Umaru Yar'Adua

Ailing Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua died on May 5 in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, following a protracted illness, according to a presidential spokesman. He had a serious kidney complaint in 2000, and tried to dismiss rumors of continued ill health in 2007 by challenging his critics to a game of squash. On November 23, 2009, he was flown to Saudi Arabia where he spent three months for the treatment of acute pericarditis. He had not been seen in public since.

Wang Jianzhou

Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Mobile Co. Ltd., has been awarded this year's World Telecommunication and Information Society Award by the International Telecommunication Union. With extensive knowledge and 32 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Wang, 61, assumed his current posts in November 2004. He is also president of China Mobile Communications Corp., the ultimate controlling shareholder of Hong Kong- and New York-listed China Mobile.

Zhang Xin

Two Chinese women are among the world's eight billionaire mothers who built their fortunes on their own, the latest Forbes rich list shows. Zhang Xin, CEO of Chinese property giant SOHO China, and Zhang Yin, head of paper processor Nine Dragons Paper, made the list, which announced 70 of the richest mothers in the world days to mark this year's Mother's Day. Along with JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, 45-year-old Zhang Xin and 53-year-old Zhang Yin proved to the world that having children is no barrier to making a billion dollars on their own.