Angela Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg on 17 July 1954, the daughter of Horst Kasner, a Lutheran pastor, and his wife, Herlind, a teacher of English and Latin. Her mother was once a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She has a brother, Marcus and a sister, Irene. Merkel was educated in Templin and at …

Ang Lee (born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), Hulk (2003), and Brokeback Mountain (2005), for which he won an Academy Award for Best …

Andy Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player and current British number 1. He is ranked World No. 4, having previously held the No. 2 ranking position for two weeks from 17 August 2009 to 31 August 2009, making him the highest-ranked British male player since Fred Perry. Murray achieved a top 10 ranking by the …

Anne Mulcahy — Anne M. Mulcahy was born on October 21, 1952. She is former chairwoman and chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation. She was named CEO of Xerox on August 1, 2001, and chairwoman on January 1, 2002. In addition to the Xerox board, she has been a member of the boards of directors of Catalyst, Citigroup Inc., Fuji …

Anthony Alozie — A local soccer player in his native Nigeria, Anthony started running when an athletics coach spectating at one of his soccer games commended his speed with the ball and invited him to start sprint training. Anthony and the coach kept in contact and, after a while, “he made me realise that I have so much talent in …

Andrew von Eschenbach was born on October 30, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He did his schooling from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School. He received his bachelor of science in biology from St. Joseph’s University in 1963 and his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1967. He did residencies at Pennsylvania Hospital in general surgery and urology and taught urology …

Andrew John Strauss, (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is captain of England. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. Strauss is also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers. He made his …

Andres Iniesta is one of a long line of gifted creative midfielders to have come off the FC Barcelona production line, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Josep Guardiola, Ivan de la Pena and Xavi. Iniesta was spotted by Cule club scouts at the age of 12, and within months had made the move to the Catalan giants’ …

Andal was a 10th century Tamil poet who is revered as a saint in the southern parts of India. Infact, she is considered as one of the twelve Alvars (saints) and the only woman Alvar (saint) of Vaishnavism (a cult devoted to Lord Vishnu). She is also believed to be an incarnation of Sri Bhumi Devi, the Divine Consort of …

Anarkali Honaryar Honaryar celebrates her 25th birthday this week, she already wears many hats – physician, human rights activist, and member of Afghanistan’s Constitution Committee. Honaryar added another distinction to her impressive resume – Radio Free Afghanistan’s ‘Person of the Year.’ Honaryar is a member of Afghanistan’s minority Sikh community and works for the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan. …