Zenani Mandela

South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela skipped the opening ceremony of World Cup after his great granddaughter died in a car clash early morning on June 11. According to reports, Mandela's 13-year-old great granddaughter Zenani Mandela was killed on the way home from a kickoff concert for the World Cup in Soweto on night of June 10. Police said that driver was driving drunk and possibly could be charged with culpable homicide.

Ma Yaohai

Ma Yaohai, an associate professor at Nanjing University of Technology, was sentenced in May to three-and-a-half-year imprisonment for organizing group sex parties. Ma and 21 other people were convicted of group licentiousness and 19 of them were sentenced to various jail terms. They are the first people in 20 years to be given criminal penalties for the crime. Ma, 53, admitted the facts, but said that as consenting adults they were not guilty of any crime.

Siphiwo Ntshebe

Siphiwo Ntshebe, nicknamed the "Black Pavarotti", passed away at the age of 34 after a brief battle with acute bacterial meningitis in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in late May. He was chosen by Nelson Mandela to perform his new track Hope at the opening ceremony of the World Cup on June 11. Ntshebe's record label Epic Records said that he had "a truly wondrous voice and his music was unique in its melodies and its messages of hope and compassion."