Erna Solberg (born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician, and current leader of the Conservative Party of Norway. She was the Municipal and Regional Minister in Kjell Magne Bondevik's second government, 19 October 2001 until 17 October 2005. In 2005, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of St. Olav.

Solberg was born in Bergen in Western Norway. She obtained an undergraduate degree in sociology, political science, statistics and economics at the University of Bergen in 1986.

Solberg was a deputy member of Bergen city council in the periods 1979–1983 and 1987–1989, the last period in the executive committee. She chaired local and municipal chapters of the Young Conservatives and the Conservative Party. She was the leader of the nationwide Conservative Women Association from 1994 to 1998, served as deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004 and became party leader in 2004.

She was first elected to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) from Hordaland in 1989 and has been re-elected on four occasions. From 2001 to 2005 Solberg served as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Her alleged tough policies in this department, including a firm stance on asylum policy, earned her the nickname "Jern-Erna" (Norwegian for "Iron Erna") in the media. However, numbers show that the Bondevik government (2001–2005) actually let in thousands of more asylum seekers than the later centre-left Red-Green government (2005–2009). In 2003, Solberg also proposed to introduce Islamic Sharia Councils in Norway after being informed about the existence of such councils in the United Kingdom, and in 2004 said that she wished increased immigration to Norway.

In Norse mythology, Erna was the mother of eleven sons by Jarl, the ancestors of the race of warriors in Norse society. Her father was Hersir, a tribal chief.

Herborg Kråkevik (born December 28, 1973) is a Norwegian singer and actress, known for her works with Norwegian folksongs and some stage works and many movies. Her more famous roles being her debut as Eliza in My Fair Lady (1997) and Julie in Romeo og Julie (1997).

Kråkevik gained much success when she in 2000 released Kråkeviks Songbok, a CD that included her interpretations of several Norwegian folk songs, including Den Fyrste Sang and a musical version of the poem Til Ungdommen by Norwegian poet and author Nordahl Grieg (distant cousin of the composer Edvard Grieg).

Kråkevik then had a leading role in Det største i verden (2001) as Petra. More recently, she was chosen one of Norway's ambassadors to the 2005 Hans Christian Andersen Association.

Raymond Johansen (14 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and party secretary of the Labour Party, following the footsteps of his uncle, Thorbjørn Berntsen, who is one of the veterans of the Norwegian Labour Party.

Originally a member of the Socialist Left Party, he chaired their youth wing Socialist Youth from 1986 to 1988 and was a member of the central party board from 1986 to 1991. He chaired the local party chapter in Oslo from 1990 to 1991, and was city commissioner (byråd) of the environment and transport in the city government of Oslo from 1991 to 1995. He was not re-elected in 1995, and left the Socialist Left Party.

He then worked in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation from 1996 to 2000 and was secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council from 2002 to 2005. In 2002 he briefly worked at the Norwegian embassy in Asmara. During the first and second cabinet Stoltenberg he was State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 18 March 2007, Johansen met with members of the newly elected Hamas unity government and announced that Norway will resume economic aid. He also expressed hope that other European states will follow their lead.^{[citation needed]}

 Jens Stoltenberg (help·info) (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party and the current Prime Minister of Norway. Having assumed office on 17 October 2005, Stoltenberg previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001.

Having first been elected to Parliament in 1993 for the Oslo constituency, Stoltenberg served as State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment from 1990 to 1991 and as Minister of Industry from 1993 to 1996 in the Third Brundtland Cabinet, respectively. Following the resignation of Brundtland in 1996, Thorbjørn Jagland was elected leader of the Labour Party and became Prime Minister, while Stoltenberg was appointed Minister of Finance, an office he held until 17 October 1997 when Jagland and the entire government resigned. While in parliamentary opposition, Stoltenberg served in the standing committees on energy affairs. Following a motion of confidence against the First Bondevik Cabinet, Stoltenberg was appointed Prime Minister on 3 March 2000, despite being deputy leader of the party, and not the party leader.