Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs (born February 24, 1955)

Steven (Steve) Paul Jobs is an American business magnate and inventor. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. His biological parents are Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim and Joanne Simpson woho later married and gave birt to Steve's biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.

Career

Steve Jobs is co-founder, chairman, and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
In the late 1970s, Jobs, with other Apple co-founders designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1984, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its CEO from 1997 until 2011. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1% until its acquisition by The Walt Disney company in 2006. Consequently Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7% and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.
Innovative productsJobs emphasized the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward the development of products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a devoted following. In recent years, the company has branched out, introducing and improving upon innovative digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. In 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene.

Resignation

On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation from his role as Apple's CEO for health reasons. he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. In his letter of resignation, Jobs strongly recommended that the Apple executive succession plan be followed and Tim Cook be named as his successor. Per his request, Jobs was appointed chairman of Apple's board of directors

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK)

DSK (25 April 1949)

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn, often referred to in the media as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, and politician, and a member of the French Socialist Party (PS). Strauss-Kahn has been married for the third time to the French journalist Anne Sinclair since 1991. He has four daughters, one of whom is by his second wife, Brigitte Guillemette, whom he married in 1984.

Career

Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 28 September 2007, with the backing of his country's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and served in that role until his resignation on 18 May 2011.

He is a professor of economics at the Paris Institute for Political Studies. Strauss-Kahn was Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 1999 as part of Lionel Jospin's "Plural Left" government. He belongs to the right wing of the PS and sought the nomination in the primaries to the Socialist presidential candidacy for the 2007 election, but he was defeated by Ségolène Royal in November 2006.

Allegations of sexual assault

In May 2011, Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York City and charged with the sexual assault of a housekeeper who entered his Sofitel hotel suite, but all charges were later dismissed at the request of the prosecution. Strauss-Kahn entered a plea of not guilty, and denied all charges. The New York District Attorney moved to withdraw the charges on 22 August 2011, due to the unreliability of the complainant and inconclusive physical evidence, and the court agreed.

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He was born on August 24, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer to which his family was opposed. At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to following a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.

Songwriter

At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and becoming immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s. Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter which made him earn a living. In 1974, Coelho was arrested for "subversive" activities by the ruling military government, who had taken power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.
In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life. On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. In an interview, Coelho stated

"[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in "The Alchemist", I was working, I had a person who I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer."

Succes as a writer

After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage. The following year, Coelho wrote The Alchemist which has gone on to sell more than 65 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books in history, and has been translated into more than 70 languages.
After this success Paulo Coelho is a strong advocate of spreading his books through peer-to-peer file sharing networks and pirating websites. He even provides free translations of many of his books.

Mohamed Bouazizi

Mohamed Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December, 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides.
He was born  on 29 March, 1984. His act of self-immolation became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution, inciting demonstrations and riots throughout Tunisia in protest of social and political issues in the country. The public's anger and violence intensified following Bouazizi's death, leading then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on 14 January, 2011, after 23 years in power.

The success of the Tunisian protests sparked protests in several other Arab countries, in adition to several non Arab countries, asking for democratic aspirations for the oppressed peoples. The protests included several men who emulated Bouazizi's act of self-immolation, in an attempt to bring an end to their own autocratic governments. Those men and Bouazizi were hailed by some Arab commentators as "heroic martyrs of a new Middle Eastern revolution."

Who is Wael Ghonim?

Who is Wael Ghonim?

Wael Ghonim is an Internet activist and computer engineer. He had an important impact on the Egyptian revolution.

Egyptian revolution

Wael Ghonim had an important impact on the egyptian revolution. He inspired thousands of young Egyptians to stand up against the dictatorship of Hosni Mobarak's regime. He became an international figure in 2011. He was one of energized pro-democracy demonstrations in Egypt after his emotional interview following 11 days of secret incarceration by Egyptian police. During this interview he was interrogated regarding his work as the administrator of the Facebook page, "We are all Khaled Saeed". Khaled Saeed's photos of his disfigured corpse spread throughout online communities and incited outrage over allegations that he was beaten to death by Egyptian security forces.This helped spark the revolution.The TIME magazine added Wael GHonim in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011.