Global headline grabbers

J K Rowling- Author: Arguably the most successful author of her generation, she started off writing Harry Potter while struggling to make ends meet as a single mother. While the Harry Potter series and the movie franchise made her a multi-millionaire, she has also tasted success writing under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith

Thomas Piketty- Economist and author: In his book About Capital in the 21st Century, he argues for a global tax on wealth. He explains this tax is necessary because in developed co­u­ntries, the rate of return on capital is persistently greater than the rate of economic growth, leading to increase in wealth inequality

Thomas L Friedman- Journalist and author: In his best-selling book, The World Is Flat, the triple Pulitzer Prize winner talks about how the world “flattened” at the turn of the century with countries like India and China becoming part of the global supply chain for ma­n­ufacturing and services; how it af­f­ects countries, companies and individuals; and how governments and societies have to adapt

Edward Snowden- Whistleblower: This former intelligence contractor and ex-CIA employee who travelled to India to take lessons in ethical hacking blew the lid off PRISM, the covert and most intrusive surveillance carried out by the US National Security Agency. After sharing the documents with journalists, he was forced to flee to Russia and seek refuge


Aung San Suu Kyi- Democracy activist: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, the president of Myanmar’s political outfit NLD, which swept the 2015 polls, has spent most of the past 25 years leading a pro-democracy movement from behind bars. The country’s 2008 constitution bars her from public office, as her late husband was a British citizen


Julian Assange- Founder, WikiLeaks: He hacked into databases of many high-profile organisations and put up the confidential information on WikiLeaks, a website he started in 2006. In April 2010, the site ran foot­a­ge showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq. He was named TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2010

Malala Yousafzai- Human rights activist: The youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Prize (she won the Nobel Peace Prize with India’s Kalyan Satyar­t­hi in 2014), she wrote an anon­ymous diary about life under Taliban rule in north-west Pakistan. In it, she wrote about her desire for education and for girls to have the chance to be educated. Militants shot her in 2012, but she survived

Roger Federer- Tennis player: Arguably one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he holds several records of the Open Era including the world No. 1 position for 302 weeks. He won 17 Grand Slam singles titles and reached each Grand Slam final at least five times (an all-time record)

Michael Jackson- Music icon: Besides his dance moves, the star changed the world music scene with his music videos, which graduated into becoming the prime promotional tool for  music album. A prodigy, he battled charges of child molestation till his death on June 25, 2009. But he remains one of the most successful artists of all time

Michael Schumacher- Formula 1 champion: According to the official Formula One website, he is “statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen”. 
A seven-time Formula One champ, he holds records for most championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions and most races won in a single season


Tiger Woods- Golfer: The great rise, the great life, and the great fall. After climbing swiftly from college golf career, into pro  golfing, he became world number one in June 1997, after which he spent 264 weeks, from August 1999 to September 2004, and 281 weeks from June 2005 to October 2010, at the top spot 

David Beckham- Footballer: The original Bling king of Football, he brought glamour to the sport. Apart fr­om his signature bending shot, he was known more for his hairstyles, ta­ttoos, and his pop star wife. He is also the first English player to win league titles in four countries: England, Spain, The US and France

Osama bin Laden- Al Qaida chief: The most wanted man in the world was the brain behind the 9/11 attacks on the US. He remained elusive for nearly a decade after the attacks, as Al Qaida grew in strength, till US Marines hunted him down to the Pakistani town of Abbottabad on May 2, 2011


Raj Rajaratnam- Hedge fund manager: The billionaire founder of the Galleon Group was convicted in 2011 of securities fraud and conspiracy in one of the largest prosecutions of insider trading in US history and the first such case to rely on evidence obtained from wiretaps. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi- Terror group leader: The Leader of Islamic State and its proclaimed Caliph, al-Baghdadi has been accused of kidnapping, enslaving, and repeatedly raping IS captives, besides singlehandedly strengthening the Islamic extremist group

Bernard Madoff- Stockbroker: A former non-executive chairman of Nasdaq, he ran his investment firm like a grand Ponzi scheme, causing estimated losses of around $18 billion to his investors. In June 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years’ in prison, the maximum sentence allowed, for securities fraud, among other things


Kim Jong-il- Military dictator: The late supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had been accused of violating human rights and instigating state-sponsored terrorism. His reign was thought to be even more dictatorial than that of his father, Kim Il-sung
