Lakshmi Nivas Mittal (born June 15, 1950) is a London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, born in Sadulpur Village, in Churu district of Rajasthan, India and residing in Kensington, London. He is the 5th richest person in the world and the richest Indian, with a fortune of U$32 billion according to Forbes. The Financial Times named Mittal its 2006 Person of the …

Klaas Jan Huntelaar — Top scorer for the Netherlands in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, the former terror of Eredivisie defences is still pursuing greater recognition for his talents overseas. The AC Milan marksman has yet to enjoy a defining moment in a major competition and remains slightly tainted by a brief and frustrating spell with Real Madrid. A regular …

Kevin Pietersen — Kevin Peter Pietersen is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey. He had also played for Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore for its second and third seasons, captaining the side in his first, prior to being bought by the Deccan Chargers …

Keisuke Honda is an indispensable member of Takeshi Okada’s team. A prolific midfielder who will turn 24 the day before Japan kick-off their South Africa 2010 campaign, he dazzled for CSKA Moscow in the deep waters of the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League, playing a critical role in their unforeseen charge to the quarter-finals. Honda started out at Nagoya Grampus, scoring …

Many deserts-places, which have less than 25cm (10in) rainfall a year-are, in fact, dry for years and then a freak storm causes floods. Or heavy rains can transform some deserts, as in Namaqualand, South Africa, into a sea of flowers, bringing new life to seeds, which may have been dormant for years. Elsewhere, drought-resistant plants like cacti soak up rainwater …

Kaka — Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaka, is a Brazilian football midfielder who currently plays for Real Madrid C.F. and the Brazilian national team. Kaka is firmly established as one of the finest players in the world. With a capacity to glide almost effortlessly past opponents, provide defence-splitting passes and score consistently …

John Maxwell Coetzee is an author and academic from South Africa (now an Australian citizen living in South Australia). A novelist and literary critic as well as a translator, Coetzee won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. Coetzee is known as reclusive and eschews publicity to such an extent that he did not collect either of his two Booker Prizes in …

Occasionally, civil wars occur which lead to a country being divided in two. For example, a war in Pakistan in 1971 led to the creation of the new nation of Bangladesh. Not all new countries, however, win international recognition. For instance, Cyprus has been divided, through the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, established in 1983, is recognized only by …

In World War II, French underground fighters called their secret army the Maquis. This is the name of healthland vegetation is called chaparral in California, fynbos in South Africa, and macchia in Italy.

The Giraffe is easily the tallest of the mammals at 18 feet. Apart from its legs and neck another long feature of the giraffe is its tongue. When fully extended to pluck a distant leaf or twig, the Giraffe’s tongue is 17 inches long. The Giraffe feeds on the foliage of acacia trees on the savannahs of South Africa, and …