pointed out that Baumgartner cited the height of the statue as the height of the jump even though he landed on a slope below the statue's feet, and that other BASE jumpers had previously jumped from the statue but avoided publicity.

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004 and the first person to skydive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006. On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck of the then-tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan.

From: www.wikipedia.org

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai (Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ‎ Malālah Yūsafzay, born 12 July 1997) is a school student and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her education and women's rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of 11/12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls. The following summer, a New York Times documentary was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television and taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat. She has since been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu and has won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize. A number of prominent individuals, including the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, are supporting a petition to nominate Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus. In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.

 Former British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari in November. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has announced that 10 November will be celebrated as Malala Day.

From: www.wikipedia.org

Cheick Modibo Diarra

Cheick Modibo Diarra (born 1952) is a Malian astrophysicist, businessman, and politician who was acting Prime Minister of Mali since 17 April 2012. On 11 December 2012, Diarra presented his resignation on state television in a broadcast at 4 a.m. local time, hours after soldiers who led Mali's recent coup arrested him at his home in Bamako.

 

Career

Diarra was born in Nioro du Sahel, Mali. He is the son-in-law of former president Moussa Traoré. After graduating high school in Mali, Cheick Modibo Diarra studied mathematics, physics, and analytic mechanics in Paris at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, then aerospace engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was recruited by Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA FFRDC Contractor, where he played a role in several NASA programs, including the Magellan probe to Venus, the Ulysses probe to the Sun, the Galileo spacecraft to Jupiter, and the Mars Observer and Mars Pathfinder. He later became the director of NASA's "Mars Exploration Program Education and Public Outreach." Dr. Diarra also served as an executive for the Microsoft Corporation. He also obtained American citizenship.

 

In 1999, he obtained permission from NASA to work part-time in order to devote himself to education development in Africa, founding the Pathfinder Foundation. He took a further sabbatical in 2002 to found a laboratory in Bamako, Mali for the development of solar energy. In 2000 and 2001 he also served as a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. In 2002 and 2003 he served as CEO of the African Virtual University, based in Kenya.

Cheick Modibo Diarra was the chairman of Microsoft Africa from 2006 until the end of 2011. Turning to Malian politics, he founded the Rally for Development in Mali, a political party, in March 2011, and he intended to stand as a candidate in the 2012 presidential election.

From: www.wikipedia.org