LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, the man behind some of the world’s top luxury labels, has been officially named France’s richest man.

Arnault’s fortune is estimated at 22.7 billion euros, ($28.6 billion) following a 55% increase in his net worth weekly magazine Challenges reported.

Arnault took over the top slot from Gerard Mulliez and family, the owners of the Auchan supermarket chain. Mulliez was still in second place with a fortune estimated at 19 billion euros.

Superstar US talkshow host Oprah Winfrey has has been named the most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine.

Winfrey knocked film star Angelina Jolie off the top spot of Forbes’s annual Celebrity 100 list, which is based on earnings and media exposure.

In second place to the enduring talkshow diva, popular singer Beyonce Knowles jumped two positions with earnings of 87 million dollars, following a profitable year for her growing entertainment and fashion empire.

Condé Nast Traveler magazine has revealed the results of its Fourteenth Readers’ Choice Survey, pinpointing the best golf resorts in the world.

The US magazine’s readers chose the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea at the best golf resort of all 80 contenders, with a winning average of 96 percent.

Scores were calculated on the basis of thousands of readers’ votes for course design and access, golf staff and services, rooms, service, food/dining, location and overall design.

Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort (pictured below) in South Carolina took second place, followed by the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Hawaii.

Chinese news portal People’s Daily Online has compiled a list ranking China’s 10 Most Luxurious Cities.

The criteria? Living standards of the city’s elite, “internationalness”, designer shopping, and infrastructure.

Not surprisingly, Shanghai, long known as the “Paris of the East”, has come out on top.

The world’s new richest man, Mexican Carlos Slim, and a fresh crop of billionaires in Asia helped lead a comeback for the wealthiest few on the planet in 2010, Forbes magazine said Wednesday.

The publication’s annual rich list reflected a resurgence of wealth after the financial turmoil of 2009, with the top 10 wealthiest worth a combined 342 billion dollars, compared to 254 billion dollars in the previous year.

“The global economy is recovering. The financial markets came back, especially emerging markets,” said magazine editor-in-chief Steve Forbes.

“There’s a 50 percent increase in general global wealth compared to last year,” Forbes said.

Certainly the economy recovered for the super rich, who took a beating during last year’s stock and commodity market collapses, but saw across-the-board gains this year.

Forbes counted 1,011 billionaires from 55 countries, up from 793 last year, though still shy of the pre-crisis 1,125 listed in 2008.

The top 10 richest people in the world have a combined worth of 342 billion dollars in 2010, up from 254 billion a year ago.

Here are the 20 wealthiest, as announced Wednesday by Forbes magazine in its annual list of the world’s billionaires:

1. Carlos Slim Helu and family. Mexico. Telecoms. 53.5 billion dollars.

2. Bill Gates. US. Microsoft. 53 billion dollars.

3. Warren Buffett. US. Berkshire Hathaway. 47 billion dollars.