July 1 (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations meet in Japan on July 7-9. Following are some key facts about them: * JAPAN - YASUO FUKUDA: -- Yasuo Fukuda, 71, became Japan's prime minister in September 2007 after his predecessor abruptly resigned. The oldest leader in 16 years to assume the post, he is a moderate conservative who favors warmer ties with Asian neighbors. -- The unpopular Fukuda, the son of a former prime minister, heads into the summit after a small bounce in his ratings. It had fallen below 20 percent on doubts about his leadership as he deals with a divided parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house and can delay laws. -- Speculation persists that his party might replace him with a more popular leader ahead of a general election that must be held by late 2009 but could come sooner. * CANADA - STEPHEN HARPER: -- Harper, 49, has headed a minority Conservative government since 2006. An economist with his power base in the oil-rich western province of Alberta, Harper says it is not possible for Canada to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets for greenhouse gas emission cuts, an issue before the G8 leaders. -- Instead, he has proposed a plan for "intensity-based" caps allowing industries to cut a percentage of their emission increases without cutting emissions overall. -- Harper is seen as a close ally of U.S. President George W. Bush and has emphasized tax cuts as the best response to a slowing economy while calling for more transparency in global oil markets to allow supply and demand to determine prices. * FRANCE - NICOLAS SARKOZY: -- Nicolas Sarkozy, a right-wing former interior minister who became president in May 2007, made his name as a hard-liner fighting illegal immigration and crime. -- Sarkozy has championed France's integration with NATO, has defended EU farm subsidies, and shared a warm personal bond with Bush. Campaigning rockers Bono and Bob Geldof have challenged Sarkozy to increase aid to Africa, saying France was failing to live up to commitments made at the 2005 G8 summit. -- Sarkozy, 53, married former top model, Carla Bruni, in February after a whirlwind romance. * GERMANY - ANGELA MERKEL: -- Angela Merkel, 53, who was born in the ex-communist East Germany, became the country's first woman chancellor following a narrow election win in 2005. -- Merkel, who came to power promising far-reaching reforms of the tax system and labor market, went on to preside over two years of robust growth and sinking unemployment, but now faces rising pressure from a slowing economy. -- Bush counts Merkel, a pro-American conservative, as one of his closest allies in Europe and the German chancellor has worked as a mediator between Washington and Moscow on U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in central Europe. * ITALY - SILVIO BERLUSCONI: -- Silvio Berlusconi, 71, made his fortune during a property boom in Milan in the 1960s and was Italy's richest man when he entered politics in 1994, promoting a "you can be rich like me" message. -- In April 2008, he won a third-term beating a center-left coalition led by Romano Prodi. A staunch ally of Washington in its "war on terrorism," Berlusconi combines the smooth talk of the business tycoon with a common touch, and has vowed to push through economic reforms. -- Berlusconi last month unveiled tough measures aimed at fighting illegal immigration, but critics say the move risks felling xenophobia and racism. * RUSSIA - DMITRY MEDVEDEV: -- Dmitry Medvedev, a diminutive, softly-spoken former corporate lawyer graduated from St Petersburg University in 1987. Fellow G8 leaders will be assessing the new division of power between him and Vladimir Putin, his mentor and predecessor as president. -- Medvedev, 42, has repeatedly said he stands for continuity in policy. Like Putin, Medvedev has also said he would not be driven off course by foreign criticism of Russian policies. Russia has locked horns with the West by opposing NATO's eastward expansion, independence for Kosovo and U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe. -- Medvedev has rated unstable financial markets, terrorism and international crime as universal dangers to be tackled through coordinated action at a European and G8 level. * UNITED KINGDOM - GORDON BROWN: -- A year since taking over from Tony Blair, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's popularity is in tatters. The economy is on course for its weakest showing in 16 years. -- Brown, 57, became the longest-serving chancellor of the exchequer in 200 years and presided over a decade of economic boom, but his reputation for economic competence steadily eroded after serious problems in the British banking sector. -- Lower oil prices may be the only thing that can save the British economy from a painful slowdown and revive Brown's popularity. Tackling oil prices down will be a key item on the G8 agenda. * UNITED STATES - GEORGE W. BUSH: -- George W. Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush, is a former Texas oilman and former part-owner of a baseball team. He will mark his 62nd birthday on Sunday, the eve of the summit. -- Bush's public approval ratings have slumped due to the unpopularity of the Iraq war and a sagging economy. He leaves the White House in January after two terms as president. -- After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, he divided the world into those who were with him in his quest to destroy terrorism and those who were not, revealing a good-versus-evil world view that won him ardent admirers and bitter enemies. -- The United States is blocking a G8 agreement on targets for cutting climate-warming carbon emissions because it wants major emerging economies like China to get on board in a new climate change agreement. Bush wants to make the Major Emitters group he set up Bush in 2007 to be the main forum for climate action, taking the initiative away from the G8. Sources: Reuters; www.britannica.com; www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page12037.asp; http://pm.gc.ca; European Commission (Writing by Jijo Jacob, editing by David Cutler and David Storey)
A man fishes in the Yenisei River at sunset near the village Maina in the Siberian Khakassia region, about 505 km (314 miles) to the south of Russia's Siberian city of ...
