South Africa

Boer men participate in a cultural event in Majuba, South Africa. The name of the game they're playing — with two teams pulling on opposite ends of a rope — is often used metaphorically to describe a struggle that is not easily decided. What is this word in English?

A curious dog wanders through a San (bushman) camp in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa.

In only 15 years, South Africa lost 20 per cent of its professionals — about 800,000 people — to emigration. White South Africans saw few opportunities at home and better pay abroad. But the 2010 World Cup began to change all that. South Africans are coming home.

As 2010 ends, we look back at unusual words: "Ilanaaq" is the Inuktitut word for friend, and Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq was the mascot of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. We also learned that "Eyja" is island, "Fjalla" is mountain and "Jökull" is glacier.

From Las Vegas Boulevard — known as "the Strip" — to the harsh landscape of the Kalahari Desert, from beautiful Sydney Harbour to the slums of Dhaka, our photo blogger Jan Stuermann has been there. Let's join him now in another world tour.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter opposes using technology to help referees make decisions. But the outcry over mistakes such as Frank Lampard's disallowed goal in England's World Cup loss to Germany seems to have changed things.