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/ 16 November 2004

China’s modest billionaire

I visit Timothy Chan on the day China’s rich list is published and he, a baby-faced 31-year-old, appears at number two. He is chairperson of Shanda Entertainment, a computer games manufacturer based in Shanghai’s Pudong district. To the mortification of his parents, Chan is worth $1,05-billion. His idol is Bill Gates, whom he admires for his work ethic and abstinent lifestyle.

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/ 19 July 2004

‘I married Osama’s brother’

Carmen bin Ladin and her daughters, Wafah, Najia and Noor, are the only Bin Ladins in the Western world to be listed in the telephone book. They live in Switzerland, where Carmen grew up and where she fled 20 years ago from her marriage to Osama’s older brother, Yeslam bin Laden. As a sister-in-law of the world’s most notorious terrorist, Bin Ladin gained a unique insight into the inner workings of the fabulously wealthy Saudi clan.