Mexico's Slim heads Forbes rich list

Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications billionaire with a net worth of $53.5 billion, has been crowned the world's richest person by Forbes magazine -- the first time in 16 years the post has been held by a non-American.

Slim, who came to the rescue of the New York Times in 2009 with a loan and investment, added $18.5 billion to his net worth. He beat Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and last year's number one, and Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, for the top spot. Gates and Buffett's net worths were $53 billion and $47 billion respectively. For the first time, China, with 64 billionaires, is the region with the most members outside of the US, which has 403, followed by Russia with 62.