Leonard Clemence “Leo” Tindemans (Dutch: [ˈleˑ(ɪ̯)oˑ ˈtɪndəmɑns] ( listen)) (born 16 April 1922) is a Belgian politician and the 43rd Prime Minister. He was born in Zwijndrecht.

Tindemans was affiliated with the CVP. This party is strong in the northern region of Flanders. Tindemans was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1961 and re-elected in 1965, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1978. From 1965 to 1973 Tindemans also served as the mayor of Edegem.

In 1968 Tindemans became minister tasked with the relations between the communities (1968–1972) during which he prepared the first constitutional reform which saw Belgium start transforming into a federal state. In 1972 he became minister for agriculture (1972–1973). In 1973 he became deputy Prime Minister and minister for the budget (1973–1974). Tindemans served as Prime Minister of two Belgian governments, from 25 April 1974 to 20 October 1978. His first cabinet was a minority government formed by the Christian-democrats and liberals. When his first government fell in 1977, Tindemans won the snap general election which followed and formed his second cabinet with the Christian-democrats, socialists and Flemish nationalists. His second government (1977–1978) fell due to the controversy surrounding the Egmont pact.

Gerolf Emma Jozef Annemans (born 8 November 1958 in Antwerp) is a Belgian politician. He is member of Vlaams Belang, a nationalist, conservative and secessionist political party.

Annemans obtained a degree in law in 1982. He became member of the Vlaams Blok in 1985 and was first elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1987. He was member of the municipal council of Brasschaat from 1995 to 1999; and since 2000 a member of the municipal council of Antwerp.

Annemans was a co-author of the 70 steps plan of the Vlaams Blok, a plan where positions supposedly were taken in contradiction with a number of international Human Rights treaties. A reaction by Annemans to this was:

After the Vlaams Blok was condemned by the Belgian High Court for pursuing permanent incitement to discrimination and racial segregation, Annemans pronounced the following words at a Vlaams Blok congress:

Annemans is married and has three children.

Conon de Béthune (c. 1150 in the former Artois region, today Pas-de-Calais - December 17, 1219 or 1220, in or near Constantinople or perhaps Adrianople) was a crusader and "trouvère" poet.

Born in 1150, he was the 10th son of Robert V, seigneur of Béthune and justice officer (avoué) of the Abbey of Saint-Vaast of Arras (in today's Pas-de-Calais), who died at the siege of Acre in 1191. Through his grandmother, Conon de Béthune was related to the ruling Hainaut family in Flanders. It is probable (from comments made in one of his poems) that Conon appeared before the French court at the occasion of the marriage of king Philippe Auguste with Isabelle of Hainaut in 1180 and sang his songs before Marie de Champagne (noted for her connection to Chrétien de Troyes).

After having taken part in the Third Crusade, Conon de Béthune went (with his brother Guillaume) on the Fourth Crusade in 1200, accompanying the knights of Baldwin, Count de Flanders and serving as official orator. His eloquence, wisdom and chivalry were praised by Geoffroi de Villehardouin (who said of Conon: "Bon chevalier et sage estoit et bien eloquens"). After the conquest of Constantinople (1204), Conon de Béthune served a number of important positions in Baldwin's (and later Henry of Flanders and Peter of Courtenay's) government and played a key role in Baldwin's reconciliation with Boniface of Montferrat and in the Battle of Adrianople. After the death of Empress Yolanda of Flanders in 1219, he was chosen by the barons as Regent of the Empire, but died shortly after in 1219 or 1220 in the town of Adrianople (now Edirne, European Turkey).

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (Dutch pronunciation: [iːf ləˈtɛrmə]; born 6 October 1960) is a Flemish Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V), and was the 48th Prime Minister of Belgium.

Leterme was the Prime Minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008. He has been Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget, Institutional Reforms, Transport and the North Sea in the Belgian federal government. He is a former Minister-President of Flanders and Flemish Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Despite his French name, Leterme is Flemish. He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

On 14 July 2008, facing the imminent failure to meet a self imposed deadline to enact "constitutional reform" consisting of further devolution of powers to the nation's three linguistic communities, Leterme tendered his resignation to King Albert II, the head of state. On 17 July, King Albert, after holding a flurry of consultations with leaders of political parties, labor unions, and the employers' association, rejected Leterme's resignation. Instead, the king appointed a three person commission of representatives of the linguistic communities to investigate how to restart the reform process. The commission was to report to the king by 31 July 2008.