Carlos Slim Helu remained the world’s richest person, but Asia is where today’s big money is flowing, Forbes magazine said in its 2011 list of the world’s billionaires.

Slim, who is almost unknown to the general public outside Mexico, weighed in at a staggering $74 billion of net wealth thanks to his telecoms empire. Already the top dog last year, he increased his fortune by $20.5 billion dollars.

In a now familiar second place was Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $56 billion. The relatively lowly ranking reflected his enormous philanthropic give-aways over the year.

Forbes magazine, known for its lists, including The World’s Billionaires, Most Powerful Women, Top Earning Dead Celebrities, and Best Countries for Business, has selected this year’s list of the Most Powerful People in the World.

The top ten from the list are primarily heads of state, major religious figures and entrepreneurs, which is indicative of the full list of 68 people.

Forbes released its 2010 list of the 400 richest people in America this week, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was in the top spot for the 17th consecutive year.

Industrialist Warren Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has bagged the second place this year with fortunes worth $45 billion.

While worth $27 billion dollars, software company Oracle’s co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

With a net worth that grew by nearly $4.9 billion, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had the largest percentage gain this year, jumping from 158 to number 35 with $6.9 billion.

Forbes has unveiled a list of highest-paid tennis players in the world. Half of the top 10 are men and the half women.

Roger Federer tops the list with whole year’s income of 43 million U.S. dollars while Russia’s Maria Sharapova follows him with earning of 24.5 million U.S. dollars.

The rankings are based on players’ prize money, endorsements, exhibitions and appearance fees over the past 12 months without taxes or agent’s fees deducted.

For the second year, Shia LaBeouf, star of the Transformers series, ranks number one on Forbes magazine‘s list of Hollywood’s “Best Actors For The Buck.”

The actors in this annual listing are considered a good investment at the box office for film studios. For each $1 the studio spent on LaBeouf for a film, it received an average of $81 in profits.

The actor has also starred in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the upcoming Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Forbes keeps on releasing top paid personalities. This time around it issued the top ten highest paid authors for the year.

On the top of the list is James Patterson, the thriller novel writer is runaway winner earning 70 million dollars. Nine out of his many works have already been adapted either in television or film.

The prolific thriller writer’s latest deal, signed last fall, involves penning a carpal tunnel-risking 17 books by the end of 2012 for an estimated $100 million.