Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة‎ al-ǧazīrah IPA: [æl dʒæˈziːrɐ], literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Arabian Peninsula), also known as JSC (Jazeera Satellite Channel), is a Doha-based state-funded broadcaster owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is partly funded by the House of Thani, the ruling family of Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages.

Al Jazeera is among the largest news organizations with 80 bureaus around the world. Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar. While Al Jazeera officials have stated that they are editorially independent from the government of Qatar, this assertion has been disputed.

The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, for example on call-in shows, created controversies in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention following the outbreak of war in Afghanistan, when it was the only channel to cover the war live, from its office there.

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, actor and singer-songwriter. Simon's fame, influence, and commercial success began as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, formed in 1964 with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote nearly all of the pair’s songs, including three that reached No. 1 on the U.S. singles charts: "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge over Troubled Water". The duo split up in 1970 at the height of their popularity, and Simon began a successful solo career as a guitarist and singer-songwriter, recording three highly acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony (1980) and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998) with the poet Derek Walcott.

Simon has earned twelve Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine named Simon as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. In 2015 he was named as one of The 100 Greatest Songwriters by Rolling Stone Magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. In 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees.

John Legend

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe, and one Academy Award. In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Prior to the release of Legend's debut album, his career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. He sang in Magnetic Man's "Getting Nowhere," Kanye West's "All of the Lights", on Slum Village's "Selfish", and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name", the Kanye West remix of Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music", and Fort Minor's "High Road". Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything". He has gained chart topping hits from his solo work as well, including the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "All of Me". He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for writing the song "Glory" from the film Selma.

Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman (19 November 1925) is a Polish sociologist. He has resided in England since 1971 after being driven out of Poland by an anti-semitic campaign engineered by the Communist government. Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Leeds, Bauman is one of the world's most eminent social theorists writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity.

Biography

Zygmunt Bauman was born to non-practising Polish-Jewish parents in Poznań, Poland, in 1925. When Poland was invaded by the Nazi Germany in 1939 his family escaped eastwards into the Soviet Union. Bauman then enlisted in the Soviet-controlled Polish First Army, working as a political education instructor. He took part in the battles of Kolberg (now Kołobrzeg) and Berlin. In May 1945 he was awarded the Military Cross of Valour.

According to the Institute of National Remembrance, from 1945 to 1953 Bauman was a political officer in the Internal Security Corps (KBW), a military unit formed to combat Ukrainian nationalist insurgents and part of the remnants of the Polish Home Army .

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah (born 20 February 1984) is a South African comedian, television and radio host, and actor. He is the host of American news satire television program The Daily Show, succeeding Jon Stewart.

Early life and family

Noah was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, is of mixed Xhosa and Jewish ancestry, and his father, Robert, is white and of Swiss German ethnicity. Noah spent his early youth in the private school of Maryvale College, a Catholic school in Johannesburg. His parents' relationship was illegal at the time of his birth because of apartheid. His mother was jailed and fined by the South African government, and his father later moved back to Switzerland. Noah was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Nomalizo Frances Noah. During his childhood, he attended church every Sunday.

Noah has two younger half-brothers by his mother's husband, Ngisaveni Shingange, whom she later divorced. In 2009, after she became engaged to another man, Shingange shot her in the back and face; he was unable to continue shooting as the gun jammed. He later threatened to kill Trevor Noah, forcing him to leave Johannesburg for Los Angeles. In 2011, Shingange was convicted of attempted murder. Noah stated that he hoped the attention surrounding the incident would help the domestic abuse problem in South Africa: "For years my mother reached out to police for help with domestic abuse, and nothing was ever done. This is the norm in South Africa. Dockets went missing and cases never went to court." In 2012, Shingange was sentenced to three years of correctional supervision for the attempted murder.