Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley (born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, January 20, 1972) is an American Republican politician who has served as the Governor of South Carolina since 2011. Prior to her election in 2010 as the 116th governor of the state, she represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.

Haley is the first woman and first minority to serve as Governor of South Carolina; at the age of 44, she is the youngest current governor in the United States. She is the second Indian American governor in the United States, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. As governor, she also serves as chair, ex-officio, of the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina during her term in office.

On November 4, 2014, Haley was re-elected to a second term as the Governor, a term that will expire on January 9, 2019.

Haley delivered the Republican response to Barack Obama's final State of the Union address on January 12, 2016. She has also been touted as a potential vice-presidential nominee for the Republican ticket.

North Korea

Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40.000°N 127.000°E / 40.000; 127.000

North Korea ( listen), officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국; hancha: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國; MR: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk), is a country in East Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name Korea is derived from the Kingdom of Goguryeo, also spelled as Koryŏ. The capital and largest city is Pyongyang. North Korea shares a land border with China to the north and northwest, along the Amnok (Yalu) and Tumen rivers, and a small section of the Tumen River also forms a border with Russia to the northeast. The Korean Demilitarized Zone marks the boundary between North Korea and South Korea.

Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones by the United States and the Soviet Union, with the north occupied by the Soviets and the south by the Americans. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948 two separate governments were formed: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. An invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War (1950–53). Although the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, no official peace treaty was ever signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.

Trump

A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its normal rank in trick-taking games. Typically an entire suit is nominated as a trump suit - these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the term trump card can refer to any sort of action, authority, or policy which automatically prevails over all others.

Etymology

The word "trump" derives from "trionfi" or "triumph", documented as the name of a card game in 1529 and which spawned the game Ruff and Honours, which in turn led to Whist. Trionfi was also the name of the original card game for which tarot cards were designed, and in it the tarot cards had the role of what are now called trumps; later card games, beginning with Triomphe, started using one of the ordinary suits as a replacement for the tarots when a tarot pack was not available.

Trump in card games

In most games, the relative rank of cards within a suit is the same in trump and plain suits, but they may sometimes differ, for example in Klabberjass, Euchre, or Eighty Points.

Rex Tillerson

Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952 in Wichita Falls, Texas) is an American businessman and is the chairman, president, and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation. Under Tillerson's leadership Exxon acquired XTO Energy. Exxon has tied with Apple Inc. and Google to be one of the top three largest public companies by market value.

Education

Rex Wayne Tillerson was born on March 23, 1952 in Wichita Falls, Texas. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1965. In 1970, he graduated from Huntsville High School in Huntsville, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. During his time at UT Austin, he was involved with the Tejas Club,Longhorn Band, and Alpha Phi Omega. In 2006 he was named a Distinguished Engineering Graduate.

Business career

Tillerson joined The Exxon Company, US, in 1975 as an engineer. He held various positions with Exxon, domestically and internationally. In 1995, he became president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc. In 1998, he became a vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) and president of Exxon Neftegas Limited with responsibility for Exxon's holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea. In 1999, with the merger of Exxon and Mobil, he was named Executive Vice President of ExxonMobil Development Company. In 2004, he became president and director of Exxon Mobil and on January 1, 2006, he was elected chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), following the retirement of Lee Raymond. Tillerson is also a trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the American Petroleum Institute, and is a member of the Business Roundtable.

United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

During the Second World War, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated talks on a successor agency to the League of Nations, and the United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in April–June 1945; this charter took effect 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo, as well as approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success.